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How important is the warranty on the IQ280 or IQ260?

mmbma

Active member
Is it worthy it to shell out 1500 -2000 a year for the extended warranty? How many IQ180 users actually used the warranty within its effective period?

Would love your thoughts.
 

malmac

Member
Yes I did have to send ours (IQ180) back for warranty. Yes twice, but luckliy it was within the first year - it is now in its second year and no sign of further problems.

Would I go for the value added warranty if I was doing it over?
For me yes - there are expensive items and they can go wrong -

How long will our back go on for now?
I hope for a very long time - I am rather fond of using the IQ180 and I am not disappointed we bought into the system.



Mal
 

gazwas

Active member
Some stuff breaks........... some doesn't.

Always used to get the value added warranty at my last studio and the very well used backs never developed any problems - not much to go wrong.

The P65+ I personally purchased had only 12 months warranty and at just under 3 years old shows no signs of problems. IQ's might be different but if I upgrade to the IQ2, the 12 month warranty is all I'll be getting.

As a paranoid first timer a digital back is so expensive to buy and worryingly expensive to repair. As a seasoned P1 user, I now never worry about their reliability and if its going to go pop>fizz, it will probably be in the first 12 months due to a manufacturing defect.

Cameras and lenses get as much warranty as possible. Digital backs are ok with the normal 12 months IMO.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
In a lot of ways this is like asking about fire insurance.
- Anyone who has ever needed it, even once, is likely to tell you it's critical.
- Anyone who has never needed it is likely to tell you it's money down the drain.

My previous job title was Head of Tech Services and I dealt with all the repairs. When someone called in with an issue, of any kind, if they had a warranty their blood pressure was much lower. This was especially true when they had the value added warranty which includes a loaner during any repair/service.

With an IQ the warranty jumps from 1 year to 5 years, includes the loaner program, and adds a few accessories (e.g. Capture One Pro). To me, with a background in service, at $4k extra it's a good value. $1k/year for warranty, peace of mind, and a few accessories.
 

hcubell

Well-known member
In a lot of ways this is like asking about fire insurance.
- Anyone who has ever needed it, even once, is likely to tell you it's critical.
- Anyone who has never needed it is likely to tell you it's money down the drain.

My previous job title was Head of Tech Services and I dealt with all the repairs. When someone called in with an issue, of any kind, if they had a warranty their blood pressure was much lower. This was especially true when they had the value added warranty which includes a loaner during any repair/service.

With an IQ the warranty jumps from 1 year to 5 years, includes the loaner program, and adds a few accessories (e.g. Capture One Pro). To me, with a background in service, at $4k extra it's a good value. $1k/year for warranty, peace of mind, and a few accessories.
I could not agree more about the wisdom of the extended warranty. My IQ180 failed 3 times in the first 13 months as I recall. Phase overnighted me loaners each time and ultimately replaced the back after the third failure. I think Phase had a great reliability record with its P series of backs, but my sense is that the IQ backs have not been as reliable.
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
I bought the value added warranty with my IQ160 as it was a first generation back (in the new form anyway) and quite a lot of new technology in it. Also, as it happens the first back I received went almost instantly DoA and was subsequently replaced with a new unit vs being repaired. That was worth the cost of the warranty in itself because I'd have hated having a back that might or might not fail again. At the time that I purchased the IQ back I only had the one MFDB. Should there be a problem that required sending the back to Phase One I'd have been stuck with some great medium format camera gear that I couldn't use, plus I can almost guarantee that this would happen just when I was either on or about to go on an expensive photography trip.

Doug's explanation of whether you need the extra peace of mind is very relevant. You don't need this stuff ... until you really do!
 

gerald.d

Well-known member
Probably worth noting that this kind of thing varies tremendously depending on where you bought your back.

In the UK, a situation such as the one Graham describes would not need a warranty to sort out. Under the Sale of Goods Act, the customer would be legally entitled to a full refund. Not only that, but the retailer may also be liable for any consequential loss incurred due to the failure of the back - this would cover the cost of hiring a replacement back, for example.

