Is customer service worth $100

M

Mazilla2219

Rookie
Alright, I have read most of the threads regarding the Alpha Pioneer DC and the Eagnas Challenger I. Weighed the pros and cons and here is the what conclusions I can gather, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. The Alpha is a tank and durability is not an issue, most of what goes wrong with the challenger I concerns the drop weight part of the machine and not the mounting system. If this is the case if I were planning on mounting a wise 2086 and not using the drop weight anyway, would the challenger be a better buy?
Here is the price brake down on both machines:

Alpha Pioneer DC
price = 429.00
S+H = 25.00
Total = 454.00

Eagnas Challenger I
price = 299.00
s+h = 50.00
Total = 349.00

Is customer service worth $100, and how many things could go wrong with the mounting system?

PS.
Talked to Herb about the wise 2086 and compatiblities, and he said that they sell a challenger II with a wise already attached. Does anyone know anything about this challenger 2 machine, I tried a search but no luck. Thanks.
 
Alpha has better costumer service which is probably worth. I am planning on getting an Pioneer in the next couple of months. I did not know that you could but a wise on a drop weight.
 
The Pioneer comes with an instructional DVD AND great customer service.

I thinks it's worth it. But, I may be a touch bias.
 
http://www.watdon.co.uk/wd-strings/Electronic.htm

Picture of the Challenger II with a wise, looks pretty good. Also you get 3 tooth clamps which are better than the older style 5 tooth. If it were me, I would purchase the Challenger from Eagnas and buy the adapter from Wise, that way if you ever lost power or the Wise broke, you would have backup.
 
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This is my first post. Resale value along with great customer service is probably worth it. I purchased a new Pioneer DC Plus a year and a half ago. Before I did so, I searched for a used one and found they were hard to find and almost as expensive as new.
 
barry said:
http://www.watdon.co.uk/wd-strings/Electronic.htm

Picture of the Challenger II with a wise, looks pretty good. Also you get 3 tooth clamps which are better than the older style 5 tooth. If it were me, I would purchase the Challenger from Eagnas and buy the adapter from Wise, that way if you ever lost power or the Wise broke, you would have backup.
Click to expand...

That looks Photoshoped but I shure yoiu can still buy it and I forgot that the Pioneer now comes with a DVD
 
For the OP... you are assuming that the *only* difference for $100 is customer service, without having any first-hand information. Pretty simplistic way of looking at things.
 
Way too many questions about your inquiries, and really there is no simple answer. My opinions: This is America and you get what you pay for. Is the Alpha a good buy at $454 ? Yes. Solid machine. Solid company. Is the Eagnas a good buy at $349? Yes. That's a lot of machine for the money. May or may not be a risk on this model.

Is customer service worth $100? Well we aren't talking about the exact same machine so it can't be answered. Peace of mind might be worth $100 to you.

Another thing, if you are thinking of getting a Wise, why get a drop weight now? Unless you are pretty handy and want to take the time to convert a dropweight, it sure wouldn't be worth the time and effort to me. Wise machines are specifically made to upgrade cranks. There are retrofits to dropweights, but why bother if it takes than much time?
 
LttlElvis said:
Way too many questions about your inquiries, and really there is no simple answer. My opinions: This is America and you get what you pay for. Is the Alpha a good buy at $454 ? Yes. Solid machine. Solid company. Is the Eagnas a good buy at $349? Yes. That's a lot of machine for the money. May or may not be a risk on this model.

Is customer service worth $100? Well we aren't talking about the exact same machine so it can't be answered. Peace of mind might be worth $100 to you.

Another thing, if you are thinking of getting a Wise, why get a drop weight now? Unless you are pretty handy and want to take the time to convert a dropweight, it sure wouldn't be worth the time and effort to me. Wise machines are specifically made to upgrade cranks. There are retrofits to dropweights, but why bother if it takes than much time?
Click to expand...


What hes saying is You cant Convert a DROPWEIGHT to a Constant Pull. The Wise is ONLY for CRANK machines.
 
Il Mostro said:
For the OP... you are assuming that the *only* difference for $100 is customer service, without having any first-hand information. Pretty simplistic way of looking at things.
Click to expand...

If we take out the drop weight part of the machines, the mounting system on both machines are similar on a head to head comparison. Therefore if you omit these similarities, then yes 100 would be for peace of mind and customer service. Thank you for your input.

LttlElvis said:
Way too many questions about your inquiries, and really there is no simple answer. My opinions: This is America and you get what you pay for. Is the Alpha a good buy at $454 ? Yes. Solid machine. Solid company. Is the Eagnas a good buy at $349? Yes. That's a lot of machine for the money. May or may not be a risk on this model.

Is customer service worth $100? Well we aren't talking about the exact same machine so it can't be answered. Peace of mind might be worth $100 to you.

Another thing, if you are thinking of getting a Wise, why get a drop weight now? Unless you are pretty handy and want to take the time to convert a dropweight, it sure wouldn't be worth the time and effort to me. Wise machines are specifically made to upgrade cranks. There are retrofits to dropweights, but why bother if it takes than much time?
Click to expand...

The drop weight on both systems are bolted to the base and are easily removed. The Wise can be mounted on the base via an adapter that they sell for 20.00. I think hollywood has one mounted on his challenger I on one of these threads.
 
