Discontinued The Grasshopper

[mmenzie]

In my experience HL NEVER pays for shipping ... I had one hopper go back 4 times within <2 weeks!

this is simply not true. i had a hopper that i had less than 2 weeks and it went back to them on their dime

 

[JCat]

this is simply not true. i had a hopper that i had less than 2 weeks and it went back to them on their dime

Ok ... that's great in your case, but it is not the case in mine. I spent an enormous amount of time writing messages back and forth trying to get them to pay early on in my many multiple RMA experience ... they eventually won out ... I'd rather pay than continue to waste my time corresponding back and forth to no avail.

Perhaps it is because you are not International? I currently am at >$200 in RMA shipping expenses since March. (maybe end of Feb?) ... and I'm sure I'm not done. I expect to hit $300 in a <12 month time frame (although since now RMA's are taking an extra week or so that might decrease as I won't be able to send one back every month ... more like every 5-6 weeks)

So ... I'll re-state ... in my experience, as an International customer, with hundreds of dollars in RMA shipping expenses, and many multiple RMA returns that are not fixed on return from RMA, HL has refused to pay any shipping costs, expedite their shipping back, or offer any other concessions despite repeated attempts politely asking them to do so or to make amends in some form or fashion.

I have given up asking, insisting, or whatever, and now just send them in thanking them very much (as I turn around and bend over again) and expect the cost of ownership for Hoppers is $25 shipping per month until I experience otherwise.

Love my Hoppers when they are working! They truly are one of a kind! Too bad cost of ownership and downtime is so brutally high. (I have always had 1 somewhat working hopper in the last 7-8 months, probably >80% of the time one that works well, but I've never once had 2 working hoppers at the same time. Not once.)

 

[duff]

I've never once had 2 working hoppers at the same time. Not once.

Egads

 

[almost there]

Ok ... that's great in your case, but it is not the case in mine. I spent an enormous amount of time writing messages back and forth trying to get them to pay early on in my many multiple RMA experience ... they eventually won out ... I'd rather pay than continue to waste my time corresponding back and forth to no avail.

Perhaps it is because you are not International? I currently am at >$200 in RMA shipping expenses since March. (maybe end of Feb?) ... and I'm sure I'm not done. I expect to hit $300 in a <12 month time frame (although since now RMA's are taking an extra week or so that might decrease as I won't be able to send one back every month ... more like every 5-6 weeks)

So ... I'll re-state ... in my experience, as an International customer, with hundreds of dollars in RMA shipping expenses, and many multiple RMA returns that are not fixed on return from RMA, HL has refused to pay any shipping costs, expedite their shipping back, or offer any other concessions despite repeated attempts politely asking them to do so or to make amends in some form or fashion.

I have given up asking, insisting, or whatever, and now just send them in thanking them very much (as I turn around and bend over again) and expect the cost of ownership for Hoppers is $25 shipping per month until I experience otherwise.

Love my Hoppers when they are working! They truly are one of a kind! Too bad cost of ownership and downtime is so brutally high. (I have always had 1 somewhat working hopper in the last 7-8 months, probably >80% of the time one that works well, but I've never once had 2 working hoppers at the same time. Not once.)

Amen, but still.....I miss my hopper. We are all masochist the ones that received crappy units and don't sell them off

 

[walkma666]

I’ve sent mine back twice now. Im not a power user either. It’s currently in the shop. I had to send it back the second time within one month of the first return. Shipping was paid by hL. I’m less concerned about paid shipping than about having a reliable device. When it works, it’s fantastic. Small, sleek, quick, and convenient. However, it’s a shame that the incidence of repair is so high.

 

[CarolKing]

It sounds like Hopper Labs isn't consitant with their shipping practices.
The shipping for me was a little over four dollars, which is no big deal, I live in WA.
Those out of the U.S, it's too expensive paying for shipping if they have to send their unit back more than a couple times.

Using my GH right now loaded with a little Plushberry. An end to a busy weekend. The Mr. BBQd steaks on the grill tonight with a salad and some spaghetti squash.

