Grasshopper / Zenpen Concerns and Considerations

JigMelon

Well-Known Member
Howdy! This is my first post on FC. I've been doing some "research" here since I was considering backing the project on indiegogo. I had an experience with Trevor via email that I would like to share because I think it shows some positives regarding their marketing.

I had a few questions related to the campaign so I sent Trevor an email, like it said to do on the indiegogo page. I received a reply from him 17 minutes later that completely and simply answered the questions. We exchanged a few emails, and I got the impression that these guys are working hard to meet the expectations they created. Trevor made it clear that they care about their customers and supporters, and I think that is one of the most important parts of marketing.

The point I'm trying to make is that he didn't seem like he was trying to pull a fast one on anybody. If you have any questions for or concerns about the company, then try talking to them; they're easy to reach.
 

grokit

well-worn member
Count me among the skeptics. I believe that the GH will do a decent number of the things they claim, but I do not believe that its heating element is nearly as powerful as they say, and I do not believe that its battery life will be as long as they state. There's a reason why the Firefly has so much metal insulating it, and has such a short battery life even with the most advanced battery technology (and a much bigger battery than the GH). I am nearly certain that the repeated clouds off a FF will put to shame the repeated clouds off a GH dialed in at a comparable temperature. I hope for the sake of everyone who contributed to the campaign that I'm wrong, but I think there is a lot of evidence saying that I am right. One merely needs to take a look at the approach taken by the two teams of designers to see which unit is really made for performance first. The grasshopper was designed to be a cute pen, fundamentally limiting its capabilities. The Firefly looks weird and different, which is reflective of the groundbreaking approach its designers took. I am not a FF owner, and don't know if I'll ever be able to justify that price tag (I hope so), but based off the Vape Critic review and the interview at Boing Boing, whose advice on technology I trust at a very deep level, they have done things in the honest and forthright way that some feel has been lacking from the GH campaign. I think it will bite them, come review time.

I don't feel like these two are in competition with each other. More like the opposite, I see them as complimentary. One as the lightweight stealth pen vape, and the other as the portable heavy hitter.

Weirdly the grasshopper is the more versatile one with its concentrate and waterpipe attachments.
 

THC SCIENTIFIC

To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before
Manufacturer
Count me among the skeptics. I believe that the GH will do a decent number of the things they claim, but I do not believe that its heating element is nearly as powerful as they say, and I do not believe that its battery life will be as long as they state. There's a reason why the Firefly has so much metal insulating it, and has such a short battery life even with the most advanced battery technology (and a much bigger battery than the GH). I am nearly certain that the repeated clouds off a FF will put to shame the repeated clouds off a GH dialed in at a comparable temperature. I hope for the sake of everyone who contributed to the campaign that I'm wrong, but I think there is a lot of evidence saying that I am right. One merely needs to take a look at the approach taken by the two teams of designers to see which unit is really made for performance first. The grasshopper was designed to be a cute pen, fundamentally limiting its capabilities. The Firefly looks weird and different, which is reflective of the groundbreaking approach its designers took. I am not a FF owner, and don't know if I'll ever be able to justify that price tag (I hope so), but based off the Vape Critic review and the interview at Boing Boing, whose advice on technology I trust at a very deep level, they have done things in the honest and forthright way that some feel has been lacking from the GH campaign. I think it will bite them, come review time.

I just want to add this.

There are some heaters that require full current to keep it at max temperature, and some heaters need about half when at max temperature.

Just a thought as we really dont know what GH has under their hood, and i have not looked at the FF but the FF sounds like its a wire heater just like the one found in the cera for it to drain a battery that fast.

Our Bender will do about 1.2 grams before the cells need recharging and thats running at 700 mah. It is not a full convection but 1.2 grams before the cells need to be recharged at 700 mah is pretty darn efficient.

Just a thought.
 
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vtac

vapor junkie
Staff member
Trevor also responded on reddit:
Thanks, I'll reply to some points here.

trevorvapor said:
It's insane that we have been accused of posting on Reddit and on other forums with fake accounts.
I don't believe that I made that accusation. I said that a new member on fc made posts expressing enthusiastic interest in the product from the same IP used by Zenpen. I also pointed to some instances on other websites where the company founder and an unknown promoter engaged in some curious behavior. When considering these occurrences I think it's reasonable to wonder if there might be something strange taking place.

It was a member here that alerted me to the reddit and grasscity posts, and I created this thread to give this community the opportunity to look at these things and think for themselves. This is a vaporizer discussion forum after all, and this isn't the first time we've seen this type of thing. It is the first time the company in question has been seeking six figure crowdfunding.

About the Spacecow posts: This was Conrad's brother, which I agree is close enough to astroturfing. You'll notice that it has not happened again, to my knowledge.
I'm not going to argue the point, but I will say that in 6 years and many more instances of IP collusion, no company found doing this here has ever admitted to doing it themselves. It's always been a relative or a friend or a house guest. I do wonder if we would have seen more posts from Spacecow if I hadn't let the company know that we knew.

Questioning our business model with little knowledge about the product is outrageous.
It's true that I ventured into this territory in my post, and I regret that it led to confusion with the astroturfing discussion. With that said, we discuss vaporizers here, and this company has secured $366,000 from their crowdfunding campaign. If the company founder himself says that that there's not much information about the product available, it's hardly outrageous to discuss the business model on a vaporizer discussion forum.

