The Grasshopper Shipping Poll

[Vaperist]

You have a reasonable concern my fellow early June preorder

hmmm,... there are two possibilities. ether HooperLabs wil have a lot of GH produced by January, or my 'Estimated Ship Date' will be postponed. because i ordered in early November, while June people still don't have it.

lets hope that option number one is a case.

merry and combustion free X-mas to all vaporists! keep those lungs free from tar and happy in da new year as well!

 

[geraldus]

You probably won't find much love for your honest post but as someone that cancelled my pre-order and am waiting till they fix QC and my favorite shops start carrying it, I appreciate your brutal honesty.

I think if GHL makes it, then the GH2 will be fantastic, in the meantime I hope they get a handle on the QC issues.



There is probably two things going on here:

1. They have had to replace a large number of units.
2. I am guessing cash flow is tight, lots of expenses and not a lot of new sales, probably a fair number of refunds.

What's this about a "GH2" , I haven't heard this .

 

[tubasco]

What's this about a "GH2" , I haven't heard this .

You heard it here first.

 

[zymos]

It's the one they'll release before GH3, the one where they finally work out all the kinks...

 

[hi_there]

What's this about a "GH2" , I haven't heard this .

You heard it here first.

Expected arrival June 2019-2029

 

[Gregori]

"They have simply been guilty of repeated misguided optimism."

 

[JigMelon]

Here's some new info regarding the anodized parts:

"With the Holidays, things have slowed down at Hopper Labs and with the mail carriers. We have not yet received our shipment of anodized parts. Unfortunately, I don't have very much information regarding the hold up."

 

[Likes2vape]

Here's some new info regarding the anodized parts:

"With the Holidays, things have slowed down at Hopper Labs and with the mail carriers. We have not yet received our shipment of anodized parts. Unfortunately, I don't have very much information regarding the hold up."

I wonder what happened to "getting a shipment of parts to complete all orders" Guess it was just some more overly optimistic hyperbole. It doesn't look like they will even get the last 300 backer orders filled before the 1st of the year.

 

[CarolKing]

I was under the impression all the backers would be taken care of by December. Where did that come from? Did folks assume that or did we hear it from somewhere? This thread sounds the same as it did 2 months ago. A discouraging thread.

I would have a hard time waiting if I had ordered 1 year or 2 years ago. I know my limitations. Some of you I admire your patience. I'm sure it will be worth the wait from what I read from the folks with working units.

 

[Likes2vape]

I was under the impression all the backers would be taken care of by December. Where did that come from? Did folks assume that or did we hear it from somewhere? This thread sounds the same as it did 2 months ago. A discouraging thread.

I would have a hard time waiting if I had ordered 1 year or 2 years ago. I know my limitations. Some of you I admire your patience. I'm sure it will be worth the wait from what I read from the folks with working units.

In the Nov 15th update GHL actually said they would have all backer orders complete by Dec 1st and would be shipping pre-orders in Dec. I agree it is very discouraging and am glad I was able to get a refund. If the hopper ever becomes readily available from actual retailers and still comes with a decent or lifetime warranty (2-3 years would be cool) I will pick one up.

 

[JigMelon]

To be fair, they absolutely are sending out units, and seem to be approaching the end of the backers queue. There just seems to be some hiccups with supply (presumably from letting people change their orders when they got address confirmation) and getting in contact with backers (for using a new email, shipping@grasshoppervape.com, that backers weren't originally instructed to add to their address book). I'm just glad they were finally transparent about the status of the newly anodized pieces.

 

[Likes2vape]

To be fair, they absolutely are sending out units, and seem to be approaching the end of the backers queue. There just seems to be some hiccups with supply (presumably from letting people change their orders when they got address confirmation) and getting in contact with backers (for using a new email, shipping@grasshoppervape.com, that backers weren't originally instructed to add to their address book). I'm just glad they were finally transparent about the status of the newly anodized pieces.

GHL has certainly had their fair share of hiccups especially their shipping guesstimates.

I think it's more of a stutter than a hiccup though as they keep saying the same thing over and over again. "Next Month, Next Month!!"

 

[grokit]

It's worth the wait.
If the only holdup at this point is some of the colored bodies,
then they're doing great

 

[Gregori]

They are as transparent as the steel they use.

 

[zymos]

To be fair, they absolutely are sending out units, and seem to be approaching the end of the backers queue. There just seems to be some hiccups with supply (presumably from letting people change their orders when they got address confirmation) and getting in contact with backers (for using a new email, shipping@grasshoppervape.com, that backers weren't originally instructed to add to their address book). I'm just glad they were finally transparent about the status of the newly anodized pieces.

