Radiocitysuicide
Well-Known Member
I don't know if I'm a fanboy, but I have a considerable investment in the hoppers. I own 2 of them and a large amount of accessories and infrastructure specifically for them. I'm not blind to their shortcomings. One of them is on its way back from a non-productive warranty claim check-up at Hopper Labs as we speak. (Intermittent failures they could not replicate.)
I look at it this way [WARNING!! DANGER!!! Automotive analogy imminent!!!! Don protective gear and prepare to engage emergency protocols!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't say you weren't warned]:
There are cars designed to reliably get you where you want to go with a minimum of fuss. Like a Toyota, say. Then there are vehicles designed and built for those who love high performance driving and tinkering with their vehicles to maximize that performance. As I understand it, there is a certain pleasure in the routines of maintenance and tinkering to get those high performance vehicles running at their peak. That's a different relationship than Toyota drivers have with their cars and that's how I am with my hoppers.
My Vapor Brothers desktop is my Toyota pickup. My Focus Pro is my Camry. No muss, no fuss. They get me where I want to go - birdland - without having to pay any particular attention to them.
My hoppers are my McLaren F1 supercars. When they are working at peak performance there is nothing like them on the road. But they require "a lot " of attention (relative to my other vapes) in terms of care. And they spend more time in the shop. Just like a British sports car. (Having said that, I had to get through two defective Focus vapes before I got my reliable one.)
At this point in my life I am fortunate enough to be able to spend time and money on these vaping supercars. And because my physical condition leaves me unable to do much else, I have some fun maintaining and babying my supercars, which I enjoy doing. I've got 2 (like I said, I'm very lucky), so if one is in the shop (like now), I carry on with the other. If both end up in the shop, I'll be fine tooling around in my Toyotas.
Rich guys with supercars can also afford the on-call engineers to keep them running. I've got you "guys" (not assuming genders) and the Hopper labs' lifetime warranty.
As for the "hoppers should be as reliable as other appliances" notion: We're now at the point where appliance salespeople push their warranty plans because the appliances are now so complicated and made with so much focus on the bottom line that they are almost guaranteed to break. Yes, I want the hoppers to be more reliable and I want HL to live long and prosper. I hope they do so by eventually being more reliable than other appliances; not aiming for the same low bar.
Well, that was exhausting. I gotta go rest.
My understanding is that sales people push warranties because they receive a commission when they sell them that appliance companies offer warranties because more often than not they are not needed and therefore generate money. I could be wrong though.
Anyway I also hope the hopper is much more reliable one day but I sometimes worry they bit off more than they could chew. In any case I won't be using my hopper much and therefore don't need to talk about it anymore so I'll be leaving this thread alone. Good riddance you all say, I know I know.