The Grasshopper Shipping Poll

[JoeMama]

Many of you probably got this email this morning, but since I haven't seen anything related to it here, I thought I'd cut and paste. This is from Grasshopper Labs... Apparently it pays to "Complain", at least enough to have them step up with an update on how it's going for them and our deliveries...

August Production Update

Hi Everyone,

We have now shipped over 550 Grasshoppers. Stainless, Titanium and Color Grasshoppers have all been shipping out. The extra effort it took to produce the color units has really paid off. They provide some excellent contrast to the look and feel of the Stainless units.
Two machines are coming online which will drastically speed up some of the longest assembly tasks. Several other machines are in the works and we are aiming for a 10x assembly speed improvement by mid September. We know many of your estimated shipping dates have been pushed back one month at a time and this can be frustrating. This is due to assembly taking much longer than expected. We now have a better idea of the rate of assembly and are updating shipping estimates accordingly. Many of you will be moved back more than one month but our intention is to avoid a month-by-month change.
about delivery. With hundreds of devices out in the world, we are getting lots of great feedback from the community and are using that to refine our processes. If you are wondering whether the Grasshopper lives up to expectations, see the reviews section at the bottom of our homepage.

The delays have been frustrating, but as of today an additional benefit for early pre-orders is in effect. Grasshopper pricing will be updated to reflect the extra costs that production has incurred. The Stainless unit will move to $150, while the Titanium and Color units will be priced at $200. Just as our original backers received their Grasshoppers for a lower cost, early pre-order supporters now share a similar benefit. As an additional thanks for your support, we will continue to offer the original prices for anyone with an open pre-order until further notice. This means that anyone with an open order can add items at the discounted rate by contacting us. New accounts will be subject to the updated pricing outlined above.

We thank you for your continued patience as we work to bring the best possible product to you.

Thanks,
The Grasshopper Team

 

[IAmKrazy2]

New update. Many orders being moving back multiple months? Big surprise. There has been 550 units total? I thought GHL claimed they would be producing "thousands a week" by this month. They haven't even come close to making a single thousand units yet still jack up the price. Bush league as usual.

 

[Mister G]

I feel a bit impish today so I'll throw some chum in the hungry shark tank....

I think assembly, machines and processes are a red herring. Remember the problem with 30 heaters per week? (one of the few times they report actual numbers) This is the most complicated and key ingredient of the design. Even if they were able to double production to 60 and were able to assemble and ship an average of let's say 50 per week for the approximate 10 weeks they've been shipping anything and you get pretty close to around 550 shipped. These guys are as good at delay tactics as they seem to be at engineering.

This is pure guesswork stabs in the dark of course.

 

[johnnyCanuck]

I'm a little confused here. On one hand it's good to hear that GHL is finally going to be able to considerably ramp up production units within this month. My concern is with that last promotion that all open preorders will be allowed to add to their current orders at the current pricing once the new pricing becomes official. So... How many ppl do you guys think will jump on this? And if enough do so, will that not delay my preorder even further because of the extra units being shipped before me? Or am I looking too much into this?

 

[Wolf46]

I don't think October is realistic at all based on the sentence below from the recent GHL email update. You also seem really over the top enthused about this vape, I hope you don't set yourself up for a letdown. Yeah, I'm a bummer today. I think they waited for @jojo0420 's videos to come out before sending that email.

ah ah you're right, i'm very excited for this particular vaporizer because is the only one that has:

very good\great flavour (from the many review in the web)
insanely fast heating time
almost pure convenction
discrete as hell
top notch construction quality (at least the outside shell)
life time warranty (i hope)
powerhorse heater element
swappable (cheap)battery
very good price\quality ratio (i dont know the right word )

the only things that i hate is the shipping from usa (if i have problem with the device the substitution is not fast or easy like you american people) and the inexplicable beta-test vibe that i have from the device...

 

[zymos]

@JoeMama - this was already posted on the previous page....
I don't think it has anything to do with people complaining personally, they are just making a pitch for more orders and saying price is going soon, all the rest is just to make you think you won't have to wait so long.

 

[lovecrush]

@JoeMama [...] all the rest is just to make you think you won't have to wait so long.

I don't know man, this part worried me a little (even though there is nothing new in here...):

"Many of you will be moved back more than one month but our intention is to avoid a month-by-month change."

I readed it as something like: "pre-orders will be moved 2+ months instead of one because of our production rate, and here we are warning you in advance so you won't be more pissed than you already are when the september 1st update arrive."

Just my

 

[zymos]

Yeah, that part is kinda scary. I was more thinking about the production projections.
A bit contradictory, now that I think about it.

 

[Wolf46]

i just made the purchase a moment ago, Titanium GH and a spare battery, estimated shipping october 2015

 

[Vapor Loop]

i just made the purchase a moment ago, Titanium GH and a spare battery, estimated shipping october 2015

I wouldn't be shocked if the shipping changed, It look's like they just changed new orders to December and did that price increase, So it look's like you lucked out and at least got it a little cheaper.

 

[Bass Vaper]

I readed it as something like: "pre-orders will be moved 2+ months instead of one because of our production rate, and here we are warning you in advance so you won't be more pissed than you already are when the september 1st update arrive."

