Jeffrey Yao Posted December 22, 2005 Share Posted December 22, 2005 Yesterday I received my PACT MKIV XP timer I pre-ordered from be.com. So far the timer works fine (without much testing) but I am not able to review previous strings and current string data is the only thing that shows on display. I called PACT this morning and I was told it seems to be a bug of the firmware. Anyone received the timer and having the same problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted December 22, 2005 Share Posted December 22, 2005 ......called PACT this morning and I was told it seems to be a bug of the firmware..... And so, Jeff. Did they offer a solution or help with fixing the "firmware" problem? - Or just say YOU have a problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Yao Posted December 22, 2005 Author Share Posted December 22, 2005 The person I talked to told me that the engineer was not in yet so I'll find out what they will do to fix the problem later today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Yao Posted December 22, 2005 Author Share Posted December 22, 2005 I jsut talked with Pat at PACT again and he confirmed it's a bug in their firmware. His people are working on it and they should have a new firmware next week. I was told the firmware is not user upgradable so I'll have to send my timer back after they have a fix. Without a detailed instruction booklet and PC software I guess I'll just try every button combinations and see if I can find more bugs before I send mine in for fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38superman Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 You really should read the thread on Pact customer service. It is under "non-Dillon reloading equipment". Tls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 I have a Pact MKIII 15 years old used as a club timer & crono timer for every match. and practic & dryfire. If I remember right 12 years ago it went in for ? somthing? came back quick with only a minor fee and shipping ? $35? I am happy with it. the review and the par time could not be eazy-er to use Alamo Sport Shooting Club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpe187 Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 What does the new timer look like? Any different than the old MKIV? If you have a picture, could you post it? Mine is probably waiting on my doorstep, but I am away visiting the relatives until the 29th. Thats great news that I have to send it right back to get it to work correctly. I hope its worth the wait when its all said and done. Thanks Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdfcapt Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 I got mine yesterday and seem to be having the same problem BUT, this is my first timer and I could be doing something wrong. Sure hope I don't have to send it back I'm going to wait to after the holidays to realy test it out. What's with the tempory owners manual? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Yao Posted December 23, 2005 Author Share Posted December 23, 2005 The timer looks like the original one from the picture on their website but with the words "MKIV XP" next to the display. It comes with a xerox copy temporary manual and they said the final detail manual will be available on their website in mid January. PC software is not ready yet so again they'll post it on their website beginning of next year. USB cable is not included but a standard A-B USB cable will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpe187 Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 The manual is something I have always thought needed improvement. I have several PACT products: Powder dispenser and scale, XP Chrono and now the new timer. The Chrono had the same photo copied manual and I called about six months ago to see if they had a regular manual and they said no. I have always found it difficult to access the features on the chrono, ussually just turning it off in frustration. I have not used a timer before, so not having decent instructions is going to suck. The only problem I have had in the past was with the powder dispenser when it was new. The power supply was bad and they sent me a new one in just a couple days, so I was happy. I guess a power supply is easy. I will say that good customer service is a requirment, not a luxury. After reading the thread about poor customer service, I am questioning my purchase of the new timer. More than two weeks to fix or even work on a return is unacceptable. They have nice products, but come on, I'll wait for a gun for five months, but not a timer. If you have to cut profits and hire some more people, than do it. Just my thoughts. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Yao Posted December 23, 2005 Author Share Posted December 23, 2005 There seems to be another minor bug. When I switch from RPM mode to Timer mode the display will show "Warning! Low Memory!" but I don't have anything stored in the memory yet. Switching between other modes seems to be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 Sorry I didn't get to this till today. The initial software problem (string review problem) has definitely been corrected. If you're MKIV XP is having that problem, you can either return if for an immediate repair (less than 1 week turnaround), or, you might wait a month or so to see if any more bugs surface before returning it. Everything in the unit, software-wise, is brand new, so if it's anything like new computer software, there's bound to be a bug or two, which won't be discovered till they get out there and get hammered to death in the hands of the savy users. As of this moment the "Low Memory" warning has not been duplicated, but they're going to test some more units so I'll let you know when I have a better answer on that issue. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Yao Posted December 29, 2005 Author Share Posted December 29, 2005 Thank you Brian. I also talked with them on the phone yesterday and the timer is already on the way for an update!! I was told it should be back within few days!!! I also included a note on the "low memory" problem so we'll see if they can find out the problem from my timer. Jeffrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 I got one for X-mas (thanks Brian!). Haven't done anything but play with it in the house so far, but I thought the little xeroxed manual was pretty amusing for what it was. I would suggest maybe waiting a bit for the real manual and USB driver if you don't like beta-testing products though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syme71 Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I have a new XP as well. Chrono not working too good. I have the regular screens and the new infrared setup. I keep getting a "Screens Trigger Together" error. I got lucky a couple of times and was able to get data on three 10 shot strings. The other times I just kept on getting the error. I thought