Benzing Question

[kalapati]

hi,

our club sec here in san diego called me last night to advise that ed, the benzing guy from siegelpigeons is coming down to visit a relative and at the same time will stopby in our club to do firmware updates and internal battery change to members' ATIS clocks. the charge - $135 per clock.

is it really that expensive to do the updates? i'm just wonderin' maybe i can just go to walmart and buy that $2 tiny CMOS internal battery and download the firmware updates from benzing site. has anybody here done this before on his/her ATIS benzing.

BTW, the ATIS clock that i have was just given to me by another member. i am not able to use my other benzing express for the club officer who process the reports is having a hardtime extracting data from it. the express has a different config compared to ATIS, which is the standard model on this club.


kalapati
San Diego
http://bluebarloft.from-ca.com:81/Jview.htm

[irishsyndicate]

Ouch !!!

If you have some minimal solder skills - a battery replacement should be just the $3 Radio Shack cost.

But as soon as you remove that "Siegel" seal, you are out of warranty ....

Originally Posted by kalapati

hi,

our club sec here in san diego called me last night to advise that ed, the benzing guy from siegelpigeons is coming down to visit a relative and at the same time will stopby in our club to do firmware updates and internal battery change to members' ATIS clocks. the charge - $135 per clock.

is it really that expensive to do the updates? i'm just wonderin' maybe i can just go to walmart and buy that $2 tiny CMOS internal battery and download the firmware updates from benzing site. has anybody here done this before on his/her ATIS benzing.

BTW, the ATIS clock that i have was just given to me by another member. i am not able to use my other benzing express for the club officer who process the reports is having a hardtime extracting data from it. the express has a different config compared to ATIS, which is the standard model on this club.


kalapati
San Diego
http://bluebarloft.from-ca.com:81/Jview.htm

[kalapati]

Originally Posted by irishsyndicate

Ouch !!!

If you have some minimal solder skills - a battery replacement should be just the $3 Radio Shack cost.

But as soon as you remove that "Siegel" seal, you are out of warranty ....

i appreciate your advise. i can replace that battery for i have a soldering tool with me but i'm having a hardtime locating an updated ATIS firmware from benzing website. i guess i have no choice but to write a $135 check for the guy.


kalapati
San Diego
http://bluebarloft.from-ca.com:81/Jview.htm

[Young Bird]

I tried getting the ATIS firmware from Benzing but they said they could not give it to me and that i had to send it in to get updated

[DEEJAY7950]

You mean send it in to get robbed!

[kalapati]

Originally Posted by Young Bird

I tried getting the ATIS firmware from Benzing but they said they could not give it to me and that i had to send it in to get updated

i saw an ad of benzing in a european website and they are charging 149 euros to do the same job. so i guess siegel charge is much cheaper.

Originally Posted by DEEJAY7950

You mean send it in to get robbed!

i think you are right. imagine this model is more than 10 years old and they should just let us download the firmware for free from their site.



kalapati
San Diego
http://bluebarloft.from-ca.com/Jview.htm

[DEEJAY7950]

As the pigeon sport of "racing" gets smaller and smaller as the older members pass away or quit, it will get even more expensive as time goes by, but I do hope this trend is reversible and we see increased interest in the sport of racing pigeons by getting more younger members to join, I know our club members do everything possible to grow our club by getting new members but the reality of the cost involved can curb anybody's enthusiasm! So how long will that $135 Dollar upgrade last? Wish it would be forever but I'm sure it won't be so then here we go again another upgrade, another battery change,and another $150, or $200, by the time it needs it again, the vicious cycle goes on and on, so we pay or we can't play LOL! Thank God we can still use manual clocks or many of us would be SOL, Having said all that we all know it's just a matter of time before all of us will be using the ETC's I'm planing on getting a benzing also and that's the "rub" when you here about someone's problems using these clocks, I know the G2 is only about $600 compared to the M1 which is about $1200 but still a tough nut to crack these days!