mjmoon wrote:Sorry dude, that is simply not true. Having all your inventory 'drop shipped' does NOT make you more money. Companies that drop ship charge a pretty penny for the service and are generally 'middle men' which cuts into any profit even more. You'd be paying MORE, not less if Woot was one of those websites that only sells items that are drop shipped.

Woot has a huge warehouse and ships their products in their own little woot boxes. Do you think all their product distributors have cute little woot boxes to drop ship only to Woot's customers? Uh, no.

You should probably have a basic idea of how e-commerce works before posting B.S. as if it were fact.

When you don't have to take posession of the goods and don't have to pay inventory carrying costs, it costs you less (i.e. - make more money). And yes, many companies will package their products in another company's boxes when they ship. Perhaps you should have some basic idea of how commerce works.

This is how Amazon works for many (not all) of their products and how many other web sites sell product. My mistake was only in assuming Woot works like this. Mea Culpa. I stand by the rest.

cjpowers wrote:When you don't have to take posession of the goods and don't have to pay inventory carrying costs, it costs you less (i.e. - make more money). And yes, many companies will package their products in another company's boxes when they ship. Perhaps you should have some basic idea of how commerce works.

This is how Amazon works for many (not all) of their products and how many other web sites sell product. My mistake was only in assuming Woot works like this. Mea Culpa. I stand by the rest.

And now I wonder... what *is* Woot going to do with all the leftovers that they can't sell. Bag of Carp?

I bought this the last time and just got it today. It's my first venture into digital video. I'm a track coach and simply want something easily portable to shoot video of my athletes at meets, so I can analyze their technique. Can someone help me understand why the quality isn't great? If it captures 30fps at 720p, shouldn't the quality be good, relatively speaking? Is it a lens issue?

NightGhost wrote:

A giant internet retailer that often drop-ships is - Amazon! That's essentially what they do with their affiliate program - You buy on the Amazon site, and the item is shipped by the affiliate.

I don't mean to be argumentative because you are obviously knowledgeable in the area.. but I have to disagree about Amazon. Amazon carries a ton of inventory (and they probably have drop shippers do a lot of it too (I imagine that is the case on the big ticket items).. they have warehouses all over the country. Amazon has many, many third party companies that sell on their site. These third party vendors list their products on Amazon (if they aren't already listed) and compete directly with Amazon and other retailers. When you buy from one of these retailers, you are buying from them, not Amazon. (Amazon takes a hefty fee for the service too)

Amazon actually has a program where a retailer can ship all their inventory to Amazon and Amazon basically acts as the drop shipper to said retailer. So a retailer doesn't have to pay storage and overhead for shippers, etc. THIS service is so expensive that the profit the retailer makes is probably very minimal. (not exactly relevant- just an aside;)

I purchased this at the first woot for my mom, just for her to videotape her grandchildren and upload to facebook to share or just to her computer to watch them. I'm supposed to get it later today, but I was wondering, will the "horrendus quality" and "crappy sound" ruin even these simple uses of the camera? Thanks.

mjmoon wrote:I don't mean to be argumentative because you are obviously knowledgeable in the area.. but I have to disagree about Amazon. Amazon carries a ton of inventory (and they probably have drop shippers do a lot of it too (I imagine that is the case on the big ticket items).. they have warehouses all over the country. Amazon has many, many third party companies that sell on their site. These third party vendors list their products on Amazon (if they aren't already listed) and compete directly with Amazon and other retailers. When you buy from one of these retailers, you are buying from them, not Amazon. (Amazon takes a hefty fee for the service too)

Amazon actually has a program where a retailer can ship all their inventory to Amazon and Amazon basically acts as the drop shipper to said retailer. So a retailer doesn't have to pay storage and overhead for shippers, etc. THIS service is so expensive that the profit the retailer makes is probably very minimal. (not exactly relevant- just an aside;)

Well, you wrote "I have to disagree," but if you read my post carefully, you'll see that we didn't disagree about anything.

C'mon mailman!

Mr. Mailman, bring me a Woot
And please make sure it's HD to boot
I surely hope that the sound is real clean
And then my monkeys won't hear me scream

I ordered this the last time (12/10) and it's still not here. Anyone else have this problem?

avatar2525 wrote:Could someone please post an example of the still images this camera is able to take?

http://opendb.com/images/PICT0001.jpg

The top of the mountain is covered with clouds which is why it isn't distinct, but that would be obvious with a good pic. The pic is passable when viewed at 25% size, which is probably what the real resolution is before massive interpolation. There is only one reason for interpolating this image up to 5MP: to deceive people into thinking they're getting a better camera than they really are, and reputable camera manufacturers would never do that. Same deal with selling this as a 720p 30 fps video camera when the manufacturer surely knows it isn't capable of that frame rate and that the 720p is from interpolation. It's one thing to say, well, you shouldn't expect high quality from a $40 camera, but that doesn't excuse selling a camera using totally bogus specs.