It seems unfair to me that a FC mod would make this post when it's mostly speculation. As a mod, you hold great respect in the community and I have no doubt this will affect our campaign negatively. When a reporter writes a story, he gets the facts right before going forward because he knows his story will affect the people he is writing about. You could have at least contacted us before this post. My direct email has always been publicly available. The fact that this was not done is what disappoints me the most.
I'm pretty comfortable with my track record here. I care about the members of the vapor community a lot more than a new vaporizer company asking for money. I'd like to know which facts -stated as such- that I got wrong.

I did contact the company as stated in the OP. After being told "that was my little brother haha" I replied that we take this sort of thing seriously on fc, provided some background information and asked that they be sure it didn't happen again. That was on August 28th and I never heard back.

"Disappointing, hurtful, very personally upsetting, insane, outrageous, pointless, extreme, unfair." I'm genuinely sorry that I made you feel so bad, Trevor, it was not my intention to do so. I know that it hurts when people don't have entirely positive things to say about your baby. Reading over my post again I could have done better. Still, I don't think that it was so completely off base. As I said before I truly do hope that you and your team have something groundbreaking. That's good for the vapor community and it's good for me.
 

poonman

Well-Known Member
Better communication from Trevor/Zenpen would have helped
eased a lot of suspicions and concerns .

That last vid they posted was suffice and would have ended
any ill thoughts towards them , but it took a lot of pleading .

@vtac
Thank you for having our ' backs ' , at ALL times .
That's why I love being a member of FC .

Looking forward to 2014 with you all .
 
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CG420

Over the horizon u can see the edges of the Earth
I feel that this thread was going to start regardless. Due to the nature of the forums here, you are bound to have people speak up and ask questions about the device as to whether or not this is legitimate. It's not the fact that we are overly cautious when it comes to new vaporizers but the fact that you basically set the price low to meet the fact that it is affordable and works with all these functions that have yet to be proven seems a little farfetched.

What is imminent right now is the demand for more demonstrations and effectiveness from the device itself. I remember that Thermovape had only a handful of videos at the time when I purchased it but before admitting myself into buying it I still had to do a little bit of research because obviously a vaporizer isn't a toy and I'm not ggoing throw cash away to ultimately putting my vaporizers on the shelf. Not all vaporizers are safe and that screams a potential screening for health and safety of the device itself. The fact that we haven't been able to see much of it on video lights up a whole other point of view upon speculation.

I, for one, accept the fact that we can't see it until February because due to the high demands and ongoing operations to meet these demands by Feb/March they are probably in a bunch trying to keep the workers at factory. While there are doubts, I don't think it will hurt you so much if you would just provide an in-depth insight on the product that we are pitching in the funds for. It's only fair while we wait. If this device does not function as you guys say it would then I should have every right to request a refund now than later after use. Please don't think our community is set to attack the faith of your product and company. We just want to be sure your device meets our expectations and if it truly is groundbreaking like some others have mentioned.
 
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IamtheWiz

I’m the Wiz! And nobody beats me!
First let me say thanks to vtac for doing the research and putting this thread together!

A little background on me, Im new to this. So with that said, I didnt know if their claims of performance were reasonable or not.

I supported this project out of sheer faith and simply because it looks bad ass. Let me explain... I have a problem, I really love new tech gadgets! So when I saw the GH my pants moved a little bit. In retrospect I wish I wouldnt have been the guy that always has to have the newest gadget!

Needless to say I find vtacs post slightly unnerving. Thanks again for taking the time to do the research and share that info with the community!
Im not to sure how to feel about the whole astroturfing thing. I can see both sides of the story and being a newer member and new to crowd-sourcing, I havent really been "burned" before.

But again... faith.

I can only hope that they come through with a good product and I didnt waste 100 bucks. If I did Ill chalk it up as a lesson learned and medicate my depression away!
 

kato1234

Well-Known Member
Found this at Indigogo today
Trevor Vita posted an announcement 3 hours ago


Hey everyone!

We hope all of you are doing well. We've been working hard on the Grasshopper through the holidays and it's looking good. I just wanted to let everyone know that we are implementing a way for confirm your order, update acessories purchases and more. This is taking a little longer than we expected in part because, due to the requests of many of you, we decided to add a lot more functionality. Expect its release by next week. No need to worry we have all your orders safe and sound!


Have a Happy New Year from the Grasshopper team

Kato
 

Shrike

Flower Potted, Maxed, & Rio'd.
Doesn't this imply they are completed with the manufacturing process?

Far from it...the announcement mentions that ..."due to the requests of many of you, we decided to add a lot more functionality".

That sounds like manufacturing will be waiting until that "lot more functionality" is completed.

I believe the 'No need to worry we have all your orders safe and sound!" refers to the fact that all our info is in their hands concerning our orders, but the form that we will have to fill out for them, to make it easier to track all that we've ordered, is still delayed.

They are just trying to allay any concerns we might have about the Project. :)
 
Shrike,

zymos

Well-Known Member
I really don't think they are adding any functionality to the vape. The functionality is to the order process- adding accessories, confirming address, tracking shipping, etc. The "requests" they refer to were requests to add an extra battery to the order, change the color someone had originally specified,things like that....

Jeez, just read some of the comments at indiegogo. They mentioned it (the new ordering process) would be completed next week, and people are thinking manufacturing is going to be completed next week!
 

IamtheWiz

I’m the Wiz! And nobody beats me!
I guess it's possible some of the new "functionality" can be added via software as well. Either way, Im still patiently waiting for this. In the mean time, Ill continue to enjoy my Pax!
 
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