[ADMIN] pg_basebackup recovery failure

On this doc page are some command examples for pg_basebackup:

        https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/app-pgbasebackup.html

such as: 

    pg_basebackup -h mydbserver -D /usr/local/pgsql/data

I've never gotten this to work.  When I bring up the copy on an intended standby system I always get the classic:
PANIC:  could not locate a valid checkpoint record

Failing that, I backed up with pg_start_backup/tar/pg_stop_backup as an alternative, but I was always curious what I was doing wrong. 
The wiki page on setting up replication:    https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Streaming_Replication

says use the command with this options:      pg_basebackup -h 192.168.0.10 -D /srv/pgsql/standby -P -U replication --xlog-method=stream

and I stumbled into option:
     --checkpoint=fast

The standby was able to recover when I used one of these, I don't remember which, maybe both. 

Should the doc be updated or am I missing something?