I like to share about my Odyssey to acquire a genuine, 100% compatible 24V MPG pendant for the Masso G3 controller of our Elite Foreman in May 2025, which is now due to tariffs between $180 to over $200.
Whereas there are multiple 5V MPG pendant readily available (Amazon, Ebay, etc) at costs between $50 - $80, which require rewiring and separate 5V supply or transformer, getting a genuine 24V Masso pendant turned out into a nightmare.
Sadly Masso in Au is involved in this as well, as they have/had official resellers on their WEB site from which I ordered our pendant, but after having received a 5V pendant, which obviously is NEITHER genuine NOR compatible, they emailed us back with excuses and changing resellers.
After 3 weeks, several phone calls and a dozens of emails forth and back with the 2 U.S. resellers and Masso involved, I am still waiting for the “new” Chinese controller which supposingly should then be genuine.
Trying to get a genuine pendant at this time with escalating Chinese tariffs seems to be impossible.
I really wish Masso would be much more transparent and would clearly disclose what genuine MPG pendant really means and who in the U.S. is trustworthy to pay 3-4 times over what the everywhere available 5V pendants cost you can/would have to modify a bit.
Will update once I receive our new pendant.
For the time being, I would recommend to hold off from purchasing a Masso MPG pendant (at least here in the U.S.) until things have cleared and settled.
Lucky you. When I called them they were out of stock last week with no updates on when new ones may come in due to trade/ tariff situation. Got mine from the second reseller in the U.S. CNC4PC and got a 5V not compatible pendant.
Well, if you use an official reseller, which he tried to do, the company – Masso in this case – should vet and control the supply chain. That is standard practice.
If you order from some random company on the Internet, I would have no expectation of getting something genuine or authentic. These days, the market is flooded with cheap knockoffs, especially on Amazon. If I wanted something from China, I would order it from Aliexpress instead.
Certainly seems like Masso as a company has some serious customer support issues. The recent “move to a subscription model” is clear evidence of that.
I truly don’t understand companies that don’t value their customers – without customers, your company would only be an experiment in debt and financial loss. Sadly, it’s all too common.
It’s because they’re prioritizing current revenue over possible future revenue. Current customers may buy something again. They also may, or may not provide recommendations that turn into a sale to a new customer (of course if they’re unhappy then they may tell others which might impact future sales). All of that is unmeasurable and future impactful. But a subscription model will provide revenue, now. Shortsighted business people will almost always choose revenue today over potential revenue tomorrow even if it hurts customer satisfaction. Kind of like Wall Street focusing on quarterly results.
Well I ordered a pendent directly from Masso for $146. Kinda spendy but I didn’t want to try and dink around making my own. AND THEN… DHL lets me know I need to pay $86 import tax. Thats 58% of the purchase price. Caveat emptor my friends.
I believe there was a study that said unhappy customers will tell at least 12 people about their experience but you’re fortunate if the happy customer tells one other person. So the lessons clear, don’t make customers unhappy.it is much cheaper to keep customers than to make new ones.
I purchased the MASSO pendant direct from them last year when I bought the 1F. Obviously before the tariff sh**show. Honestly, I barely ever use it. Once in a while it’s super handy, like when I was setting up my ATC and dialing in pick and place settings, but other than that I haven’t used it as much as I thought I would. I would rather be able to use a game controller.
I agree I think it’s a little overrated. The game controller was so much easier. There is no way to go diagonally on the Masso pendant right? Just constantly switching between x and y?
Correct… on axis at a time. Constantly having to rotate the dial to select an axis. Again… sometimes handy but usually more of an inconvenience in my experience. I mean if you think about it, you can already do that from the Masso screen. Only difference is the pendant lets you get in better position to see things when that is required, because you’re not tethered to the screen.
I purchased the Pendant direct from Masso back in February 2023. I use it every day and I love it for the accuracy. However, it sucks at navigating at any distance around the table and will not move diagonally. The game controller for the BB is far superior for navigation, unfortunately it won’t work on the Masso (as far as I know).
I think Onefinity/ Masso should consider offering a way to use the game controller with the Masso, maybe wirelessly through one of the internal USB ports? I prefer the Pendant over the game controller, but I would certainly use both if I could…
As for the cost of the Pendant shipped to Canada… (at the time), I paid $150 for the Pendant, $50 for shipping, plus taxes, and then I paid over $50 for the tariff on delivery. (And yes, free trade is not real, and the tariffs have always been there… this is not a new thing).
I had to pay in US dollars, so the bill came in at over $350 Canadian. If you plan on getting the Pendant direct from Masso, be aware of the currency conversion to US dollars for that day, bank fees, and the wonderful moving goal post of a tariff.
Would I recommend getting a Pendant from Masso? Absolutely, I love it, and it just works. Is it worth the relatively excessive cost for what it is? I couldn’t find an alternative at the time, and even though the cost challenged my personal “wants vs needs” rational, I held my nose and got one. Its been a while so I’m almost over it!
The game controller doesn’t work, but a regular USB keyboard does. The MASSO supports a number of key shortcuts, including arrow keys & U/D to move the gantry around: Keyboard and Key Shortcuts
Hey bhorling
Thanks for that. I was wondering if I could use a small “number” keyboard to operate the travel… I’ve been slack about digging deep into the manual…
I have a small macropad I use and its super nice. Has 10 buttons and a volume wheel which I have set to use for feed overrides + and -. For $15 it cant be beat
Yes, it’s not hard at all. If you open up the controller there are a few open USB ports on the left hand side of the board. I ran a USB extender cable from there through the existing hole in the back and plugged the keyboard into that. Works fine.
I also tried a wireless keyboard, that uses a USB nub in the same slot. It also worked.
Calvin’s programmable keyboard is also a great idea.
I installed the pendant and used a 90 degree serial port adapter with a female to female coupler. The thing is the bomb-digity to use so my displeasure in the extra expense is assuaged.
