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An Honest Review of The Galaxycove Star Projector (read before you buy)

Products · August 31, 2020

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve seen the Facebook or Instagram ads for the Galaxycove Star Projector. The photos and videos are convincing, to the point where they lure you in. If you’re on the checkout screen or about to splurge that $80, keep reading first.

This is a review for the Galaxy Cove projector purchased from their galaxycove.com website, not any knock-off site, the same site they advertise on social media and everywhere else.

If you don’t want to read a novel, the TL;DR is RUN AWAY. Do not deal with Galaxycove, the projectors they sell are not worth the price they are asking. And if you want to know what kind of company you’re dealing with, read about how they handled genuine negative reviews on their Trustpilot page.

Before we continue, this review is for the Galaxycove v1 projector that comes in the unbranded box and looks like a cheap Chinese knock-off. They released an updated version a few weeks after I ordered mine and have changed the packaging and slapped a logo on the projector itself. Don’t fall for the updated branding, besides being able to choose some new colours, it’s the same projector.

Even though I found reviews and videos praising the projector, part of me was sceptical that these reviews were not all completely honest. Information suggested that this company was selling cheaply made Chinese products at a premium price, but I didn’t look too much into it at the time. The marketing got me.

It has been brought to my attention that Galaxycove are attempting to discredit reviews such as these. The claim is that people are buying from alleged “illegitimate” websites. Well, not that it matters much, but here is a screenshot of the transaction from my internet banking.

Sure enough, I ended up buying one and used the excuse of buying it for my son. In reality, I was the one most excited about it because the marketing made this thing seem like it was amazing. It totalled just a little over $100 Australian Dollars after the conversion.

This better be good, I said.

It Arrived

Well, the first good sign this wasn’t a complete scam is the projector did arrive. The projector took a while to arrive in Australia, at about 2.5 weeks. The Galaxycove website states a week, but when you look at the tracking information, you see it comes from China and the pandemic has slowed everything down. The paths it took for delivery were unlike anything I had ever seen, it seemingly bounced a heap of places.

Opening up the package, you’re greeted with an unbranded generic looking product. This looks like a product you would buy at a garage sale or find in your grandma’s basement beside the unused foot spa she got for mothers day 5 years ago.

As you can see, nothing on this box suggests that it is a Galaxycove product whatsoever. The feeling that you’ve been “had” begins to set in. I was doubting if this was going to work. Sure, it might have arrived, but did they send me a projector slapped together wholesale for $3 and sold at a premium? We were about to find out.

The obviously translated text from Chinese into English really instils confidence that you’ve just bought a carefully engineered product. You know when the packaging is bad, it’s a red flag, especially poor translations. I did have a good laugh at the line, “enpowder your life”

Maybe there is branding inside of the box, you say? Nope. It just uses a generic name of 3 In 1 LED Starry Sky Projector Light on the instruction booklet. The booklet itself is quite useless, as is the case for cheaply made Chinese exports such as these. It is littered with typos and grammatical errors, indicative of poor and rushed translations.

Putting the dots together, it was clear this was a wholesale product being sold at a heavily marked up price. I got curious, is anyone else selling this same projector? If it is being dropshipped, GalaxyCove can’t be the only ones doing this.

If there is one thing in life I’ve learned, when it doubt, look on Wish. Sure enough, I found a projector that is a splitting image of the one I bought under a different name. Allegedly you can also find the same one on Aliexpress as well as other sites like eBay.

At this point, we haven’t even turned it on yet and there are red flags everywhere. The above Aliexpress image shows a projector that looks identical, right down to the placement of the USB charging port, compliance writing and where the projector dome sphere sits.

In another image on the linked Aliexpress projector, even the colours it supports out of the box are the exact same as the Galaxycove colours. The moon and stars look the same, as does the placement of the buttons and their functionality.

party, Laser, projector, projectorlight

It is quite clear the Aliexpress projector is the same, at a fraction of the price. I might even buy it and then do a comparison between the two, even taking them apart and seeing how they differ from the electronics inside (they probably don’t).

