Thanks for the informative article. I've often wondered who typically uses this type of service and why. Much cheaper to repair over replacing if budgets are tight. I'm going to assume this is typically done for items out of warranty as I would be concerned about voiding a warranted item.

"Despite being noted as a failure prone camera, Renova does not get a lot of business from Arecont cameras"

I remember Arecont having some pretty inexpensive repair rates for their own repair services, so maybe that is why it is low. Another reason may be the same as ours- single lens Arecont cameras that have failed out of warranty we've been phasing out with other brands instead of replacing with another Arecont. That leaves the multsensor models, which are a small percentage of cameras.

Renova's services make great sense, especially the shorter turn around time for video components out of warranty.

Short Circuit Electronics in Missouri is a strong competitor and also does refurbish service for alarm panels & some components, and includes re-installation for many chain retail clients. These companies fill a void that makes sense for end users and integrators alike especially given the tight budgets during the sluggish economies we all are enduring.

Since Clinton Electronics was mentioned in this article, I feel the need to comment.

1. We do not authorize any outside repair company to repair our products (In warranty or out of warranty).

2. We have never once talked to Renova nor have they ever contacted us about repairing Clinton Electronics product.

3. We offer a 3-year warranty on all of our products with 1st-year advance replacement. When the product is beyond the warranty period, we will still repair our products for a small fee. We do this as a service to our customers and do not see it as a "money-making opportunity." Our typical repair fee is less than $150 and is never higher than that for a DVR.

4. Our DVRs use Surface Mount Technology (SMT) and any type of repair to an SMT circuit board is typically not recommended. I don't know what Renova's process is for repairing our DVRs nor do I know about Renova's claim that our DVRs have a "wide variety of failures." We simply do not see it, and Renova has never graced us with their feedback or even bothered to contact us.

5. We have less than a 3% percent failure rate on all Clinton DVRs and most of the time the failure is Hard drive related. Take out Hard drive related failures and our failure rate is about 1%.

In conclusion, We have nothing to hide. I am not even posting as an Undisclosed Manufacturer like most manufacturers who comment on this site do. If anyone has a question on Clinton Electronics product or would like to discuss further, they can comment or contact me directly.

Brian Karas, same goes for you too. Next time, please reach out to me. I have never questioned the integrity of IPVM, and I am an avid reader. I am happy to help out or comment when I can.

But I do think that in the best interest of all IPVM readers - it's only fair to reach out those who are being criticized for their comment to present both sides of the story.

I have to somewhat agree with Dan... in all fairness, why weren't the manufactures contacted for follow up comments to the articles? Also, why not list what the true issues are? If indeed it's hard drives, well we all know that an entirely separate issue depending on which brand is selected and used in the DVR.

He needs to do more research before he makes claims about what ANY dealer does with ANY brand of equipment when it presumably 'fails'. I can assure you from straight on experience that every dealer does not 'toss out' every Hikvision product.

On the other hand perhaps one should consider the size of the size of the HikVision repair department compared to the 100's of thousands of cameras they sell yearly.

Does Renova repair Bosch DVR's? Every single one of the Bosch DVRs we have installed has failed. In the last four years, we have been replacing them with Hikvision with much success. If it's possible to have them repaired we might consider it. I have a police station that needs a couple repaired.

Most of Renova's Bosch repairs have been cameras. Very few, if even any, Bosch DVR's have been received over the past few years. Perhaps a few of the encoders, the X16XF-E. If you would like to send a few in for repair, there is no risk-- as there is no charge if the units cannot be repaired. If you email the model numbers, Renova can supply a budgetary repair price. Renova normally provides a 90 day warranty on the repair, however, if would be interesting to know your experience in how long repairs have endured in the field - or are you speaking of units that were never repaired by passed the warranty period? As we repair so many other manufacturers DVR's, we do not think it would provide a major challenge -- but we would not know until we receive them.

Just stumbled on this article from 2016.  Since that time, security equipment repairs have grown by about 25% per year and seem to be continuing.  We repair for 4 out of the top 7 SDM 100, regional and smaller integrators, department of homeland security, veterans affairs, municipalities, correctional facilities, banks, and self maintaining enterprises -- about 150 different customers.  Last year (2017) our customers saved about $7Million by repairing rather than replacing out-of-warranty equipment.  We anticipate $10Million in savings this year.  We now repair about 1,600 different models of cameras, dvr/nvr, and access control from 60+ manufacturers.  

Since the time this article was written, Renova's portfolio of commercial devices (cameras, dvr, nvr, access control) has grown to over 2,400 models from 150+ OEMs. Renova now repairs for 7 of the top 10 SDM 100, many regional integrators, DHS, Coast Guard, Universities, Municipalities and more. Renova estimates that its customers save approximately $10million annually by repairing versus replacing. These devices cost a lot of money, work well, and it is worth the average repair cost of about $375 to extend their lives by 3-4 more years. In addition, this keeps approximately 25+ tons of poisonous electronic scrap from winding up in landfills each year.