Consumers in the UK are - rightly - extremely well protected by statutory rights. There would certainly be little need to purchase any additional warranty for the first year, and arguably, even beyond that.

Phase One's policy of allowing customers to purchase an additional year's warranty prior to the expiration of each year following the sale of the back is a fairly good scheme though, even for UK customers.
 

gerald.d

Well-known member
Some stuff breaks........... some doesn't.

Always used to get the value added warranty at my last studio and the very well used backs never developed any problems - not much to go wrong.

The P65+ I personally purchased had only 12 months warranty and at just under 3 years old shows no signs of problems. IQ's might be different but if I upgrade to the IQ2, the 12 month warranty is all I'll be getting.

As a paranoid first timer a digital back is so expensive to buy and worryingly expensive to repair. As a seasoned P1 user, I now never worry about their reliability and if its going to go pop>fizz, it will probably be in the first 12 months due to a manufacturing defect.

Cameras and lenses get as much warranty as possible. Digital backs are ok with the normal 12 months IMO.
Hi Gareth -

Just to pick up on you last paragraph, since you're in the UK...

As a UK consumer you have statutory rights that go well beyond the first 12 months of a product's life.

The law states that any goods you purchase must be "of satisfactory quality". What this includes, is that they must last "for a reasonable length of time". Whilst the law does not explicitly specify what a "reasonable" length of time is, I think any retailer/dealer would have a hard time convincing a court that a $4K camera or lens should not be expected to last for many, many years. And they'd have an even harder time explaining to a court why a $40K digital back with no moving parts couldn't be expected to last for even longer.

Bottom line - if the goods don't last for as long as they should (assuming the fault isn't of your making of course), then that typically can be taken as proof that there was a fault at the time of purchase. That fault doesn't have to be apparent at the time of purchase. It could for example be an inherent design fault that takes time to actually have an impact on the performance of the goods.

Regards,

Gerald.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
IMO, this isn't a brand centric issue, it is a MFD category issue.

For the price of decent car, one is afforded a measly one year limited warranty, and the right to purchase an expensive extension out of fear-of-failure that could be catastrophically expensive. At least car warranties are usually a minimum of 3 years/36,000 miles and frequently range up to 5 years/60,000 miles ... with major components often covered even longer.

Since MFD backs are covered in terms of time from purchase not usage, one could suffer a breakdown after the time term expires, yet only have a limited amount of usage ... compared to a production studio that may have 100,000+ actuations at the time of repair.

Comparing camera repair to fire insurance is ridiculous. Fire insurance is protection against a potential life altering event, covers something far more expensive than any camera, and cost a fraction compared to these MFD camera policies.

At least Leica have seen the light, and now provides a 3 year warranty with the new S camera which includes a replacement camera during repair ... a warranty that is fully and freely transferable to second-hand buyers.

Do these companies have so little faith in their own products that an expectation of "years of service" is so difficult to provide?

Yet we keep buying into the proposition, so why should they change?

-Marc
 

Steve Hendrix

Well-known member
Is it worthy it to shell out 1500 -2000 a year for the extended warranty? How many IQ180 users actually used the warranty within its effective period?

Would love your thoughts.

Something to keep in mind is that the normally $4,000 cost for a 5 Year Value Add Warranty is reduced considerably if one is upgrading. The cost then is typically around $2,600. So you then have a warranty for 5 years (about $510 per year) that includes:

*Any parts/labor on warranty repairs (minimum repair is $600, average repair is $2,000)
*Free loaner (usually next day) for any repairs (even non-warrantied, as in your dropped it)
*One free camera platform swap (within the warranty period)
*A bunch of goodies, including the very nice rolling case, free C1 Pro, 8Gb CF Card, CF reader, extra P1 Battery, Hasselblad Lens Adapter (if Mamiya mount), etc. These add up to roughly $2,000 (at retails prices).

At $4,000, this is perhaps not for everyone. If upgrading - at $510 per year - I think it is worth considering.

It's an international warranty, and yes, it is transferrable.


Steve Hendrix
Capture Integration
 
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