Ill never buy another launch product from woot ever again because of this.

atrain9954 wrote:I purchased this at the first woot for my mom, just for her to videotape her grandchildren and upload to facebook to share or just to her computer to watch them. I'm supposed to get it later today, but I was wondering, will the "horrendus quality" and "crappy sound" ruin even these simple uses of the camera? Thanks.

I would not worry to much about it,when you get it,you try it,to make sure its passable.I have one coming today also,plus I have a Kodak Zx1 with the same 720p, which I bought here on Woot,and I think its just find,to each his own,I say.Just remember,its not the 1000.00 camera,but the pics iam sure will be like my Zx1.

bcyowler wrote:I bought this the last time and just got it today. It's my first venture into digital video. I'm a track coach and simply want something easily portable to shoot video of my athletes at meets, so I can analyze their technique. Can someone help me understand why the quality isn't great? If it captures 30fps at 720p, shouldn't the quality be good, relatively speaking? Is it a lens issue?

The sensor could be of poor quality. The lens could be cheap. The compression method of the camera could be bad.

I bought 2 of these on the initial offering. I have received them, but not opened them as they are stocking stuffers for my high school kids. I'm wondering if lumps of coal might be a better choice? Also, If there is a problem with either one, is waiting until after Christmas to return it going to be a problem?

It's been my experience that HD cameras tend to not stream anymore. Can anyone speak to that feature on this camera?

Brainstorming ideas to do with 3 of these - lil security camera rigs jump to mind.

Power and cabling are a concern with this idea, even if the thing does stream. But the price and pic quality are not a concern.

Any knowledge out there about this?

phazeprod wrote:I bought 2 of these on the initial offering. I have received them, but not opened them as they are stocking stuffers for my high school kids. I'm wondering if lumps of coal might be a better choice? Also, If there is a problem with either one, is waiting until after Christmas to return it going to be a problem?

It won't matter; Woot knows they are carp and doesn't really care. If you pay the return shipping and send it back, they are just going to sell that one to the next chump.

NightGhost wrote:Well, you wrote "I have to disagree," but if you read my post carefully, you'll see that we didn't disagree about anything.

Can't we just agree to agree ;-)

Okay - just got mine and took a couple of quick vids with it.

The verdict: yup - it's utter crap!

My decades-old VHS SD camcorder puts this to shame.

The buttons don't always respond, and indeed, it shut off in mid-recording on my second attempt. The video I did record is worse by far than SD video - poor resolution, extremely noisy, and worthless even in a normally lighted room (I had to use light from a hallway chandelier to get a video that wasn't way too dark).

The only good news (rah!) was that the buzzing noise wasn't too bad.

I wouldn't even recommend getting this for a child.

Sorry Woot - based on my experience and all the posts, this may be the worst product you ever offered. As you know, I'm usually firmly in your corner, owing to your great deals.

There's no point in testing this further. It's so much worse than acceptable that no tweaking will help.

Ouch.


edit: Looking at many other posts, I'm not the only one who got a useless camera. While I obviously can't recommend this, it does seem that at least some Wooters got better ones. For example, someone posted a sample video on the first page. The poor technique made it look worse than it had to - too much movement makes the video look jerky, and that combined with shooting through a window freaks out the automatic sensors (such as white balance and exposure). However, it clearly takes much better video than mine does. Mine is much darker, full of "sparklies," and of much lower apparent resolution.

So if you already have one on the way, give it a chance.

FYI, I bought this camera, and it is en route to Woot due to being defective when I received it. I just received the Panasonic Camera they offered a few days later, and I'll say this- it was twice the price, but is about 14,867,239 times better.

NightGhost wrote:Okay - just got mine and took a couple of quick vids with it.

The verdict: yup - it's utter crap!

My decades-old VHS SD camcorder puts this to shame.

The buttons don't always respond, and indeed, it shut off in mid-recording on my second attempt. The video I did record is worse by far than SD video - poor resolution, extremely noisy, and worthless even in a normally lighted room (I had to use light from a hallway chandelier to get a video that wasn't way too dark).

The only good news (rah!) was that the buzzing noise wasn't too bad.

I wouldn't even recommend getting this for a child.

Sorry Woot - based on my experience and all the posts, this may be the worst product you ever offered. As you know, I'm usually firmly in your corner, owing to your great deals.

