Nomad Lite

[Bob]

Brilliant, brilliant post that absolutely encapsulates the frustration I feel. Thanks Daniel.

Seriously?

Why are you still bitching? If you hate your nomad and zaxcom that much and are so "frustrated" just sell your machine or bring it back to your dealer and buy something else. Prehaps you should be pissed off at sound devices because if they said that a 664 was coming to market you may have waited. But you bought what fit your needs at the time. Shit changes products evolve prices change the world doesnt stop for you.

I think zaxcom offering upgrades is great and is more than fair. I will be upgrading my machine. And im sure many satisified nomad owners will do the same. If you bought a 552 a few weeks ago is SD offering to upgrade you?

Because you have buyers remorse stop spewing your poision all over the place. You think that being a squeaky wheel will get what you want but the only thing you are accomplishing is giving me a headache.

Man up and call your dealer or zaxcom directly and stop your whining. Just stop!

[Bob]

Daniel

Do you own a nomad or any zaxcom product?

You seem to be very opinionated and appear to be Monday morning quaterbacking everything zaxcom does.

[Bob]

What would be great is for actual nomad owners who are satisfied with their purchase chime in here. Are you happy with your nomad? Are you satisified with zaxcoms upgrade policy.

I am!

And I will be very happily be upgrading!

[Brian Liston]

I would call it a mixed bag of happiness and WTF with my Nomad.

I bought the 12, so the upgrade policy doesn't really matter to me at this time.

What would be great is for actual nomad owners who are satisfied with their purchase chime in here. Are you happy with your nomad? Are you satisified with zaxcoms upgrade policy.

I am!

And I will be very happily be upgrading!

[Jeff Wexler]

I would call it a mixed bag of happiness and WTF with my Nomad.

I'll take "mixed bag of happiness and WTF" over a lot of the stuff that is being "discussed" here. I think everyone needs to lighten up a bit, get the buyer's remorse under control and stop criticizing everything. For Daniel, I would suggest as others have already suggested to sell the gear that you are not happy with and get something different that will make you happy (or at least less miserable). We have all made mistakes, companies make mistakes, things don't always work out as planned --- take care of your problem(s) and get back to work.

[pscottm]

What would be great is for actual nomad owners who are satisfied with their purchase chime in here. Are you happy with your nomad? Are you satisified with zaxcoms upgrade policy.

I am!

And I will be very happily be upgrading!

i have an early model that will be a year old soon and as soon as i get a break between shoots i plan to upgrade from an 8 to a 12. i'm very excited to do so! i've had my problems, from mistakenly using alkalines very early on and causing damage, to later sending it back for a power switch/schoeps input mod/mix8 mod (not really a problem) but i've sent it back twice and each time, zax service has been exemplary. the other 50 weeks it's seen seen alot of use in what has been so far the busiest year i've ever had. some shoots are dead simple, others complicated, i seriously love the sound of the unit, neverclip, the flexibility of routing, and zaxnet! it has lowered my stress level, made my back happier and my tracks sound better. perhaps because i'm not complaining or requesting a new feature, this comment will come across as complete drivel, but there you go, a word from a happy enthusiastic nomad user.

[pscottm]

things don't always work out as planned --- take care of your problem(s) and get back to work.

yes!!

[Nate C]

I got the eight a couple of months ago and couldn't be more pleased with my purchase, well once i got my head around things are done differently to a SD product.

It is not a perfect machine for how I like to work, but none are. I knew this when I handed over my credit card to the vendor. It is the best fit for me out there.

I don't own any zaxcom wireless or IFB, but I still wanted the ability of zaxnet. I may not use it now but when a job comes up the will pay for some ERX2TC, i will be on board. That said I have no plans of getting rid of my lectro IFB or SRa's.

If the Lite had come out before I had brought mine, would I have gone that route? Possibly. But it didn't and I am glad I brought the machine i have. Will I upgrade to the twelve? Yes. I was planning to at some point when/if required or if I got a mix8. Now it will be more affordable.

Cheers

Nate

[OneLouder]

I think its great Zaxcom are offering existing customers the downgrade option, especially as not all the features advertised and paid for by these customers are currently available and by implication these (and other features) were only paid for because the customer just wanted the track count (which as you imply is a very cheap thing for Zaxcom to put in the box).

Are Zaxcom offering a downgrade (with the respective refunds)?

Daniel, where did you hear this info? do tell.

[fieldmixer]

+1 for stopping the bitching.

