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Archive 2015 · EYE-FI TURNS A BLIND EYE

  
 
ajacobs2
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · EYE-FI TURNS A BLIND EYE


It was about a year ago I purchased a Pro 2 Wi-fi Card from Eye-FI. A week ago while removing it, two pieces and a chip came out. The card split from the lock notch and the label was holding it together. Thus I wrote Eye -Fi. I got the usual standard legal proof issues, and like the rest of the world, I can't spend a week looking for a receipt, so I went into repair mode.

REPLY
Foo Jul 8, 11:26 Hello,
We do not repair cards, if they are damaged and under warranty they are replaced. Our standard warranty for Eyefi cards is 1 year. (Blah Blah Blah - Deleted the rest.)
Eyefi Customer Care


Since they wouldn't even look at it, I passed, and here is the repair if the same thing happens to you. What they didn't know we were recommending, even going to include them in our new product I manufacture and blew any future sales to use and I will be sure to mention them to the myriad of dealers we'll see at the two upcoming trade shows. Bottom line they are flimsy, cheap plastic construction and not made for the long haul.
I wrote back.

Jul 8, 14:00
DEAR FOO
I'm almost sure it's slightly over a year old. So further conversation is not relevant. Obviously your sig line says it all, "legal/warranty" is more important than customer service. Being in the business, a manufacturer, and I feel now recommending your products will unfortunately come to an end. The part is very delicate, almost flimsy, too flimsy for us to recommend as part of our users and sales group.

Being somewhat of a design- engineer. Closer inspection indicated the label actually dislodged, or wasn't applied right, and got caught when card was being removed as it had lifted. Which then caused the two halves to separate and crack in many places especially near the notch. Very thin plastic. We'll post the repair on every website I can find as a public service…

THE FIX WHEN YOURS CRACKS
EYE-FI PRO 2 CARD 16GB PROBLEMS and FIXES
It appears in the construction of this SD Wi-fi card two, possibly three problems might arise. Poor assembly, It uses cheap very weak Styrene based plastic. It has to be thin plastic, understandable and hollow enough for the extra internals. But this is the weak point, stronger plastics can also be thin, but resilient and strong. Labels not adhered correctly, catch on camera slot and the micro thickness just tears. What gets built in China should stay there.


Tools needed
• M.E.K. solvent glue sold at hobby stores and home depot. (Caution this is a strong solvent and highly flammable and will act like welding, dries very fast, softens plastics bonds when the two parts touch, same as plastic airplane cement only the hobby industry desolves styrene in it to thicken and slow down bonding)
• Two sewing needles, one to apply tiny drop of glue, one needle to keep parts separated for glue to touch both sides of crack.

A) Remove the label if any part has lifted. You don't need it.
B) Using 93% or more electronic cleaner aka 93% alcohol not rubbing clean the label residue.
C) Use one of the needles to lift gently the cracked area
D) Use second needle to apply micro drops of the M.E.K. (Solvent also called hobby airplane glue) into edges of chasm.
E) Press two parts together for 60 seconds and you might place light weight over to allow five minute dry time.
F) Then I used the needle eye to smear more of the MEK back and forth to weld the surface together.

VOILA! the cheap plastic is well again… Have a nice day….. If you are apprehensive about doing this and your card is older than a year, I will fix it for free for you if you include return postage.



Jul 12, 2015 at 07:56 AM
jcolwell
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · EYE-FI TURNS A BLIND EYE


Making a successful DIY repair is always satisfying, and saves money, too.

OTOH, I don't think that Eye-Fi's response was at all unusual, nor unsatisfactory. No manufacturer repairs a microelectronic device that costs only about $100 retail, new. It goes in the garbage (or even better, electronics recycling programme). Getting a replacement device within warranty period is standard, and sometimes you might get a replacement outside of warranty, but you definitely need the receipt.



Jul 12, 2015 at 08:30 AM
docholliday
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · EYE-FI TURNS A BLIND EYE


I gave up on Eye-Fi and their junk many ago when they first put out their "Pro" cards and had all kinds of problems with them on my 1Ds2 and 1D3. Cards that wouldn't tranfer files no matter what, others that refused to maintain a connection during transfer, and multiple cards that split/cracked/died.

Their "support" team is a joke, their developer(s) arrogant, and the product *very* optimized for consumers. While the slow cards are fine for a consumer who wants to "easily" transfer files from their Powershot to computer, the "Pro" cards were supposedly designed for RAW transfer and faster. Yet, half the time, it wouldn't transfer the RAW files or just would lock up. All of the cards were 3-6 months old. Every excuse in the book was given for why it wasn't working or other issues with the card.

Then, the cards started splitting at the outer edges (on all 4 sides, variably). I'd just UV glue them back together after "support" pretty much blew me off on replacing them. The funniest part was that the cards had only been out of the camera 1 or 2 times. They were placed in the second slot of the cameras and never removed. I just dragged a small bead of UV cement with a 28ga syringe and hit it with a curing light.

Then, after another few weeks, the cards started not responding or dying altogether. So, I just hooked up a WFT-E2A to the 1D3, threw out the Eye-Fi crap and haven't had any issues at all.




Jul 12, 2015 at 08:52 AM
Frogfish
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · EYE-FI TURNS A BLIND EYE


ajacobs2 wrote:
What gets built in China should stay there.


Appreciate your public service listing the repairs. The comment above is utterly ridiculous though and should have not been included in your post.




Jul 13, 2015 at 09:33 AM





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