GS100 Finally! (in black)
 

DHL finally got their act together and got the third attempt right to deliver my cam without loss or theft. They actually caught the fella taking the stuff off the dock - the police only recovered one of the two stolen cams and the other is likely on the streets of upstate NY.

Anyway, I have been following some threads on the cam being shipped in various forms of 'factory fresh'. Mine arrived with no special seals/tape on the box, camera wrapped in a plastic/synthetic cloth bag, all accessories looking fresh in new wrappers, battery somewhat charged, time set to Japan local, and the remote battery bagged along with the CD-Rom sealed. However, the LCD had no protective sheet but was SPOTLESS, and the outer screen housing had no cheesy stickers as seen on some pics. Any others with similar circumstances?

Also, according the the various manuals, the battery is fully charged when the green charge light turns off - I've been charging two batteries(one included, one bought from B&H) side by side in the dual charging slots but they alternate between blinking and steady modes; they've been 'charging' for 4+ hours and have not turned off. A quick check on the cam shows full charge. Any ideas?

Nevertheless, I'm excited by the cam and even my wife says she'll use the cam b/c it looks so cute! I'll likely fabricate some stickers to paste over some of the non-english words to make her life easier and have some black laminated tape to use in a Brother label maker for this purpose. Hopefully, I'll have some photos of my attempts to convert this cam to a US/Japanese hybrid version.

Many thanks to everyone here in maintaining such active discussions regarding this fine cam!

Regards,

Dave

mine came from pricejapan in exactly the same setup and wrapping described by yourself.

my battery light stopped blinking after 5 hours.

Congrats!

3rd times a charm

Did you get the authorized store's sticker/or name attached or written on the warranty card (inside the green envelope?)

Congrats, Dave!

Why did you not get FEDEX to do the insured shipping?

Well, looks like the batteries finally charged - the lights went out.

As for the green warranty card - no sticker or store stamp on either of the the two forms. What does this mean or imply?

Guess for claim purposes, DHL was used the second time. I inquired about FEDEX the third time but guess DHL was used anyway - no reason given. EMS was also considered by pricejapan.

You should contact them for the warranty card. If something goes wrong with your cam, say in a week or month, what are you going to do (if you don't have the warranty card)?

Mine arrived with no special seals/tape on the box, camera wrapped in a plastic/synth
 

About:-------Mine arrived with no special seals/tape on the box, camera wrapped in a plastic/synthetic cloth bag, all accessories looking fresh in new wrappers, battery somewhat charged, time set to Japan local, and the remote battery bagged along with the CD-Rom sealed. However, the LCD had no protective sheet but was SPOTLESS, and the outer screen housing had no cheesy stickers as seen on some pics.----

I had the same problem

I will try to communicate with pricejapan to know what is wrong

But I had no problem with my battery

Actually, I mistated that last comment about the warranty card. I do have the green warranty envelope with two forms inside but neither have an official store stamp or sticker. PJ told me not to fill it out since they would have to fill out the form if warranty work were needed.

However, I thought Japan was pretty anal about record keeping and it concerns me why no retail establishment didn't stamp the warranty.

Dave.

So we should keep everything
the green card like this

I'm a little bit worry about that
because i don't know if my cam are used or not

It look like fine but who know

And the shipping warranty is expensive



max.

My understanding is that pricejapan will act as your intermediary for the period of the warranty, i.e., you ship it to them and they do the legwork from there. That's why they want you to keep the box and packing. One person who bought the mike from pricejapan had to return it - it didn't work. It was replaced, apparently without much problem. Haven't heard of anyone having to return the cam, though. Knock on wood.

(And, hey, possibly the stickers have been removed because pricejapan checks out dvinfo and realizes all the cracks we all made at the beginning about the cheesy looking stickers that shout "another Japanese tourist coming" when they are seen, especially here in Hawaii.)

Pany probably puts those cheesy stickers in only a few units. I don't know the system in the US, but sellers in Japan have informed that cam units with cheesy stickers are actually meant to be used as shelf units. However, I haven't seen a black mamba with those cheesy stickers. Perhaps bec it's limited edition (quantity), thus some stores do not bring out any shelf unit of the black mamba.

Yes the box is normally unsealed/untaped (to facilitate the inspection of contents before bringing home from the store), and/or, because stores would have to open the box to stamp the warranty card, unless they provide stickers (indicating the name of the store and the date of purchase) for the buyer to attach to the warranty card by himself. Otherwise, how would a buyer know the exact period covered by Pany's 1-year warranty? There is no need to register warranty.

Yes, the LCD has no protective sheet (Pany should have placed one though ne).

Yes, make sure to keep that green card. In case you haven't noticed yet, the cam's serial no. is indicated on the unit, the box and on the warranty card. No store sticker or stamp? Well I can't comment on that, but perhaps that should not be a big problem as long as PJ acts as intermediary in case of warranty claim.

i received a email from price japan
 

We can say with 100% confidence that ALL is factory new, and factory sealed.

I received it from Panasonic, directly. NO one touched it except delivery company, before it arrived you.


One by one point.


Q. Mine arrived with no special seals/tape on the box,

Me: What seals/ what tapes are you meaning ?


You: wrapped in a plastic/synthetic cloth bag,

Me: We always packs it with bubble wrap,


You: battery somewhat charged

Me: battery is slightly charged on facctory, in order to use it instantly for consumers.
It is extremely Normal.


You: However, the LCD had no protective sheet but was SPOTLESS,

Me: I don't know what detailed item GS100K have in the box, as we have not opened it.

At factory release, as a original specification , there must be no protective sheet.

I think "SPOTLESS" is the result of your nervousness.


You: the outer screen housing had no cheesy stickers as seen on some pics.

Me: At factory release, as a original specification , there must be no stickers.



Again speaking, ALL is factory new, factory sealed,

Please never be doubtful about it.
We are not the people who sell old items as new items.

Few words on the warranty stuff and Japanese net retailers.

I had not very nice experience shopping straight from a web PC retailer.
After I've got my orders I had receipt for only one thing (the LCD monitor - 3years from the maker) and there were no price stated inside.

For the other things after mailing them the answer was if something goes wrong I have to send them back and they have record and will deal with the warranties.

They sent anyway their stickers with stamped dates of purchase so I can attach to my warranty cards.

I prefer this way as I'm not sure how long some of this small shops might exist!