JR Radio / Horizon Service is friggen awsome

[RobH]

I have to give props to the Horizon Service Center. I sent my JR XS3 in a week ago last saturday. Today (Monday) the ups man gave me a brown box of goodness (my fixed jr xs3).

On the invoice (cost me nothing not even the 6.95 for shipping it back to me) the tech left the following comment:

Thank You for your letter. You described the trouble perfectly which makes trouble shooting the problem effortless. The clock crystal went out. The just happened sometimes and usually only in the first few hours of operations. After that they can last virtually forever (ok years). After replacing the crystal the transmitter came back up and worked fine. Tested the tx and rx for tuning, output and functions and all checks passed fine. servos are ok too.
Thanks for choosing J.R.
Bruce
5 29 03

We all know this radio is sweet. Now you can all know via my experience that their product support is also sweet. I think I may start using them as my online hobby shop (OHS?). That's how pleased I am.

Time to install it into my buggy.

-Rob

 

[RSfan8]

thats good it got all worked out. it sucks that your radio already broke though, do you think it was because you bought it on ebay? did they even care you bought it "2nd hand"? anyways, thats very cool of horizon

 

[Kinger]

I just bought a Team Losi XXX-Nt from Ebay (havent recieved it yet) and it has that same radio. RS Fan had a good point. Did they care it was not yours from the store? My friend bought on brand new and it is very fast so I hope mine will be the same but I dont wanna sacrifice a 3 year warranty to save $100 bucks.

 

[RobH]

Nope, I printed out the paypal transaction info and sent it in as my invoice. The auction states it was new in box and Racing Hobbies is more of a resaler than an average person. The Horizon return policy says they will fix the product for the original purchaser. I think ebay turns this into a fuzy issue.

Also, my radio has a new problem. The wheel doesn't work. I think the guy didn't hook up the wheel when he put it back together. I'm going to call them today and see what's up. Maybe I can hook it up myself. I should have tested the radio before I posted this thread.

-Rob

 

[RSfan8]

heh that sucks rob. and Kinger, i think if the car is NIB you'll be fine, if it was used I'm not sure, i doubt theyd just blow you off though.

 

[RobH]

I fixed my JR XS3 by myself. When the tech took the main board out he had to remove the soder from the steering component. When he put it back together, he never sodered the steering jigger back on. I attached a pic but it's really hard to see the missing soder and the sodering gun marks from when he removed it.

I sodered the three required posts back to the board and the radio works great now. It steers perfectly

 

[mcvickj]

That is great news. Sounds like you have some experience in electronics or just got lucky. I know I would have been looking for a needle in a haystack and would have had to send it back in.

 

[RobH]

At first, I took it apart to see what I could see. Then, I saw the three naked, soderless posts sticking up. I also saw burn marks where the guy heated the joints with a sodering gun and then blew the old soder off with an air compressor. The posts also happened to be directly inline with the center of the steering mechanizm. I took an education guess.

An electronicz wiz I am not, but can use a sodering gun.

My wife gave me some flack when I explained the problem and mentioned I was going after my $200 radio with a sodering gun. When I was done, all she could say was, "I hate it when you're right" As you can tell, I do gloat a bit.

-Rob