Both vendors provide customer service, but if you get a decent machine, doubt you will ever need to contact them. Stringing machines are really simple devices, I mean you pull and clamp tension, the part which breaks the most on drop weight machines with clutches is the spring. A $15 item and a pain in the butt to replace. If you purchase the Wise, then the clutch spring is a non-issue. On my drop weight, I broke 1 spring in 5 years, strung about 600 rackets before it popped. It took me about 1/2 hour to repair, and cost $14 shipped.

Unless you are buying an integrated electronic machine, parts is all you really need access too. Spend over 2K you will probably need a service contract.

I did replace the clamps on my drop weight, it came with the 5 tooth ones, and I hated them. Dense string patterns were always in the way which is why most new machines come with 3 tooth models. The Eagnas ones are $39.95 each, purchased two over the 7 years I used my drop weight. 2 clamps and 1 spring and over 1,000 rackets later, the machine is still going strong and as accurate as the day I purchased it. My son uses it now, does a few rackets a week and purchased a stand which worked out well.
 
barry said:
I did replace the clamps on my drop weight, it came with the 5 tooth ones, and I hated them. Dense string patterns were always in the way which is why most new machines come with 3 tooth models. The Eagnas ones are $39.95 each, purchased two over the 7 years I used my drop weight. 2 clamps and 1 spring and over 1,000 rackets later, the machine is still going strong and as accurate as the day I purchased it. My son uses it now, does a few rackets a week and purchased a stand which worked out well.
Click to expand...

Do you think that the base is sturdy enough for the wise, my real only concern is that the base is too thin compare to the alpha.
 
it's not $100. if you're one out of the 8 or so with a bum machine, you're out $350 + time + ship + high blood pressure.

Do you feel lucky?
 
Mazilla2219 said:
Do you think that the base is sturdy enough for the wise, my real only concern is that the base is too thin compare to the alpha.
Click to expand...

The Challenger I used was very strong. If you are stringing 1000 pound tension, then you might have an issue. But the highest tension I strung was 62 pounds, and no flexing or movement at all.

Are you questioning the strength of the Wise mounting bracket? The Challenger base plate is very strong. If I were you, I would talk with Herb, there is probably a reason Herb selected the Challenger over the pioneer DC for implementation.

Either machine will do the job, stringing machines are basic technology. I really enjoy my Wise, it is a great product, but I would never go back to 5 tooth clamps. They slow you down and are awkard to use on dense pattern. But I string a lot of rackets, so it is my opinion.
 
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My bad. I didn't realize Herb has an adapter for drop weights now. Must be much easier now. I just recall seeing threads where people were doing home adaptions for their dropweights. Looked like a lot of work to do but if it's something they enjoy, that's great. It's just something I personally wouldn't make the time to do.

Back to the $100.... Everyone has different financial values. You probably can't go wrong either way. Do you want reputation or savings? It's a personal decision.

I remember my first machine was a cheap $80 Tremont stringer when I was 16. It's a stringer that I am sure would get trashed if message boards were around then. However, I was excited to have a machine. I had a bunch of teammates who wanted me to string even though I never had before. I made over $100 the second day I had a machine. That was over 25 years ago.

Stringing machines are something that will pay you back no matter if you spend $150 or $3000. You just have to figure out how to do it. They are great and fun investments. If you find you are just stringing for yourself, you make up $100 with just about 4 stringjobs if you never even had a machine.

I bet you even the people who had bad luck with an Eagnas machine, bought another machine, and made up for their losses. I bet you these people became even more knowledgeable about stringers and their next machine had more qualities that they really liked.

Ever hear of a person who actually lost money on stringing machines overall? I know there are some lemons out there, but if you get a better one, it pays for itself in multiples.

I've owned 3 machines and a Wise so far. I don't even charge people to string at this point. (I only charge the cost of strings) I just do it because I enjoy it. People will just now and then give me a bottle of wine or lunch. Occasionally, they will give me cash even though I tell them I won't accept it. But I will donate it to a church or charity of their choice. My current set up is a Gamma and Wise. I know that I have given more than what my machine is worth to church. That's without even trying.
 
What I don't get is why go the drop weight base and Wise head all at once? If you are in that price range why not just get the Gamma Progression ESII +?
 
if you are mechanical or can make fix stuff, then it might be ok to skip the customer service. for the same $100 you are probably getting a better quality machine to start off with too.
bret
 
I have a Challenger 1, and it probably isn't the same quality as the Alpha. I've had to replace a couple of bolts on it and a bearing. The stopper bolts broke once when a string slipped out of the grippers. I replaced those, and then later I realized the reason. The bolts holding the gripper jaws were shearing at the heads. I replaced those too.

I also replaced a turntable bearing that had cracked on one side. So I spent about $6 at home depot, and Eagnas sent me the replacement bearing. I've had the machine for about 3 years now, and have strung a hundred times or so on it. The metal turntable and base are solid and very heavy. I doubt you'll ever have to worry about those. They are thick cast parts, not plate metal.

I'm sure a nice Wise tension head would make me very happy with my machine, but I don't string that often, so it would be a luxury more than a necessity.
 
Its not just customer service. It's quality and longevity. I can crank out a better product on my current (NOS) Alpha Pioneer III for $250 than I was able to on an Eagnas Hyper 480 for $500. I can't imagine being happy with an Eagnas product ever again.
 
YULitle said:
The Pioneer comes with an instructional DVD AND great customer service.

I thinks it's worth it. But, I may be a touch bias.
Click to expand...

I did get my Pioneer yesterday, no DVD. Alpha said they would ship later. Been using your stuff of YouTube which has been very helpful. Thanks.
 
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