 

[Hogni]

Yummy!

But too expensive if international customers have to send their unit back more "than a couple times"???

It's even too expensive if you have to send back your hopper more than ONE time (maybe every two years)!

I guess if they can't dramatically increase the reliability of their devices they won't sell enough GH to survive anymore.
The hopper may not be the best vape at the market in everyone's eyes but for sure it's the most unreliable one!

I love a working hopper but the constant unreliability sucks so much it spoils my fun about it.

How long are they working on it - 4y?

 

[MoltenTiger]

But too expensive if international customers have to send their unit back more "than a couple times"?

That could easily be the case.
In my experience, the biggest expense with the GH has been the material I put into it. It greatly eclipses the amount I've spent on GH hardware and upkeep.
I guess it depends on how you want to use your material as to whether the prices involved are too great.

It's a bugger having to pay to play, but it's the same with all my vapes.

My Sublimator is currently cookda and I will say, a broken GH ain't got nothing on the bad feels a broken Sub gives. That's a hole that can't be filled

Not really sure how warranty will play out with that one either, at least with HL it's a simple process (though I feel for those caught on a repeating and expensive cycle...).

The frustration is still better than health implications from smoking, a butane back-up is priceless and a must have for true combustion fuckers.

 

[JCat]

It's a bugger having to pay to play, but it's the same with all my vapes.

Not the same with all of my vapes ... I'll hit 75-100% of device costs in warranty shipping costs in 1st year for the 2 of my Hoppers. For my other vapes (2xEVO, Crafty, Mighty, Solo), I think the last time I had an issue was w/ my Crafty 3 years ago which Storz & Bickel quickly took care of; apart from that I've built spare battery packs for my Crafty (better, more powerful) proactively as my Crafty was only starting to slow down. So for my other 5 vapes I've had in rotation for the last few years, my expense is <$25 ... for my 2 GH's in <8 months it's >$200.

GH is looking at 100% / year to maintain, and my other 5 vapes combined are at ~0.4% cost per year ... so GH is roughly 200 times more expensive to own from a service/support perspective if you are International (even next door) ... to put it further into perspective ... if they only came with a 1 year warranty, and they lasted that 1 year before I had to buy another one outright, it would be less expensive ownership (as one has to remember that with that 100% / year to maintain it is spending half of that year in transit ... so in reality it is 200% / year to maintain). If I owned Grasshoppers that were 100% reliable for 6 months, and disposable, after which you would simply by another, I would break even with my current situation.

 

[MoltenTiger]

Not the same with all of my vapes ... I'll hit 75-100% off device costs in warranty shipping costs in 1st year for the 2 of my Hoppers. For my other vapes (2xEVO, Crafty, Mighty, Solo), I think the last time I had an issue was w/ my Crafty 3 years ago which Storz & Bickel quickly took care of; apart from that I've built spare battery packs for my Crafty (better, more powerful) proactively as my Crafty was only starting to slow down. So for my other 5 vapes I've had in rotation for the last few years, my expense is <$25 ... for my 2 GH's in <8 months it's >$200.

GH is looking at 100% / year to maintain, and my other 5 vapes combined are at ~0.4% cost per year ... so GH is roughly 200 times more expensive to own from a service/support perspective if you are International (even next door) ... to put it further into perspective ... if they only came with a 1 year warranty, and they lasted that 1 year before I had to buy another one outright, it would be less expensive ownership (as one has to remember that with that 100% / year to maintain it is spending half of that year in transit ... so in reality it is 200% / year to maintain). If I owned Grasshoppers that were 100% reliable for 6 months, and disposable, after which you would simply by another, I would break even with my current situation.

yeah that paints are particularly bad picture, and it sucks that you've gone through all this.
It sucks mostly, for all us users, because they did such a bad job taking care of you.
Whilst simultaneously making semi-official statements regarding return postage etc. you've been taken on this mad, frustrating and expensive journey..
Very poor form.

Now, as bad as that genuinely is, it is fair to call it a fringe case and basically a worst case scenario.
As worst cases go, it seems at least you have not experienced them from S&B or CloudEVO.

