# SpeedStacks vs QJ quality



## Stefan (Sep 13, 2012)

Read before you vote in the above poll: This is about the "build quality" of these timers, *not* about "design flaws" (like SpeedStacks gen 2 only being able to get 60% of all possible times or QJ gen 1 taking long for green light). So vote only for timers you've used regularly and judge them by whether they worked ok or somehow got "broken".

SpeedStacks generation 1 (these!) haven't been available for years and thus don't matter and aren't in the poll.
SpeedStacks generation 2 are those available in recent years, with or without timer port and memory.
SpeedStacks generation 3 are the brand new models.
QJ generation 1 are these
QJ generation 2 are these (no timer port).
QJ generation 3 are these which have a timer port.

Edit: Clarification: If they broke early on, of course you can vote "not ok" even if you haven't used them regularly. But don't vote "ok" if you haven't used them regularly (for example my QJ gen 1 is perfectly alright but I haven't used it much (maybe 200 times), so I didn't vote for it at all). On the other hand, if a timer worked well for several years and many thousands of times before it broke, maybe don't vote for that, either, or even vote "ok", depending on how much you've (ab)used it and how severe the problem is. I hope the point of the poll is clear, so use your own judgement to vote meaningfully.


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## SpeedSolve (Sep 13, 2012)

My principal bought a few QJ timers from cubedepot for our club, they broke the first day.My QJ sucks really bad. My friend's mom got a speedstacks for 2 dollars at Goodwill and it is amazing. Speedstacks >>>>>> QJ.


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## Renslay (Sep 13, 2012)

I had many problems with my Speedstack 2, now it is unusable (don't turn on even with new batteries, or if it does, the screen is unreadable). Currently I have a QJ 1, which had minor problems with the touching panel after a while, but after fixing that, it is okay now. I use it since years.


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## Dene (Sep 13, 2012)

Stefan said:


> On the other hand, if a timer worked well for several years and many thousands of times before it broke, maybe don't vote for that, either, or even vote "ok", depending on how much you've (ab)used it and how severe the problem is.



I don't understand why it wouldn't be "ok" if it worked well for years.

As for myself, I've had my gen2 stackmat for 5 years and it's been through plenty of use and abuse (the abuse is largely thanks to keemy) and it's still fine. I haven't used it as much in maybe the past 2 years though.


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## Kirjava (Sep 13, 2012)

QJ gen 1 is not ok.


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## Stefan (Sep 13, 2012)

Dene said:


> I don't understand why it wouldn't be "ok" if it worked well for years.



Well, depends on how you used it, how many years we're talking about, and what standards you expect from stuff. My old laptop still works fine, it's 11 years old, I used it a lot for the first 8 years or so, and it's a lot more complicated than a stopwatch. Especially the hard drive, which had to do many many physical and very precise movements and never let me down. Also the space key which I've certainly tormented more over the years than I'd ever use a stackmat. If a mere stopwatch, especially one as expensive as the SpeedStacks, internally (*) doesn't work anymore after a few years of gentle usage, I'd find that disappointing and not ok.

(*) by this I mean "the electronics", not the power/reset buttons, which are the only moving parts. I had to fix my buttons, but I even forgot about that when I voted above that it's ok. If instead the digits had got broken somehow, I might not have.


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## Ickathu (Sep 13, 2012)

I've only ever used a glow-in-the-dark speedstacks v2. I've had it for at least 5 years, probably closer to 6. I've only ever changed the batteries twice, I think. But both those times have been in the past 1.5-2 years iirc. I used the timer for the first few years for speedstacking, so it didn't take nearly as much (ab)use as it does now.


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## PatrickJameson (Sep 13, 2012)

It might be good to note that while I have only bought around two Speedstacks stackmats, I have gone through about five. Each time my Speedstacks stackmat broke, I was able to get a replacement by just emailing them. I'm not sure if they still do this because the current Speedstacks stackmat I have has lasted me quite a long time. I'm pretty certain QJ would not do this, although they are initially cheaper, which offsets this a bit.


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## Stefan (Sep 13, 2012)

PatrickJameson said:


> It might be good to note that while I have only bought around two Speedstacks stackmats, I have gone through about five. Each time my Speedstacks stackmat broke, I was able to get a replacement by just emailing them.



Replacement or not, if they repeatedly broke and it wasn't your fault, then it's still bad quality.

Off-topic:
SpeedStacks is also a special case because it's the main seller, whereas I don't even know whether I could buy from QJ directly. At least it would be unusual. And I don't know your laws in America, but here in Germany, at least commercial sellers are required by law to have a two-year warranty for electronic equipment or something like that, so I should be able to get replacements from the seller here. So maybe SpeedStacks is also *required* to offer replacements, either as producer or as seller?


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