Anyone switched to HIP from Spectora or Home Gauge?

If so, how has your experience been? Like many others starting out, I am trying to make that hard decision on which one to choose. I figure someone who has switched might be a good person to talk to.

HIP has free trial available, but basically it is whatever works for you. Click on HIP in my signature and try it out.

2 Likes

Ask on the HIP Facebook group. We have a ton that have switched from both, especially over the last few months.

2 Likes

I would try it out first, you may not like the glitches.

3 Likes

Hopefully they get the kinks worked out. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Name one software anything that doesn’t have glitches. The key is how quickly the software team addresses and corrects the issues.

4 Likes

That is the key… :slight_smile:

What version are you using, Mr. Jonas?

1 Like

Desktop 4.9.
Why not 5.0 or 6.0?
Because I generally do not generate mobile reports, and most all updates after HIP4.9 are mobile dedicated, and serve no useful purpose to myself or my clients for the reports that I generate.
On the rare occasion I go mobile, it is strictly for data collection, not report generation, thus my laptop works just fine for that purpose.

3 Likes

So…nobody has switched to HIP from Spectora or Home Gauge?

Interesting.

You are taking a very small sample size here. You may want to try posting in the Facebook group as well.

I went from HIP (4 or five years) to Spectora, so I might not be of much help to you.

I sat in on presentations by Dominic (HIP) and the Wagstaff brothers (SPECTORA) at the Internachi convention in Boulder 2019 and decided to switch to Spectora. Its a personal choice. HIP is excellent software. So Is Spectora. For me and the way I inspect and the way I think, Spectora works better for ME. And for the record, HIP software and customer service is top notch. I had no problems with the product or the customer service.

I agree with what has already been posted for you above. TRy out some different software and see what works best for YOU.

If you will state your reason for leaving Spectora, that might help us understand how better to address your concerns. There may be a solution within your current software that you don’t know about.

3 Likes

I am with HIP now. Have been for three years.

What I was wondering is if there’s anyone out there that had been so fed up with the other guys that they moved to HIP and whether or not they were happy with the change. Reason being is that lately HIP has been giving me major issues, enough to consider switching.

I suppose I was hoping for someone to advocate HIP being better than Spectora or HG so I could justify staying.

2 Likes

All three of those software companies claim that several inspectors switch from one of the other two to theirs, on a weekly basis. So I guess it’s whatever works best for you. Personally I’ve been with HG for more than 12 years and still am.
But I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the other two. That’s just where I started and have found no reason to switch.

3 Likes

Ask on the HIP Forums Casey and you’ll have a much larger sample size. There’s almost 4000 HIP users on there now. The forums here aren’t as active as they used to be.

Great job, Dominic, You have created more glitches in the latest HIP6 updates. I think you are going backward. :-1:

1 Like

Scott, I’m not exactly sure what you’re referring to. HIP 6 has been out for almost a year now and thousands of inspectors have updated. We’ve had a massively positive response from our users about all the new features. Take a look at our Facebook group with 4000 HIP inspectors in it for evidence of this. Like all software, there’s always going to be bugs (HIP’s code is hundred of thousands of lines of code) but we’re extremely responsive with updates and have already released 10 updates in the HIP 6 line with new features, design changes, and bug fixes.

Casey’s comments in particular were related to HIP Office (our scheduling system), not Home Inspector Pro. As Casey knows we discovered that several of the issues he had recently were mistakes he made in the software, not actually HIP issues. He’s definitely found other items that have been resolved.

I have indeed had issues with all three, hip office, hip six and hip mobile. I have had the fewest issues with hip 6, Hip mobile still has an occasional glitch that I’ve been able to work around, as annoying as it is, and I think half of my issues with hip office have been user error. That said, there have been a fair number of issues that appear to have been program related and hip’s saving grace for me has been the customer service. I have chat pulled up every few days and the folks at hip have been extremely responsive.

But when you are in the field and s*** hits the fan all you want to do is kick your phone across the yard as you swear the name of your software.

As I’ve gotten to learn the hip office software I have had fewer errors, and things get updated on a fairly regular basis it seems so hip is improving.

2 Likes

Dom, you know what Scott is talking about, as well as I do, and a few other fellow inspectors. He has been testing between HIP 5 and HIP 6, as well as I have. As you know, I’ve been back and forth with yourself, and a few others from the crew, trying to get issues figured out, sending screen shots, templates, etc. Lately, the issues I have shared with yourself and the crew, are not only from myself, but other fellow inspectors as well.

Some of these issues have been there, ever since I first started using HIP many moons ago, and are still there in HIP 6, along with some new issues. I’ve always done my best, editing my templates many times, to work around them, etc. Some issues, I haven’t even brought forward yet, as they may be conflicts between Adobe and/or Windows 10 or 11, and the HIP software.

Some issues, others won’t notice, depending on their report layout/output, etc, and if they need to use certain features of the program. Most sample reports I see from a lot of other users, tend to be jammed together, and not neatly organized. Most won’t even realize (depending if they proof read their reports before sending them off, etc) that some of the changes with HIP 6, changed the look of their report output from what it was in HIP 5, and not in a good way.

As for the HIP Facebook page, there are a lot of issues posted there as well, if someone takes the time to read down through the posts, expanding the comments, etc. Most of the Facebook reported issues, seem to be more related to the mobile/cloud/office parts of the program, etc, which I don’t currently use. However, there are desktop version related issues in there as well.

As you know, in previous posts on the Nachi forum, I’ve always recommended HIP to others in the past. However, now I hold back from doing so.

Undoubtedly, it takes a lot of work and countless hours/lines of coding, to bring everything together and make it function smoothly. Yes, there will be issues, as with all software. However, I think the issues from previous versions should be addressed, not ignored, and carried on into future versions, along with the new issues. Adding new features doesn’t tend to help much, if past issues still exist…

6 Likes

I’m a beta tester and have had very few issues. I’m running ver. 6.3.5. And when I did call for support I have always received a call back within 30 min or less.

2 Likes

Curious… what devices and OS are you using for your reporting?