You can't put this delay on backers changing their orders at the last minute or not knowing how to use email.
This is on GHL, and their transparency goes only as far as answering specific questions from people that have made the effort to contact them.
And yes, they said themselves weeks ago that they were receiving all the parts needed to ship to all the backers- we didn't just pull that out of our asses with wishful thinking. They've been telling people that the extra anodized parts were coming in any day now for a couple of weeks. Things do get crazy with shippers around the holidays, yet I'm still getting mail at my house, and Fedex is still delivering- things may take a day longer to get across the country, not weeks longer. These dudes are full of "misguided optimism"....

 

[pakalolo]

Grasshopper Pre-order
November Grasshopper Update


Hi Everyone,

October proved to be a productive month for the Grasshopper Team. After producing over 1500 units, we’ve now converged on a reliable, repeatable assembly process. Using feedback from backers, we were able to pinpoint necessary design tweaks to increase reliability. Small initial batches allowed us to apply these tweaks as soon as they were finalized.

We recently received our largest batch of new parts to date. The shipment contained over 180,000 individual Grasshopper components. After inspection, everything looked great and we’ve entered the new parts into our production process.


Assembly over the last few months has gone much more slowly than anticipated due to parts revisions, the difficulty of the process, and delays with machinery and suppliers. Our current capacity stands at about 1300 Grasshoppers per month, but parts revisions and new machinery will be drastically increasing throughput.

The process of producing Grasshoppers is complicated and it has been very difficult for us to accurately estimate shipping dates. We were overly optimistic in the past, and though our unconventional approach to engineering and business has cost more in time, it’s yielded a fantastic product. Having corrected the issues and applied our new processes to production, we are finally starting large scale delivery.


We’ll have shipping estimates updated on the website shortly. You are all incredibly close to receiving your Grasshoppers and we look forward to completing each of your orders.

Thanks,



The Grasshopper Team

"Hey Everyone,

We have a quick update today to inform you that the project is progressing nicely and we have delivered the vast majority of units. Although we are now into the holidays, Grasshopper production will continue at an increasing rate. Most of you already have your units, and for those still waiting they are coming very soon.

We are still seeing some issues with new units but these issues are far fewer than ever before and continuing to drop. As we implement tweaks to increase reliability we must train the assembly techs and update the quality control procedure. This process is ongoing and continually improving, with each week yielding better results. It’s easy to expect everything to go smoothly, but when you are working to break new ground it rarely does. We have replaced every unit that has had an issue and will continue to do so.

The new personnel we recently brought on are finally up to speed on the entire production. This, coupled with supply chain improvements and additional machinery has drastically increased throughput.

We’ll be back with the mid December update on the 15th.


The Grasshopper Team"

hope dwindles with each update

the 3 day-late update:

"Hey Everyone,

This update is a few days late due to the arrival of a new machine here at Hopper Labs. We’ve been working nonstop to get it installed and wanted to make sure we had the time to provide a full update. The Grasshopper campaign is nearing the end. We still have accessories to fulfill, but there are now only about 300 backers left without Hoppers and those will be shipping very soon.

The new machine mentioned is a computer controlled laser welder which allows for greater reliability and five to six time the throughput during the welding process. We needed to machine custom jigs and tweak the welding profile to get it operational but after a few days of work it is now online. Further recent improvements include the hiring of another assembly tech and streamlining of our in-house shipping interface. We are methodically increasing the throughput and repeatability of each process involved in building the Grasshopper.

We know each of you backed the campaign to support 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 best device possible and we have put in an insane amount of effort to make building it possible.

It has been a long road and we thank you for your support and patience during development. We set out with a lofty set of design goals and have met nearly all of them. We know there are some problems with early units and we have been making tweaks since day one to resolve them. In offering a lifetime warranty we are holding ourselves to the highest possible standard of design and construction. It is incredibly hard to get everything perfect right out of the gate but we are committed to providing a lasting experience and will replace anything that is not working correctly.

We hope everyone has a great New Year’s and we will be back on the 1st with another project update.

Trevor and the Grasshopper Team."

I'm not happy with the timing of this update, but this is one of the better ones in a long time, IMO.
I'm about ready to double down on my order! I'm guessing there may be another price adjustment after the campaign is completed.

In the Nov 15th update GHL actually said they would have all backer orders complete by Dec 1st and would be shipping pre-orders in Dec. I agree it is very discouraging and am glad I was able to get a refund. If the hopper ever becomes readily available from actual retailers and still comes with a decent or lifetime warranty (2-3 years would be cool) I will pick one up.

This is not correct. They have never given a specific date, as you can see from the quotes above yours. Please do not spread misinformation, especially when the facts are so easy to verify.

