@indy101 wrote:

walesmaven Hi, since this message from "Joe" was cut and pasted, are you going to forward your response to him? That would be great.
Thanks!

The post directly above walesmaven's is a cut-and-paste from one of Joe's e-mails, but Joe actually posted himself at 10:27 this morning, directly above the cut-and-paste post. I think that was the post that walesmaven was addressing. Since Joe has found our forum and is posting responses to questions, I doubt walesmaven will need to forward her response to him. I feel sure he will read the additional questions and come back to address them.

comment deleted

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2016 06:21PM by indy101.

@Jay C wrote:

@indy101 wrote:

walesmaven Hi, since this message from "Joe" was cut and pasted, are you going to forward your response to him? That would be great.
Thanks!

The post directly above walesmaven's is a cut-and-paste from one of Joe's e-mails, but Joe actually posted himself at 10:27 this morning, directly above the cut-and-paste post. I think that was the post that walesmaven was addressing. Since Joe has found our forum and is posting responses to questions, I doubt walesmaven will need to forward her response to him. I feel sure he will read the additional questions and come back to address them.

Thanks for the clarification!

Indy,
What do you mean? Going forward? I did not cut and paste anything. I do not understand your question. Sorry.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2016 06:42PM by walesmaven.

Indy was just confused. Seeing SunnyDays's post directly above yours that contains part of Joe's e-mail, Indy thought you were replying to that.. He did not see that Joe posted directly above SunnyDays's post.

Solidkay, since you asked. If you are unable to make it to a training session, the IMSC does offer it online and it is for a 30 day rental. There are two separate sessions. One by Kathy Hart from Clear Evaluations and one by me. Here are the links in case you are interested.
[vimeo.com]
[vimeo.com]

Hi everyone. This is Dan from Greyhawk. I HAVE GREAT NEWS ON THE LEASES!!!! also, I am not coming in to bang up my competition. I do want to let people know there is a ton of old equipment, knock offs, and all sorts of "problems" out there. I know. I have to fix a lot of the problems. Lawmate recently rebranded their packaging because of the fakes. The new package is a solid black box and a black sleeve with LAWMATE written in silver. There is also another box just hitting the market that is multi-color with tons of graphics. It is a lot harder to duplicate. I stand behind Lawmate and their equipment. I didn't use their name in my company name to avoid confusion. I am a video shopper myself, and I am a licensed Lawmate dealer. I am the preferred vendor for gear for IMSC, MSPA, Video Shopping Pros, and the majority of the major video shopping companies. Lawmate opens itself to a lot of confusion. You can have a table full of DVR's that you can call PV-500. There are quite a few variations and versions. I don't stock or sell anything to a shopper that is not the latest updated gear. The PV-500 L2 for instance, was and is a horrible DVR. There were a few good ones and a bunch of bad ones. I will not touch them. Lawmate also includes BU-18 on just about every camera they make. There are cheap ones, good ones, and high resolution cameras. I guarantee the DVR is the latest version. I guarantee that you get the camera every shopping company prefers. I only deal in the things that makes a shopper money. That is why you don't see key chain cameras, hat cameras, tie cameras, coffee cup cameras and a whole bunch of other cameras on my web page. I sell what makes you money.

I looked over the company listed. I have been doing this a long time and I was not aware of this company. From the appearance of the site, it looks like they supplied PI's and Law Enforcement. Without getting technical, the add copy they use to advertise the gear does not look like what I am supplied with. There is no such thing as an EVO-L3...Every Lawmate product that I sell comes with a 2 piece 8 GB SD card. Their site lists a 2 GB card. I have never seen a 2 GB card from the factory. They also claim you can get 2 hours of video on the 2 GB card. Shooting at the resolution required by the Mystery Shopping Companies, you should be getting around 30 minutes per GB.

The main reason for my post is to let the community know that coming this week, the LEASING PROGRAM from GREYHAWK is being redone and revamped. The lease is still going to be lengthy, but we are going to scale down the information and signature to one page. DocuSign is coming when we hit leasing goals. The BEST change is that we have worked out an agreement with an insurance agency. What that means is, we can DO AWAY with the $450.00 credit hold. You can rest easy when you lease, because the policy covers damage to the unit. My company will cover the bulk of the insurance cost. The shopper will wind up paying about $5.00 more per lease. Peace of mind is well worth that for the shopper. If you are a shopper that wants to try video, you can have new equipment in your hands for $80.00 plus one way shipping. A one month lease would be $155.00, with Greyhawk covering all the shipping. We still allow you to lease to own. Every dollar of your lease payment will be applied to the cost of the equipment.

My company strives hard to provide a great deal of service and value to every purchase. We don't just dump gear on you and run. We keep long hours to help shoppers with equipment problems. We overnight gear and have met shoppers to put gear in their hands to keep their route going. We have a very detailed video to guide you through every piece of gear in the box and every screen on the DVR. If you are a new video shopper, we can introduce you to the people that make it happen in the video world. We don't just give you a company list. We prefer to do an introduction email to you and the scheduler for the company. Just let us know you need help. Joe's company is one we recommend.