There's no way I've spent my hardware costs on service postage for the hopper. Far from it, but not as far as 0.4%...
Though the Sub is going to cost me about 833.3% my hardware price (28% retail).... so it's a bizarre market to make comparisons like that.
No argument that the GH involves greater service fees than desirable or than other (inferior?) options, my hoppers are pretty well due to go back, but I'm actually happy for them to, as every time I've received them back they've gotten me and my herb enjoyably baked.
It's been like getting a brand new vape a couple of times a year.
That's where you've had continual issues, and honestly fuck HL for dragging you through the mud trying to get to where you rightly should be.
BUT, you could have built a case up with their communications making statements that weren't held true for you.
And that's not to say it's your fault, it shouldn't even be expected from you at all, but it could have saved you a decent amount of money which would change your situation greatly (perhaps the time-frame was just off).
Good on you for sticking with it, and you have every right to call HL out for being pathetic over their customer service... but I don't think it's necessarily fair to say (obviously it's true to your case here) that the upkeep is 100% RRP (225-350 USD) per year, even when 'next door', as that wouldn't fit average models.

From the US, postage has been quoted at 3-7USD.
Postage from the other side of the planet, at least Aus, is about 14USD (4-6% RRP) I can send multiple units for that cost, but it's the same for a single one.
Really expensive postage is out of the middle east, or western Asia.
But it's far cheaper than the penalties for getting caught with it!
Even with my average of 2-3 services annually, that's not even a Q of bud, which won't last long if I have anything to do with it, so the costs are relatively affordable. What I mean by pay to play, refers to the vaping dynamic inescapably - the initial cost is high, the ongoing cost of using herb is high (generally cheaper than smoking, but substantial for a daily user). I have to spend a lot to break a hopper, and I love doing it.
Getting a DOA unit should be sorted out at the businesses expense, if I'm ever in the situation I'll be demanding a return satchel and quoting their public statements.
Their reddit overview refers to replacements quite often, and from quite a while ago (no recent activity), but here is the key phrase made 4 months ago.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GrassHoppe...products_reliability_goals/diwe11k/?context=3

If you Hopper has issues within the first two weeks of getting it back we will cover shipping costs both ways.

It's not the easiest way to sort it out, but we are well within our rights as consumers to push them to follow their word.
Doing this, there's no way you could spend, or expect others to spend, multiple hundreds of dollars on services unless you are extremely unlucky and persistently.

And if that's the case, you could quote them here

https://www.reddit.com/r/GrassHopperVape/comments/6ikgyh/i_spoke_too_soon/dj7cmcj/?context=3

Please PM us. We are happy to provide full replacements for units that have gone bad that quickly after warranty. This is part of our effort to eradicate problems for users that are having these repeated failures.

I just don't understand why they never conceded to actually help you properly...

 

[JCat]

@MoltenTiger ... I do believe they are making improvements as things go; perhaps this time the back-end they are sending me with my repaired (hopefully) SS hopper will fix my Ti hopper issue; if not, hopefully they will pay for the shipping for the Ti hopper back ... we'll see.

Although it's not a great picture I paint, I am still a customer of theirs and am still hopeful. It is not all bad, and I do understand the constraints of the company (it has cost them just as much, actually much more I expect, than it has cost me). I also, as I've said, do truly love the Hopper and have most of the time had a working one for the last 8 months.

I'll continue to support them in the hopes that it gets better, as I do believe it can. If it does not, and my costs are $25/month or so for shipping them a unit once a month, then so be it, I can live with that but wish I didn't have to. As far as costs in the grand scheme of things ... I spend about $600/month on cannabis, so $25/month is nothing. The larger issue is not the cost but the inconvenience (I never go anywhere for instance, even for 1/2 a day, with just a Hopper as I would be concerned it would fail me, although I've never had one fail completely, they generally significantly deteriorate all of a sudden, and then very slowly get worse--at least that's been my experience.)