Very happy with my 6 soon to be 10. Also annoyed with the poison. Downgrade policy? Respective refunds?... Why in the world would a refund be warranted?

If one wants to "downgrade" one need only sell what one owns and purchase the lesser. FIN

[daniel]

Daniel, where did you hear this info? do tell.

My bad on that. i inferred it from a something filedmixer said in an earlier post:

"Someone wants to downgrade to a new nomad light instead of their solid, nomad 6 (WITH zaxnet and soon automix) which now can be 10 for an ultra reasonable 150$ Go a head."

when what i think is meant by "downgrade" is sell your machine in the used market and start over(?).

As for the shouting down <bob>; whatever geeza! i thought this was a forum, people discuss things and various opinions are aired and discussed. I have a great deal of respect for all the parties referred to in this thread and i'm not trying to detract (i don't do grid iron references so i'm not sure if that is what you meant). I believe i've been polite and balanced and was only trying to help articulate some of the frustrations i observe other people trying to discuss (and getting shouted down for). I'm not bitching or whining, i have no need to (as i implied in an earlier post i'm not a current Zaxcom customer - although i'm not ruling it out). Curious how 1 minute everyone is gushing on about "feedback" and "listening" and the next minute a respectfully conducted discussion about actual circumstances is shouted down by folks who don't like to read a differing opinion from their own - can't understand why - if you're so happy why not just stroke your chin and be bemused by the diversity of experience out there and move on to something you can contribute to in a positive way or maybe not read the stuff that winds you up despite it having no actual impact on you and your practice. I think i'm going to sign off that note for fear of incurring further the ire of all the happy customers.

shalom.

[James Arnold]

Seriously?

Why are you still bitching? If you hate your nomad and zaxcom that much and are so "frustrated" just sell your machine or bring it back to your dealer and buy something else. Prehaps you should be pissed off at sound devices because if they said that a 664 was coming to market you may have waited. But you bought what fit your needs at the time. Shit changes products evolve prices change the world doesnt stop for you.

I think zaxcom offering upgrades is great and is more than fair. I will be upgrading my machine. And im sure many satisified nomad owners will do the same. If you bought a 552 a few weeks ago is SD offering to upgrade you?

Because you have buyers remorse stop spewing your poision all over the place. You think that being a squeaky wheel will get what you want but the only thing you are accomplishing is giving me a headache.

Man up and call your dealer or zaxcom directly and stop your whining. Just stop!

Another erudite, nuanced contribution that cleverly counterpoints my own.

Extraordinary. I'm not quite sure how you get through life without people thumping you every five minutes.

I don't hate my Nomad. It's great. I loathed the screen, and along with many others was one of the most vocal complainers about it : and lo and behold we have a fix. Score one for the squeaky wheels. I was also disappointed with the reliability because everything I bought from Zaxcom broke within 3 weeks of purchase. The recent price and model revision was just the icing on the bad luck cake.

I'm as bemused as Daniel at the level of vitriol directed at those (and it's not just me) who take issue with the current Zaxcom business model. I don't hate Zaxcom or their products, but I do think it's perfectly reasonable to be able to be honest about my experience as a customer.

[Jeff Wexler]

All is fair in love and war (why we have war here I don't know... love, now that's a great idea) and most of these wrap up posts seem to have brought things around again to reasonable and civilized discourse. Let's try and keep it that way.

[Bash]

I am quite intrigued to know who your local dealer is, James....

My local dealer here in the UK (Roger Patel) is absolutely brilliant, and looks after me like I am a VIP! We treat each other with respect, and we have regular and honest and frank exchanges which result in each knowing exactly how the other feels about whatever we are discussing. I try to deal like that with all the dealers/suppliers/manufacturers that I do business with, and I find that it works wonders when I need a little help with whatever aspect.....

When I bought a Deva 1, having seen the demo at Twickenham Studios, and walked away with one of the demo machnes on the day, I was somewhat perturbed to discover that Zaxcom announced just a week later the Deva 2. I called my then local dealer (another Roger iirc), and they didnt even hesitate to offer to exchange my week old D1 for a D2, no questions asked, no money changing hands. I had previously treated them with respect, and they returned that respect much to my satisfaction. I became one of their champions and all parties were happy.

