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Red Armor, Reliability and Repair Discussion

Red Armor, Reliability and Repair Discussion

  • YES - Red Armor always

    Votes: 8 47.1%

  • NO - I need to save few dollars.

    Votes: 9 52.9%
  • Total voters
    17
Gene Sung

Gene Sung

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Poll Above - I should have added a "Sometimes I buy" option for Red Armor.

I have my S-W I/Opackage coming soon and one of the big dilemmas is whether to buy Red Armor - extra 750 days for $1250 which is quite a bit when you’re trying to buy other stuff - mags, wireless FF, new lens, etc….

Several questions

1) Obviously, the peace of mind with Red Armor is great to have, but do most of you guys get the extended warranty?

2) So far for digital cameras I’ve had a Sony Hi8, 5D II, 7D, 60D, GoPro, Sony FS700, Sony FS7 and have NEVER had a single issue. They have all been bulletproof and I shoot quite often, but I am very careful with gear as well.

Can I expect this type of reliability from Red? Are Red repairs frequent and expensive enough to warrant Red Armor? Should I be concerned?

3) I believe Red Armor is an extra 750 days on top of the 365 for a total of 1015 days of warranty. Seems like Red is doing a new camera update every two years or so. So say… if in 800 days, the next sensor comes out, that leaves 215 days left on Red Armor which is already paid. Does those extra days carry over to the next Scarlet iteration? Or do they expire?

Thanks for any input.
 
im curious about this to as ive never bought a RED camera before and am expecting a Raven soon. i also wonder if the price differs btwn camera models.
i cant find any information on it in the red store. did they offer you just ONE extra year price? or is it only for two years, making it 3.
 
I have owned Reds since our first very early Red One. We had a power module fail on the Red One toward the end of a two day shoot on a hot day 90 minutest from the closest rental shop. We had some dialog scenes and a crane shot timed to sunset. We had a second body run to us and ended up getting critical shots but it was dicey.

The Red One as a first generation product had reliability issues--especially related to overheating. People used to have to use ice packs on the body, etc. That's when I decided to always have a backup body on set. I bought Red Armor on both of my Epics and Dragons and my Armor had just stated to kick in when I upgraded to Weapon so I never really got any benefit. Plus Red wouldn't carry the Armor over to the new body. That was about 4K down the toilet.

We've never had a warranty issue on either of our two Epics or Dragons since 2011. Red cameras have been very reliable since the Epic (after they worked out a few bugs) but nothing that required warranty issues for us.

My experience has been that electronic products like this are very reliable and if your're going to have an issue, it's going to show up in the first year of use.

So I face the same question now with my two Scarlwt W's. One year seems on the edge... Three years would be great for peace of mind but as you said, upgrades come around every two years or less so if you're inclined to stay on the upgrade path, I'm not sure its worth it when the risk is pretty low.

Hope that helps,

M
 
jordan levy said:
im curious about this to as ive never bought a RED camera before and am expecting a Raven soon. i also wonder if the price differs btwn camera models.
i cant find any information on it in the red store. did they offer you just ONE extra year price? or is it only for two years, making it 3.
Click to expand...

Warranties vary with the camera. 2 years on Wepon, One year for Scarlet and Raven. Armor cost vary as well. And they don't offer Armor on an ala carte basis. Fixed term/price.

Talk to you're rep if you have any questions.

M
 
i usually never, ever buy extended warranties either, but since this is a new product, I decided it was worth the extra cost this time. In general I agree that they are not really useful, such as in Apple products I do not buy them. It was an impulse decision as when they notified me that the Scarlet W was ready to ship, the question came up and I had to decide quickly. So far, no regrets.
 
Not that I'm buying a new camera or would really see it as a need to save money. I purchased it for my Scarlet and never had to use it. I wasn't going to purchase it but was pressured by my Bomb Squad rep at the time. Sure, shit happens with electronics but Red Armour isn't exactly cheap.
 
I bought the armor when I bought my epic dragon because I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to afford a costly repair, and continue to pay off my loan, all while I couldn't make money because I had a broken camera.

If I had a second camera body I may feel differently. So for me it made sense, but for a lot of people it may not.
 
