Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Fixed!

The bot is working again. Turns out it was
only the charger. Woo-hoo! The new charger
arrived yesterday morning and by the afternoon
I was botting again.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Jinxed by my last post!

The charger for the iBOT has 2 yellow lights
and 2 red lights. The yellow lights mean that
it is charging or is charged, the red lights
mean that something is wrong. When I plugged
it in yesterday, I got one yellow light and
one red light. I called tech support and he
said to leave it plugged in for a while to
see if it charged at all. About 6 hours later
I checked, and it hadn't charged at all. I
talked to tech support again this morning
and he said there must be a problem with
the charger or the batteries. Because I
bought my iBOT used, it is not covered under
warranty. So we're starting with the less
expensive possible fix which is the charger.
$275 for a refurbished one, $500-something
for a new one. It will be sent to me over-
night, and I should receive it tomorrow. If
the problem isn't resolved, I'll send the
charger back to them and they will send
me new batteries. $550 for each battery
and they are only sold in pairs, so $1,100.
I don't need a tech to come here though, so
that's good. Although if I did need one, it
is only $90 an hour and that is only from
when the tech gets here until he leaves.
Which means most service calls only cost
$90. Quite resonable, IMO.

I am iBOTless until at least tomorrow. I
have a feeling it is the batteries, simply
because it's the more expensive fix. LOL!
Also though, I asked the guy how long batteries
last and he said usually 1 to 2 years.

I.T. is very good about getting things fixed
in a timely manner.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Another question:

crmantigua wrote:

Your Blog is great. I live in Antigua and would be concerned about maintenance. What things have you had to fix or replace since having your Bot?

Hi there Antiqua person! Interested in doing a house
swap for a week in February?!

I haven't had to fix or replace anything at all except
when I first got it they had to come out once to update
the software so that it could be fixed remotely. (No
charge to me!)

The chair is very well made. I've put many miles on
it, and I've really USED it, and it's been fantastic.
Another good thing is that if you do throw a wrench,
they can most likely fix it remotely. In case you
don't know what throwing a wrench is, it is something
that happens if something happens to the chair that
isn't supposed to happen. IT wants to know about
anything weird that happens, and so they have a built-in
"black box". A wrench will appear on the UPC and it
will lock you out of all functions other than standard.
You have to call IT to get it fixed. They read the
black box remotely, and often they can fix it remotely.
That's my understanding of it anyway... give IT a call
or send them an email. They are excellent about
answering questions.

I've said this before, but I'll say it again. IT
is a really great company. I've had NO negative
experiences with them at all. As for the iBOT, it
amazes me how well made it is. If there was a car
company that was like IT, everyone would be driving
one of their cars.

BTW, the iBOT would be great for the beaches
in Antiqua! I went to Bonaire many years ago
and having the iBOT then would have been so
great. I hope you get one and love it as much
as I love mine!

Question left by anonymous:

Anonymous said...

Hey,

Do you have any reactions to the new seat designs?

http://www.ibotnow.com/specs/new2008.html

Indeed, I do have reactions! My friend Bill who
also has an iBOT called me to tell me about the
new seat design. I was very excited about it
because I dislike the current footrest assembly
very much. I looked at the website and was
thrilled to see the new footrest. This was in
the evening, so I had to wait until the next
day to call IT about it. When I called the next
day, I found out that it would cost me $4,500
for the new seating design. : ( I was hoping
to purchase just the new footrest, but they aren't
sold seperately. Although the new design would
be great to have, I don't have the money for
it. So I won't be getting it. They did say
they were working on getting a new footrest
that could be purchased without buying the
entire new seating design, but he had no idea
when that would happen. I'm disappointed. I
need to find a bike builder or someone who can
build me a new footrest system.

As for the other new stuff....

The armrests look slightly better. Not something
worth spending the money on though, IMO.

The headrest is of no interest to me because
I took mine off as I have no need/desire to
have one.

The lateral supports do not interest me.

The calf panel... I thought it came with
one of these already? To me, it is only
something that gets in the way.

Now folding the backrest forward... I really
like that. It'd be great for air travel and
for transporting it in other people's trucks,
vans, suburbans. I have a portable ramp
I could use, and with the remote function
and the seat folding forward like that, I'd
be able to get it into (some)vehicles other than
my own.

For me, the footrest assembly would be
fantastic. The seat folding forward would
come in handy. The rest of the new features
do not interest me though.

Comment left by Anonymous:

Anonymous said...

I'm not Mooney but I sure miss the regular reports on the iBOT and how it expands your horizons. I hope to get one someday. Keep the faith, baby!

Anonymous, thank you so much! It makes me happy
to know that someone is interested! My best wishes
to you in getting yourself an iBOT - they are
wonderful!

Update

Whoa, I see I haven't posted any iBOT stuff here in
quite a while. I've been terribly busy with the
end of the school year and my daughter's birthday
and trying to get my website launched... Things are
going well with the BOT. I'm not sure how it happened,
but just a few days ago I was in balance and someone
must have bumped the joystick and pushed a button
at the same time or something. It crashed me down
to four-wheel drive. Not a big deal.... no one was
hurt. It was quite a jolt though and I could see
where this might be a problem for some people,
especially if they have pain issues.

A couple of people have left me questions which I
will work on answering next...

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Phmooney...

I can't find your email address. Send me an
email please!

Thanks!