There's no point in testing this further. It's so much worse than acceptable that no tweaking will help.

Ouch.

Not feeling good about this.......

Ok I feel like being lazy- anyone wanna be super cool and post exactly what steps I need to take to send this thing back to WOOT now and get my damned money back? I was going to give it to my younger brother as a christmas present after I realized I would never be able to use it for anything, but considering everyone's feelings, I'd rather get him something else for a similar price.

I guess I was being jolly and greedy when I bought it, but that doesn't mean I should have gotten something awful in the mail.

peregrineslinger wrote:Ok I feel like being lazy- anyone wanna be super cool and post exactly what steps I need to take to send this thing back to WOOT now and get my damned money back? I was going to give it to my younger brother as a christmas present after I realized I would never be able to use it for anything, but considering everyone's feelings, I'd rather get him something else for a similar price.

I guess I was being jolly and greedy when I bought it, but that doesn't mean I should have gotten something awful in the mail.

If you got one that works, quite simply you can't. If you got one that is broken, as many, many of us did, then you can click the "Write Us" link and do what it says to do...

Actually...you did test the audio. I can hear the mosquito buzzing sound everyone talks about quite well. Pass on this one.

adhurt wrote:We just had this camera on here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teX8GxI-TZQ

Here's my test video... sorry, didn't get to test the sound really.

Personally, the camera is "OK" for the price, but only "ok". Not good, but not God Awful either.

just got mines and did a test shoot..... this camera/camcorder sucks!!!!!!!!!! What a waste of money! i even got 3 and now have 3 crappy camera!

"Arrives by Christmas" means this will show up on my porch by Christmas I presume???

mwatkins88 wrote:"Arrives by Christmas" means this will show up on my porch by Christmas I presume???

That sounds like a reasonable assumption. But I'd really recommend against pulling the trigger on this one.

ya - I want to use that for gifts and that silly thing won't let me buy more than 3 - what a joke

I bought one the last time these were on. Be forewarned that by 720P Woot means 720 total pixels. Mine is nowhere near HD

Anyone want to just gather all the cameras and melt them down in a giant bonfire?

derekio wrote:Keep in mind that woot, is the absolute WORST shipper on the net. They are slow to ship, and then use the slowest shipping method known to man..UPS MI, or Fed EX smart post.
absolutely horrible. BUYER BEWARE!

your full of crap! mine came right away. im very pleased for a first time wooter with the shipping

SoCalDuncan wrote:If you got one that works, quite simply you can't. If you got one that is broken, as many, many of us did, then you can click the "Write Us" link and do what it says to do...

Mine is defective. It does not perform the task that was described in the ad. It is not recording video. It is recording something, but it is clearly not video of what is there. The audio is also garbage. The HDMI port is also not an HDMI port. So they have to take itback.

reelhouse wrote:Actually...you did test the audio. I can hear the mosquito buzzing sound everyone talks about quite well. Pass on this one.

I have to turn my speakers way up to hear that. There's a point about 2/3 of the way through where I can hear him pressing some buttons, and they're pretty loud when my speakers are at their normal volume.

I would have been satisfied with that audio and video quality.

Well, didn't get it yet but at least the sdhc card I got for it will work in my camera if it turns out to be like most reports here.

Was just looking for something cheap that would travel in the pocket for those now and then shots. But looks like the only way it will satisfy is if I never turn it on.

Got a camera? Yup. How's it work? No idea. "fraid to turn it on. But I got one!!!

sigh

What a POS.. w00tcrap.

opiate5555 wrote:What a POS.. w00tcrap.

I got an email with a pre-paid return label at 6:21 EST.

Camera = carp. Woot = righteous.

Bought two the last time they were offered. This is a good little camera for the cash it costs. Maybe its not cinematic quality but it very good for the kids school concert. If your last name isn't copolla than this camera should work fine. If it is, it's probably still fine for the school concert. Buy one and enjoy it.

kbhi67 wrote:Bought two the last time they were offered. This is a good little camera for the cash it costs. Maybe its not cinematic quality but it very good for the kids school concert. If your last name isn't copolla than this camera should work fine. If it is, it's probably still fine for the school concert. Buy one and enjoy it.

I'm sure you are right, IF you weren't unlucky enough to get a bad one.

In hindsight, Woot probably tested a good one (or a few), and didn't know about the quality control issues.

But if you look at the posts in this thread, and the ones at then end of the thread for the launch offering, I think you'll find that about 90% of them are very negative. Of course, people are far more likely to write about a negative experience than a positive one (or a "just okay" one), but I'd guess that at least 10% of these were duds - far too many.

