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Posted By Alex_Chernov on 21 Mar 2013 08:19 PM

I tried mobile version of Xactimate 28 on my tablet today. Between that and their mobile version of Xacanalysis and Xactcontents this is going to be the future of estimating. You would sketch in the field, may be even add line items in the field, come home write a report, mount photos, boom, you are done. 

You will also have an online version of Xact. Which means that you can access it from any computer with a browser and internet. Sweet. 

All versions will be synchronized through the cloud. 

I have to note that mobile version is kinda awkward to use (may be I just need to get used to it?). 

What do you think of it ? Have you tried it?

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Hello my friend,

I am glad to see that you find XM8 28 user friendly/efficient. A few quick questions:

1) I have never tried the mobile version for XM8, you spoke of sketching in the field. Would you say that it is user friendly to the point that rookie adjusters with just a basic XM8 course would be able to function from the onset or would you say the skillset is equal to that of traditional XM8

2) With regard to cloud computing, being able to access XM8 from any computer/browser with an internet connection, are you saying that an XM8 scribe on a specific machine is NOT required?

 

It will come to pass fairly soon (if not already) where adjusters can scope/dimension/document/photograph/create a comprehensive XM8 report with nothing but a smartphone.

Along those lines, what are your thoughts on fee schedules of the near future? Would you be so inclined to predict a reduction of said fee schedules based upon the efficiency of these advances? 

Posted By BobH on 25 Apr 2013 10:38 PM
It's like the software is on drugs. There is a delay for everything you do.
Rather than "bitta-bing-bitta-bang" it's like 1) enter an item 2) wait for that pill to go down the pipe.
1) enter another item 2) wait for that first one to finish "taking" so you can get control of the computer again.
I'm not doing the "cloud" thing, I am supposed to be writing to the hard drive. But it acts web based rather than hardware based. Like it is writing to a server in Egypt rather than the hard drive in my hotel room.
I'm not sure if I am in the "I hate it" or the "It should be trashed" camp. Hard decision...

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Hi Bob,

since my post above I have heard from more than half a dozen of my members who are working with State Farm who are so frustrated with XM8 28 they are sincerely considering walking away from State Farm.
I am stating this to you particularly because I believe you have been a long time hand for State Farm. Is it true that SF requires that all claims to be written in 28? Also on SF laptops? That they are stubbornly staying with 28?

I can't imagine trying to get X28 to be useful while in a cat situation, with 70 other adjusters at a Red Roof Inn on the same connection.

I couldn't get it past a snails pace at home, with a 30 mbs connection at an off peak time of day.

There are definetly advantages to the cloud. I use DropBox extensively and can't imagine being without it. They have managed to work it out, so let's hope Xactware can too.

Dale

Bob,

I have spent the last several days getting the small update installed, only to still have crash issues. For me, it happens when I am annotating photos, renaming photos, or printing(to PDF Pro) I have probably lost 8 hours this week to this problem.

Right after getting the small update to load, the crashes were more dramatic, crashing win8 completely, not just Xactimate.

 I am assuming that you are using the SF equipment, which is probably not running Dragon or PDF Pro(mentioned by dholman), and probably also running under Win7. It's probably a pretty basic enterprise setup.

Dale

Thanks Bob,

I guess I need to put the patient in an isolation ward.

Dale Strain

Holy Crap! This program is terrible.

I had my main laptop sent in for servicing (need a new cooling fan). I was forced to buy a "new laptop" which I decided to get a refurbished laptop running Windows 7 instead of 8. Then, I had to download 28 since it was the newest version. First thing is first; 

(1) Why, when they update the program, do they have to move all the tabs and options menus to different areas to make it look "sleek", or "cool"? This is a typical Microsoft type problem; they "update" the software that already worked to begin with, then you "the user" can't find anything or use the "simple" designs. 

(2) Shouldn't a file be able to convert from 28 to 27.5? It is the same software and system, for the most part. You can incorporate an estimate from 27.5 to 28, but you cannot go back to 27.5 "the better version". Prime example, as I already stated, I have a "new" pc with 28 on it. I recevied a claim from my IA firm and when I received my "old" laptop back from being serviced, I tried to roll back to 27.5 to write the estimate. No Go! I have to use 28 to finish the file.

(3) It crashes all the time. My first night with 28, I worked on a file for 1.5 hours and had the autosave function set to save every 2 minutes. When the program crashed, the file was not saved. I spent another hour with a technician that showed me several ways to bring the file back (if it was saved), but since it wasn't, I lost another 1.5 hours completing everything a second time. Unbelievable!

(4) To piggyback on my last comment, 28 runs so slow that it took forever to actually write the estimate. Everytime you click on a tab or try to type something in, it has a 3-5 second delay before it registers what you are trying to do. Forget being a fast typer, or know the codes you want to enter into the Estimate. You will be delayed in every action you take. An hour long estimate can easily turn into 2 or 3, slowing you down and pissing you off in the process.

(5) DON'T TRY TO UPLOAD PHOTOS!! This is most time consuming thing that 28 has going. It literaly took me 10 seconds to open the photo screen so I can try to label my photos. I don't even have to explain how long it took to label a large restaurant and bar. I had at least 300 photos as this was a very large commercial property with extensive wind and water damage from a tornado. Once this claim is finalized and sent in, I intend to roll back to 27.5, on my old laptop just to work more efficiently. 

I hope Symbility can gain more market share and have carriers use another software. We pay over $1,500 per year for this program, $20 per phone call if you need help and we constantly have to have "updates" performed, which don't even fix the problems they intend to fix. DO NOT UPGRADE TO 28, USE 27.5 FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE, OR FIND ANOTHER SOFTWARE THAT YOUR CARRIER WILL ACCEPT!

I just worked my first storm with XM8 28 and it crashed constantly when I was adding F9 notes and labeling photos. So far I think this program blows.The specs say you need to have a graphics card installed but with most laptops you cant even install them. Has anyone figured out how to make it run better?

Thanks.

The only thing I like so far about 28 is the interface; nothing else! Too slow, loosing work, time, and time is money. 27.5 will be around another year so. I'm going to let everyone else deal with the issues, I'm back to 27.5 for now.  Luckily I don't have clients that dictate what software my company uses.