Marcum Pancam Panner feature = crap

How the heck did this get past any field testing?

The camera is Marcum good (as expected), the record to device feature is a game changer (just awesome), but the built-in camera Panner is an absolute joke! Get’s about 1/2 turned in either direction and you hear the gears strain and it stops turning (yes I made sure there was adequate slack in the camera cord underneath the pancam). It even stopped making the straining sound after only an hour of use and would’ve move at all. Marcum will get a call from me tomorrow morning and I’ll give the replacement one more try in hopes I got a lemon out of the box…stay tuned…

Oh and many other pancam owners have reported the exact same issue.

Mine sort of turns one direction but not the other. Agreed that it’s not on par with the rest of the gear they produce.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

How the heck did this get past any field testing?

Oh and many other pancam owners have reported the exact same issue.

The question you should be asking “Why the heck didn’t I research this better before I bought it?”

I have one but I need to return it for the one with the cam included as I assumed I could use an old Marcum VS380 camera with it. Maybe I just need to return it altogether and spend that money on something else.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
How the heck did this get past any field testing?

Oh and many other pancam owners have reported the exact same issue.

The question you should be asking “Why the heck didn’t I research this better before I bought it?”

I’m probably one of the 1st people to buy one…..couldn’t do any more research than I already did….I understand new technology buyers are somewhat testers, but there’s no way field testers said the Panner was adequate….

I bought an LX9 last year and mine works very well.

NO COMPLAINTS.

meestro wrote:

I bought an LX9 last year and mine works very well.

NO COMPLAINTS.

No Complaints for what? We’re talking about the built-in pancam Panner, completely different than the Panner accessory your LX9 uses….

My point being that people seem to take little or no responsibility for the purchases they make any more.

People buy based on warranties now, not quality. Very quick to blame the manufacturer for duping them into the purchase.

I apologize for the short rant. You are not alone by any means.

I feel for Joe in this case. Marcum has a great brand and is known for building higher quality goods. There would be no reason to believe that they would be anything but the best for this new pancam. Sort of like shaking the hand of a trusted friend or business partner knowing you have a history of making good on deals and promises only to have him flake out on you in the 10th business dealing.

We all hope to develop a purchasing and service relationship with a company that understands our needs and build products that allow us to be successful, time after time. So that when they offer a new product, we don’t HAVE to do all the research (which with new product offerings, there is little or any available). We can just trust their reputation knowing if they want our loyalty in the future, they had better honor every product they tell us performs.

It is not always pragmatic to think this can exist with every brand, but many of us trust our previous dealings with Marcum and a poorly tested product damages that relationship. Just my 2 pennies.

JD Winston wrote:

I feel for Joe in this case. Marcum has a great brand and is known for building higher quality goods. There would be no reason to believe that they would be anything but the best for this new pancam. Sort of like shaking the hand of a trusted friend or business partner knowing you have a history of making good on deals and promises only to have him flake out on you in the 10th business dealing.

We all hope to develop a purchasing and service relationship with a company that understands our needs and build products that allow us to be successful, time after time. So that when they offer a new product, we don’t HAVE to do all the research (which with new product offerings, there is little or any available). We can just trust their reputation knowing if they want our loyalty in the future, they had better honor every product they tell us performs.

It is not always pragmatic to think this can exist with every brand, but many of us trust our previous dealings with Marcum and a poorly tested product damages that relationship. Just my 2 pennies.

What you speak of make me think of a couple marketing terms.

Branding or brand loyalty

Not saying that’s what it is, but it’s extremely important in today’s consumer markets.

I (the wife and I) purchased a new tv a few years back and I found some concerning reviews that said the speaker was terrible. Low and behold, it was junk. I blame myself.

Ahhh… my mistake

I think you are way on the wrong side of this conversation. If I bought one, I would expect the same high quality Marcum promises and has delivered over and over on so many products.

biggill wrote:

What you speak of make me think of a couple marketing terms.
Branding or brand loyalty
Not saying that’s what it is, but it’s extremely important in today’s consumer markets.

I think you are way on the wrong side of this conversation. If I bought one, I would expect the same high quality Marcum promises and has delivered over and over on so many products.

I’m not so sure about that. I see there are at last 2 threads in today’s topics bashing Marcum quality.

I just see no reason to bash Marcum without giving them a fair chance to fix the issue.

Pretty sure the author of this thread is happy with the Marcum products he owns, just not this one. I’m not sure what’s wrong with discussing these issues when they arise. I mean, we all know Marcum is a company that turns out quality products so when someone is used to that quality and gets a dud of course he’s going to want to say something. He already said he was one of the first to buy one so there wasn’t a lot to go on as far as research. When you’re used to quality there shouldn’t be much to worry about. Seems like you’re taking this personal for some reason biggill, perhaps letting your brand loyalty get in the way of clear judgement?

shamus wrote:

Pretty sure the author of this thread is happy with the Marcum products he owns, just not this one. I’m not sure what’s wrong with discussing these issues when they arise. I mean, we all know Marcum is a company that turns out quality products so when someone is used to that quality and gets a dud of course he’s going to want to say something. He already said he was one of the first to buy one so there wasn’t a lot to go on as far as research. When you’re used to quality there shouldn’t be much to worry about. Seems like you’re taking this personal for some reason biggill, perhaps letting your brand loyalty get in the way of clear judgement?

