Hi all,
Some of you have been following the thread on the falsely advertised specifications for the Chauvet F-1250 fogger. This problem was discovered back in Oct. 2008 by OpenTrackRacer, and confirmed by a number of members here. Chauvet was informed and made no offer to fix the problem. After much pressure was applied, Chauvet agreed to upgrade the heaters. After failing at the attempt, Chauvet made an offer to refund the purchase price of the fogger to those who requested it, and the owner would be allowed to keep the fogger. This offer has now been rescinded by Rasheen Williams at Chauvet. The owner may still obtain a refund, but must return the fogger at their their own expense. So much for Chauvet's vaunted customer service.
There has been no indication that Chauvet intends to start selling fog machines that actually meet their published specs. Since the wattage spec (for all of their foggers) has been purged from the Chauvet website, the remaining spec of 10,000 CFM output (for the F-1250) is the only metric that can be used to compare their foggers to other manufacturers. This spec has been tested by CraiginPA (on his F-1250), and he found it to be very unlikely for the fogger to be able to meet the output spec. Again, when presented with the test results Chauvet did not indicate that they would change the product to meet the published spec. The false 10K CFM spec remains on the web site. When we inquired as to the test methods that were used to determine the output, Chauvet ignored our requests. They did tell me that they use Kill-A-Watt meters to test the current draw of each fogger they ship, so I have to believe that they knew they were shipping out-of spec product and they just didn't give a damn.
Bottom line: Chauvet is advertising output specs for the F-1250 fogger that it cannot possibly meet. While they took care of a few of their customers, they have pretty much given the finger to the remaining customers who purchased those machines based on the false specifications and asked for restitution. I plan to never buy from this company in the future and advise all to do the same.
I had a problem with my Chauvet f1700 a couple of years ago. Their customer service is pathetic (actually apathetic as well). Not only did they send me the wrong replacement part, but acted like I should be grateful for it! They lost a loyal customer that day.
Wow, just saw this thread. I was about to buy one of these. Thanks for heads up. Anybody have a good recommendation for a ~1200 watt fogger? I'm using crappy 400 watt foggers now that suck.
I too bought a Chauvet fogger last year. I spent a lot of time trying to research units on-line and decided that the Chauvet would be the way to go. I wanted a unit that would put out copious amounts of fog continuously. My plan was to use less than what the machine could produce so that I could depend on the output to grow as my needs grew in the future. I planned on leaving a reserve in capacity in the machine for future needs and growth.
It cost me a lot of money. When I got it I was very excited, it was my first fogger and was excited to run it in and play with the settings. I'd wanted one of these since I was a kid. I spent money on the unit I could have put to other uses.
When I got it out of the box, the fluid resevoir was wet with liquid. (Factory testing I figured at the time. Now, I'm not so sure.) The Chauvet had an extrememly long initial warm up and quite short fog production interval, then a very long reheat. The reheat was so long that any fog produced was long gone before the unit started making fog again. I tried to figure out a setting that actually made continuous fog as advertised, or even a setting that filled my patio continuously. No matter what I did the Chauvet wouldn't produce enough fog. (it would heat for about 3-5 minutes and fog for about 10 seconds)
When I called them to see what could be the issue they simply told me to change the setting to lower the fog demand. I wanted more fog so that didn't make sense but I tried it anyway. Sure enough, that made even less fog. I decided to return the unit and gave Chauvet a call to set that up. Man, what a friggin' ordeal! They spent the call trying to get me to admit the machine worked to specifications but that my expectations were at fault. It was like playing legal verbal symantics ping pong with a professional. In the end they did accept the unit back and refunded my money. I was also made to feel fortunate that Chauvet would accept my return. With my Chauvet performing nothing like advertised and the lack of customer service I experienced I will not purchase from them again.
Mike, I know what you mean - their CS is terrible. Most of my conversations with them were obvious attempts to get me to say that I was satisfied with the product performance, rather than trying to fix the problem with the false specifications.
Wow, just saw this thread. I was about to buy one of these. Thanks for heads up. Anybody have a good recommendation for a ~1200 watt fogger? I'm using crappy 400 watt foggers now that suck.
Try the VEI935, affordable, tremendous fog output and both wired controller and wireless triggers included.
Chauvet F-1250 fogger
Linear Mode
