The Wand Company TOS Tricorder is coming!

JiminSTLouis said:
From reports of others that have returned theirs, Wand sends them pre-paid labels to return the Tricorders directly back to them. ... They have a supply at their location just for returns.
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Being in the US, I indeed purchased mine through Amazon. But, in reporting the issue to TWC, it's been very easy and straightforward dealing with them directly for the returns. And, interestingly, while they had me ship the problematic Tricorder back to Essex, Charlotte (with their Customer Service) stated the replacement will supposedly be coming from their warehouse in Chicago, USA.

PS: When I had my original TWC Tricorder, I noticed in passing that my top 'door' didn't open flat. But, since I'd not yet seen these posts on the issue, I didn't really think much of it, figuring that was simply the way the door worked. It will be interesting to see if the new one (for which the UPS label has been printed, but which has yet to be received by UPS) has the issue or not as well.
 
blspro said:
Being in the US, I indeed purchased mine through Amazon. But, in reporting the issue to TWC, it's been very easy and straightforward dealing with them directly for the returns. And, interestingly, while they had me ship the problematic Tricorder back to Essex, Charlotte (with their Customer Service) stated the replacement will supposedly be coming from their warehouse in Chicago, USA.
Click to expand...

If anything…..those sending bad ones back are probably building up their spare parts bin ;)

Or they’ll be able to recondition …refurbish some and sell for cheap….discounted ;)

Or fix to give as giveaways..complimentary ….sometimes called Shill Stock :)

Wikipedia …. Shill
 
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Quinn said:
Would it be worth it to you, to have them unbox it there at Wand and check it before sending it to you? This way you won’t be swapping one bad one for another bad one…

I'm hoping that the reports upthread that TWC seems to know something's going will prompt them to have the initiative to check.
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This is unfortunately extremely unlikely, unless the Tricorder is being shipped directly by someone in TWC's office in Essex (and even then they might not).

For example, I asked Charlotte if she could ship my tricorder (and its protective brown box) in a larger shipping box (like Amazon does, so as to protect the brown box from damage/stickers/etc). She indicated that, while she will make the request, she couldn't guarantee anything because it is being shipped from wherever (in Chicago supposedly) they are warehousing their Tricorders in the US.

In other words, it sounds like a third party is handling such replacements in the US. And I don't know that you (or TWC) would even want non-TWC persons breaking the seal and handling / "inspecting" your Tricorder. That would seem to invite more issues than it might solve.
 
Another auction sometime ago…..The Arena version….notice the burn mark center top of the bottom compartment opening…

55ADA5CD-689C-4037-BDE7-A1CAB1453EFE.jpeg
 
I've been in touch with Charlotte from TWC just to let them know I have a similar issue with the door not opening all the way down just so they're aware it's happening to a few people but that there's nothing wrong with it otherwise.
She still offered to replace it if I wanted but I'm not sure it's worth it for me as it's only a couple of mm's away from opening fully.
Perhaps I'll just have a fiddle with it myself at some stage.
 
Simonized said:
I've been in touch with Charlotte from TWC just to let them know I have a similar issue with the door not opening all the way down just so they're aware it's happening to a few people but that there's nothing wrong with it otherwise.
She still offered to replace it if I wanted but I'm not sure it's worth it for me as it's only a couple of mm's away from opening fully.
Perhaps I'll just have a fiddle with it myself at some stage.
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Someone (maybe you?) posted this on the facebook group yesterday or the day before.
I noticed mine won't fall all the way perpendicular to the housing but I can easily nudge it to 90 degrees so it's not like it's going to break. I honestly wouldn't have even thought about it unless it was brought up. It hasn't bothered me and I didn't consider it a flaw.
 
Trooper_trent said:
Someone (maybe you?) posted this on the facebook group yesterday or the day before.
I noticed mine won't fall all the way perpendicular to the housing but I can easily nudge it to 90 degrees so it's not like it's going to break. I honestly wouldn't have even thought about it unless it was brought up. It hasn't bothered me and I didn't consider it a flaw.
View attachment 1952483
Click to expand...
Here’s mine.

 
Trooper_trent said:
Someone (maybe you?) posted this on the facebook group yesterday or the day before.
I noticed mine won't fall all the way perpendicular to the housing but I can easily nudge it to 90 degrees so it's not like it's going to break. I honestly wouldn't have even thought about it unless it was brought up. It hasn't bothered me and I didn't consider it a flaw.
View attachment 1952483
Click to expand...

I guess …it’s only bad enough…to where you have difficulty getting the discs in and out. If your at a point where your having difficulty or it gets to be a pain having to twist (angle) out the disc after ejection or twist (angle) in for insertion…..then you might consider returning for a replacement.

Of course there’s always Disc Override……but that takes out the imaginary fun playing for some folks…

Welp off to the Con today…..for the next 4 days :)
 
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Trooper_trent said:
Someone (maybe you?) posted this on the facebook group yesterday or the day before.
I noticed mine won't fall all the way perpendicular to the housing but I can easily nudge it to 90 degrees so it's not like it's going to break. I honestly wouldn't have even thought about it unless it was brought up. It hasn't bothered me and I didn't consider it a flaw.
View attachment 1952483
Click to expand...

JiminSTLouis said:
Here’s mine.

View attachment 1952485
Click to expand...

Mine stops anywhere along the way if I stop moving it, but it goes the full 90°. It has just a slight bit of stiffness that I think is intentional. I don't think it's meant to just flop open.
 
asalaw said:
Mine stops anywhere along the way if I stop moving it, but it goes the full 90°. It has just a slight bit of stiffness that I think is intentional. I don't think it's meant to just flop open.
Click to expand...

And mine does just flop open, but won't make it to quite 90. It's not a big deal for me, though clearly there is a bit of difference from unit to unit. That doesn't entirely surprise me, since there is a ton of geometry involved on every section of the tricorder (which is why building kits are such a pain in the butt) though I figured that all of the injection molding and mass production involved would have smoothed out some of the quirks. Apparently not totally...
 
Trooper_trent said:
Someone (maybe you?) posted this on the facebook group yesterday or the day before.
I noticed mine won't fall all the way perpendicular to the housing but I can easily nudge it to 90 degrees so it's not like it's going to break. I honestly wouldn't have even thought about it unless it was brought up. It hasn't bothered me and I didn't consider it a flaw.
View attachment 1952483
Click to expand...
No it wasn't me. That hinge looks stiffer though.
 
I think a little clarification is in order. Yes, my upper door opens smoothly and easily all the way to 90 degrees. But once it’s open, it stays open. There’s no looseness or flopping of the door and there’s no resistance or tightness needed to keep it in place. You have to purposefully close it.
 
I'm pretty sure I may have worked out why this Tricorder doesn't open as much as the original prop.
My guess is the hinge pivot point is different on the TWC version. It would make sense that they would want it to be stronger at the point where the hinge is. The original would probably have the hinge points closer to the corner. I'm not sure how thin the original material was but I'm pretty sure it is thinner than what TWC chose. This would allow it to open up fully. If the TWC hinge has been moved away from the corner it would cause it to have less movement. I did a quick representation to show what I mean. The proportions aren't exact but they should get the point across. Moving the pivot point a bit really changes the opening angle.
It would mean we wouldn't be able to get the same range of motion as the original but I can see why they would do it as a compromise.
 

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