Kind Regards,
Dan Thomas
Greyhawk
www.greyhawkgear.com

Two questions. First, the website address in your post goes here, [greyhawkvideosolutions.vpweb.com]. Is that correct? Second, you say you don't sell hat cameras yet I see one as a baseball cap on the website. It caught my eye because I love to wear baseball caps and was trying to figure out how to make it work for me

The web address you are taken to is the one you listed. It " flips when you punch in www.greyhawkgear.com Its just the way the page is hosted. There is a hat on the site, and some eyeglass cameras. They were added when someone had a special request. There were some drive through oil change shops that a button camera would not work with. I don't stock the hats at all. I can get you one, but I don't keep them. I keep a few pairs of glasses on hand just in case. With both of these items, this is what I advise every shopper. "Please don't try to use these for regular mystery shopping. The company will not take it unless they specifically ask for it. The video quality and the sound is not as good as the PV-500 L3/BU-18. There is the other problem, the video itself can make editors and clients motion sick. The button camera is stationary. Hats and glasses are making every move with you." That in a nutshell is what I do. I will talk you out of buying something that would waste your money. I could make money on them, but then since I know better, it would mean I have no character. I honestly care about the people in this community. Sorry about the hat Lisa, since I have no hair, I would love to camera up all kinds of hats. Dan

Thanks for the advice. I've been video shopping since 2010 and highly recommend the button cam as the best all around for any shoppers, especially newbies. OTOH, I've occasionally had those shops where something else would work better, rental cars with high counters, FF where they want a shot of the prep, etc. The glasses would probably be the best even though I found the caps intriguing

The glasses I have now will shoot in full HD. The video is really good and the sound is good. They are not Lawmate. The Lawmate glasses are crap. Sorry. I tell it like it is. They have a wire that hooks into the PV 500 and the sound is terrible. I sourced some that are a little ugly, but the video and sound are spot on. The hats just don't seem to work out. I am a video shopper myself. I will at times wear both the button and the glasses. It gives the company the option of editing the feed in if they want. ( Just as a note, when I wear the glasses, and I get that "hmmm you might be a shopper look" I will take them off or put them on top of my head. That seems to put them at ease, all the while I am shooting them with the button...... Got to keep my game on.

Thanks again, Dan! I have to use the eye glasses cam for some of my cash integrity shops for a specific industry, since I am likely to be looking into a booth with a high counter for those. As indicated, the viewer (me, reviewing my video!) may experience motion sickness just watching some of that view. I just found out that the editors for those videos actually just extract a few clips and send them, at slow motion speed, to the clients. The clips are limited to serious problems, like cash going into a pocket instead of the till, or safety risks. So, the client is spared the nausea. Things you never knew about the world!

I am in suburban Chicago, and while the video shops pay more, there are just not many of them.

I was fortunate to have had Dan Thomas of Greyhawk Video Solutions, help me get started with video shopping, and many other experienced video shoppers, help tweak cam angle issues, etc. You need training on how to use the video cam before you even attempt a video shop.

indy,
If you rent video equipment and get trained, then you can contact all of the major video MSCs that do no have job boards to get them to try you out. Alternatively, do some video shops with MSC loaned equipment and then approach the major video MSCs to tell them that you are experienced and will buy equipment if the have some jobs near you.

Checking job boards will show you only about 1 percent of video jobs.

Thanks for your questions and concerns. Shoppers should always do their research when it comes to the types of tools required for shops they would like to do. We’re simply notifying shoppers of the fact that there is a lower cost option out there for them right now. I will not discuss in detail the number of video shops we have, but in certain locations, we have enough shops to make back the money spent on a camera in one month. We cannot be responsible for equipment, routing, or training of self-employed shoppers. However, I am happy to answer any questions shoppers have and do what I can to ensure that a shop goes well for them, and do so via phone and email on a daily basis. Training for shoppers is available through the IMSC, MSPA, and other places mentioned in this thread. Any shopper who asks about training gets directed toward these sites. I also mention that if they rent from Dan at Greyhawkgear.com, Dan sends them a 45 minute video overview of the equipment with the rental.

Shoppers' View has been in business since 1993 and is a member of the BBB with an A+ rating. We will continue to support shoppers, as always.

Thanks,

Joe

I see. Thanks for the information!

I'm looking into getting into video shopping, but was hesitant since I don't know anything about the equipment or how to use it. I wear glasses and rarely wear any clothing with buttons. That said, what do you recommend for eyeglass wearers?

Personally, I think video shoppers should always start with the body mounted button cameras. They are the standard and generally easier. Eyeglass cameras don't have as many applications.

Read through the thread and you will find a lot of information that should answer your question.

Once more, from the top....
When doing the vast majority of video shops, eye glasses cams are not acceptable. For new homes, senior living, assisted living, apartments and new car shops you must be able to keep the subject in the frame when you turn your head to look at other things, like a map or a lot or a nice view. You cannot do that with the glasses cam.

Second, head movement makes the video from the glasses cam "jerky" enough so that viewers often experience vertigo watching more than a few minutes of it. So, it is best suited to short interactions where the shirt button camera mount does not best capture the subject. This would include where the cam has to "see" over a high counter (e.g. rental car counter), see into a booth from a shopper seated in a car (e.g., drive-up bank or fast food), or where it is essential that the camera be able to see anywhere that the shopper can see (where the cash goes when paying for parking, whether the cashier entered the transaction, etc.). In the last instance, "leaning in to aim the button camera at the valet's pants pocket just isn't going to be very subtle!

Also, note that those suited best to the eye glasses cam are very short interactions. Moreover, they often deal with cash integrity, so having the subject's hands out of the picture frame is to be avoided if physically possible.

Finally, once you have button cam experience, you will readily be accepted for shops where the eye glasses cam will work best. That seems to be a function of the fact that button cam shops tend to be used in industries where fairly long shops, requiring complex scenarios are the norm. If you can do the complex scenarios while "filming" it is assumed that you will find the sometimes complex cash integrity shops easy to master.

Complex cash integrity shops with eye glasses cam? If you are an experienced video shopper (button cam) and live or work in or near DC, Baltimore, Tampa, Chicago or Detroit, please PM me. I may have some work for you!!! You do not need to own eye glasses cam to start. These are ongoing projects.

Full disclosure: I am an independent contractor. As such, in addition to shopping, I have provided shopper recruitment services to a limited number of boutique MSCs since 2013.