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Unread 10-02-2010, 23:09
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IndySam IndySam is offline
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Re: Andymark Planetary Transmission...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Line View Post
Steve, were you around during the whole plate-bending-in-half experience that went on with the banebots transmissions (I believe it was in '07)?

In a competition like FIRST where you pay thousands of dollars to enter, and then have 12 matches total during a regional, a single component failure is a major major thing for most teams.

A large number of the banebots transmissions failed, some catastrophically. I can't imagine the cost of that if your translated that into lost design, engineering and playing time for all those many many teams that used the gearboxes in the KOP.

On top of that, Banebots compounded the issue with very poor customer service.

Banebots may be a very good company now, but once you've been severely burned by a company's components, there are very few people who would go back and try them again just to see if they've improved.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...=banebots+fail
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...=banebots+fail
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...=banebots+fail

I harbor no ill will towards banebots.... but will be a long long time before I ever consider another one of their products.
Sound like you harbor a lot of ill will towards them and I remember them busting their buts and spending a fortune in customer service when that first problem happened.

I haven't used their products since that initial problem but then again I live 40 miles from AndyMark and I love their products.

Nobody is perfect, not everyone gets it right the first time. Ask somebody about the problems with the first AM planetary boxes, broken omni wheels and those first 6" mech wheels. But they learned from their mistakes and these products have evolved into superior products.

I get a bit frustrated when companies that have worked hard to make our jobs easier and have spent their hard earned money to support us continue to be bashed years after problems occurred. I still cringe when people bash Festo for the valve problems from a few years back even when I know that many of these problems were because of improper use. Lucky they still continue to donate these products.

Sorry about the tenor of this post but these thoughts have been brewing in me for a while.
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