I am not so sure that I see or read such great respect when you refer to your 'local dealer' - it doesnt feel to me like you have a similar relationship with them. May I ask who your local dealer is? May I also ask why you have not been talking to them about potential ways to make you happy, solve your issue, sort this all out. It still feels to me that you are making a huge amount of bellyache and noise about a fairly simple issue. You were happy to pay the price you paid for a nomad 8 at the time you bought it, so you must have felt that the price was fair at that time. Things have happened and the prices have changed, for whatever reasons. I can guarantee that if the prices had gone up then you'd not have been complaining..... Zax are aware that the market has become rather more competitive, have 'tweaked' both the specs of the machines, and the number of machines in the range, with a view to making the amount of models made simpler, and this (amongst other things) allows them to alter the prices, in this case down.

By way of a nod to exiting users/previous purchasers (at the higher prices), Zax have offered to 'improve' every users machine by way of an upgrade at a very reasonable price. Have you considered saying yes to the upgrade to a Nomad 12 offer? This would preserve the 'value' of your machine (a Nomad 12 will be 'worth' the price that you paid for your Nomad such that if you decide to sell it you should not really be out of pocket. If your jobs demand no more than the facilities of a Nomad 8 then might you not simply ignore all the extra stuff on a Nomad12?

In truth, if your reationship with your dealer was anything like mine is with Roger Patel, and if you were that unhappy with your Nomad 8, then I'd have hoped that your dealer might help you to be rid of the problem, allowing you to spend your money again on whatever machine might make you less stressy. That said, if your local dealer has read some of the stuff you have written here, then I am not so sure that they would be so inclined to help you out.

Incidentally, I was lucky enough to have had Nomad serial number 1, which was sent to me when they started the big production run (it was subsequently stolen from a trade show stand, so I now have a much newer machine!!). At that time (circa Oct 2011) Nomads were in fairly short supply, and the lead time seemed quite long, especially if you counted the time between your order (which may well have been months before machines were actually in production), and receiving your machine. That said, when I needed to buy a Nomad for my tiny hire company, at the beginning of 2012, Roger was able to supply me within a fortnight, which pretty reasonable to me. I am not so sure that they were quite as rare as rocking horse poo as you might think - again, probably depends on who your delaer is/was and how good your relationship is with them. As to 'easily obtainable'.... I believe that in the UK, there is only one 'stocking' dealer (guess who, Roger Patel). To my knowledge no one else keeps Nomad machines in stock (which model(s) would they keep?). I guess that is the problem with living on a small island!! That said, every single item that I have ordered from Sennheiser UK in about the last 2 or more years has had to be delivered to me or them from Germany, so I think there are plenty of 'dealers' who keep little or no stock, it is part of the modern business model!!

I am really not so sure that you are doing yourself any favours bleating on and on here about your gripes, other than to vent your spleen somewhat. I think you've had a really good go at stating your position, as have many who have replied. Now I think it is getting a bit boring, and you really need to take this to your local dealer, sort it out with them, and maybe come back and tell us how it all panned out. I'd certainly be interested to know how you resolve it all in the end, but I really dont think you're going to resolve it here, in a public place.

Kindest regards,

Simon B

Indeed Jeff. The Nomad may have been on sale for about a year, but realistically here in Blighty they've been like rocking horse poo. It's only recently that units have become more easily obtainable.

[James Arnold]

I am quite intrigued to know who your local dealer is, James....

My local dealer here in the UK (Roger Patel) is absolutely brilliant, and looks after me like I am a VIP! We treat each other with respect, and we have regular and honest and frank exchanges which result in each knowing exactly how the other feels about whatever we are discussing. I try to deal like that with all the dealers/suppliers/manufacturers that I do business with, and I find that it works wonders when I need a little help with whatever aspect.....

When I bought a Deva 1, having seen the demo at Twickenham Studios, and walked away with one of the demo machnes on the day, I was somewhat perturbed to discover that Zaxcom announced just a week later the Deva 2. I called my then local dealer (another Roger iirc), and they didnt even hesitate to offer to exchange my week old D1 for a D2, no questions asked, no money changing hands. I had previously treated them with respect, and they returned that respect much to my satisfaction. I became one of their champions and all parties were happy.

I am not so sure that I see or read such great respect when you refer to your 'local dealer' - it doesnt feel to me like you have a similar relationship with them. May I ask who your local dealer is? May I also ask why you have not been talking to them about potential ways to make you happy, solve your issue, sort this all out. It still feels to me that you are making a huge amount of bellyache and noise about a fairly simple issue. You were happy to pay the price you paid for a nomad 8 at the time you bought it, so you must have felt that the price was fair at that time. Things have happened and the prices have changed, for whatever reasons. I can guarantee that if the prices had gone up then you'd not have been complaining..... Zax are aware that the market has become rather more competitive, have 'tweaked' both the specs of the machines, and the number of machines in the range, with a view to making the amount of models made simpler, and this (amongst other things) allows them to alter the prices, in this case down.

