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View Full Version : XEROGEAR, a BRIGHT Idea.


Sleepyc
08-24-2008, 11:53 PM
So here I am 500 miles from home at covering IRCHA, walking around meeting everyone I can.
Toro eyeballs a set of night flying lights that we could clearly see during the afternoon sun.
We walk up and the guy behind the stand introduces himself as Chance from Xerogear. We speak for a second and he hands me a card. Avon Ohio?!?!?!? Thats less than one hour from my home. WOW, a Heli company and Pilot close to home!! NICE! (I couldn't find any serious Heli guys living by me, so I was stoked!) So fellas, let me introduce you to the guy who is going to get tired of my calls, my soon to be Helli flying buddy and owner of a really cool company that makes the brightest night lights I have ever seen, and some other cool products that are coming soon.

Chance. Take it away...

My passion is for flying helicopters; it started for me as a child; as I have always loved anything that has a motor, and moreover, everything that flies. In the summer of 1992 I was in college and had a friend who owned a helicopter. It was love at sight. That summer I happened to go to an RC event at our local mall where I saw more helicopters. I spoke with many different people, most of whom were men who flew model airplanes who told me that flying helis was impossible, that only fueled my interest further. About one month later I bought my first RC Heli which was a Concept 30 SRT. Going at it on my own and no simulator it took me quite some time to hover more than 1 minute.

I went to my first IRCHA in 1994 at the RC Aviation Country Club in Columbus, Ohio where I finally got some solid advice to “buy a simulator”, and “Fly high.” Currently I fly as often as possible. I am a Private Pilot and I fly RC Helis at West Lake RC Club in Avon, Ohio. My fleet currently consists of an Avant Aurora, a Vibe 50, an Evo 50, an X-Spec 91, and an Xcell Furion 450.

I am a computer server guy by profession. I have always wanted to start my own business instead of working for someone else. I wanted to be my own boss and set my own hours, as I am a night owl, and I come up with my best ideas at night. I have been working on starting Xerogear, my small business, for approximately three to four years now. Xerogear literally started in my basement workshop with ideas that came from me and my brother John, and advice from our father who said “Do what you love.”

This year a window of opportunity was opened to me when I lost my job. I took the time off and my father’s advice and started running with the business. I work closely in product development with Don Perkins owner of Creative Lighting Solutions (www.creativelightings.com) and our manufacturer to come up with a product that was innovative, durable, vibrant, and flexible. Together we came up with our Xerogear Night Fly System. The Xerogear Night Fly system is literally light years ahead of glow wire in both ease of installation and visibility. Night fliers will appreciate that you don’t have to wait until its completely dark to turn on the lights because you can clearly see the LED lights in bright sun light. Xerogear Night Fly Kits are also visible at dusk; which will add more hours to your day of flying, and at night they simply rock! We are thrilled to announce that our night fly kits took both first and second place in IRCHA’s 2008 Night fly competition.

Our kits come with everything you need to start flying at night except a battery. We offer kits for the three major sizes of helicopters and they come with your choice of two LED tape lights with 3M adhesive backing (Color choices are: red, blue, green, and amber ) , a white landing pod light to illuminate the ground for easy night landings, Deans connectors, wire, zip ties, and step by step informative directions for ease of installation. We are proud of our product and back it 100%. We are available to install the lights on your canopy for you (at an additional cost), and shipping is direct to you. For further information and to order please visit our website at: www.xerogear.com Please come visit our website in the near future as we have exciting upgrades for the Night Fly System Kits and exciting products and ideas coming down the pike.

Sincerely,
J. Chance Medford
Owner of Xerogear LTD

Sleepyc
08-24-2008, 11:56 PM
Shots:

broggyr
08-25-2008, 12:15 AM
Looks cool. How about some action shots? :)

toro
08-25-2008, 12:27 AM
The green kick ass.... BRIGHT as all get out... Bobby Watts, and Nick Maxwell flew these @ IRCHA... Nick knocked out his night blades, and had enough lumination to finish, and win 1st place with the brightness of the lights alone... These are way cool, and would add a great accent to glow wire, or even if you run them alone they'd be killer.

