Discontinued The Grasshopper
- Thread starter midgetsanchez
- Start date
N8dog
New Member
I Have never written a review, blog, or comment on the web in my life. That being said, I was a late original backer and received my hopper about 2 months ago. I had never heard of FC prior to ordering a grasshopper. I checked this site religiously until my hopper came (1 have been reading since this post started). This is the first time back since it arrived (about 2 months). I have had no issues with my TI GH it works just like everyone else has said (unless theirs is faulty). The flavor is amazing, it gets a little hot, but no big deal. A dozen or so friends have used it and loved it. 6 have ordered 1 or more for themselves. I warned them of the wait, most of their responses were "who cares as long as I get one."
vapviking
Old & In the Way
Yes, Welcome!
And thanks for jumping in here, nice post.
studmuffin
Well-Known Member
Welcome, N8dog, Yes, veteran FC folks are looking forward to more "balance" in the testimonials from HopperHeads. May I call you a HopperHead ? Thanx. Anyhoo, we look forward to mentions of blissful Hoppertudeness. At this juncture, are there any salient differences to how you Hopper versus those unfortunate souls who are wallowing in a quagmire of unrealized Hoppertudeness ? Do tell, . . , 
So, I haven't heard back regarding my warranty request yet. However, I did find this on reddit.
'
https://www.reddit.com/r/GrassHoppe...essons_learned_cleaning_the_hopper_give_your/
Basically, this guy was having exactly the same problem I'm having and it got fixed by simply cleaning the threads on the backend. It looks like the threading there is so precise that if it's even just a little dirty it causes issues. I'll give it a try after work and report back. That'll be in about...7 hours, give or take.
'
https://www.reddit.com/r/GrassHoppe...essons_learned_cleaning_the_hopper_give_your/
Basically, this guy was having exactly the same problem I'm having and it got fixed by simply cleaning the threads on the backend. It looks like the threading there is so precise that if it's even just a little dirty it causes issues. I'll give it a try after work and report back. That'll be in about...7 hours, give or take.
I sent in the request saturday night but I figured it wouldn't start to get processed until yesterday. I'll start bugging them next week if I don't hear back and this little fix doesn't work.
slcbdco
Brewer, Lobbyist, Vaporist
I don't consider myself "unlucky" in fact I consider myself pretty lucky since I live in a legal state and can afford to play with all these neat toys! I also understand that this vaporizer market is a new space. I would say that you perhaps are lucky that you never got that "Friday afternoon" unit, but it seems the only difference between vapes that are "notorious" and those that "always break" is how often the consumer complains if you look through these threads. Like I've said, every thread that I read, whether here or other places on this wealth of information known as the internet about devices I wanted to buy are always a mix bags of loud complainers with a few good pieces of intel from actual happy customers. Using my BMW example again, and to whoever said "you get it back with cigarettes etc ..." you missed the subtext of that all cars and all vapes sometimes break, the questions are predilection to failure (in my experience GH is average) and cost of repair (GH being lowest). People say Toyotas are the "most" reliable, not because they "never" break, but because of a low predilection to failure and low cost of repair. People complain about BMW on the internet because of cost of repair, totally ignoring the extremely low predilection to failure, which for example nets out the cost of ownership of a 3 series to be less than a Subaru which may "break less" but its headgasket design flaw is 2k when, not if it happens.
I've yet to see the perfect anything but All things considered the GH is far and away the best of the vapes I own particularly in the most important feature, how much I enjoy using it!
And thank you for taking that as seriously as I meant it! Glad I'm not alone in that thinking!. Frankly I don't think a device like the Grasshopper could be developed by some big investor lead enterprise. They would have made too many compromises to get to market, where GH is wisely balancing market penetration versus capacity to serve existing customer base.
Which brings me to @zymos and my proof of the vast majority of satisfied customers. My proof is that they told me and I believe them. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but I believe GHL, particularly when all the people I know personally who have one are also happy customers, with working units, some CS, some not, and also every person I have ever let try mine, ordering one and how mine have been working flawlessly for months.