Weird Website Behaviour

Here is one sign that the Galaxycove company is not who they say they are, the weird and dishonest tricks they attempted to pull on their own website shocked and surprised me. I have never seen any other site do what the Galaxycove site does.

They have made all attempts to not only right-clicking, but they have also disabled any attempts to open up browser developer tools. If you are using Chrome, give it a try yourself. It’s clear they do not want anyone viewing their website source code, copying their images or text.

Try right-clicking anywhere on the site, it doesn’t work. Then try selecting any of the text on the site such as the product page here, text selection has been disabled, which is just weird.

I still managed to get developer tools open and then encountered another trap attempting to block you from using your browser developer tools. The Galaxycove website has a timer running every 1000 milliseconds (every second) with a debugger statement being called. A debugger statement signals to the developer tools to break on that particular line of code, it’s an attempt to disable the standard behaviour of the developer tools.

setInterval(function(){ debugger; },1000)

The code above is an attempt to prevent people from viewing their code, which just made me even more curious, what are Galaxycove trying to hide on their website? There is nothing proprietary here, just some basic HTML, CSS and Javascript for what is a product website.

It turns out that Galaxycove is hosted on Shopify and they are using a Shopify addon called Cozy AntiTheft. The thing is, the plugin doesn’t even do what it says it does. It prevents text selection and keyboard shortcuts, but you can still open developer tools.

While I did not uncover any hidden secrets or tricks in the website itself, I did find it odd they installed such a plugin for their Shopify store.

Fake product images

The website shows the projector itself should have a Galaxycove logo on it. Upon closer inspection, it appears the text was added after the fact.

Taking the projector out of the box, one thing stands out immediately: no logo is present on the product itself.

The website images were edited mock-ups, not uncommon even for reputable companies, but they literally Photoshopped their logo onto the images to make it look like a legitimate product. The projector obviously has no logo that comes in the box.

This is intentionally misleading now.

Another annoying thing is that it ships with a USB adapter with an American plug. Obviously, being in Australia, an American wall outlet is useless to me. Fortunately, I had a spare phone charger adapter lying about I could use.

Mystery SC511

Upon closer inspection, I noticed on the back of the projector there is a model number SC511 which once again seemed odd. What would happen if I Googled that? As it would turn out, a whole bunch of identical projectors show up using that model number, including a few on Amazon. This one here shows the same product.

Interestingly, this listing details some specifics down the bottom.

Galaxycove at every turn are trying to make themselves appear to be a company they are not. Not only do they claim they design and build their products themselves (calling themselves light experts, amongst other titles), but they portray themselves as the Apple of light products.

More Fake Images

The Galaxycove hole digs deeper and once again, Galaxycove employs their favourite trick: fake images.

This is the Galaxycove about us page where they show stock-looking photos of designer-looking people working on computers. They talk about being light experts and speaking as though they painstakingly designed and architected this themselves.

That is because the images on their about page are stock photos. I took a snippet of the photos and then did a search on TinyEye and sure enough, those people do not work at Galaxycove. Look at this link, it’s the same picture being used as the one on the Galaxycove about us page.

This is the image from the Galaxycove about page

And this is the one from the website where I found the same stock photo in use.

If you look closely, you will also notice they put a weird blur over the mockups on the screen in their image. The reason they did this was most likely an attempt to cover up the fact they edited the image.

Fake Reviews

The clue in Galaxycove being a semi-legitimate drop-shipping operation is the botted reviews. Looking on the product page, there are way too many 5 star reviews, but there are cleverly some 3-star reviews as well (but they do not say anything critical about the product itself).

Funnily enough, I left a review of my own and I waited for it to show up on the site. It never showed up. It’s clear they only show the highly-rated ratings, possibly delete anything critical of their drop shipped projector and portray the image of a loved company shipping a great product.

The real reviews for this product are over at TrustPilot, where you can imagine the real story is being told. Allegedly whoever is running this company keeps changing their name, they were previously known as Luxavate.