By way of a nod to exiting users/previous purchasers (at the higher prices), Zax have offered to 'improve' every users machine by way of an upgrade at a very reasonable price. Have you considered saying yes to the upgrade to a Nomad 12 offer? This would preserve the 'value' of your machine (a Nomad 12 will be 'worth' the price that you paid for your Nomad such that if you decide to sell it you should not really be out of pocket. If your jobs demand no more than the facilities of a Nomad 8 then might you not simply ignore all the extra stuff on a Nomad12?

In truth, if your reationship with your dealer was anything like mine is with Roger Patel, and if you were that unhappy with your Nomad 8, then I'd have hoped that your dealer might help you to be rid of the problem, allowing you to spend your money again on whatever machine might make you less stressy. That said, if your local dealer has read some of the stuff you have written here, then I am not so sure that they would be so inclined to help you out.

Incidentally, I was lucky enough to have had Nomad serial number 1, which was sent to me when they started the big production run (it was subsequently stolen from a trade show stand, so I now have a much newer machine!!). At that time (circa Oct 2011) Nomads were in fairly short supply, and the lead time seemed quite long, especially if you counted the time between your order (which may well have been months before machines were actually in production), and receiving your machine. That said, when I needed to buy a Nomad for my tiny hire company, at the beginning of 2012, Roger was able to supply me within a fortnight, which pretty reasonable to me. I am not so sure that they were quite as rare as rocking horse poo as you might think - again, probably depends on who your delaer is/was and how good your relationship is with them. As to 'easily obtainable'.... I believe that in the UK, there is only one 'stocking' dealer (guess who, Roger Patel). To my knowledge no one else keeps Nomad machines in stock (which model(s) would they keep?). I guess that is the problem with living on a small island!! That said, every single item that I have ordered from Sennheiser UK in about the last 2 or more years has had to be delivered to me or them from Germany, so I think there are plenty of 'dealers' who keep little or no stock, it is part of the modern business model!!

I am really not so sure that you are doing yourself any favours bleating on and on here about your gripes, other than to vent your spleen somewhat. I think you've had a really good go at stating your position, as have many who have replied. Now I think it is getting a bit boring, and you really need to take this to your local dealer, sort it out with them, and maybe come back and tell us how it all panned out. I'd certainly be interested to know how you resolve it all in the end, but I really dont think you're going to resolve it here, in a public place.

Kindest regards,

Simon B

I think you are a bit late to the party here Simon. By common consent I believe everyone on this thread is dropping the whole thing, so I don't think it will get the chance to get any more boring for you or anyone else.

Incidentally I don't think I've been badmouthing the supplier of my Nomad at all. They aren't my regular choice so I don't yet have the kind of frank relationship with them that I have with other people I purchase from.

Regards

James

[Bash]

I think you are putting words in my mouth - I didn't say you were badmouthing your dealer at all. I chose my words very carefully, and you have just confirmed that they are not your regular choice of dealer, nor do you have 'the kind of frank relationship with them that I have with other people that I purchase from'. So, in fact, what I stated was in fact correct, and I never mentioned bad mouthing...

Interesting that you have still not named your dealer. I know two of the UK Zaxcom dealers who I have spoken to about this thread. Neither of them recall knowingly selling you your machine, nor are they aware that you have been in touch with them about it post purchase. The only other place I know of in the UK that claim to be Nomad a 'dealer' does not buy from the UK distributor, so I presume must be greying in. You did check that your dealer was/is legit didn't you?

Not as late to the party as you might think, James. I posted on 29th Setember!!!

Kindest regards,

Simon B

[TimPitot]

According to the website the only dealer is Everything Audio aka Roger. Who is the other one, just out of interest? I thought Orbital had stopped selling Zaxcom?

[Bash]

I believe that Orbital were dealers for Zaxcom radio mics, but not for recorders.

I believe that Martyn at Soundkit is now a Zaxcom dealer.

But.... Roger is the best ;-)) !!!!!

Kindest,

sb

[johnpaul215]

What would be great is for actual nomad owners who are satisfied with their purchase chime in here. Are you happy with your nomad? Are you satisified with zaxcoms upgrade policy.

I am!

And I will be very happily be upgrading!