So what I have seen with my own eyes, when I met them almost a year ago it was still just two people and now up to at least five, new equipment and working 7 days a week, anyone who wants to be negative beyond reason is their prerogative, however, taking the context of a tiny, crowd sourced company, with almost no capital in real terms (you can't even buy a House in the town their running their business in for what they raised on indiegogo) working in a very new product space and by the way, probably are building one of the market leaders if you assume the GH has peers, which I'm not sure it necessarily does, maybe the FF2 will be but even the ELO which I just ordered for fun (and btw talk about fast delivery, it may get here tomorrow from Hong Kong!) takes 30 seconds to heat up.
30 SECONDS!!!! for a grasshopper owner, you know 30 seconds could easily be a whole bowl finished before a "FAST" vape is warming up!
Anyway, I admit I'm a fanboy and proud of it. GH is a great company, real entrepreneurs making a great product that I'm proud to have in my hometown.
Living in Colorado and being a lobbyist for the cannabis industry I see a wide swath of new tech and new entrepreneurs. In fact there is an ancillary incubator across the street from my house (down the street from GHL). There are many cool things coming down the pike and some not so cool. Some great companies and plenty of fly by nights. What I can say is from my vantage point GHL is among the best cannabis related companies that I know off, I firmly believe they will continue to grow within their means which maybe slow for you but is SUSTAINABLE for them and I am fairly sure, much like the Pax is now the go-to "TV" vape, the Grasshopper will start showing up in made for the internet TV ... in fact its already happening ;-)
http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/01/...-lobby-colorado-public-pot-consumption/46693/
Vaperist
Well-Known Member
last update @ January 28. very colorful and promising one. it is very amusing that not all receive it. my friend who is pre-orderer like me and have subscribed to update didn't receive it. will try to copy/paste that mail here. not sure what will happen to pictures included.
January Update
Hey Everyone,
We are here to announce that pre-orders will start shipping in February! We are delivering the last of the IGG backer units now and with all the device issues worked out, we are ramping production up further. The team has been working to implement device tweaks, add more manufacturing equipment and increase throughput.
Over the last few months, the Grasshopper has undergone a number of small tweaks to ensure reliability over its lifetime. As our original indiegogo backers stress tested the device, we received a lot of real-world data on what worked and what needed improvement. We applied what we learned, and tweaked the design and manufacturing processes to meet the demands of users. This was a valuable process, one that every pre-order will greatly benefit from.
In December we added a computer controlled laser welder which allows for greater reliability and five to six times the throughput during the welding process. Our pick-and-place machine will come online this month, allowing for shorter lead times and a more streamlined production process. Our assembly staff has increased in size and is fully trained on the entire process.
We know each of you pre-ordered a Grasshopper because you knew it was something new and different. The Grasshopper is different from any other large scale consumer product. With over 75 minutes of in-house assembly time going into each unit, we are looking over every detail. Each member of the team contributes in the construction and shipping of every Grasshopper. It was designed with the singular idea of building the absolute best device and we have put in an insane amount of effort to make building it possible.
We know there have been many delays, and we appreciate your patience. Now that we are shipping to pre-orders, the line will move quickly. Your specific estimated shipping schedule will be updated on our website shortly.
The Grasshopper Team
p.s.
yaiks. no color in pictures.
We are here to announce that pre-orders will start shipping in February! We are delivering the last of the IGG backer units now and with all the device issues worked out, we are ramping production up further. The team has been working to implement device tweaks, add more manufacturing equipment and increase throughput.
Over the last few months, the Grasshopper has undergone a number of small tweaks to ensure reliability over its lifetime. As our original indiegogo backers stress tested the device, we received a lot of real-world data on what worked and what needed improvement. We applied what we learned, and tweaked the design and manufacturing processes to meet the demands of users. This was a valuable process, one that every pre-order will greatly benefit from.
In December we added a computer controlled laser welder which allows for greater reliability and five to six times the throughput during the welding process. Our pick-and-place machine will come online this month, allowing for shorter lead times and a more streamlined production process. Our assembly staff has increased in size and is fully trained on the entire process.
