That does sound defective. When I called Helimax they sent me a new one in less than a week. Also when I told them about the trim problem with this one ( that was really just that secret pot being slightly off) they said they would send another one out as well. So I,m just trying to say if you think it's defective give them a call and let them send you a new one. I know it would be easier to buy the 401 but for the few minutes of your time that it would take to call, would be worth saving the 200 bucks for the 401 combination.