Counterfeit Grasshopper

[Vaperist]

Saw one guy a while back selling some on eBay - got at least one retail kit on the IGG campaign. I know there were a few other vendors who hopped on the train early

have to be very careful when buying on eBay. Chinese have already made a Hopper's replica. some say it works as fine as an original. but no warranty, of course. you can buy those replicas on Alibaba. like this: [link removed]

Modnote: Do not post links to counterfeit items.

 

[Han So-high]

have to be very careful when buying on eBay. Chinese have already made a Hopper's replica. some say it works as fine as an original. but no warranty, of course. you can buy those replicas on Alibaba. like this: [link removed]

Hectic...we're still waiting for our pre-orders and there's already chinese knock offs available.

 

[McQuack]

Chinese have already made a Hopper's replica. some say it works as fine as an original.

Could you please post some links to these knockoff reviews? I couldn't find anything online. Or just links to posts/threads where people wrote about these replicas. Thanks

 

[Vaperist]

Could you please post some links to these knockoff reviews? I couldn't find anything online. Or just links to posts/threads where people wrote about these replicas. Thanks

this was discussed in Twitch vaperist gathering. i was there to tell that it is insane to buy a Chinese shit. i remember some guy answering that he doesn't care about warranty, because he got 10 hoppers from Alibaba. and if one of them brakes then there are 9 Hoppers sitting in da line to replace it. that quote that 'it works as fine as original' is opinion. cause he doesn't have an original to compare. but he told that Chinese replica seems to be doing same bad ass clouds as real Hopper in videos.

 

[Delta3DStudios]

this was discussed in Twitch vaperist gathering. i was there to tell that it is insane to buy a Chinese shit. i remember some guy answering that he doesn't care about warranty, because he got 10 hoppers from Alibaba. and if one of them brakes then there are 9 Hoppers sitting in da line to replace it. that quote that 'it works as fine as original' is opinion. cause he doesn't have an original to compare. but he told that Chinese replica seems to be doing same bad ass clouds as real Hopper in videos.

Sounds to me like the guy doesn't know the difference between combustion and vaporization.

 

[Vaperist]

Sounds to me like the guy doesn't know the difference between combustion and vaporization.

he said that ChinaHopper is vaping like a champ. no reason not to believe. as a guy is having a collection of more than 20 vapes.

i'm not surprised at all. Chinese have all hi-tech mass production machines they need. and a lots of experience in backengineering many kind of popular products. while HopperLabs are building up their machinery, Chinese are doing their copy/paste thing in full power.

so, yeah. can't be sure what you are buying on eBay these days.

 

[YaFreekin Right]

he said that ChinaHopper is vaping like a champ. no reason not to believe. as a guy is having a collection of more than 20 vapes.

i'm not surprised at all. Chinese have all hi-tech mass production machines they need. and a lots of experience in backengineering many kind of popular products. while HopperLabs are building up their machinery, Chinese are doing their copy/paste thing in full power.

so, yeah. can't be sure what you are buying on eBay these days.

I want to believe but I can't.

If Chinese copycats were able to produce GH before HL I'm not sure why we wouldn't see more of them. There is huge pent up demand for this product, so certainly they would be pushing as many as they could to market.

 

[EdE80]

I wonder if they actually copied the GH 3D heater, or if they just threw in some run of the mill heater and it takes forever to heat and or combust....

 

[stickstones]

I have yet to see a Chinese knockoff that wasn't using different or inferior materials and designs.

 

[CarolKing]

There is always a Chinese knockoff. It doesn't take them long either. All they need is one grasshopper to be able to make a replica. Beware buying off of eBay when it comes to a vaporizer.

It could have a dangerous battery included. I wouldnt want an inferior battery that close to my face. I wouldnt want to lose my eye sight or be disfigured at the very least.

It just blows me away when folks act like buying a cheapo battery is no big deal.

Edit
A person could pay $300 for something and it only last a short time. You are out the money. I'm not sure what kind of guarantees there are with the knock offs?

You want to buy something and know you have a good warranty. Also you want something that will last you a long time.

