General question about warranty

[solar00]

I was wondering why the warranty on green laserpointers is usually so short (0 to 6 months).
Even the >$1000 models only have 6 months of warranty.

Does this mean that there is a chance these lasers will fail after a few months?
Or does the laser usually work for the lifetime specified in the specs?

 

[Justin]

Most lasers will work for the stated lifetime if you let them ("MTTF" = mean time to fail), but the way that people TREAT the laser is a totally different issue. The laser module itself will happily run for 5000-6000 hours (in the case of an Aries or Herc, for example) but after 6 months of being dropped, shaken, carried in a pocket with your keys, played with by countless friends, taken to the beach, fed poor quality or overcharged batteries, etc it is tough for a company to survive trying to replace all of those broken lasers under warranty. You can actually purchase an extended warranty with most high-powered Laserglow products, which will then cover you for a full year. I don't know whether other retailers have a similar policy.

 

[pseudonomen137]

Doesnt WL offer 2 year extended warranty or something like that?

Normally if the laser is going to die because of an inherent defect like a bad diode, it will happen early on (just like computer CPUs) so long warrantys aren't necessary. As Justin is saying though, past that most damage doesn't come from poor laser quality, but poor use of the laser by the owner. Its understandable that resellers don't want to pay for fixing that out of pocket.

 

[Justin]

It would be great if the lasers could have a little odometer on them, to keep track of how long it has been used for. I don't think anybody is going to implement that anytime soon, though.

 

[pseudonomen137]

It would be great if the lasers could have a little odometer on them, to keep track of how long it has been used for. I don't think anybody is going to implement that anytime soon, though.

Don't forget gas lasers . Most of those do have an hour meter in them... unfortunately the hour meters are maxed out on most of the lasers I have since I got them used.

 

[Justin]

Ah yes, I was talking about DPSS lasers but gas lasers DO have hour meters to let you know when to regas! Good catch. I have no doubt that somewhere out there is a DPSS lab laser with a meter, but I don't think we'll see that on a handheld unit any time soon.

 

[Deleted member 10578]

Doesn't WL offer 2 year extended warranty or something like that?

Normally if the laser is going to die because of an inherent defect like a bad diode, it will happen early on (just like computer CPUs) so long warrantys aren't necessary. As Justin is saying though, past that most damage doesn't come from poor laser quality, but poor use of the laser by the owner. Its understandable that resellers don't want to pay for fixing that out of pocket.

I agree with and with Justin as well.
Like all electronic components, most failures are early on in the component lifetime (infant mortality).
Failure rate can be greatly reduced by a good "burn-in" period before shipment to the customer. Most failures after this infant mortality phase are not component or quality related, but by customer misuse/ abuse and physical damage (which is never covered under warranty).

We recently changed the warranty period on new RPL portable modules to 12 months standard warranty because we have a very low failure rate and with our Q/A test & burn-in process, the failure rate at the customer has been <0.5% (< failure/200 units) over the last 13 months that the RPL has been in production and most of those were in the 1st 3 months of production, so the failure rate in the past 8 months is even less than this and getting better all the time.

WL does offer a 2 year extended replacement plan, but this is NOT a warranty.
If you read the details of it, it's really pretty lame.
It does NOT offer to repair your laser for free at all for a normal warranty condition.
What they offer is this:
1. You buy the extended warranty for $99.99.
2. If your laser fails (Spyder II for instance), then you pay for it's return to WL ($35 or so).
3. You then pay a 50% replacement fee ($850) for a replacement Spyder (which may or may not be in spec.)
4. You also pay a shipping charge for them to send this replacement to you. (not sure of this cost).

So, basically you are paying $950 plus shipping to trade it in for another, this is pretty steep for a laser that is guaranteed to only output at least 200mW even if this was a new purchase.

WL says in their extended replacement page:
"It is also a way for Wicked Lasers to say "thank you" to our beloved customers."

In reality it means this:
"It is also a way for Wicked Lasers to say "bend over so we can screw you again" to our beloved customers.

btw Pseudo, I really like your new avatar, very cool.

 

[fidgejufter]

I suppose being that in many countries/states/dominions/floating sky palaces/etc, this whole laser business is a bit shady, rendering it a silly question...but in Europe, your consumer rights give you a minimum of a 1 year warranty, I believe. Of course, if you're buying from outside the EU, that probably doesn't apply, but doesn't the US or Canada have similar protections for its consumers?

 

[Justin]

In Canada there are consumer protection laws about specific large value purchases, like cars and houses, but nothing universal. It is up to the individual company to set their warranty for most consumer goods. Many credit cards, VISA for one, offer their own purchase protection as well.

 

[Aseras]

yeah I'm going around with visa over a dud casio exilm camera that died about 31 days after I bought it. While it has a 1 year warranty by casio they baically refuse to honor it since the error I'm getting indicated abuse ( shock/drop damage ) even though the camera worked fine taking pics all night, battery went dead and it sat on the charger until i needed it and then I got a stabilization error. Even if I get ir replaced through the visa, i might just small claims sue casio for the fun of it.

 

[Placebo]

What they offer is this:
1. You buy the extended warranty for $99.99.

I think it's only fair to point out that the $99.99 price is for Spyders only. All other laser extended service plans are $19.99.

Right or wrong, extended service plans are an option, not a conspiracy. There are no hidden details (well, not anymore)

Would WL be more honorable if they did not offer these plans?

 

[stevetexas]

consumer reports almost always recommends against extended warranties.

Reputable companies like Optotronics and Laserglow are probably the rare exceptions (besides - with those companies you rarely get duds because they pre-test the crap out of them and they sell you something that works to spec...)