Edit: I did insist quite a bit over the course of many, many back and forth e-mails in the first handful of claims, but never got so much as a $5 concession (except for once when they made a mistake, and then when they refunded me it cost me about $5 in exchange ... I didn't get back as much as I paid them ... so they are finally with this warranty shipment sending me a glass vial to make up for that)

Now when I have issues (pretty much monthly), I send them a detailed message explaining the issue and history, and don't bother arguing with them over what they will do. It's just been a waste of my time in the past. I literally tried for 3 or 4 claims in a row, with nothing but a huge chain of messages and no result. This time I will ask for shipping if appropriate 1 time, and won't bother arguing it beyond that. If they say no, I'll send it on my dime and will reply that it is sent and that it is unfortunate that they can't honour what they have said they would do on Reddit, but thank you very much for taking care of my warranty claim.

 

[PPN]

My story is slightly different than a lot of GH owners cause my unit is still working well after a few issues due to bad cleaning and too old batteries. Happy I haven't to send it across the sea for frequent RMA's.

It fills a niche and helped me a lot to eradicate some bad combustion habits I had and even quasi-cured my VAS (with the help of some others vaporizers). For the first time in 4 years a fancy vape release (MV-1) didn't interested me at all.

Definitly an amazing vape !

 

[justcametomind]

Hi
I just realized I DON'T have to hit fast & hard at all, quite the contrary as some of you told me after my last post here. I had a slow pull and I've seen the clouds for the first time with this vape!
Other than being instant vapor it can hit pretty hard. I only got wispy hits until now but I still liked it for morning instant vapor.

I still follow the advice to continue hitting a few seconds after switching off the unit.
Is there any other trick to keep an healthy unit?
I really hope to be able to babysit my GH.

 

[Hjalmark]

Hi
I just realized I DON'T have to hit fast & hard at all, quite the contrary as some of you told me after my last post here. I had a slow pull and I've seen the clouds for the first time with this vape!
Other than being instant vapor it can hit pretty hard. I only got wispy hits until now but I still liked it for morning instant vapor.

I still follow the advice to continue hitting a few seconds after switching off the unit.
Is there any other trick to keep an healthy unit?
I really hope to be able to babysit my GH.

I think he meant you could "hit it as hard as possible" but then again some people have the most incredible lungs and can take massive hard pulls and with hot air at that speed it does not manage to vape the material as well

But the grasshopper does keep up as well as a 400 dollar desktop unit if all factoids are rights

What the fuck is a "factoid"?

 

[kbrown5523]

I never even asked and they sent me a shipping label with the postage paid. Just have to print it out and send them back.

Crossing my fingers that when they come back to me this time, not only will they work, but with the upgraded parts they'll keep working for longer.

 

[MoltenTiger]

So my hopper has been struggling to maintain heat, which has resulted in longer sessions per chamber and lighter cooked ABV.

It's had many chambers through it, including kief and oils, but really beyond a dry scrape and brush it has not been cleaned.
I clean the PFE rarely with alcohol and/or PBW, but the chamber gets no such treatment.

As such, I figured it was time to pop the hood and have a geez.

The screen was certainly masking some residue, the side walls have a small amount of caking build up...

Although the screen itself seemed quite clean.
(Note that the feet on the screen face down when installed).

I will add that this time (with a different hopper) removing the screen was a bit trickier.
I used a medical pick and pried it out.
The screen is super durable and you can genuinely use a lot of force removing it, it's not prone to bending. There is minimal flex, even as I have it in my fingers, it is clearly going to be deliberate action that will mishape the screen.
This time it required a bit of extra effort to remove, but it's a very simple procedure, it could be done with any fine pointed metal tool with very little concern.

So, with it off, what to do?

Last time I cleaned the area with isopropyl, and eventually soaked the whole unit in iso. It might have given it a bit of extra life, but that hopper was having issues (very long warm up) and continued to have the same problem.

This time, I guess I will brush out as much as I can and try and see if that makes a difference.

Ultimately it is this residue and extra mass that is the failing point of the Grasshopper.
There've been improvements made to it, but I think there would be merit in removing this screen and preventing as much build up as possible.

