Why I Hate My Lectrosonics SMV

[film...@hotmail.com]

The units constantly constantly constantly accidentally go into "rf off" mode, always at the most inopportune times, and I can never get the quick Audio and Freq buttons to get out of standby mode!!!!!!!!!! So I end up having to change out TX's during a shoot!!!!!!!!!! If I sound pissed off you'd be correct!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tom

[Mark O'Russa]

Don't be so pissed. It just sounds like your unit needs a trip to the
mothership. I've never had a sm unit randomly go into rf off mode, but I
have had buttons stick.

Mark O.

[film...@hotmail.com]

While I appreciate your call for patience Mark, that trip to the mothership you spoke off will be yet another $150.00 -- $175.00 to fix a problem that shouldn't exist!!!! This problem happens on either of my SMV's and as such, I think it's a design problem!

[Karl Winkler]

On Feb 7, 5:38 pm, filmma...@hotmail.com wrote:
> While I appreciate your call for patience Mark, that trip to the mothership you spoke off will be yet another $150.00 -- $175.00 to fix a problem that shouldn't exist!!!!  This problem happens on either of my SMV's and as such, I think it's a design problem!

Hi Tom,

We're sorry to hear of your frustration with these transmitters. I ran
this thread by our service manager, Dean Slotness, and this is his
reply:

"I have not heard of SMV’s that go into the RF off mode once they have
been properly turned on. If the unit truly has a bad keypad and that
is the cause of this failure we can repair these transmitters under an
extended warranty. The oldest of SMV transmitters were manufactured in
March of 2010. We would recommend the units come to us or any one of
the warranty repair stations for repair."

If you have contacted us for a repair estimate, and they quoted $150
to $175, it is probably because they did not actually see the units
and did not realize that an extended warranty might be available.
Whenever we determine that it is a design flaw, we cover it basically
for as long as it takes. An example is the LM transmitters from a few
years ago. We had a spate of failures, and at some point, we
determined that it was susceptibility to static discharge. So we
changed the design. Every once in a while, we get another one in, and
fix it under warranty.

Sincerely,

Karl Winkler
Lectrosonics, Inc.

[boom...@earthlink.net]

Had the same thing happen, but at power up. I know it's standby mode. Powered it off and held the buttons until full power up.

Never had it go into "rf off" mode at any other time.

[Marc Wielage]

On Thu, 9 Feb 2012 07:35:58 -0800, Karl Winkler wrote
(in article
<d20deee5-368f-4370...@g4g2000pbi.googlegroups.com>):

> If you have contacted us for a repair estimate, and they quoted $150
> to $175, it is probably because they did not actually see the units
> and did not realize that an extended warranty might be available.

>------------------------------<snip>------------------------------<

I will back up what Karl says. One of my SMa transmitters also got stuck in
the "RF Only" position at boot-up, and I sent it in for repair. Lectro not
only turned it around in 2 days, they paid for 2nd-day return postage and
charged me zero for the repair (after initially quoting about $100+). And
this was a unit purchased way back in 2008, long out of warranty.

It's for reasons like this that I continue to rely on Lectrosonics as a
solid, first-class company that frequently goes above and beyond, even for a
fairly low-end customer in the grand scale of things. Their support is
second to none.

Oh, and the unit has been flawless ever since, as have been all of my Lectro
receivers and xmitters.

--MFW

[Baylon Fonseca]

I would agree to with Karl Winkler .... Dean and his team are simple
amazing when it comes to the service. The turnaround is incredible.
The unit should ideally stay in the RF ON mode once set. If its
jumping to the OFF call in the unit.

-B