 

[sChris]

They certainly don't hang around when it comes to a product which ia in high demand!

 

[Vaperist]

ha... ChinaHoppers from Alibaba are gone, if you search now. great!!! could it be because of a noise in this forum? i hope that somebody's attention got noticed.

 

[DarkSm0ke]

I work for a company that manufactures motorcycle parts her and overseas (China, Korea).
I would be surprised if the reverse engineered the GH that fast.

I am guessing that someone went to the factory or factories that are making the parts and purchased either over runs, seconds, or even the good parts out the back door, and then assembled them with whatever other parts (batteries, buttons, etc) they can get from other sources. Unless they get the microchip or circuit boards that have the OS burned into already, then these guys won't work even close to the original. The algorithms for temp control, etc will be on those chips or PCB. If they are off Alibaba it is most likely that the supplier ran out of parts that he got from the factory/factories, or he has enough demand in China to not even have to post them on Alibaba for us folk in the West. Could be as simple as GH seeing them on Alibaba or Ebay and tightened up security at the factory.

Most of the factories there, unless OWNED and OPERATED by a large corporation are simply open sources for manufacturing. We have products made in factories that make parts for other companies not associated with our company. Sometimes we will see a competitor selling our product and find out he paid the factory we use to make parts for him. Only 4 people in our company know exactly which factories make each part and who is the contact. We have people over there that manage this for us. I have even been offered a large chuck of cash to divulge what factories make our front ends from a distributor that buys from us, but wanted to cut us out and manufacture direct. It's crazy.

 

[nondarb]

People seem to be forgetting that real grasshoppers are MADE in china.

 

[Baron23]

People seem to be forgetting that real grasshoppers are MADE in china.

oooooh.....not according to Hopper Labs. But who know how they parse the english language to support that statement.

Wow, my post has a note on it that its awaiting Mod approval. Never had that happen before.

What did I do...I think my post stays in bounds of the site's rules...no?

 

[Mr. Gweilo 420]

oooooh.....not according to Hopper Labs. But who know how they parse the english language to support that statement.

Wow, my post has a note on it that its awaiting Mod approval. Never had that happen before.

What did I do...I think my post stays in bounds of the site's rules...no?

Nah its just the nature of the thread. Counterfeit products are not encouraged and I think mods just being careful.

 

[nondarb]

oooooh.....not according to Hopper Labs.

They have outright said that the parts are made in china, at one point early on I heard claims of assembly in Colorado but the patriot in me says surely they would still have that on their website if it were still true. It would be a great selling point.. They avoid the topic altogether on https://www.grasshoppervape.com .

At any rate my point is the parts (and thus the tech) has been in china for a few years now.. patent law and IP as a whole is shady at best in China, an unscrupulous or otherwise unsatisfied worked probably gave away/sold some "trade secrets" resulting in these fake hoppers going about. In reality they could very well be coming out of the same factory. Greed.

 

[biohacker]

Could of sworn I read a blog post or some sort of communication from HL recently that said it was made in the USA...

 

[seaofgreens]

Well, they said that the only top secret thing about the GH is their heater, which they supposedly do all 3d printing of stateside. Since that is the key component to the GH however...

 

[t-dub]

I seem to remember, early on, some pics of the GH guy (Trevor I think?) in China looking at one of the production facilities. People were remarking about the working conditions they saw. Really small chairs and such.

 

[biohacker]

I heard claims of assembly in Colorado but the patriot in me says surely they would still have that on their website if it were still true. It would be a great selling point.. They avoid the topic altogether on https://www.grasshoppervape.com .

They do? Designed and built in the USA is the very first sentence.

 

[t-dub]

They do? Designed and built in the USA is the very first sentence.

Yes they designed it here and they "build" it or assemble it here put I distinctly remember parts being made in China and shipped here for assembly.

 

[biohacker]

Yes they designed it here and they "build" it or assemble it here put I distinctly remember parts being made in China and shipped here for assembly.

This is correct.

 

[t-dub]

From the IG campaign . . . .

