Flashpoint XPLOR600 Battery Issue

The Flashpoint XPLOR600 battery operated strobe light offers the power of portability by freeing the photographer from having to plug into a 120v power outlet. Yet, the XPLOR 600 adds even more flexibility with optionally allowing the unit to be plugged into a traditional AC power outlet.

But where is the fun in plugging the XPLOR 600 into the wall, when you have the freedom of the battery at your fingertips?

Bursting the expectation bubble time.

Well, all is good with a battery operated, powerful and portable strobe when the battery is actually working. So this article will focus on a recent issue I personally encountered with the Flashpoint XPLOR 600 battery pack failing to recharge.

Okay, admittedly the battery packs were sitting for a number of months. I have three XPLOR 600 units, two of which were used more so than the third unit. Hence, the reason why the third unit’s battery indicated a completely dead battery when pressing its battery level charge indicator button.

So at first glance, just plugging the dead XPLOR 600 battery pack into its charging unit to recharge it seemed like the first and only course of action to take to get the battery back to full charge and ready for the next XPLOR 600 shoot.

Not so fast.

The signs of a problem reared its ugly head when the battery charger’s indicator lights seemed to get ahead of the battery pack’s indicator lights. That is, the charger showed its progress via its indicator lights during the time the two units were connected together. However, a quick check about an hour later revealed the battery charger was indicating  three bars of successfully charged battery progress while the battery’s progress indicators, when pressed, actually was still reading read or not charged at all.

At this point, the idea of letting rechargeable batteries sit for a while, causing them not to work anymore, first came to mind. However, the other two batteries seemed to be just fine. 

Being that the replacement cost of a new XPLOR 600 battery at the time of writing this article was listed on Adorama’s website as $180, the prospect of just ordering a replacement battery wasn’t the first thing that came to mind.

So, the next course of I took was to review the warranty information for the XPLOR 600 unit. That was even more depressing. The equipment was only warranted for only one (1) year. So I was a full 5 months past warranty.

Being past warranty and with the battery costing $180 to replace didn’t settle well with me so I motivated myself to take on the customer service black hole with Adorama, or Flashpoint (really Godox rebranded) manufacturers.

We all of done it before. Send them a polite email, and the first thing they ask for is an invoice, and then politely say your past warranty coverage while including a link to the replacement item on their website. Oh yea, while expressing their appreciation for your continued loyalty as a customer.

Draft of this article stops here – will continue.

Actual response from Adorama.

Research for prospective solutions to the problem online and results.

Last words and general comments about limited warranty times for expensive electronics, and whether this means one should consider the extended warranty “offers or gimmicks” when purchasing future expensive products online.