Happy with it after calling it crap?

Not sure where you’re getting that from what I said, but ok.

This thread seems to be getting off topic….

To clear some misconceptions, I currently own many Marcum products and have always been extremely satisfied with them. I thought this PanCam product idea was exactly what i’m looking for (fewer cables, ability to use a old iPad for the screen and built-in Screen Photo/Video feature, etc)

When I pulled the pancam out of the box I thought it seemed to be built a little cheap vs the ruggedness of my other Marcum products (The plastic case felt a little brittle, like it might not hold up in extreme weather) but I wanted to get it on the ice before I drew any opinions.

Like I said in my first posting, everything BUT the Panner is awesome (I cannot give feedback on the reported 300′ wifi range as I just use it in my Flipover, others have mentioned the 300′ range is closer to 100′). The panner motor seems to be the culprit, it’s WAY underpowered. Even out of the water if you put the slightest resistance on camera cable the turning motor start to strain. This is NOTHING like the external Panner accessory Marcum sells (I used that panner for many trouble free years before I sold my VS625SD camera in an effort to get rid of some cords and utilize an old iPad i had)

Judging from a few other early reviews from PanCam owners, the panner function seems to be an issue they are having as well. I don’t see how Marcum can fix this other than issuing a recall and using a bigger motor (if it’s having issues turning the camera right out of the box, how will it works a month, year from now?)

I plan on returning mine this week… I guess I need to go back to cords…

Could this lack of quality control be due to Rapala now calling the shots and not going the extra mile Marcum used to go when they were by themselves? or I suspect this PanCam product was purchased as-is from an overseas 3rd party manufacturer and Rapala just stamps Marcum’s name on it?

Obviously a move to a larger publicly traded company comes with concessions, usually around profitability. My LX5 doesn’t have the DCS Unit with it as it is a 2013 model. (My assumption is that is a cost cutting move) – Fine by me as I found them a bit flaky, but JD is right, over time small issues can damage a brand very quickly.

I trust Marcum still implicitly, but with any new product there are going to be some kinks. I’ll take trade off in the grand scheme of things being contributed to the Ice like R&D Budgets and Innovation that Rapala/Marcum bring to the table.

Some blame Rappala for the problems after their purchase of Marcum. I think the slide started earlier as their growth skyrocketed. Between the 7,9 and now this problem its been brewing for a while imo.

I find these post humorous…..

When did Rapala purchase Marcum??

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Could this lack of quality control be due to Rapala now calling the shots and not going the extra mile Marcum used to go when they were by themselves? or I suspect this PanCam product was purchased as-is from an overseas 3rd party manufacturer and Rapala just stamps Marcum’s name on it?

Rapala has no say in any product produced by MarCum. None. Zero. Rapala calls ‘no shots’ when it comes to engineering decisions made by MarCum.

c_w wrote:

I find these post humorous…..

When did Rapala purchase Marcum??

Exactly. They didn’t.

James Holst wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Could this lack of quality control be due to Rapala now calling the shots and not going the extra mile Marcum used to go when they were by themselves? or I suspect this PanCam product was purchased as-is from an overseas 3rd party manufacturer and Rapala just stamps Marcum’s name on it?

Rapala has no say in any product produced by MarCum. None. Zero. Rapala calls ‘no shots’ when it comes to engineering decisions made by MarCum.

ok, then Marcum’s product quality department needs a major overhaul because this PanCam has some major flaws that should have never left the factory, I’m returning mine tomorrow.

I have pictures of the problem the panner is so cheaply made you could buy it at a buck or two store for .10 cents. Have gone through 2 pan cams now with the exact same problem. The plastic collar breaks

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I would think maybe the IDO staffers tried these panners ? James ? Anyone ? Sorry I can’t add as much to this post as biggill

big_g wrote:

I would think maybe the IDO staffers tried these panners ? James ? Anyone ? Sorry I can’t add as much to this post as biggill

Sorry, no, I’ve never used one. I do some field testing for MarCum but the PanCam was never on my plate. That’s one of the reasons I don’t have anything to offer.

I have the pancam and love the video quality, light control, wifi to an iPad or smart phone, ability to take pictures and videotape. Like everyone else my panning motor is virtually useless. I really only use it to see bottom composition and to verify what fish are in the area at a given time. I just rotate it by hand, but if a motor upgrade comes up I would gladly take it.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
How the heck did this get past any field testing?

Oh and many other pancam owners have reported the exact same issue.

The question you should be asking “Why the heck didn’t I research this better before I bought it?”

So your saying that the advertised abilities of a Marcum product should not be believed?
From Marcum’s web site “Fully Integrated Camera Panner”.

Marcum the brand is a very trusted brand so why wouldn’t a normal consumer expect this new camera, from Marcum, work and perform as advertised ???

I’m still convinced that Marcum/Rapala purchased this from an oversea’s distributor, slapped their logo on it and put it on store shelves without any field testing…My frustration with the product has lessened as I returned it and purchased a like new VS825SD for almost the same $$ amount…super happy with that 825 camera..yes I have more cords to deal with than the Pancam, but everything works as it should…