The upside of all of this is that it wasn’t a complete and total scam. I mean, the projector arrived and when I queried them about the delay, they responded quite fast and apologised. They definitely try and make people perceive they are a legitimate business selling premium products, but the blatant fake reviews, weird return/refund policy and fake about page are red flags.

Does it work?

In my case, yes. We took it out of the cheap generic-looking box, we found a spare phone charger and plugged it in and waited for it to charge.

The projector worked, it didn’t throw light as much as the smart misleading marketing would have you believe or all of the 5 star, “omg this is amazing”, “my cat loves this laser lol” reviews clearly left by fake/paid accounts. Is this worth $80 USD? Definitely not. For me, it ended up being over $100 and I have zero confidence this laser will last any more than a few months.

If your projector does work, it won’t impress you. Once you realise the colour choices are limited, that the music sense mode will most likely not work and that the amount of light being projected isn’t nearly as much as the marketing materials depict, you realise this is a waste of money.

My five-year-old-son seems to love it and is currently using it as a nightlight. That’s one damn expensive nightlight. And look, there is nothing wrong with dropshipping, but masquerading behind a business front and being dishonest as well as charging top prices for products worth half what they’re charging, it’s one of the many reasons to avoid Galaxycove.

When I get a chance, I am going to open this projector up and see what the build and component quality is like on the inside. I am expecting some serious shortcuts lurking within, the inbuilt rechargeable battery is what scares me the most.

Would I advise you to buy one? Definitely not. You can allegedly pay half the amount and get the same projector elsewhere, do that instead. If you buy the Galaxycove projector, you will be disappointed.

Dwayne

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60 Comments
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Sarah
Sarah
2 years ago

Had the same experience, totally agree with you! Big regrets on spending that much considering I found the exact same one on ebay for half the price. wish i saw your review earlier, hopefully some others will see it before they make the same mistake. the music sense mode doesn’t even work!

28
Mar
Mar
2 years ago

Thanks for the review. Saved me. I went over to TrustPilot where GalaxyCove has flagged all of the negative reviews. But of course left the 5 star generic one alone.

21
Joe
Joe
2 years ago

Thank you! Would have probably been more interested in this and maybe even bought it if I hadn’t seen this page so thanks.

10
trackback
Are GalaxyCove Posting Fake TrustPilot Reviews? - I Like Kill Nerds
2 years ago

[…] In case you missed my review and experience buying a Galaxycove projector, you can read about that here. You can also read about Galaxycove flagging legitimate negative reviews on their TrustPilot page […]

5
Leigh Woodcock
Leigh Woodcock
2 years ago

VERY helpful to read this – thank you. Was about to order 3 but tried to find an honest review of whether they are worth the money and came across this. Many thanks!!

14
Christine
Christine
2 years ago

Thank you SO much for this detailed experience, because I literally thought about buying 2 for Xmas! You saved me heartache & headaches, and I truly appreciate you spending your time and money to help others out as you did!

19
Dan
Dan
2 years ago

Just clicked on the Instagram ad and did a due diligence Google search and found your review. THANK YOU for taking the time to do this. It’s really appreciated.

29
jp
jp
2 years ago

Was just about to buy on my phone and thought… let me just google this quickly. I found the trustpilot reviews and then this masterpiece of a dropshipping takedown. Brilliantly done.

16
Rebecca Edwards
Rebecca Edwards
2 years ago

Thank you for doing this. We need more honest people like you in the world!!

8
Jo Gibson
Jo Gibson
2 years ago

Thanks- I was about to buy two of them…,

4
Racine
Racine
2 years ago

Love you’re transparency on this. You just saved me $80+ dollars on a cheap knock off. Thank you for making this. I appreciate you!