I hope the supplier makes good to Woot. Woot will certainly stand by its customers (they already helped me).

OK, for anyone who is keeping this camera and/or has had the "freezies" with your memory card.

Firstly, a Class 2 card might be OK but you should have Class 4 or better. Anything from Class 4 up to Class 10 WILL work with it no matter what any documentation says. Class 2 is iffy but should work. A card without a Class rating symbol cannot be trusted in this or most current cameras.

A slow card (old and pre Class 2 spec, and most cards without any Class rating on it) DEFINITELY will freeze this camera, and many other current cameras, even the big names. If you get a camera freeze with an old or defective card, that's really not the fault of this or any camera.

If you've experienced a "freezie" with your card, use a card reader and reformat the card the true official way, using the SDcard organization formatter program (for Windows only) available for download for free here:

http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter/

When you run that program, click the OPTION button, and set:

FORMAT TYPE: FULL (erase OFF)
FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT: ON

And let it format until it is finished and says that it is finished.

This program and the above settings can fix many cards that seem to have problems in any device. The formatting routines directly in Windows are not to the exact SD/SDHC standard, and the simple formatting routines in cameras or other devices may not have the error checking and re-read capabilities of Windows (which this formatting program can make use of).

If you have an SD/SDHC card that shows it has "lost" capacity, that is it shows less total space than it used to, this program will recover it. This is the only official program that reads the special manufacturing data in the SD card itself to find out what it is, then it reformats the card correctly to the SD standard. If you have a card that has "lost" capacity, you probably have noticed that Windows can't fix that. This program fixes it - the "FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT" option.

The above may help with this or any camera or device using SD/SDHC cards.

I make no comment about this camera. But I hope this helps.

I am a big Woot supporter and I usually defend them, but I am upset right now (and NOT for the obvious quality reason). I have not received my camera (from the 12/10 order) yet. I expect that when I get it, it will be worth the $40 I paid for it. I discount most of the negative reviews here with the question...."What did you expect for $40?"
BUT, the thing that peeves me is that I ordered it on 12/10 and could REALLY have benefited from having it arrive on Friday 12/17. Not getting it in time for this date didn't bug me until today. So now if someone orders the same camera TODAY for the exact same price, Woot will make sure that they get it in time for Xmas...JUST 4 days after the order, but I couldn't get mine SEVEN days after the order and still have not received it TEN days after the order. So what are the people who order this camera today doing right, that I did wrong?????
You let me down Woot.

bbonacci wrote:I am a big Woot supporter and I usually defend them, but I am upset right now (and NOT for the obvious quality reason). I have not received my camera (from the 12/10 order) yet. I expect that when I get it, it will be worth the $40 I paid for it. I discount most of the negative reviews here with the question...."What did you expect for $40?"
BUT, the thing that peeves me is that I ordered it on 12/10 and could REALLY have benefited from having it arrive on Friday 12/17. Not getting it in time for this date didn't bug me until today. So now if someone orders the same camera TODAY for the exact same price, Woot will make sure that they get it in time for Xmas...JUST 4 days after the order, but I couldn't get mine SEVEN days after the order and still have not received it TEN days after the order. So what are the people who order this camera today doing right, that I did wrong?????
You let me down Woot.

2 questions:

Where do you live?

On what day does the tracking page say it shipped?

I'm in New York, and I didn't receive mine until late this afternoon. However, it was delivered to Fedex on 12/13, which is certainly within 5 business days of the 12/10 sale date, as Woot promises. After that, it's out of Woot's hands.

And is SmartPost slow? YES!!! But you've been a Woot member for far longer than I have, so you must know that. Obviously, Fedex must give Woot the best deal, and their savings are our savings.

ojohn wrote:A slow card (old and pre Class 2 spec, and most cards without any Class rating on it) DEFINITELY will freeze this camera, and many other current cameras, even the big names.

I found your post very interesting. I really know nothing about SD cards. I have purchased many from Woot and all but 2 (rated at class 6) have NO class rating on it.

I purchased a Samsung S85 from Woot a few years ago, and i have found that all my cards work.

Does this mean i purchased a none current camera? Are my SD cards worth anything for current items?

escalante wrote:I found your post very interesting. I really know nothing about SD cards. I have purchased many from Woot and all but 2 (rated at class 6) have NO class rating on it.

I purchased a Samsung S85 from Woot a few years ago, and i have found that all my cards work.

Does this mean i purchased a none current camera? Are my SD cards worth anything for current items?

What size (capacity) are the cards with no rating?

Note that write speed is much more important with a newer camcorder than an older still camera.