CSpaced
08-25-2008, 07:51 AM
Thats bad ass right there, now you can start night flying at dusk! Way cool :cool:

epc2
08-25-2008, 09:23 AM
Wow that's a nice night rig.

epc2.

Trex Pilot
08-25-2008, 09:54 AM
Not a bad price either, something that i can afford. can't wait till my mext check :)

xerogear
08-25-2008, 11:23 AM
Thanks for everything guys! If you need anything please let me know. As far as action shots - I have some on my website, but it is difficult getting good night shots while in flight - especially when you are flying the heli! I am still playing with settings and lens choice - if any of you have some suggestions I would be open to them. Thanks again!

ScaleFlyer
08-25-2008, 11:33 AM
Very nice, any discounts for "CRACKROLL" members? 0:)

catfight
08-25-2008, 12:17 PM
How about some specifications on current draw and other general information on efficiency and light output per lamp? What input voltages will the controller handle? Does this work off of the main batt?

THanks

Trex Pilot
08-25-2008, 02:45 PM
Very nice, any discounts for "CRACKROLL" members? 0:)
I second that notion :) :)

broggyr
08-25-2008, 03:13 PM
Serious NAV lights there...

xerogear
08-25-2008, 07:24 PM
Very nice, any discounts for "CRACKROLL" members? 0:)

YES!!! I will offer 15% off in addition to the sale price on our website to all crack roll members! Simply use coupon code "crackroll" during the check out on www.xerogear.com. I can NOT say how long I will be able to offer this one due to distrabution deals on the table right now. So get them while you can...

Thanks for all your support

Chance Medford
www.xerogear.com

xerogear
08-25-2008, 07:27 PM
How about some specifications on current draw and other general information on efficiency and light output per lamp? What input voltages will the controller handle? Does this work off of the main batt?

THanks

I have some information on my website in the product details. Using a 2s lipo and about 4 feet of LED tape they draw .05 amp. The same setup using a 3s lipo draws .5 amp. Please feel free to contact me directly with any other questions.

CSpaced
08-25-2008, 10:11 PM
YES!!! I will offer 15% off in addition to the sale price on our website to all crack roll members! Simply use coupon code "crackroll" during the check out on www.xerogear.com. I can NOT say how long I will be able to offer this one due to distrabution deals on the table right now. So get them while you can...

Thanks for all your support

Chance Medford
www.xerogear.com

Great deal - thanks!

brandonduley
08-26-2008, 01:47 PM
saw them in person at IRCHA, they are sweet, the guy told me it takes about 3 ft. to deck out a 450

9lives1968
08-26-2008, 09:23 PM
I went to place an order for the starter kit plus 2 more 1 ft strips. Any guess what the shipping price was to Bham Al for first class?
15$ for this order. Priority was 19 or 20$. I was going to buy it, but not at these shipping prices. I understand you are a single person operation, but charging this much for under a lb of materials is a little steep. Do you plan on changing your shipping prices or are they what they are? Thank you in advance for your replies. Sincerely, Dave

Trex Pilot
08-27-2008, 01:26 AM
I went to place an order for the starter kit plus 2 more 1 ft strips. Any guess what the shipping price was to Bham Al for first class?
15$ for this order. Priority was 19 or 20$. I was going to buy it, but not at these shipping prices. I understand you are a single person operation, but charging this much for under a lb of materials is a little steep. Do you plan on changing your shipping prices or are they what they are? Thank you in advance for your replies. Sincerely, Dave
It depends on the size of the package, and with todays gas prices it sure dont help the cost of shipping.

Trex Pilot
08-27-2008, 01:29 AM
YES!!! I will offer 15% off in addition to the sale price on our website to all crack roll members! Simply use coupon code "crackroll" during the check out on www.xerogear.com. I can NOT say how long I will be able to offer this one due to distrabution deals on the table right now. So get them while you can...