We know each of you pre-ordered a Grasshopper because you knew it was something new and different. The Grasshopper is different from any other large scale consumer product. With over 75 minutes of in-house assembly time going into each unit, we are looking over every detail. Each member of the team contributes in the construction and shipping of every Grasshopper. It was designed with the singular idea of building the absolute best device and we have put in an insane amount of effort to make building it possible.
We know there have been many delays, and we appreciate your patience. Now that we are shipping to pre-orders, the line will move quickly. Your specific estimated shipping schedule will be updated on our website shortly.
The Grasshopper Team
p.s.
yaiks. no color in pictures.
Last edited:
slcbdco
Brewer, Lobbyist, Vaporist
AWESOME! I'm sending this pic to my buddy who is a trumpet player, he's gonna have so much FOMO
For anyone receiving a GH domestically, what is the method/carrier they are using to ship?
Last edited:
Averyminya
Grasshopper Backer
Can confirm, Arizer Air isn't even at temp on the first setting and I will have finished a bowl in the Hopper.
Thcgos
Vape Addict
I don't buy into this.
It just seems like a poor excuse for mediocrity.
"Everyone is shit, so we can be shit too".
How about a company (any company, not singling Grasshopper labs out) actually deliver a reliable product instead of taking the approach: "everything fails anyway, so why bother" .
Back to the car analogy...
I remember reading a case study were Toyota were never the most reliable cars. They took an approach to understand the root cause of all problems/defects, continuous improvement and a goal to reach near 0 defects.
I think the results speak for themselves... As Toyota has produced some seriously reliable cars after employing this methodology.
It also has "lean" benefits... E.g. they do not to incur extra unnecessary costs in the form of warranty claims and support.
They took an approach to increase their profitability and value to the end customer. It's a win win scenario!
I'm not saying Grasshopper labs should be at this stage yet... But all vape companies need to step up their game (established or otherwise).
To say poor reliability is to be expected with vapes will not help us consumers or the industry.
Sets a poor benchmark for all.
I really want to see grasshopper and the industry succeed... But also want to see the industry get better and thrive!
Last edited:
zymos
Well-Known Member
USPS, either regular 1st class, or Priority if you pay an extra ten bucks.
Thank you! Looks like preorders are now at 4/2016
slcbdco
Brewer, Lobbyist, Vaporist
Except Toyota has been involved in some serious -like people got killed, recalls, remember the run away Prius? My 
point is that if you have unrealistic expectations you will be disappointed and when compared to peers, in my experience, and the experience of many others, GHL is at least on par if not better with respect to customer service and product reliability. Where GHL is an outlier is their product is an absolute revolution. Don't want one? don't buy one? don't want to wait? get your money back.
What I encourage is patience because this product is AMAZING and the result of a business and economic model that people SHOULD support. But don't make either GHL or the portable flower vaporizer market something it's not.
Tits or wheels my friends, or for the ladies ... or the fellas, dicks or wheels, if something has it, sooner or later it will give you problems, the question is, whether is sending your grasshopper back to get it fixed, head gasket repair on your Subaru or your spouse's snoring, you gotta really hate the things you hate to not see what you love.
If the 5 second start time, even vaping, big cloud producing, versatile for personal or group setting, rechargeable battery and clean flavor aren't enough for you to see past you may have to send it back and get a new one with a LIFETIME warranty then you don't love the Grasshopper.
And that's fine, just don't try to convince those that do that we're wrong about the Tres Sies experience we're having. Crowd funded companies are a good thing and the grasshopper is a great thing!
point is that if you have unrealistic expectations you will be disappointed and when compared to peers, in my experience, and the experience of many others, GHL is at least on par if not better with respect to customer service and product reliability. Where GHL is an outlier is their product is an absolute revolution. Don't want one? don't buy one? don't want to wait? get your money back. What I encourage is patience because this product is AMAZING and the result of a business and economic model that people SHOULD support. But don't make either GHL or the portable flower vaporizer market something it's not.
Tits or wheels my friends, or for the ladies ... or the fellas, dicks or wheels, if something has it, sooner or later it will give you problems, the question is, whether is sending your grasshopper back to get it fixed, head gasket repair on your Subaru or your spouse's snoring, you gotta really hate the things you hate to not see what you love.
