Only one thing could cheer me up after a week of massive snowfall: a phone chat with Firefly co-founder and CTO Sasha Robinson. Sasha contacted me in email a few days ago because he'd heard I had experienced a disproportionate amount of problems with my FFs and he wanted to get more details and some feedback. Like any respectable FF fan I quickly compiled a list of my own questions. He was kind enough to spend about 40 minutes talking with me yesterday and after I detailed my various FF failures we covered a variety of FF-related topics. Here's my random sequence brain dump...hopefully I've remembered everything...
Failure rate: despite my high rate of FF issues, he said the overall failure rate was 3%.
Batteries: The first batch of batteries were all fine, but due to an issue with the manufacturer, the last bunch were inferior, as some of us have discovered. The newer batteries (like the one EDA posted a pic of) are from a different manufacturer and supposedly have longer life and longer charges. I don't own one, so I can't confirm.
Screens: Funny that this topic just came up...Sasha mentioned that he doesn't even think of the screens as replaceable parts, and they debated even using a removable screen. They were designed to be left in as long as possible (but, he said "people really like getting extra screens"...because, I assume, they like to change them or think they need to). I did share with him my feeling that the screens are a bit too small and provide insufficient coverage when removed and reinstalled.
FF 2.0: They are indeed working on a Firefly 2.0. He said he couldn't give any dates or real details about it, but I gather they are well into the effort (my inference). Good news. (I said "can I give you my credit card number now and be first on the pre-order list??"
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Retractable mouthpiece: This one's for EDA ("I have to ask you for a friend of mine..."). He said the FF would have to be larger...there's currently no room with the battery and electronics to retract the mouthpiece into the FF body. He mentioned the Pax as a device where a lot of thought went into the mouthpiece action but at FF they focused on keeping it simpler. (Given all the Pax issues surrounding the mouthpiece, good move.)
FC: They seem to read the thread here regularly, but it's unlikely that anyone from FF will be participating. I think he's worried about it becoming a huge time sink for someone, as they would be responding to all kinds of customer support issues, and they are a pretty small operation. I think he's also well aware of some of the less pleasant aspects, for a manufacturer, of being on the forum.
Changing over time: I noted that it seems like my FFs have changed over time, i.e. my current red FF seemed hotter two months ago than it does now. Sasha said it's possible subtle changes can occur as the resistor ages. I'm still not sure if it's real or my imagination but I wanted to ask about it.
Colors: it's unlikely new colors will be added due to the cost given the small unit runs per color...they wouldn't sell enough, say, metallic gold (my choice), to pay for manufacturing without the price being too high. But they will be adding some lid choices...(see below) ...
Challenges: Sasha talked a lot about the various challenges they face, in two categories...one, the challenges of the FF (Sasha is the designer of all the FF technical aspects), and two, the corporate challenges. The latter are typical of a small company...hard to achieve economies of scale with small product runs, difficult manufacturing relationships again related to company size, etc. The former are all the things we are aware of as users...the size of the FF (Sasha said they would like to get it smaller and lighter but given the heat generated it needs a certain mass), the battery life given how much power it needs, etc. Like any small company in this space it's a two-front battle.
QC/Testing: another big challenge, obviously one that affects us as users. They can't test every unit, and Sasha himself has stood at the end of the assembly line in China doing spot-testing of units, but since they cannot test them all themselves they rely on the manufacturer to do testing as well. (My feeling is if they've really gotten the failure rate down to 3% they are doing quite well in this space...I also suggested that if you take my 300% failure rate out of the equation, FF is probably more like 2% failure rate.
He said they should send all their new products to me first so I can absorb the failures...I'm cool with that!
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Competition: I asked him about most of the current portables, and he's not only familiar with them but has taken most of them apart and gotten good looks at them. Like any good businessperson he had nothing negative to say about any of them, but obviously they've taken a different path from most of their competition. Emphasis has always been on flavor, convection, simplicity, and on-demand rather than session-based vaping. He said "taste is more important than some other aspects like stealth". But he also asserted that some vapes, like the Pax, may seem more stealthy, but thanks to their conduction/passive cooking, tend to throw more odor. "If you sit next to someone with a Firefly, and someone with a Pax, you're going to know what the Pax person is doing, but not what the Firefly user is doing." Anyway my takeaway is they are super-aware of their competitors and they think that building a quality device (no plastic, for example) that hews closely to certain key values and is supported by a great team is the way to win in the crowded portable space.
Upcoming goodies: concentrate pads; a mother-of-pearl lid; and a cherry-wood lid (Sasha has wanted a wood FF since that old prototype FF that used wood). Sounds like all of these are coming in the near future, but no dates yet. The future of cosmetic enhancements appears to be in the lid space.
Overall these guys have had a vision of the FF that focuses on several core priorities...flavor, on-demand vaping, simplicity of use and maintenance. They think of the FF as one of the few devices that stands apart from the plethora of portables that are both conduction and session-based (though he did express admiration for the MFLB's on-demand approach). They didn't make a device that's designed to pump out huge clouds (though it's easy to get 'em), but rather one that maximizes flavor and delivers, as Sasha put it, "the entire temperature range in every hit"...as opposed to a vape that sets a static temp and maintains it. (I thought this was really interesting...all this time with the FF and I had never really thought of it that way.)
Finally I told him to give the support folks a big virtual hug from me...their commitment to the customer is the thing that's kept me around when the devices fail. They understand our lifetime value...I wish I could say that about all manufacturers.
I'm sure I missed some obvious questions. Hopefully I'll get to pick his brain again in the near future so I'll try to keep a running list. In the meantime I'm psyched for that cherry lid.
![:\](/i/s/hmm.gif "Hmm :\")