It certainly is easy to say that we've had a "bumpy" product launch if you're only looking at the anecdotal data posted on various forums. But, considering the number of units currently in the field and the technology in play things could be worse. That being said, whether there is an issue on 1 or 1,000 hubs we want to understand it and solve it. Period.
We can't understate the difficulties involved with that "understanding" statement. RF is a tricky technology. From the beginning we have been testing each and every hub that leaves our facility but what we've learned is that depending on the test we can miss things. In our case it was the overall RF power vs. the characteristics of that RF. Unfortunately, a recall is not possible in this case because the variability is not associated with a bad lot of parts or a new operator in production, it's much more subtle than that. We can say that a very small number of units are suspect and that an even smaller number will be suspect moving forward.
As always, we stand behind our products and if anybody is experiencing issues please contact our customer service department at 1-800-783-7257. Regarding Adict07's particular experience, replacing batteries is a standard trouble shooting tactic worth the effort. Return shipping is commonly a burden shouldered by the consumer and spelled out clearly in the warranty. If you feel this to be unfair I would recommend taking it back to your dealer for them to handle the return.
Just because we provide "the value priced power meter" doesn't mean we offer value priced service. $1500 is still a lot of money and we respect that. We also appreciate the constructive criticism and will work to improve our processes in the future.
Jesse Bartholomew
CycleOps Product Manager