I knew it was discontinued, but it such a decent unit for the price that I was still buying them for new installations. That might not have been such a great idea. I was told today they were not discontinued to make way for the new improved (and usually more expensive) model as companies are wont to do, but because they can't get the parts to keep building them. This means when customers units are due for a rebuild in several years they will most likely HAVE TO be replaced instead of rebuilt.
Digital Watchdog VMAXFLEX - (Why its discontinued)
Mar 30, 2015
7 Replies
I don't agree with that Bob, DVR's in general have gone way down in price o ver the last 10-15 years and even some of the cheapest crap has quite a bit of technology included. They are these days nothing more than a PC with a cheap multi input video card. And like a desktop PC it easier to junk the o ld stuff and replace it with something new which will likely be twice as go od at half the cost. That Digital Watchdog looks like a nice unit but has n othing I haven't seen on other units.
I have several DVR's laying around that went for several thousand dollars w hen new 10 years ago now I'm about to toss em because they are almost worth less. That's why a lot of big names are no longer in the biz. In my opinion the value is in the remote software more than the DVR
Actually I have been using them as replacements for other DVRs, so I don't disagree with your basic premise. I just like to think things are repairable. The customers do to even if they decided to replace and upgrade instead.
We have people going from door to door in commercial areas selling CCTV ins tallations. After I had given one of my customers a quote for a system, one of these CCTV people walked in off the street and sold him four fixed lens eyeball outdoor cameras and a DVR for $2000.00. ( I quoted $4K ) It worked for a few years and one day my customer said the DVR wasn't recording anym ore .... could I take a look at it. The DVR had absolutely no markings on i t at all. No serial number, No UL, No Name .... NADA. Not even inside.
It was simply made to be throw-away type equipment. Probably worth a few hu ndred dollars including the cameras.
I run into that fairly often. A DVR with no way to identify it.
Other than the motherboard there is nothing in there other than a SATA hard drive and a generic looking fan. The hard drive and fan could be replaced, but it wouldn't seem worth replacing the MB if it failed in several years time even if they were available.
If you want to stock up with spare parts I have a used 16 channel Vmaxflex with a 1TB hard drive that could be yours for the princely sum of $100 plus shipping.
Doug
PRINCELY ????
You wouldn't be keeping it in "the closet" .... would you ? :->
I don't know Bob ..... this could be bait and switch ..... if you know what I mean. ;-)
Sorry, for the great unwashed among us
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Doug
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