the infrared setup would solve my problems but I guess not. Let's see what Pact has to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdfcapt Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I got the chance to give the timer a better work out today and think mine will have to go back. I tried the chrono today and got a error message about the screens triggering together. When I unplug one cable it tells me to fire the first shot and when I plug the cable back in I get the error message again. I was able to get one shot in with out error messages 2480 fps for a .22 lr. BE; should I just pack it up and send it back now or wait until more bugs are found. I didn't know I was going to be a Beta tester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Hah! I called PACT with that very problem "Error: Screens trigger together" with my Oehler screens last week and they said "Every unit's chrono is tested before they ship, so your unit is probably fine.. try more light and separating the cables..." Since the lighting wasn't great for my first experiements, I went back and tried all those and still no joy (the Oeher works perfectly with the exact same setup). Good to hear other people have the same problem-- now if we all call they can get to work fixing it. I think this timer will be great once they get the bugs out-- they've already fixed the string-review problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjennings Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 (edited) Add one more to "Screens Trigger Together" club. Sucks after dumping a fortune into all my reloading kit and not being able to tune as yet. Oh well, still having fun with it. Has anybody tried plugging in the infraded units and seeing what happens?, i think I should go down stairs and try that....perhaps it is an issue of not enough light, but then again, I was under the impression the new screens were suppose to work under lower light conditions than before. Edited January 9, 2006 by cjennings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syme71 Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 Add one more to "Screens Trigger Together" club. Sucks after dumping a fortune into all my reloading kit and not being able to tune as yet. Oh well, still having fun with it.Has anybody tried plugging in the infraded units and seeing what happens?, i think I should go down stairs and try that....perhaps it is an issue of not enough light, but then again, I was under the impression the new screens were suppose to work under lower light conditions than before. I bought the infrared kit in hopes it would fix the issue. No go, I get the same "Screens Trigger Together" error message. I say F' PACT. Seems they can't get their shit together. I'm retuning mine and getting a CED chrono and timer. They support our sport plenty and I'm betting will work out of the box. I'm not getting paid to be a beta tester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjennings Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Well I gave them a call today. They told me that they test the chrono feature on each unit before they go out. The guy on the phone said he had not heard of any issues and that the situation was ussually caused by not issolating the wires enough from each other. I have tried seperating the wires and it has not helped at all. And boy did I look like a fool the other day at the range with all this gear... that would not work. I think I became one of those sterotypical rich guys with all the toys and no clue.... Of course, I am in fact a long way from the rick part. Especially wasting 300 bucks on stuff that does not work.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 (edited) So, how many calls have they had on this issue, now??? I might start scanning for a used MkIV or use a different timer entirely... I was going to order up an XP in the next month or so, but this might prevent it... especially if they aren't giving any credence to their user community, at this point... Separate the wires?? Like they're pumping enough juice through there to induce a signal on the adjacent cable??? Hmmm.... Edited January 11, 2006 by XRe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjennings Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Like they're pumping enough juice through there to induce a signal on the adjacent cable??? Hmmm.... That was my thought... That or they really need to use better shielding in cables. Does anybody have the chrono function work??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 My issue is I can set up the screens, plug 'em into the Oehler and they work great. Pop the plugs out and into the XP and "screens trigger together". If you've ever taken apart a skyscreen, they are electrically very simple (a phototransistor on the end of a very long cord) and without doubt they're looking for tiny tiny fluctuations in light, so crosstalk could be a problem but I'm thinking software problem at this point.. They're probably cranking the gain up too much or something. Update: Called PACT today and they said the chrono circuitry is exactly the same between the timer and chronos, but were open to the idea that there might be either a problem with the unit (crosstalk from the timer section or something) or maybe the software.. they asked me to put a note in if I sent the unit in. They also said the 'Low Memory' error switching from RPM to Timer mode is a known bug, but not fixed yet, since it's only an annoyance and their programmer has higher priority tasks to work on... Like the USB software, which is still expected this month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjennings Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Being in software developement, I know all about trying to manage release bugs and issues. Albeit for hosted web based systems, it is very easy to upgrade a sites codebase. When you are talking about actual end user devices...that cannot be, at least as far as we know to date, updated in the field by the end user (EPROM flash via a packaged sent over the USB cable for instance) that opens a whole other set of issues. You are essentially taking my machine away from me for several days to fix what should have been right in the first place. I have not lost hope, I have always got someone to talk to me. I will give it a little longer. but this needs to get fixed.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Yao Posted January 12, 2006 Author Share Posted January 12, 2006 I sent in mine on 12/27/05. I called today and I was told that they received it on 1/3/06 but they just left it aside and forgot about it. I was told they'll update mine and send it back to me by early next week. Also they told me the same thing about the low memory problem and I was told it will be fixed when they have more bugs found and they will fix them all at once. Jeffrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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