Just my

Agreed.

Again, trying to stay positive, but they're the masters of bullshit. These updates are proactive damage control. I lost the excitement a while back (probably after my 3rd new shipping month) but at this point these updates just add to my disappointment. They definitely don't pass the sniff test.

Is what it is. It's just a vape, not a life changer. The Goboof (God bless you) Alfa gets closer and closer each day

 

[Wolf46]

yeah i know that, and for me there is another month of wait for the shipping even when my GH is ready to go

 

[JoeMama]

I don't know man, this part worried me a little (even though there is nothing new in here...):

"Many of you will be moved back more than one month but our intention is to avoid a month-by-month change."

I readed it as something like: "pre-orders will be moved 2+ months instead of one because of our production rate, and here we are warning you in advance so you won't be more pissed than you already are when the september 1st update arrive."

Just my

Ah, thanks for straightening me out there, Lovecrush.... Well, an answer is an answer. I gathered from that notice that they would be updating those "estimated ship dates"... so far, mine is still as originally stated (September), but like your take on it, I figure November if not later.
At any rate, I'm happy to see they are building muscle to rise to the production challenges to garner support as well as more orders.

 

[hippogriff]

"Coming online" is not necessarily the same as "now online". Knowing these guys, those machines could not be received and operational for a while.

IMO, the main point of this mailing was "we want more preorders to stay afloat", hence the price increase announcement and push to get em while they are cheaper.

Definitely an improvement in communications w/ the last couple updates, tho yeah, still that uncomfortable moment when I wonder "If that's what they're getting to NOW, what did they mean X months ago when they said..."

So it seems like they've doubled weekly production every few weeks over the last two months and are currently around 80 units/week? So w/ "in the works" stuff they're aiming for ~1000/wk? I hope we know one day just how many pre-orders total they get, an interesting detail for this small biz story. I'm still listed for August as a Dec 3 backer, ahead of many November backers looks like, otherwise I'd guess I'm around #1,500 in line, so should be zero chance to receive till very end of September w/ best case rollout of new machines, but October's looking promising...

 

[seaofgreens]

Well, based off my order id, which may or may not be accurate:

If they want to get up to 1k/week by mid september and lets assume have roughly 800-900 out by that ramp up, I could assume I would see my early June order around Late January-Early February.

That honestly sounds about right, and only IF they somehow can get up to 1k units made/week and don't really take a week off.

So, I am going to guess early March next year. And I would guess next summer for anyone ordering today.

my

 

[Wolf46]

Well, based off my order id, which may or may not be accurate:

If they want to get up to 1k/week by mid september and lets assume have roughly 800-900 out by that ramp up, I could assume I would see my early June order around Late January-Early February.

That honestly sounds about right, and only IF they somehow can get up to 1k units made/week and don't really take a week off.

So, I am going to guess early March next year. And I would guess next summer for anyone ordering today.

my

are you serious?

 

[zymos]

Being that no one outside of the company has the slightest clue how many preorders they've taken, the only predictions that are at all reasonable would be for backers, because we know how many were funded.

I guess if someone knew they were one of the first preorders, they could assume ship date= best guess of all backers shipped + a little.

 

[hippogriff]

Guessing I would say pre-orders are 1-2.5X the number of backer orders. If current production is capped ~100/wk till new machines (after unknown rollout time/issues) bring it to ~1000/wk, then the best case scenario is backers finished mid-October, pre-orders finished by end-of-year possible but ambitious, and retail in 2015 unlikely. I know nothing, but I can't see my way to guessing any better.

 

[zymos]

Based on the numbers ordered by backers, there are still almost 2500 to be shipped before they get to preorders.
Which tells us little, since we've already heard the "1000/week" thing twice now.
At current rate of production, up to 6 months before all backers have theirs (that's me,too)!
Best case, they could have all those done by mid September.

 

[Krazzykid]

The update we didn't receive that went to the existing pre-order customers stated that they would still be eligible to add discounted hoppers to their order. When I logged in to my account the hoppers were at full price. Even though we've been waiting longer for our hoppers, we got cut off earlier from the discounts.

Dude it is like that for everyone, read the update again.

"This means that anyone with an open order can add items at the discounted rate by contacting us"

Chill.

Even existing pre-orders have the new price listed. You can only get the old price by already having an order(that is still open) and contacting them.

 

[°k]

If you really want to add more, I'd email and ask them what's up.
As you said, this email wasn't intended for backers (I got it because I added an extra battery a few months back), so we still may get a discount.

Yeah the backers updates are twice a month, let's see what we'll get on Sep 2.

 

[Rose2Butler24]

I emailed them and here is their response (for those wanting to preorder):

If you pre-order today, we expect to ship your order in December. Best, Caroline

 

[grokit]

Okay yeah didn't get that part, I suppose not getting the update by email also contributed to my attitude toward the gh today so my bad. It's just been a really long time, and the ones that work seem to do so very well, and I really want mine wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah...

 

[Chandlerson]

Lol december date now ?im glad I'm waiting..

 

[HoustonGuide]

It's here - report tomorrow.