 

[Shit Snacks]

Yes it was only the latest estimates, had every backer in November, then pre orders jan-june 15 in December. That's the only official estimates we have aside from personal emails, and they are a month behind again is all we really know

 

[shadymilkman]

Receiving all parts, does not convey that everything is finished. You don't know their manufacturing process, which appears to have a separate vendor to anodize from fabrication of the ti components. Regardless of 'why' or an opinion of the validity of this process; if its true, doesn't change the result, nor justify such vitriol. This is small batch manufacturing, it's a given. Patience !

 

[zymos]

Here's a quote from their update about 10 weeks ago.

"Hey Everyone,

It’s October 15th and we’re back with another update. We’re four days away from receiving the largest batch of Grasshopper components yet. The next shipment includes enough parts to deliver all outstanding Grasshopper units. This is a huge step for us, and we’ll all breathe a small sigh of relief when DHL pulls up to the shop on Monday. "

Their words, not mine. And it includes a specific date by which they claimed they'd have all the parts they needed. You'd really have to bend over backwards to think they would write that if what they REALLY meant was they were receiving unfinished parts that then still needed to be sent back out to be anodized.

A couple years worth of shit like that... Maybe that's where the vitriol comes from?

 

[Likes2vape]

This is not correct. They have never given a specific date, as you can see from the quotes above yours. Please do not spread misinformation, especially when the facts are so easy to verify.

As referenced by @zymos GHL absolutely said they were getting in enough parts to complete all out standing orders.

You're right though November 1st was when they updated everyone's shipping information on their website to where all the backers were to be done in November and all pre-orders up until late June changed to December shipping with all outstanding orders after that scheduled for January. So you're right GHL never said in an update when the backers would be done/shipped but they did update everyone's shipping info.

Still doesn't change the fact that they have missed their own shipping guesstimate of having all backer units out by Dec and ship out pre-orders during December/January.

 

[syrupy]

Here's a quote from their update about 10 weeks ago.

"Hey Everyone,

It’s October 15th and we’re back with another update. We’re four days away from receiving the largest batch of Grasshopper components yet. The next shipment includes enough parts to deliver all outstanding Grasshopper units. This is a huge step for us, and we’ll all breathe a small sigh of relief when DHL pulls up to the shop on Monday. "

Their words, not mine. And it includes a specific date by which they claimed they'd have all the parts they needed. You'd really have to bend over backwards to think they would write that if what they REALLY meant was they were receiving unfinished parts that then still needed to be sent back out to be anodized.

A couple years worth of shit like that... Maybe that's where the vitriol comes from?

I'm missing where the specific date is? Is it that "Monday"? I read they were expecting parts to be able to complete, but I don't see an expected completed by date. I must have "GHL goggles" at this point, because I actually did assume when they said all the parts were in, that there would be further work of some type to get them out the door. Just how I think, but it's more fun being Lucy than Charlie Brown.

I like vapes, and the idea of the Grasshopper. My grandmother won't let me say anything else about the company's practices.

 

[zymos]

No one is claiming they said they would be able to immediately ship completed units after receiving the parts. (On October 19th, the Monday after that update, according to the calendar ) (though as it turned out, they didn't receive them for a few days after that IIRC).

My issue is that they have told me and other backers that shipments have been delayed because they don't have the parts to build ours (Purple Ti in my case). This comes after their statement about the "huge step" of receiving all the necessary parts- if that had been true, I would have received mine already.

 

[shadymilkman]

It's a misunderstanding.

Reception of parts != parts being in a finished and manufacturable state. IE the screens still need to be pressed once received, which is done in house, similarly the shells received are sent for anodizing..

This is typical from people who think things happen in one step.

It is called a "supply chain" for an obvious reason.

A chain is only as good as is weakest link.

Getting enough ti bodies in aggregate to satisfy all ti orders is totally different than those pieces being colored and ready to be assembled.

Some have blamed ghl for being optimistic... it would appear that some of us share that trait. At no point was that update confusing, esp given ghl's history.. always read between the lines. Usually what isn't being said is just as important

 

[tubasco]

It's worth the wait.
If the only holdup at this point is some of the colored bodies,
then they're doing great

If the only holdup at this point is some of the colored bodies... then why aren't more SS and plain Ti models being reported as delivered recently?
I'll GLADLY pay priority shipping twice to have my SS shipped asap, if it's in fact just sitting there waiting for green Ti parts to arrive...
Come on November 2015!!

A chain is only as good as is weakest link.

Weakest link in this case = The heaters. I still believe they cannot be made as quickly as GHL hoped a year and a half ago.

This is, of course, entirely speculation... But it's my "educated speculation" ... from someone who has (so far) waited 2 years and 17 days so far...

EDIT: mods please combine with my previous post. Sorry the dbl post.

 

[Joel W.]

I am still trying to wrap my head around the 75 minute assembly time. That's like 10 a day max per employee in an 8 hr shift.