If the 5 second start time, even vaping, big cloud producing, versatile for personal or group setting, rechargeable battery and clean flavor aren't enough for you to see past you may have to send it back and get a new one with a LIFETIME warranty then you don't love the Grasshopper.
And that's fine, just don't try to convince those that do that we're wrong about the Tres Sies experience we're having. Crowd funded companies are a good thing and the grasshopper is a great thing!
Thcgos
Vape Addict
Dude, as someone else said... do you work for them???Except Toyota has been involved in some serious -like people got killed, recalls, remember the run away Prius? My
What I encourage is patience because this product is AMAZING and the result of a business and economic model that people SHOULD support. But don't make either GHL or the portable flower vaporizer market something it's not.
Tits or wheels my friends, or for the ladies ... or the fellas, dicks or wheels, if something has it, sooner or later it will give you problems, the question is, whether is sending your grasshopper back to get it fixed, head gasket repair on your Subaru or your spouse's snoring, you gotta really hate the things you hate to not see what you love.
If the 5 second start time, even vaping, big cloud producing, versatile for personal or group setting, rechargeable battery and clean flavor aren't enough for you to see past you may have to send it back and get a new one with a LIFETIME warranty then you don't love the Grasshopper.
And that's fine, just don't try to convince those that do that we're wrong about the Tres Sies experience we're having. Crowd funded companies are a good thing and the grasshopper is a great thing!
I've already preordered mine, you don't need to make another sale... I'm willing to wait... And would prefer to wait if they iron out these issues... I never once complained about cancelling my order for wait times..
But your argument isn't doing anyone any favours... You're effectively saying we should expect poor quality, failing units, because that the industry norm..... Please see my previous post where I address this.
Toyota employed that methodology a long time ago. The results speak for themselves, American manufacturers tried to emulate them.
It is a methodology still taught and used for case studies.
Read a case study on it and see the results of their efforts.
You will see it was a win win for customers and Toyota. This was employed in 1980s from what I remember.
Youre saying I should reset my expectations to that of a poor experience.
I'm saying you should reset yours to that of a high experience, so that the industry and us as consumers win.
I won't discuss this any further as it detracts from the thread, I think my initial post captured my sentiments perfectly.
I want the industry to succeed and get better.... Not be laughed at by our combustion bretheran, with retorts such as:
"oh vapes those unreliable, over priced things, I'll stick to my 20c papers that work 100% of the time"
EDIT: As I mentioned in my initial post, this applies to all companies, not just grasshopper labs (s&b I'm looking at you).
I want the INDUSTRY to succeed, not just GHL.
By them not having to pay for continuous postage....replacements .... Staff to process the returns...
They will actually become more profitable and we as consumers also win.
Last edited:
slcbdco
Brewer, Lobbyist, Vaporist
EDIT: In respect to @zymos response I will add this warning label
Don't read this entire thing. Why would you do that? Don't you already know, this is the grasshopper thread, information is inversely proportional to length. If you read the whole thing you did that to your ownself. Well don't keep reading ...
ORIGINAL
No, I'm saying your expectations will inform your customer satisfaction. I as a person who understands the economic model of crowd sourcing, made the RISK as a backer and taking the context of the nascent state of the industry, the technology and the company are very satisfied.
Would I be satisfied if BMW had a recall? FUCK YEAH! My 3 series has an active federally mandated recall on an airbag and every few weeks for the past year or so I get a card from the dealer to the effect of 'We don't have the part but soon as we do YOU have to come get it fixed so WE don't get in trouble"
Does that make me say BMW is a terrible company or me resenting my values? NO because no car is perfect, Toyotas can't stop, subaru's blow head gaskets yadda yadda.
Maybe I'm just an optimist but I make my consumer decisions on if the product satisfies what I want out of it, assuming it's not going to be perfect.
And like products or people, you'll put up with X amount of pain for X amount of pleasure.
For me I prefer the "risk" of the Grasshopper over the "reliability" of the Pax2. In fact I make that choice everyday owning both.
