I had two brand new out of the box that started up the wrong direction 20-30% of the time. Sent one back to Hydor and they "fixed" it. It did nothing different once I received it back - still ran backwards 20-30% of the time. Replaced it with a Tunze Nanostream and never looked back. Does what it's supposed to do, 100% of the time.
Personally, I'm done with Hydor. In addition to the backwards Evos, I have had two of the Nano Evos where the potting around the coil was compromised. "Compromised" means flaked apart and let salt water into the electronics. The first one I found when corals started looking sickly. Luckily only lost one coral. I replaced that failed unit with another Nano. That one just was removed from my tank last month after I found out it too was "leaking" current into my tank. This time is was caught before any creatures showed signs of stress. (That doesn't include my own stress when I was lit up with 120V while one hand was in the tank and I unknowingly established a ground with my arm. Luckily I have GFCIs, and they work.)