Skytrak laser curtain

[simmb]

So the past few weeks my Skytrak has gotten worse and worse at picking up shots, then a few days ago it's finally given up the ghost and is not picking up anything at all, short story is I think the right laser curtain is shot. I did the left hand mode trick and that picks up anything that moves, so my options are repair or learn to play left handed.
Question is how much is a repair likely to be? the UK supplier have to send it back to the US so I am guessing it's not going to be cheap. Second question, is this a common fault? If it's happening to a lot of people then surely its a design issue and we shouldn't have to pay for repairs. UK law covers items for longer than the warranty period if it's not fit for purpose.
Anyone had this issue and what was the outcome?

[Dan McWhirter]

My left handed buddies play it right handed, between their stance and the ball, with no problems other than maybe a few more misreads than I get playing right. So...you might try setting it to left handed and then playing it between your stance and the ball.

[jaus]

My left-hand curtain went bad at 14k shots. As I recall it was $183 USD to replace. I'm not sure if it is a common problem, but I know I'm not the only one. I read an older post from a forum member who also had his go bad at 14k shots.

[simmb]

Thanks for the replies. I am around the 12K shot mark at the moment, my main concern is that if these things have a life expectancy of around 14K shot's I will need to get this done every year or so.
My simulator room is still a work in progress and can't be used on a daily basis but when it's complete I would expect to get to the 14K mark a lot quicker than I have this time around. As the UK can't do any repairs it needs to go to US so I would be very surprised if I was back up and running anytime soon (think I read 6 - 8 weeks somewhere). Are we just unlucky or do you think this could be an ongoing drama?

[Dan McWhirter]

The original warranty was for 50,000 shots or six months. I had bought the six month extension, but the same 50,000 shots. So, maybe 14,000 is just unlucky.

[jaus]

Back when my curtain failed I messages Seth about it and got the impression from him that the life expectancy should be greater than 14K. My new curtain is coming up on 14k now. So far so good.

[SkyTrak_Seth]

Hey guys, I'm really sorry to hear about the hardware issues. A failure of the laser curtain is not typical and certainly isn't tied to any shot number (ie 14k). These lasers have an life expectancy of 10+ years, so anything premature to that must be caused by something else (ball strike or just an unfortunate hardware failure). We probably won't be able to know what caused it until getting it in for repair.

[simmb]

Hey guys, I'm really sorry to hear about the hardware issues. A failure of the laser curtain is not typical and certainly isn't tied to any shot number (ie 14k). These lasers have an life expectancy of 10+ years, so anything premature to that must be caused by something else (ball strike or just an unfortunate hardware failure). We probably won't be able to know what caused it until getting it in for repair.

Its never been hit by a ball, my Skytrak has led a sheltered life in one protective case or another. It's was in an official Skytrak FMJ when it finally stopped working. The misreads gradually got worse and worse, I originally thought it was down to the software updates but then realised it was a bit more serious than that. I am gutted as I know it's going to be a few months before I get it fixed and I will miss the British open TGC tournament.

[SkyTrak_Seth]

We'll get you sorted so you won't miss the open

[simmb]

Thank you Seth, your help is very much appreciated.

[Hearsall203]

My RH curtain has just failed, probably less than 5K shots, but out of warranty. Always in original FJM case, never had a impact or dropped, treated with respect, yet it has failed and probably going to cost me over £350 to be repaired and out of action for 8 - 10 weeks whilst shipped back to US for repair, like Simmb had to.
Would like to know what % of units have failed in 1st 2 years of their life and whether any improvements have been made as to the quality of the components to reduce failure rates? When it works Skytrak is a great product but I can’t wait that length of time every time there is a failure and may have to consider an alternative solution where I can get more regional support/repair. I don’t have a permanent simulator environment, so by the time I get the device back now, it will be time to pack by temporary simulator environment away till end of Oct this year. Let’s see what the U.K. customer support say on Monday when their offices are next open. A repaired device with a new 6 month warranty isn’t going to help me out in the summer months when it has minimal use !!

[simmb]

Sorry to hear that you are having the same issue. See what the Skytrak UK team say on Monday, they and SkyTrak_Seth did take good care of me. I have read a few other posts about laser curtains failing fairly early on in the units life, think there was talk about a potential dodgy batch or something. Hopefully they will sort you out.

[Hearsall203]

Sent to Skyhawke UK who confirmed no read on RH Side. They are sending back to US for repair, so 2-3 month wait
My Simulator "Marquee" sits idle waiting for it's return. Think I'll create a Simulator build blog in the interim !!

[simmb]

Hopefully you will get a quick turnaround.

Your setup is almost exactly the same as my first one Brings back fond but cold memories.