plexus
0
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2007
- Messages
- 441
- Points
- 28
I wanted to let you know of my customer experiences with jayrob and flaminpyro. First of all, they are both very responsive to emails and very helpful in terms of helping to determine what I needed in achieve my goals (best quality build components). They both will answer questions in a useful and direct way. And if I had any concerns or special requests they were also responsive and helpful.
I am going to post a review of their SH-032 copper kits. In terms of customer service I had an issue with each seller. With jayrob, I found his kit hard to work with because of the need to screw in the heatsink retainer ring (stock) while ensuring the copper heatsink spins exactly in sync with the retainer ring. I was very very careful about this and gave it a few trial runs with no driver installed so i could get the hang of it. When i got it together, no light. I removed it, again being very careful to turn the two at the same time. What happened was there was some difference in them spinning together and there was a short that killed the flex drive. When i told jayrob about this and what a pain it was to deal with his design his reply was "its just a different design, not better or worse". in other words, i was on my own. Granted, it wasn't anything he did that caused this problem, nor did his product "break". but the point is, there was no support other than a "sorry for you loss". so after you buy from jayrob, assume you are on your own if you have any malfunctions due to the nature of his kit where the components needs to be meticulously spun together. assume you are on your own and possibly ensure all electrical connections are insulated in the event you don't turn them exactly right. jayrob will offer condolences, but there will be no offer to help with the costs associated with damaged components.
With flaminpyro, I purchased the some host kit. His kit is much easier to deal with than jayrobs because its a single copper piece that replaces the retainer ring. nothing to screw in meticulously. also there is more room in the heat sink to work with (although this means less copper which I will address in my review). In this case, everything went well and the 445 worked. However, at one point from a cold start it started flashing on and off regularly. i turned it off immediately thinking the micro boost i used was over heating. i let it sit for about 10 min and turned it on and the LD came on for 1 sec and went out. dead. I took it apart and saw no issues. I tested the driver on my dummy load and it appeared to be working. I removed the lasorb from the 445 LD, installed it on a new 12x 405 and connected it to the micro boost after dropping the current down to 500mA. It came on properly. I disconnected the LD and put it on the 445 LD I bought from flaminpyro. nothing. back on the 405. worked. conclusion: the 445 LD i bought from flaminpyro died and not from a problem with the build.
After I explained all this to flaminpyro he agreed it was the LD but refused to provide any compensation citing that if the LD was the issue, then the issue would be with casio or nichia. I explained that as a retailer his responsibility is to his customer (me). But I told him I would not tell him what to do but that he should do what he felt was the right thing to do. With that he bid me a nice day (eg. no refund or other compensation). I would have agreed to split the loss and buy another one from him at 1/2 price, or something like that but no offer was made. So again, with flaminpyro if you have a problem you will likely be on your own with it.
Just letting you know. They are both very helpful and wonderful to deal with pre-sale, but post-sale there is no love.
I am going to post a review of their SH-032 copper kits. In terms of customer service I had an issue with each seller. With jayrob, I found his kit hard to work with because of the need to screw in the heatsink retainer ring (stock) while ensuring the copper heatsink spins exactly in sync with the retainer ring. I was very very careful about this and gave it a few trial runs with no driver installed so i could get the hang of it. When i got it together, no light. I removed it, again being very careful to turn the two at the same time. What happened was there was some difference in them spinning together and there was a short that killed the flex drive. When i told jayrob about this and what a pain it was to deal with his design his reply was "its just a different design, not better or worse". in other words, i was on my own. Granted, it wasn't anything he did that caused this problem, nor did his product "break". but the point is, there was no support other than a "sorry for you loss". so after you buy from jayrob, assume you are on your own if you have any malfunctions due to the nature of his kit where the components needs to be meticulously spun together. assume you are on your own and possibly ensure all electrical connections are insulated in the event you don't turn them exactly right. jayrob will offer condolences, but there will be no offer to help with the costs associated with damaged components.
With flaminpyro, I purchased the some host kit. His kit is much easier to deal with than jayrobs because its a single copper piece that replaces the retainer ring. nothing to screw in meticulously. also there is more room in the heat sink to work with (although this means less copper which I will address in my review). In this case, everything went well and the 445 worked. However, at one point from a cold start it started flashing on and off regularly. i turned it off immediately thinking the micro boost i used was over heating. i let it sit for about 10 min and turned it on and the LD came on for 1 sec and went out. dead. I took it apart and saw no issues. I tested the driver on my dummy load and it appeared to be working. I removed the lasorb from the 445 LD, installed it on a new 12x 405 and connected it to the micro boost after dropping the current down to 500mA. It came on properly. I disconnected the LD and put it on the 445 LD I bought from flaminpyro. nothing. back on the 405. worked. conclusion: the 445 LD i bought from flaminpyro died and not from a problem with the build.
After I explained all this to flaminpyro he agreed it was the LD but refused to provide any compensation citing that if the LD was the issue, then the issue would be with casio or nichia. I explained that as a retailer his responsibility is to his customer (me). But I told him I would not tell him what to do but that he should do what he felt was the right thing to do. With that he bid me a nice day (eg. no refund or other compensation). I would have agreed to split the loss and buy another one from him at 1/2 price, or something like that but no offer was made. So again, with flaminpyro if you have a problem you will likely be on your own with it.
Just letting you know. They are both very helpful and wonderful to deal with pre-sale, but post-sale there is no love.