I love my Nomad 6. There was always an upgrade path for me, part of the reason I only got a 6. I previously had intended to go from the 6 to an 8 (partly to add USB support). I don't know what that would have cost me under the old pricing, so I can't compare it to the posted prices for the upgrade to a 12 (because do I want the USB support). That might make me have stronger feelings one way or another. That said, it makes sense to have more tracks and not need them, than to get stuck.

I'm in the habit of making track 1 a mix track, track 2 boom, then wireless. With the 6, that fills up fast. If I knew in advance, I would bring my Fusion, but it can catch me off guard. Even if I bought a Nomad that became cheaper, I said in another thread that I made more than the $ difference in rentals in the few months that I owned a Nomad. I did own a perfectly functional Fusion, but my Nomad rig is so much lighter, and that adds to my quality of life. 100% satisfied Nomad owner.

[James Arnold]

I think you are putting words in my mouth - I didn't say you were badmouthing your dealer at all. I chose my words very carefully, and you have just confirmed that they are not your regular choice of dealer, nor do you have 'the kind of frank relationship with them that I have with other people that I purchase from'. So, in fact, what I stated was in fact correct, and I never mentioned bad mouthing...

Interesting that you have still not named your dealer. I know two of the UK Zaxcom dealers who I have spoken to about this thread. Neither of them recall knowingly selling you your machine, nor are they aware that you have been in touch with them about it post purchase. The only other place I know of in the UK that claim to be Nomad a 'dealer' does not buy from the UK distributor, so I presume must be greying in. You did check that your dealer was/is legit didn't you?

Not as late to the party as you might think, James. I posted on 29th Setember!!!

Kindest regards,

Simon B

Late in the sense that for 10 days now no-one has been discussing my little rants or indeed the somewhat hot tempered replies to them. It's a scab that doesn't need picking.

It's not 'interesting' - I simply don't think it's relevant. I am a new customer and while they have been very reasonable I don't particularly wish to discuss the ins and outs of our fledgling relationship. Suffice to say we have discussed alternatives, which I did mention I would try and do some posts back.

Both Pinknoise and Soundkit list the Nomad for purchase. My local chaps Wendy's Broadcast will also pull them in (possibly from EE, I don't know) if asked.

I will be picking my Nomad up next week after it's factory hiatus. Be interesting to see the new screen mod.

[studiomprd]

" The fact they these companies may not keep them in stock does not exempt them from being 'dealers'. "

while that is correct, and not even unusual, there are also folks who sell products that they are not factory authorized dealers for (often called 2-steppers, as they arrange to purchase from legitimate distributors or even other dealers, and then markup whatever they pat). This is also somewhat common, but there are differences in dealing with them...

[James Arnold]

" The fact they these companies may not keep them in stock does not exempt them from being 'dealers'. "

while that is correct, and not even unusual, there are also folks who sell products that they are not factory authorized dealers for (often called 2-steppers, as they arrange to purchase from legitimate distributors or even other dealers, and then markup whatever they pat). This is also somewhat common, but there are differences in dealing with them...

I edited during your post sir, lest I open another can of worms....

[Olle Sjostrom]

Something came up today that really set me back..

On the Swedish Facebook page for sound mixers, one of the members writes that the Nomad is delayed by a year to Scandinavia, and that all the models sent there have had issues. This was from zaxcoms general agent in Denmark. (We have another one in Sweden)

I just went WTF since I've been reading all these comments from what must be 50+ users on this board, I have heard small complaints only but no biggies. This just seems wild to me, that a dealer can say stuff like that seemingly without having checked with other users...It's just contraproductive... An agent trash talking a manufacturer..

[RadoStefanov]

That was explored and is not possible.

so it is not possible to have 2 different fader assign settings like hp settings.

you will have one then when you select fader assign 2 the units executes fader assign clear command and loads the other one?

[RadoStefanov]

Something came up today that really set me back...<br /><br />On the Swedish Facebook page for sound mixers, one of the members writes that the Nomad is delayed by a year to Scandinavia, and that all the models sent there have had issues. This was from zaxcoms general agent in Denmark.<br /><br />I just went WTF since I've been reading all these comments from what must be 50+ users on this board, I have heard small complaints only but no biggies. This just seems wild to me, that a dealer can say stuff like that seemingly without having checked with other users...<br />It's just contraproductive... An agent trash talking a manufacturer

all issues with nomad ware fixed long time ago.

I see the problem with your dealer. they should upgrade all old nomads...