The same why I know a brake job costs more on a 3 series than a Corolla. But I don't make my car decisions based on the cost of a brake job, and maybe you do.
Different vapes for different folks, you want something with a track record of "reliability" by all means Pax2. It's pretty much the only consumer electronic I've bought in awhile of any kind that has NEVER broken ...
but much like a Corolla, Who Fucking cares that it isn't broken, don't even want to use it it's so boring!
I called my Firefly my "Saab" vape. Almost never worked but when it did, totally worth it!
Reading this thread reminds me of my days as a used car salesman. The people who over research and over analyze are never happy with the purchase and those who realize they are buying a product with positive and negative attributes which they should balance are nearly always happy with their purchase or if they made a mistake they at least aren't angry about and learn what about that car/vape/phone/house/wife/job that was insuffecient so they choose better the next time.
If you want the perfect vape for every situation, I guarantee you the Grasshopper, or Firelfly, or Pax or Pax2, or mivape are not it, I'll let you know next week that the vivape2 and Elo or not it (birthday presents!).
The same way smokers have more than one pipe, more than on bong.
That said if a person for whatever reason only had one vape, I would say it should be the Grasshopper, hands down.
Combusting today? Wait for the grasshopper, I told two friends the same today, I can't recommend someone spend more on a pax today when they can spend less on grasshopper and get it in a few months. I had a pax since nearly the beginning, it did not make want to not smoke it was just a fun alternative. Same with firefly. The first vape that made me a vaporist was the grasshopper because it REALLY IS THAT Good.
Not to mention, and to your point, it would be great if the entire vape industry had better quality control. I could say the same of the auto industry. And as you say, smokers are skeptical, a vape that would still probably break although less cant be. $600 because you don't get enough market penetration to change behavior.
The vape industry is competing against an incumbent industry that puts its product on the market for pennies with no learning curve for the consumer. I'm not suggesting the vape industry is cutting corners, I'm saying straight out they have to be price sensitive.
I have yet to see a vape worth having without some QC issues. Operative phrase "worth having" The Grasshopper is worth having, as is the firefly and pax and people say the same of the crafty which has its own QC issues.
If we vaporist but unreasonable expectations on the industry, how are we supposed to be ambassadors for it? How are we supposed to convince others to try what we have prejudiced them to be disappointed by?
So I am a GH FANBOY, proud to have them in my town, and as neighbors but as for whether I work for them, they would be the first to tell you they can't afford me, which trust me they can't, nor they actually have need for a lobbyist.
What they have in me is someone who is some level of influence in the cannabis movement who loves their product and wants them to succeed because they deserve to! And they will!
No one has to agree with me or believe anything I say, I am after all, just a simple country lobbyist, but for those who like me, come through vitriol on threads to find the sunlight and balance the positive feedback before making a decision, I assure you that you will not be disappointed by the grasshopper.
You may not be "into it" For example I think the mivape and firefly are high quality interesting vapes with lots of positive attributes but I'm not "into" them, but me with those other vapes, an objective eye to quality will identity the Grasshopper as the industry leader that it is
Last edited:
Holy shit. Ok, you're both wrong. Don't be satisfied with the shitty quality control but understand that it's not unique to hopper labs so stop treating it like it is. Portable vapes fuck up all the time. Does that mean we should accept that? no. Now enough with all the car examples, seriously.
Oh by the way cleaning the threads didn't fix the problem so I still have a broken hopper. Fuck.
Oh by the way cleaning the threads didn't fix the problem so I still have a broken hopper. Fuck.
moondog
It's an obsession but it's pleasin'
Sorry to derail the derailing of the thread, but I've only encountered this once. Pretty much all my combusting friends have been at least intrigued by my vaping - if not outright converted -except for one. And I was quite taken aback by the virulence of his disdain. "The emperor's new dope" he calls it. Says he doesn't get high from vaping, which may be true, but also somehow refuses to believe that I do. Quite disconcerting. Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming:
Is it March yet?
Just tried to go to the GHL website to see if by some miracle my March shipping date had been updated for the better but got an error message saying the GHL server sent no data. Maybe because they're updating all our shipping dates?
moondog