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/grasshopper-vaporizer#/updates

almost 2 years ago
Hey Everyone,

We returned from a long and successful trip in China this last weekend. After spending over two weeks visiting manufacturers and solving problems on the spot, it was obvious that such a trip was necessary.

The Grasshopper battery has been one of the biggest challenges of the project. Its custom size and insane discharge requirements made it hard to design and even harder to manufacture. Naturally, we were excited to visit our factory and see what we had invested in. The results were good. The factory was working on labeling and testing some of our second-batch batteries.

Our trip then took us to visit our machining manufacturer, molding manufacturer and circuit board fabricator. Each of these visits went well, and we were happy with the quality of work that we observed. We expected to receive production samples of the Ti and Color parts during our visit, but our manufacturer told us that the titanium they ordered had not arrived in time. This was obviously disappointing, and we reaffirmed our expectation to have these parts in-hand as soon as possible.

Stainless Screen!

Serial number and model marking. What number do you want?


During our last few days in China, we received a call from our heater manufacturer in the US. We’d ramped our order size a few weeks prior, and they were having problems getting a reasonable yield rate in mass-production. They proceeded to tell us that they would only be able to deliver 30 parts per week at a revised cost of $40ea in the near-term. This was some bad news, and we knew that we needed to get to their facility as fast as possible to work out a solution. Redirecting our flights out of China, we headed directly to the northeast United States.

We arrived at their facility after 27 hours of travel, and immediately got to work on a solution. After a few days of intensive problem-solving, we were back down close to our original numbers. While we were supposed to have thousands of heaters in-stock by now, it was still a victory to not be permanently crippled by the issue. By our departure on Friday afternoon, the manufacturer was assuring us that heaters would begin shipping in within the month.

The China trip was a success, and we feel confident about our operations there. Look for more units to trickle out over the next few weeks as the heater manufacturer gets into gear. We’re smoothing out the last few bumps, which is a good place to be. Check back on the 15th for another update.

The Grasshopper Team

And another one . . .

almost 2 years ago
Hi Everyone,

Greetings from China for the mid-March update! Just before we left, we hosted the (http://www.vaporizerwizard.com/grasshopper-vapo...) at our lab in Colorado. He’d expressed interest in coming by to review the Grasshopper, and we were ready to show it off. Our trip overseas has been progressing smoothly so far, and we’ve already visited several of the factories that are working for us. The value of the trip is already showing itself, and we feel good about having more oversight over the process.

Buzz, the Vapor Wizard, arrived at our lab last Saturday to get the run-down on the Grasshopper. We gave him the tour and turned him loose with a Grasshopper while we continued work as usual. We allowed him almost complete access, and he stayed through the weekend, picking our brains on the design and operation. He should be following up with a review and more information very soon.

Photo Credit Buzz

Photo Credit Buzz

Photo Credit Buzz
You can find more of Buzz’s pictures here: http://imgur.com/a/ezXWy

We arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday night, kicking off a two-week trip to oversee manufacturing of some of the most important parts of the Grasshopper. Our first visit was to our PCB assembly factory. Blank panels of Grasshopper circuit boards arrive here, and automated pick-and-place machines arrange the components. After propagation, the PCBs are baked to bond the components to the PCB. This process is followed by inspection, testing, packaging and shipping.

This week we’ll be visiting the battery factory, the molding facility, the machining factory, the PCB fabricator, and the cable manufacturer. From there, we’ll make a 2nd and 3rd visit to the production lines that require the most attention. The titanium and color units are being made while we’re here, and pictures will be posted once completed. Production is moving smoothly so far, and we expect to have Grasshoppers shipping in bulk soon after we return.



The Grasshopper Team

 

[Baron23]

Yes they designed it here and they "build" it or assemble it here put I distinctly remember parts being made in China and shipped here for assembly.

Yeah, that's what I meant about not knowing how they parsed the English language in order to make that statement.

To claim 100% USA made is a stretch for any product these days....particularly IF that includes sourcing the material from the USA also, much less parts and sub-assemblies.

Even the Fed Government has issues in defining and enforcing "Made in USA" requirements in equipment contracts. Its a bit slippery.