I have owned many Canon and Sony cameras and used to own a RED Scarlet. RED was the only camera I ever had to send in for repair, and I had to send it in twice in two years and I used it a lot less than any of my other cameras. Basically I had to get the power board replaced and then get the video output board replaced. I don't recall if either was during my warranty but neither was covered if it was because I remember having to pay for it (production paid for one). I'd say save your money for when you have to pay for a repair since $1200 will nearly pay for most single-component repairs and if you have an issue that isn't covered by RED armor you'll end up paying for your warranty and for your repair... The whole experience made me a bit wary of owning RED since it ended up costing so much more in repairs and headache than any other camera I've ever owned, but at least now on weapon both of those boards are in the I/O module now so only having to send that in for a repair and having to at worst buy a used I/O module for <$1750 is a bit better than having to send in the whole brain and possibly pay far more for a repair.
 
I recoil from extended warranties all the time so I did the same with the RED. I did have a very expensive repair performed on my Scarlet Dragon, thankfully within the first year warranty. It would have been devastating had it happened beyond the warranty. If I had it to do again, I'd get the RED Armor. I think it's worth it.
 
Hugh Scully said:
I recoil from extended warranties all the time so I did the same with the RED. I did have a very expensive repair performed on my Scarlet Dragon, thankfully within the first year warranty. It would have been devastating had it happened beyond the warranty. If I had it to do again, I'd get the RED Armor. I think it's worth it.
Click to expand...

What was your expensive repair? The average cost of repairs may be an interesting factor to consider when considering a warranty. Mine were $1600 for a power board (my AC reversed the polarity) and $1k for an HDMI board replacement (mysterious issue maybe related to the power issue or a bad monitor). Not sure RED armor would've made sense since I don't even know if it would have covered those...

Aren't warranties basically just coverage against manufacturers defects? Any user error is probably not covered which is a much more common reason to need a repair... If the manufacturer built a good product that has no defects the warranty isn't that necessary, and then usually really egregious or widespread defects are sometimes covered outside of warranty probably to avoid lawsuits.
 
someone needs to explain red armor and what it covers and what it doesnt, any link to it on the red website? i cant find it at all.
 
Noah Yuan-Vogel said:
What was your expensive repair? The average cost of repairs may be an interesting factor to consider when considering a warranty. Mine were $1600 for a power board (my AC reversed the polarity) and $1k for an HDMI board replacement (mysterious issue maybe related to the power issue or a bad monitor). Not sure RED armor would've made sense since I don't even know if it would have covered those...

Aren't warranties basically just coverage against manufacturers defects? Any user error is probably not covered which is a much more common reason to need a repair... If the manufacturer built a good product that has no defects the warranty isn't that necessary, and then usually really egregious or widespread defects are sometimes covered outside of warranty probably to avoid lawsuits.
Click to expand...

I originally had a repair, a smaller one like the one you mention, for the hdmi port failing. However, while they had it I was working on a piece I had just shot which showed a sensor problem, which they helped identify and wound up replacing the sensor. That's huge and they were great about it. This camera is the single biggest business expense I have this past year. Even with that repair done, I still wished I'd gotten Red Armor and will for my next RED camera... whenever that is.
 
David Battistella said:
Red armor is worth every cent.
Click to expand...

Hi David, have you ever had to use your Red Armor? Obviously great to have, but for some of us cost is probably more of an issue.
 
Gene Sung said:
Hi David, have you ever had to use your Red Armor? Obviously great to have, but for some of us cost is probably more of an issue.
Click to expand...

It basically like AppleCare for your Red and extends your warranty. It has given me the piece of mind to send my camera in if anything seems wrong and know that I'm not going to get hit with any kind of surprising repair.

Red service is, in one word, awesome. I've had such excellent experiences with Pinewood and Irvine and just about any person I've had an interaction with.
 
I ALWAYS get an extended warrantee. I especially got one with my Scarlet because it's an expensive piece of gear and fear a costly repair, God forbid a repair so expensive that it's not worth repairing that I would have to pay out of pocket. I ALWAYS get Applecare as well.
 
Hugh Scully said:
I originally had a repair, a smaller one like the one you mention, for the hdmi port failing. However, while they had it I was working on a piece I had just shot which showed a sensor problem, which they helped identify and wound up replacing the sensor. That's huge and they were great about it. This camera is the single biggest business expense I have this past year. Even with that repair done, I still wished I'd gotten Red Armor and will for my next RED camera... whenever that is.
Click to expand...

Hi Hugh, How much would the sensor repair have costed? That's scary for sure.
 
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