Posted March 30, 2023 at 21:53 GMT
My experience: I once bought a BLC, at that time indifferent of sw versions. It was cheap and I purchased without asking and it turned out to be on a lower sw version.
Now, this said unit was two updates behind. Customer service pointed at the online update and that it should work. And it did not update, neither automatically nor manually. Asking customer service, they told me, that in this case, only a dealer would be capable of updating the unit with his service tool. I asked my dealer who was not aware of this problem and if it would work. I gave it a try and he did it for a decent price.
First, it seemed to work well. At some point, it started to fail punctually, no longer reliably transmitting the data and music. In the end, I let it be checked by my dealer again and he had to exchange the complete inside electronics.
All of my other (3) BLC have the latest sw. If I try to update manually, I receive something like „it is on the latest sw version“. So from my experience and according to customer service (I guess 2 years ago), it seems that you can still update a unit online, if it is not on the latest sw. But it seems to me that it is likely not possible, if the actual version is too far behind the latest update. I also cannot exclude the possibility that my unit had been faulty right from the start and that this has been the reason that it did not update.
Personally, I would still go for a BLC to merge my ML and NL products. I have that „new“ BLC now stored, planning to connect my BC 9500 / BG 9500 to my network one day ?.
But info about sw version - my point of view - is important to minimize the risk of buying units with hidden faults or not behaving correctly. So, if the seller is not sure about the sw version and he wants to sell, than it should be possible to plug the unit into the mains, connect via LAN to the network and check the sw version. Takes about 2 minutes.
Alternatively, you could ask him, if he is willing to confirm that he will take the unit back, if the sw version is behind and can not be updated.
Kind regards,
Rolf