Thanks for all your support

Chance Medford
www.xerogear.com
Awsome you have my order :)

xerogear
08-28-2008, 10:40 PM
I went to place an order for the starter kit plus 2 more 1 ft strips. Any guess what the shipping price was to Bham Al for first class?
15$ for this order. Priority was 19 or 20$. I was going to buy it, but not at these shipping prices. I understand you are a single person operation, but charging this much for under a lb of materials is a little steep. Do you plan on changing your shipping prices or are they what they are? Thank you in advance for your replies. Sincerely, Dave

I am sorry about that. I am NOT trying to make ANY money on shipping. This is a brand new website - less than 2 weeks old. We are working on getting the live shipping rates worked out. The shipping on an order that size going out priority mail is about 5.50. I would have corrected the total BEFORE I charged your card. I will work to correct that issue as soon as I can. I am sorry about that.

If something like that happens please feel free to call us at 800-407-0473 and I will take care of it.

toro
08-29-2008, 12:04 AM
I am sorry about that. I am NOT trying to make ANY money on shipping. This is a brand new website - less than 2 weeks old. We are working on getting the live shipping rates worked out. The shipping on an order that size going out priority mail is about 5.50. I would have corrected the total BEFORE I charged your card. I will work to correct that issue as soon as I can. I am sorry about that.

If something like that happens please feel free to call us at 800-407-0473 and I will take care of it.

That right there is the right way to do business.... I met Chance @ IRCHA, and you guys aint got a thing to worry about with him.... He's got the wife right there to keep him in line if he steps out....

9lives1968
08-29-2008, 01:53 PM
I agree. He sent me a PM about the issue and even offerred to ship it free to me( Which I replied not to and to just charge me the correct rate. I was not and am not looking for a free ride, just a fair one! ;) ) I have reordered the Xerogear as noted above and look forward to trying it out when I can. Chance, thank you and once again I EXPECT TO BE CHARGED THE CORRECT AMOUNT NOT FREE!!!!. IF you do send it to me free of charge, I will get irritated again. It is the thought that counts, right? Thanks again and take care! Sincerely, Dave

Sleepyc
08-29-2008, 02:10 PM
AWESOME!
I can say Toro and I met Chance, and from what I got was he is nothing but a good dude with a cool company.

Werd to ya Taco.
SC

sprice50
08-30-2008, 03:36 PM
Those look awesome.

9lives1968
08-30-2008, 04:53 PM
All I can say about his customer service is WOW! Chance still had a problem with the shipping calculator on checkout and called and meft me message letting me know what was happening with my credit card charges and what to look for in a day or two. He even would have shipped out my order yesterday but I ordered a little too late. Sent a notice today that my order shipped today. I cant wait for it to get here and play around with it! SleepyRC, I am glad you let us know about XEROGEAR and its products. Dave

Ken
09-04-2008, 08:50 AM
I love these lights. I flew some at RC X games in Minnesota and they are very bright. I wouldn't suggest running a 3 cell lipo at night as they are blinding! Use a 2 cell.

Anyways, I really enjoy flying with these. Xerogear is very easy to see in the day as well!

ohiobowhunter
09-14-2008, 06:11 PM
I got mine Saturday !!!! cant wait to get my trex600 rigged and ready :D (((((( CHANCE)))))) Thanks for coming down to our night fly !! (t-birds) It was nice meeting and flying with ya :clap:

CSpaced
09-15-2008, 11:59 AM
Lets see some pics of your birds fitted out witht his gear :)

ohiobowhunter
09-27-2008, 05:29 PM
OK ! here's a couple pics on the bench of my trex600n with Xero lights :D


http://208.101.25.60/albumthumbs/0/2bbc445f41d281c12af81abab05044cc_925.jpg?dl=122255 4259


http://208.101.25.60/albumthumbs/0/03164e013c5e54b4f642daa2c476fa52_926.jpg?dl=122255 4259

Trex Pilot
09-28-2008, 11:43 PM
OK ! here's a couple pics on the bench of my trex600n with Xero lights :D


http://208.101.25.60/albumthumbs/0/2bbc445f41d281c12af81abab05044cc_925.jpg?dl=122255 4259


http://208.101.25.60/albumthumbs/0/03164e013c5e54b4f642daa2c476fa52_926.jpg?dl=122255 4259
OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH Purdy :)

Freddie Fred
10-05-2008, 09:47 PM
Cool