7
Cynthia Beaudoin
Cynthia Beaudoin
2 years ago

Thank you for posting this. It keeps getting harder to know what’s legitimate and what isn’t on merchant websites, especially the canned reviews, so I always try to look for an independent source of information. I can’t always find one, but I’m grateful to have found yours because it covers the what, the how, and the why in a way that allows me to really assess my risk. I really appreciate that you took the time to leave a guidepost in the www wilderness.

5
Koby
Koby
2 years ago

Thanks for the detailed review!

3
Karmun
Karmun
2 years ago

Thank you so much for writing this. I almost wanted to buy. Thank you for saving me!

3
Kylie
Kylie
2 years ago

Thank you for your honest and thorough review! I was about to buy one from Instagram as I’m not sure what else to buy my child for Xmas and thought I’d splurge but then goodies reviews and came across this piece of gold! Just saved me $80 and a disappointed kid for Christmas so CHEERS

3
kathy wells
kathy wells
2 years ago

Has anyone found a projector that is what it says it is and is a decent price? would love to order one.

43
JP
JP
2 years ago

thanks for sharing this. I saw the ad on instagram. It looks amazing. I google for a review first and saw this. I didn’t really need it anyway. thanks for sharing.

2
Me
Me
2 years ago

saved me getting ripped off! Was about to buy for wife @ xmas. But you know what – had enough of chinese rubbish and going to be far more careful form now on! Thnaks

3
Jesse Zunti
Jesse Zunti
2 years ago

Thanks dude, saw this on IG and was about to buy for gf, but always do my research first. Cheers!

5
John Telaak
John Telaak
2 years ago

This company I’m pretty sure now goes by the name Galaxis Projector (everything seems the same) and I’m currently fighting with them about a refund. Actually, i’m pretty sure all of these companies are the same people –
GalaxyCove
Galaxy
Galaxis
Nebula – Everything seems the same. BUYER BEWARE

7
John Telaak
John Telaak
2 years ago

A more in depth list of what I believe to be this companies aliases..all sites/pages are the same with fake reviews and most pages on Facebook were created in the past year.Lot’s of comments complaining about waiting on orders and getting the run around when they complain directly to the company.
GalaxyCove
Galaxy
GalaxyGlo
Galaxy Globe
Galaxy Globe Projector
Galaxis
Spectra Light
Nebula
Shop Spacey
Pulse Lights
Galaxy Lovers
Lumix
Hype Lights
Apollo Starry Sky
The Space Lantern
GalaxyNova

5
Cynthia Lee
Cynthia Lee
2 years ago

As many others noted below, I saw this on IG and was about to purchase for a Christmas gift. Thank you for your time in writing the review and for warning others.

2
Kaizen
Kaizen
2 years ago

Glad I found your review before falling for the slick marketing on IG. Thanks for such a comprehensive and thoughtful review.

2
Helen
Helen
2 years ago

Fantastic review, I appreciate the thorough run down on this, saved me too!

2
Marion
Marion
2 years ago

Thanks for the great, detailed reviewed! Saved my $80:)

2
Deb
Deb
2 years ago

Damm… got suckered in and have been trying to synch up to music without an sucess🙁 seeing the reviews now and sad that I fell for the starry nights minus the ability to link up music 🤨

1
Rachel
Rachel
2 years ago

I just wasted $100 AUD on a light from Galaxy Projector Australia that doesn’t work & which I now assume is a dodgy scam company. How do we stop these mongrels? I reported them to Facebook but assume nothing will come if that. I want them to be shut down so other people don’t suffer – does anyone have any advice?

1
John Wanto
John Wanto
2 years ago

Bought projector and led light. The led strip came with a female adapter for the strip and the power supply. They told me the prongs should have been separate In the packaging. It wasn’t. Huge hassel of sending a video and explaining whats missing. Yet emails can’t hold videos so large. All for a tiny little piece not In there. Can’t get a refund cause only faulty/damage items are allowed. Yet I can’t use this strip at all.

1
Sarah
Sarah
2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your detailed review!! You’ve saved me a bunch of money; was literally about to buy one and thought I’d check out some reviews first, and I’m so glad I did. Good karma to you friend!

2
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