Issue with refurb V3 playback

I recently purchased a few of the refurbished Wyze cam V3’s to accompany our other two V3’s. One of the refurb units has an issue with viewing viewing playback. I’ve tried 3 different SD cards and reset the camera, but whenever I tap on view playback, it says “there is no video at the selected time.” The other 3 cameras with the same settings have no issue viewing playback.

Any ideas?

My guess would be that’s why it was returned originally. Exchange it.

These cameras are already cheap, why would one chose a refurbished one is beyond me :thinking:

I’ve seen the “refurbishing” process at many of these centers (often a 3rd party) - to say it is less than thorough is an understatement. It should be called “used - powers up”.

Also, I’ve seen them only being repackaged with no QC whatsoever.

Yeah amazon warehouse if you say on the return “new - never used” or “opened - never used” they just look at it and if it seems correct, toss it in the “like new” pile. I’m guessing they’re not the only ones.

In reality it would cost more to fully test one of these cams than just sending a brand new cam. I can see it being worthwhile on a PC, or even a $1000 graphics card or $500 CPU where they do toss it in a slot and run a pre-programmed test suite on it, but a $20 to $30 IOT device, not so much.

It sort of makes sense, economically, yeah?

Wyze accepts a return, they don’t evaluate it, they pass it on to their refurber. Refurber doesn’t evaluate it past power-up, sells it with a 30-day guarantee (with a 3rd party warranty available for a few bucks.)

Customer takes the risk that many of the unevaluated returns were ‘defective’ becauwe of ‘operator error’ and that he will receive a functionally new unit.

Wyze can’t afford to evaluate a return, refurber can’t afford to evaluate a return, customer CAN afford (and chooses) to evaluate a return in exchange for slave wages (the $ difference between a new and refurb unit.)

My observation on this that no one else seems to have observed; where is the green bar on the timeline to indicate there is video for viewing? Did it disappear from the screenshot? My v3’s display green bars on the timeline for recorded videos.

Don’t take my opening comment as disparaging anyone.:grin:

What if I like being disparaged. Aren’t you then denying me my guilty pleasure? :blush:

1 Like

Good comeback!! Gave me a good chuckle.:sweat_smile:

1 Like

I think that’s the issue, it isn’t recognizing the SD card (or able to record to it).

For those that understand/know what actually happens, yes, it does make sense. There are certain things I’ll take the risk on, it is rare but sometimes makes sense. Basically when it saves enough to spend the time fully testing it myself and has a return policy. Heck I don’t think I’ve bought a brand new piece of home stereo equipment in my life (one of my big hobbies). Typically used, sometimes refurb, or best of all - free. But I have the equipment and experience to test it and it saves hundreds or even thousands of dollars (which would depreciate off new stuff as soon as you opened the box anyway).

Depending where the refurbs were bought, they may not have even been power on tested. Amazon warehouse pretty much tells you what the condition of the packaging and item is, because they don’t actually test anything, they just combine a visual inspection with what you reported as the reason for return.

As you say, you’re rolling the dice that it was just returned because it was the wrong thing or someone changed their mind, which is actually a pretty good gamble, especially with things that require “compatibility”. In OPs case, 2 out of 3 being good was actually pretty good results, assuming the 3rd can be exchanged or returned for no cost.

1 Like

I get the same message for any place on the timeline without a green bar. Perhaps @PayneFPV could post a screenshot of or advise the microSD card in settings to validate the camera is not recognizing a card is in the cam or unreadable.

I was assuming since they seem to be familiar with the v3 that it is set up right and should be recording, but isn’t. They said they had tried multiple cards too. Obviously that’s not a concrete assumption. But I’m guessing the cam probably just needs to be exchanged/returned.

1 Like

I appreciate the replies! To answer a few of your concerns…

The refurbs were bought directly from Wyze. They had a sale email a few weeks ago and it was hard to pass up these cameras for $15 a piece when they are normally 30-40.

As for the green bar not showing up on the playback timeline, I noticed that as well. The camera has the same settings as the other 3 (literally factory settings other than a few personal preferences) so I guess it must be an issue with the hardware. Still got one good camera for $15 so I ain’t mad lol.

1 Like

I bought some v3 spotlight kits from their official eBay refurber:

https://www.ebay.com/str/wyzedirect

One had a mangled cable plug which they replaced post haste, overall a good experience. :slight_smile: