So nobody seemed to take any notice about my comments at being charged $160 for replacements and told that was the same for everyone now not $120
I negotiated the price with them and I also DID NOT reject pairs because of "faults". I opened each photo, looked for issues and then placed the order. I excepted that there would always be faults (glue stains, creases in the buckle, yellow soles etc). Yet my replacement pair is next to perfect, so it really is just luck of the draw here. All I have ever asked for is "clean shoes, working lights".
Pair #1 -
Has virtually a perfect glue line on the left shoe, yet the right is pretty bad in comparison.
Has a big dent in the left buckle and a pen mark (maybe that was done to point it out?), right buckle is fine.
The strap logo was misaligned on the left shoe, all good on the right.
The swoosh alignment is off on this pair from left to right.
Pair #2
Has clean glue lines on both shoes.
Has close to perfect alignment of SWOOSH.
Has good alignment of strap logos.
Has no dents or marks on the buckles.
Yet both pairs 1 and 2 have yellow soles even though the QCs suggested clear or even icy for pair #1.
Both pair are the same size, but pair #2 had 9.5 written in pen on the white card collar insert.
I've run the batteries flat in pair #2, charged them up and they are all good.
I didn't get a charger with my first pair, so I ended sourcing a pair of USB to 0.7mm charge leads. I have a dual USB device that seems to output 5V 2A for both ports, so it makes charging these quite easy. Yesterday I found a dual charger that is more portable than the unit I have at home. Not that it matters, I won't ever wear this pair.
I have heard that a light amount of heat will fix the dent in the buckle. These buckles are a type of foam, not the flexible rubber of the V2. I wish they were a little more robust but they are what they are.
Yes these shoes are expensive and I understand the want to have them "perfect" but as I have said before, we should be grateful to even have these shoes, especially for the price.