Chasing M2 Review - Super Positive Experience & Super Negative

Eternal Angler

Administrator
So before getting into both the positive and negative experiences hobbyists have had with the Chasing M2, I just want to remind some of those new to the underwater drone hobby that the same thing happens with cars. For instance, I had a 04 Cobra, they nicknamed this car the Terminator, not only did it Terminate everything in it's way, meaning the LS1 Fodies, but it also was known for being sort of bullet proof, it had an iron block, tremec 6 speed(Viper Transmission) and also a Ford rear end. Despite all that, it wasn't perfect, it had a "tick" problem with it's heads and I even think at one point the cylinder heads were recalled. I can't remember what the problem was, but they had a major problem with the 03 Cobra years and supposedly sorted it out in the 04 Cobra, which the 04 year was what I owned. What I'm getting at is, there's even cars that are made great, yet sometimes car owners just get a lemon, that's why there's such thing as a lemon law.

Now since cars have many more moving parts that an underwater drone, I do think there should be less failure, however, remind you the Chasing M2 is a new platform and first generation underwater drone for it's kind, so I would expect some failures and bugs, I really do. Sure, all in all this is like Chasing's 4th underwater drone, if you count the Gladius, the Gladius Mini, the Dory, etc... So think some hobbyists expect more from the company and even more from the poor support side of things which they've haven't been showing lately, why is that? Well, supposedly I heard someone day due to an employee by the name of Kathy leaving, I suspect she had to do with the support side of things since a reference was made in the Official Chasing Group on Facebook... Because lately, you email Chasing, it can take like 3 days to hear something back... And when I reported my battery clip breaking, it took 3 days for a response, then like another 4 days to respond with a paypal address to purchase the part, saying it's going to cost $30 in shipping and $7 for the part. There was a weekend in there, but $30 is unacceptable for shipping a small plastic part like this when small ebay companies are only charging $5 at most to ship out gopro parts off ebay. Also, Chasing should of already had these battery clips distributed amongst the 3rd party companies so they're ready to ship them out instantly when this happens.

Ok getting passed all that, reason I reference the slow support because there's a Facebook user on the Official Chasing Group that remarked about that, as well as the failure of his Chasing M2, as a reason to say he's sad to have spent $4000 plus on a poorly supported product. As you can see the statement below as proof and reference.

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Not only did this M2 owner's LED lights fail along with a dead battery after only a few uses, but the unit doesn’t turn off unless you remove the battery and it is generally unreliable. He's said he's even engaged support many times, they ask for videos of the issues and never respond after that. He said each failure happened once a month for 6 months.

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As I responded, that's weird considering there's those of us who slammed the Chasing M2 up against a slab of ice numerous times, referring to myself... And still have the Chasing M2 going strong. Even a M2 owner who refers to his underwater drone as Thor(kind of like my Cobra the Terminator), has had 100 dives and haven't had a single thing wrong with it, however, he did recently have to change out once LED light that blew.

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Obviously the dude has a lemon! So when this happens, to me it shouldn't reflect too much against the product considering 1000s of M2 have been sold and this is like the first time where I've seen so many drastic problems happen at once, but that's until bad support pops up!!! If Chasing Innovation doesn't stand behind their product and help him out, maybe even consider replacing the M2 for free, well that will reflect on them wholly as a company. Right now, he says the underwater drone is basically unusable after dishing out over $4,000 plus on the underwater drone!!!

I understand when one part fails like a claw and warranty is up, but considering what this M2 owner is going through, Chasing needs to show a lot more empathy towards the individual and do everything they can to get his M2 back to functioning.

I still stand behind what I said to him, that I think the Chasing M2 is a great underwater drone and exceeded all my expectations, my videos show that. But damn, if a company doesn't stand behind their product and show better support, I know that's going to deter quite a few hobbyists from puchasing the M2. It also makes me look bad when I say the M2 is better than the Fifish V6s, which I do because of all its amazing features such as replaceable batteries and removable sd card wich the V6s doesn't have. But when I see this, I'm not going to hold back and point it out!!! Before I went to Florida I referred a gentleman towards buying the M2 Pro and suggested that he would be quite happy with it like I am with my Chasing M2, he even gave me a $50 kickback to support the forum afterwards. I just hate hearing about negative experiences like this, when I do know that the M2 is a solid underwater drone and the company could be helping him out a lot more.


As I explained to the M2 Pro owner that shared his negative review, it's great he's doing that, because even when I was no holds bard criticizing the M2 before I bought it, I flat out said it's not a commercial / industrial drone and also complained about the shaking when it changed direction. Afterwards, one distributor didn't like that statement, blocked me and said I was contradicting myself when I said that and then bought the Chasing M2 a week later. I still stand behind my statement to this day, the M2 is not a commercial underwater drone, why isn't it a commercial drone? Well because a good portion of it's parts are made out of weak plastic and they can break within a few months, such as the battery clip and buckle bracket. That same distributor is selling M2s to police stations! You want to know what a commercial underwater drone looks like, here's a video... This is what a Police Department use down in Florida, the Sea Ray. For me, it's pretty obvious distinguishing between commercial and consumer underwater drone, but for some, that are just looking to make a buck and muddy the waters, then slip in in police and fire departments with cut backs... Remember, salesman are saleseman. I've never been a salesman in my life, Criminal Justice major... So you could say honesty is more of my thing, can't say the same for the other distributor that blocked me on Facebook. I will say this though, these negative reviews from police officers and firefighters should never reflect on the Chasing M2 underwater drone because it isn't a commercial underwater drone. And honestly this is another reason why, they shouldn't be sold in the commercial / industrial sector, because these negative reviews could affect the Chasing M2 sales. Now I could see the M2 and M2 Pro being used for dock inspection, professional photography, and aquaculture inspection... But search and rescue? Where there could be fire, explosions, shrapnel, and other things falling from broken down buildings or busted up boats. Sorry, no way. And if you don't agree with me, that's great but don't please have a melt down and block me on social media, please explain to me why down in the comment section down below. The distributor disagreed and said something on the lines, that if anything can be used to help out a stranded victim in an emergency situation, it should be used. Sorry, I've studied many different lawsuits where the wrong tool was used, then a lawsuit happened, which could lead to bankrupting a city.

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lol And while Chasing is kind of marketing some of these professions as industrial, I don't think the professions such as underwater photography and scientfic exploration should count as industrial, you want to know what true industrial is, inspecting an oil rig out at sea, that's industrial. If you look at the QYSEA Catalog, that's what they have the Fifish W6 labeled under!!! But hey, that's just my opinion... If you look at what QYSEA has the Fifish V6s listed for when it comes to business, they say application scenario, probably the best way to put it.

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I did talk about this before, this had to do with a report back from a Firefighter saying that the Chasing Mini was unfit to work for their commercial uses in a river. Again, sometimes I think things are quite obvious which is a commercial underwater drone and which isn't, but when the waters are muddied and some salesman get in the picture.... Gladius Mini nor the Chasing M2 should for these purposes, that's why there always, always, always have been a commercial and consumer sector with city and state, just like public and private sector for military.

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