Beachwaver PRO 1.25 : Great Concept, Needs Tweaking

Perhaps this is because I purchased this as Certified Open Box but there was no instruction manual provided. I watched the video (above) and the master class on VS Waves by Sarah Potempa and found the manual online (although there was no User Guide online like some of the other models). None of them talked about the memory technology and what it does. I ended up finding an explanation in an independent reviewer on another site although it didn't say much other than that it is archaic compared to the one used in the S1 series which seems odd that the upgraded Pro would use a more archaic technology.

I'm not sure if my issue is because I am petite (and have small hands) but having the left and right buttons that are right next to the Go button causes a lot of issues with pressing the wrong button especially when there is no Home button like in the other models to reset the clamp to align with the Go button. So unless you press the Go button down long enough to reset the clamp into the right position to start, you oftentimes have the Go button in the back of where you're clamping hair to the iron. I'm not sure why they would get rid of this feature as I would think professionals would want this as well. So blindly reaching for buttons that have no indicators like raised buttons or raised letters has caused me to accidentally switch left/right when I wanted to hit Go. I guess if you're doing someone else's hair, you can see all around where the buttons are. In addition, with the big barrel, small clamp handle (not the side where hair gets clamped but where you use your hand to open the clamp), inability to reset, I have almost burnt my fingers trying to angle and maneuver the barrel to release hair.

Again, I don't know if this is because I have a Certified Open Box (which I would assumed they did some quality control on although based on the other review where hers didn't work, it seems questionable), I don't know if my temperature settings are accurate. I have tried 410 and 450 and found that with 450, I had to hold the hair around the barrel for double the time and/or had to recurl my hair in order for it to even curl because oftentimes, only the bottom of the hair curled and not the top. The 410 temperature seemed to be a bit more consistent. Again, I don't know if there is an issue with the heat distribution along the barrel either.

I was excited to try this after seeing Rosie Huntington-Whiteley rave about it, but I'm disappointed in the quality for the price, or perhaps this teaches me a lesson not to buy a Certified Open Box although I would have thought it went through appropriate quality control procedures to ensure it worked as intended.