SkyTrak reliability - extended warranty?

[GlobalExpress]

I rarely, if ever buy any kind of extended warranty.

How reliable has your SkyTrak been? Mine will be in a mostly unheated garage so it will see some cold temps, if that matters.

Have you needed the warranty? Or have you had any pricy/lengthy SkyTrak fixes? I'd be somewhat interested if it got the unit back super fast. I'd be more concerned about the down time than the cost (Mostly)

Thanks.

[Cozman]

I've had mine probably 2 years. Haven't used it much, didn't have the room for it inside when I bought it and then had to deal with cervical surgery which kept me from using it for the better part of a year. Used it outside and hit around 1000 balls with it. Right laser went out. Out of warranty.
Sent it in 11 days ago and still waiting to hear how much it's going to cost me to have repaired.

[mikewohlwend]

Bought a used one in March of 2018 and haven't had many issues besides some miss reads. It stays in an unheated garage that's only heated when we are hitting on it.

[Cozman]

I've had mine probably 2 years. Haven't used it much, didn't have the room for it inside when I bought it and then had to deal with cervical surgery which kept me from using it for the better part of a year. Used it outside and hit around 1000 balls with it. Right laser went out. Out of warranty.
Sent it in 11 days ago and still waiting to hear how much it's going to cost me to have repaired.

Dear Jim Cozzolino, We have received your SkyTrak Launch monitor REE22WAIN59A, and it has been determined by our technicians that the unit is in need of a RH 854 trigger laser replacement. The repair quote for your device is $99.00.

[Spudly]

Well, you are talking to the guy who go the very first one ever shipped in the U.S. that unit lasted me for two years and when it experienced problems the development team replaced it with a new one. I have had that one ever since and just recently sent it in for a calibration.

I could not be happier with my purchase.

[Morini]

Just about the only thing that goes wrong is laser curtain burnout. There was a bad batch. Nobody outside of Skytrak knows what percentage of units have been affected, but I'd say very likely well over 1 percent. Let's say 2% for sake of argument. The cost of repairing out of warranty seems to be between $100 and $200, so let's say $150. 2% of $150 is $3. Of course, there are are few other things that can go wrong, so let's make it $5. As I see it, that is my back of the napkin estimation of the true value of insurance against issues not caused by users error.

[Cozman]

They blamed my failure on a trigger failure, no choice but to take their word for it. I suppose the next failure will be the actual laser.

[Morini]

The laser curtain is a laser. I don't know why you don't believe them. It matches exactly with your description of the problem.

[Cozman]

Huh...? Are you talking to me ?
Why would they say it's the trigger if in fact it was the laser curtain ?
Two different things ?

[jpotas]

It is the same thing. It is a laser curtain that triggers the system.

[Morini]

Yes, it is a 850 nm IR line laser. It is called a curtain because it is a "sheet" of light that the ball has to pass through. The refracted light is used to estimate the ball speed, and then trigger the strobes at the perfect time. Hence it is also known as "laser trigger". The red dot is nothing, just used as a rough guide to tell you where to put the ball. The unit would work fine if you taped over it.

[pcascio]

The important part was the $99, IMO.

[Cozman]

Ahhh, OK, didn't know that.

[Cozman]

The important part was the $99, IMO.

Right, could have been a lot more. Just a little upsetting after so little use.

[pcascio]

Still an inconvenience, but comforting to know ST didn't gouge you on the repair.