GCQuad Locked to USA

[irishgolfer62]

I’m travelling to USA next week from Europe for work and I had planned to purchase a GCQuad as they are 50% cheaper in USA.
I’ve read GCQuad are locked to wherever you buy them so it might not work in Europe?, any options around this or is it the case of paying Foresight to unlock so I can use it in Europe?

[Wormburner]

I would reach out to them! Submit an inquiry on their site and they will call you.

[vrpunk]

Use a VPN when it does a region check

[irishgolfer62]

I thought a vpn would work but then I read it uses gps, obviously I would prefer to use a vpn than give an extra 2-3k to Foresight so hopefully a vpn will work.

[AdamV]

I’m not sure the unit has a GPS in it?

You have to revalidate your license every 45 days by connecting to the internet, this is where the geo blocking kicks in, so I think it’s internet based.

[irishgolfer62]

Great stuff, a vpn will hopefully do the trick and save me money. Does the GCQuad notify that it’s doing the check or does it do it in the background, I assume it checks in background and I would need a vpn anytime I was using FSX or TGC.

[gojoholo]

It's hard to believe it's still legal for Foresight to do this. Is there a lawyer in the house!

[delaloi]

It would not be legal for Foresight to geoblock as between EU Member States. But, they probably can do it as between US, Canada, Europe, etc. I lived in the US when I bought my GCQ but was soon moving to Europe and needed it to work in both places. I had to pay extra for them to unblock it for use in Europe, I don't recall exactly how much but it was significant.

You might find a VPN workaround but as noted above GCQ needs to validate the license regularly and you need to login to use FSX Live. I think they will try to make it hard for you.

[irishgolfer62]

I imagine I would have to use a vpn all the time when I’m connected to the web so might not be ideal and I might have to splash the cash and pay them to unblock it.
I imagine it would be Illegal no matter what they have in their terms, but it is what it is.

[Sevvy]

Don’t forget Customs on the way back!

[irishgolfer62]

I’ll give customs a wave as I pass through with my cheap GCQuad

[CBWag]

I imagine I would have to use a vpn all the time when I’m connected to the web so might not be ideal and I might have to splash the cash and pay them to unblock it.
I imagine it would be Illegal no matter what they have in their terms, but it is what it is.

I'm not a lawyer (clearly) but why would it be illegal? Don't you guys have VAT's?

[irishgolfer62]

Vat and import tax is different than only allowing hardware to work in a particular part of the world, seems dubious at best but I agree with another member of this forum that is cannot be legal.
From a legal point of view it an unusual practice and they would need to advertise it on their website and any site that it’s sold on that it is restricted to the country of purchase which they don’t so from that point of view it’s probably illegal.
If vpn does not work I will challenge them on it as I would imagine I would have a strong case not to pay an extra charge.

[CBWag]

They do. It says on all of hte purchase pages "AVAILABLE TO U.S. CUSTOMERS ONLY. All products will be shipped and sold only to U.S. Credit Card bearers and U.S. addresses. "

[irishgolfer62]

Stating that they will only sell to USA customers is not the same as the device getting locked for usage to within USA. No mention of devices getting locked on any of their international websites. I only found out the device gets locked after searching through several forums on info regarding GCQuad. It’s something they don’t want people to know. They would need to state this device will not work outside USA or wherever it is purchased and is locked to usage within that country. If you want to use the product outside The country of purchase an additional license is required. They would definitely need to add that to their websites, without that info they would have very little grounds to charge the hidden fee they are charging. I’m going to push them on it when I get my quad as I’m sure they would not want to have to declare that on their websites as that would put some people off buying the GCQuad.

[CBWag]

Fair point. The EULA is available online and does talk about geographic smart cameras, which I presume is the issue here. https://www.foresightsports.com/eula

C. If you have purchased a Smart Camera System with a Geographic License, Foresight grants you a revocable, non-exclusive geographical license which may specify the geographic location(s) in which use of your System is authorized. Your Geographic License requires periodic online activation and confirmation of the geographic location of your System. If your System is used in an unauthorized geographic location, your System's data output capacity will be disabled. Please contact Foresight's customer support to obtain a valid Geographical License for the location of your desired use.

[irishgolfer62]

It’s waffle at best, they would need to state that in their sales info page and not a page buried at the back of their site.
Terms and conditions buried in a website carry no weight. Will be interesting to see what they do once I bring mine back in a few weeks.

[CBDBOZ]

Seems strange they would be geo locked.... imagine poor old Ricky Fowler practicing at the range at The Open, only to find it doesn’t work......

I have had Skytrak and a GC2 from US, and both worked wherever I take them.....