Sep 02, 2023 08:31 AM
465 Views
(Updated Sep 03, 2023 09:42 PM)
Every once a while you come across a product that is so bad that you have to recalibrate the rating scale to accommodate the product.
Mivi Collar Flash Pro (MCFP) is one such product.
In the normal case, I usually buy a product after elaborate research and so my expectations are usually met. Mivi was a spontaneous purchase. I saw it at a store and was surprised to see a product that was advertising the "Made In India" feature more boldly that other features of the product(check box pic) I am a sucker for Made In India stuff, and didn't think much before handing over my cash.
All it took was 5 seconds to decide that not only was MCFP bad, it was spectacularly so.
The best analogy I can offer of the audio output from MCFP is that of putting a bucket over your head and then trying to listen to any music. The sound is muffled, there is no clarity or distinction between the frequencies and the bass is crude and thumping so as to give you a headache.
In this scenario, how much time would you need to decide the experience is not pleasant?
Thinking that a burn-in would improve the output, I played music for a few hours without plugging it into my ears but that made no difference.
Audio quality apart, the product is well made. The package includes extra ear plugs and the USB3 cable to charge the neckband. A claimed 72 hours running time is admirable but the control button layout was not intuitive. The vol down button is above the vol up button, a clear oversight.
While the product fails at many levels, Mivi's customer service is a tad better. I sought a replacement thinking the particular piece was bad. The product was promptly picked up and returned after a week after service. As per their feedback, the technician "had identified the problem". Nevertheless, the returned product sounded the same.
In the interim, I had visited a few reviews about the product and all of them had indicated that the bass was a bit too strong and submerged all other frequencies. The reviewers were putting it mildly in my view, the bass is not just strong it lacks clarity as well. I have tried other bass heavy earphones, but in none of them was I repelled by the output, nor did I suffer a headache. Probably the reviewers were sponsored, who knows?
To conclude, the MCFP is probably the worst of "Made In India". One wonders if the headphones were ever tried out by the founders, who are IIT graduates, before they were mass produced, it surely boggles my mind to think how such an atrocious product made it from the design to the testing to the manufacturing stage. The failure at each level to stop further progress seems intentional.
If anyone is looking for an example to lure companies away from India, MCFP would be a top choice, which makes me suspect if that was indeed the intention of Mivi or was the product sabotaged by someone else who wants to derail the nascent "Made In India" exercise.
Conspiracy theories aside, I don't consider my purchase a waste of money for two reasons.
Firstly, I bought them to support the "Made In India" project. so yes, even though the product is bad, and imported stuff available at a fraction of the cost performs better, my purchase goes beyond mere sound quality. Mivi gets my respect and money for making the bold step and taking the difficult path when others like Boat, Boult and what not are blindly selling rebranded Chinese stuff.
Secondly, the product is not a complete failure, as the rest of the product besides the speakers that go into the ears is good. So I will be spending some time trying to transplant other brand earphones to the rest of the neckband to see if it works. If I do succeed it would be jugaad, another Made In India speciality.
Update: Some soldering and gluestick application later, I changed the earphones with a pair of wired Philips earphones I had lying around. This is the best of both worlds, - the desired audio quality and the 72 hour backup promised by Mivi. Finished product pic is attached.