The more build up there is, the more energy is required for the unit to operate, which is bad for batteries and bad for overall efficiency.

The best and worst features of this vape are the intricacies of the heating element.
A small price to pay for unrivalled convenience?
Or is it an Archilles' heel?

 

[biohacker]

Not only are HL paying shipping both ways for DOA purchases and RMA's, but apparently for quite some time now are shipping parts out first before having to ship the bad part back. This was a practice they did for a while, then stopped, but now appear to have started up again. Perhaps it's for USA only though?

Just picked up the used SS in the classifieds. Also did some shopping at PlanetVape and picked up the herbalizer female WPA (thanks @JCat !), their last battery lol, PFE, and 5 silicone mouthpieces (since they actually have stock!). Just need to source some more batteries and I should be set. Really keeping my fingers crossed for proper performance so I can buy GH SS #2 too!

I fully expect to RMA once per month...but that's my threshold.

 

[JCat]

Not only are HL paying shipping both ways for DOA purchases and RMA's, but apparently for quite some time now are shipping parts out first before having to ship the bad part back. This was a practice they did for a while, then stopped, but now appear to have started up again. Perhaps it's for USA only though?

Just picked up the used SS in the classifieds. Also did some shopping at PlanetVape and picked up the herbalizer female WPA (thanks @JCat !), their last battery lol, PFE, and 5 silicone mouthpieces (since they actually have stock!). Just need to source some more batteries and I should be set. Really keeping my fingers crossed for proper performance so I can buy GH SS #2 too!

I fully expect to RMA once per month...but that's my threshold.

Welcome back to the club!

 

[vapenerd]

Is it a good idea to not finish a load and leave material in your gh for like... 2 weeks? Any dangers to that?

 

[Hjalmark]

I just mailed my hopper in today after having it for a week

It worked fantastic after the last repairs until I dropped it straight unto hard concrete while walking down the road the other day

Went straight to the denial stage of grief and "forgot about it" for couple days as I was so fucking bummed out

Just slipped out off my hand and like slammed into the road the worst ankle possible, does not even blink the lights when clicked and hear something rattling inside

Dont get me wrong, Grasshopper are not fragile but just error prone, like dirt in a sensor or heater fucking up, but compare to glass part vapes, the hopper can take a drop but not this one

Well at least I had it over that weekend when I was traveling

 

[Mr. Me2]

Is it a good idea to not finish a load and leave material in your gh for like... 2 weeks? Any dangers to that?

I don't think it's a problem (as long as it's turned off).

 

[MoltenTiger]

@biohacker welcome back indeed. Hoping for a solid performer and a below threshold service regime for you.

Dont get me wrong, Grasshopper are not fragile but just error prone, like dirt in a sensor or heater fucking up, but compare to glass part vapes, the hopper can take a drop but not this one

Also, unlike other products, I dare say you'll have a simple time getting it back in working order.
Was the drop covered by warranty?

Sorry for your loss, and I get the stages of grief, going through them thanks to my broken sub ahah

 

[vapviking]

Well at least I had it over that weekend when I was traveling

Did your friend get to try it? Like it?
Sorry to hear about the drop, hope you have a backup Hopper!

 

[Hjalmark]

@biohacker welcome back indeed. Hoping for a solid performer and a below threshold service regime for you.


Also, unlike other products, I dare say you'll have a simple time getting it back in working order.
Was the drop covered by warranty?

Sorry for your loss, and I get the stages of grief, going through them thanks to my broken sub ahah

Hehe
I am just going to let all other stages of grief and just forget about this ever happening

No idea if it's covered by the warranty but I pay the fee just to have my baby back

Also I need to get the F4

Did your friend get to try it? Like it?
Sorry to hear about the drop, hope you have a backup Hopper!

Yeah my friend ended up being busy that weekend so instead we went to meet my wives brother

I just hope it's back in the start of next next week because then I am going fishing

Edit: thanks mod for cleaning up the mess and complaining message

Need to do that more often

 

[DOOM]

i've never really had a tasty vape. would this be one to get?