Big Letdown FOXPRO FUSION

[Tesoro]

FYI. I posted this on the varmint hunter forum that is frequented by Foxpro. Just a caveat for you all:

Hey I've called in my share of varmints over the last 30 yrs in Oregon but only by using mouth calls. It wasnt an activity I took seriously but I decided to 'get into it' this winter and used this forum for lots of info. Thanks! I already had everything needed other than a hi-tec radio controlled remote caller which sounded like it would be fun and extra productive. I decided from my readings that the Fusion is considered to be up there on the top of the innovative list for features and portability. So I headed down to sportmans warehouse today and shelled out 450 bucks for one.

Anyhow I got home and anxiously unpacked it. Yes the features are slick and in no time I had it up and running tormenting my wife's cats. The features are not earth shattering in this age of app development etc but I can imagine that it was long overdue for the avid varminter. The company support for scripts and free files is great. I hear customer service is great. Most think Foxpro is the tits.

However IMO the construction of the unit and the remote radio is unacceptable for that kind of money. It is zero percent water and moisture resistant. Yup zero percent. The warranty says 5 years for parts but NOT for water damage. Huh?

The battery compartment lid is hard plastic on plastic without a soft rubber gasket. The exposed mother board is right by the battery compartment! The rubber jack plug covers are of a real low grade rubber and dont snap firmly into the holes and even the hinges are mounted upside down so the rain would seep in easily... One of the 4 caps dosent even stay in place out of the box! And the seam for the handle and case that runs around the entire middle of the case is not sealed. I can stick my mouth on the seam in various places and blow air into the guts of the unit!

And the remote is worse. Zero weather and dust proofing. I can effortlessly blow into the case via the rubber side buttons or any seam. The battery lid is even less sealed than the main unit. My tv remote is 10X better sealed!

AND this $450 unit is designed to be used out in the field in full elements??!! For that kind of money I would expect it to be completely sealed from light weather and dust dirt etc. I am of a marine background and am used to about everything having some degree of weatherproofing. Even cheap 20 dollar chinese portable weather radios have rubber gaskets or o-rings on all seams with battery compartment lids with 2 screws to lock em down tight on a gasket.

For me this product is a huge fail for those reasons. And the sad part is that it would cost so little in production to remedy these issues. And on top of that I just drove 60 miles in the rain to get my new toy and now I have to drive another 60 miles to get my money back!

I wouldnt be writing this if it were 99 bucks. If it were I would dig out a tube of silicone. I have never written a bi**ch complaint before and am not that kind of guy. But you can buy alot of cool shooting stuff for 450 bucks that will last an eternity. I just dont see this lasting that long due to the conditions it is intended to be used under.

I am going to look at some other makes and if I run into the same situation then It will be back to the simple, cheap, tried and proven method!

Sorry Foxpro if this stings but you deserve it! Get with the program.

 

[Ol'Gator]

Glad I came across this since I was planning to purchase this same unit after the first of the year.
A big "Thank You,"

 

[Tesoro]

I got roasted on the varmint forum! Didnt realize it is a clandestine midwest foxpro field staff site. Hah. IMO foxpro has great marketing and does make industry leading innovative callers. But they are cheaply built units sold at an exorbitant price. I guess they can afford to replace failed ones painlessly and at the same time gain great customer service kudos with their followers. pretty smart.

oh i forgot one thing. paid 450 for the caller but it didnt come with the plug into their case charger to internally charge the 8 aa nicads it needs to run it! so had to pay extra 35 bucks for the 5 dollar charger and 8 battery 'accessory kit'!!...seems like they would include the charger like you get with every other electronic gadget you buy and offer to sell you some batteries if needed...greedy b****rds

There is one contender out there convergent hunting solutions made by a small tech company in texas. has the highest gain blue tooth antenna avail with range of about 100 yds line of site. About the same as the foxpro. But it uses your smart phone as the sender. Has a gun mount with video function and calling button overlay. Havent seen one in the raw but i did download the free apps. Owner says its very wx resistant and can use a later gen waterproof smart phone if dust moisture is a concern. There are many other calling apps avail that would work with the speaker unit. Or you could make your own custom calling sequences.

 

[Ol'Gator]

Have you looked at other callers built on the same line as foxpro? I travel to Montana every year for prairie dog shooting and keep telling myself next year I want to try my hand at coyote hunting. The ranch I hunt is over-ran with them.

 

[Tesoro]

Have you looked at other callers built on the same line as foxpro? I travel to Montana every year for prairie dog shooting and keep telling myself next year I want to try my hand at coyote hunting. The ranch I hunt is over-ran with them.

No I didnt...ideally I would like to have a call with a remote range of 1000yds!

 

[woodnut]

Glad I got to see this post! I have a Johnny Stewart electronic and it ain't much. I can't control the volume when the speaker is in the field, but I can switch sounds. Wierd. I keep meaning to send it back, but still ain't got roundtoit. I have lusted over the Foxpros, but they are expensive and what you are telling me is it isn't worth the green. Thank you! I'll keep looking....

 

[Tesoro]

Just go to a store and take a fusion out of the box to see with your own eyes what I have described if there is any doubt or curiosity as to the various weak points I mentioned.

In this case foxpro wins a gold star for an excellent marketing strategy that overshadows cost and quality. Too mad its not the other way around!

 

[geo4061]

I wasn't going to say anything until you brought up Convergent. I agree with you Fox Pro could use some toughening up. But I am not going to spend the money for a caller and have to use my phone or some other device to get it to work.

 

[Tesoro]

My initial thoughts were the same and then my thinking changed to: You still have to have another device to use the remote caller and you are always gonna have a phone with you anyhow. A plus for convergent is that you can gun mount the phone so have a hands free 'remote' with built in video. I am not sure how handy or awkward this would really be as havent tried it out.
And then I thought that for downloading, organizing, making up and listening to custom call tracks etc it would be neat to do it on your phone aka handheld computer with built in speaker. Could do it anywhere any time and easily backup your tracks to cloud or share them. It would be another hunting or shooting app to play with in the waiting room.
Plus my iphone 8 is truly weather proof. So actually the phone remote dosent sound that negative to me and as a result there's one less gadget to have to carry and keep track of.

I did a little bit of looking and there are many calling apps you can get to organize and store critter calls. Heck you could even do it through a music app and then beam it over to your caller with siri tuned to whisper commands!

Jeez this tech world we live in. Now if my tv remote batteries die I can be too lazy to have to get up to change the channel. Maybe just a few mouth calls and simplicity might be best. Seemed to work fine in the past!

 

[woodnut]

Get up and change the channels??? I didn't know we could do that on these new TVs! Where are the buttons??? LMAO.......but, it's really like that.

 

[geo4061]

Tesoro we all do not have $1000 I phones. My phone will not work. Hmmm, maybe that's why mine won't work. I can't find the buttons.

 

[Dan Carey]

I sent mine back to FP. It called in 2 big coyotes and didn't kill either one.

 

[woodnut]

You guys are making my sides hurt!

 

[geo4061]

What's the range on that I phone? Does gorilla tape work best when making a rifle lanyard? Dan yours was not a FP problem. You forgot to buy the Remington option.