Discontinued The Grasshopper

[lwien]

...as a start-up company with severely limited funds, a mass return of "broken" vapes would sink them for good...they pretty much have no choice but to make sure this current problem is remedied before mass shipping's begin...

This has been my primary concern from the beginning.

One other thing to consider is that typically, when you address one problem, it "could" give rise to another, be it in the reliability spectrum or the performance spectrum.

What GH is going through though is typical of any startup going into the manufacturing business. It will be interesting to see if they have the acumen to weather these storms.

 

[zymos]

That's why I said "from what we know so far".
But also, if there are indeed a bunch more GH that have been shipped that we haven't heard about, we also wouldn't have heard if THOSE ones were failing.

I don't know if they ARE actually stress testing each one, or simply assembling them and making sure they'll operate.

 

[AgentXero]

Maybe I'm just too optimistic, but I wouldn't bet my money that it's a design flaw or manufacturing flaw. It's likely just assembly issues. That's why so few known GH's are in the wild, to work out the assembly kinks.

 

[CarolKing]

Most vaporizers that are brand new to the marketplace (let alone a new company)have a percentage of faulty units. I was surprised when we didn't see it with the Arizer Air.

I will say this again. FC is a very small percentage of the GH customer base. Most folks don't even know about FC. We're talking world wide.

 

[zymos]

There's some sort of logic board in there, connected to a thermocouple, that tells which LEDs to light up or flash. The fact that the LEDs are signaling something that they aren't even programmed to do is not a good thing....

Even if they are shipping these things world wide already, we can be pretty sure that they have not shipped 250 of them, as not a single regular backer has even gotten an address confirmation.
And as I already said, IF they have already shipped out a lot of them to non FC or reddit members, why would we think that THEIR units don't have the same failure rate as the ones we do know about?

 

[vapebuddy13]

I see it as a possible system flaw, that should hopefully be fixed with a update to the software... I dont see how its an assembly thing, unless something is misplaced which causes a false reading? I guess I do see how its possible... hopefully they have figured out exactly how it is and will be letting us know in the update... tho sooner would be cool too

 

[zymos]

^ that's the best possible scenario.
Well, I guess the best would be one person on the assembly line kept doing something wrong, and they noticed and said not to do it that way anymore....

 

[pakalolo]

The fact that the LEDs are signaling something that they aren't even programmed to do is not a good thing....

You know this how, exactly? Let me introduce you to the concept of Undocumented Diagnostic Code...

Of course I don't know what it is either.

 

[lovecrush]

I think I'd rather wait until september/end of the year to receive a non-faulty unit than re-sending mine to the USA after a day/week/month (since it takes weeks to receive objects from another country here)

 

[zymos]

sure, It could be intentional but undocumented too. And if so, it is apparently there to tell you that it will no longer charge or heat, since that's what the people who are getting it have reported.

 

[Kalessin]

I wonder how much testing they had actually done before telling everyone that they hadn't had any malfunctioning units a couple updates back...

 

[vapebuddy13]

Im also curious as to the testing they do... how they do it, how long etc... I mean these units come working, and just malfunction after some use(seemingly varried)

 

[shadymilkman]

sure, It could be intentional but undocumented too. And if so, it is apparently there to tell you that it will no longer charge or heat, since that's what the people who are getting it have reported.

Its not undocumented, after the first return, Trevor responded to say that the LEDs also have other functions and this flashing r/b is to indicate an error, and once triggered the GH will no longer function to protect itself from further damage. Though inconvenient the response has been excellent so far. With that said @ContemporaryShaman stated on the reddit thread that Trevor responded that there was a manufacturer defect with a sensor attachment throwing the 'check engine light'.. No more than that has been reported, however given the collective imagination here, im sure some extravagant theory will manifest till Trevor or Matt is forced (aka emailed to death) to dispel it in a few days time.

 

[lwien]

....given the collective imagination here, im sure some extravagant theory will manifest till Trevor or Matt is forced (aka emailed to death) to dispel it in a few days time.

Two things. One, is that that sounded a bit condescending and two, Trevor and/or Matt shouldn't feel "forced" to dispel or explain what is currently going on. In fact, they should feel that it is not only their responsibility to do so, but should look forward to responding as it as an opportunity to help establish themselves as a viable manufacturing company.

For them to be successful, PR is just as important as any other aspect of their business.

 

[pakalolo]

Two things. One, is that that sounded a bit condescending and two, Trevor and/or Matt shouldn't feel "forced" to dispel or explain what is currently going on. In fact, they should feel that it is not only their responsibility to do so, but should look forward to responding as it as an opportunity to help establish themselves as a viable manufacturing company.

For them to be successful, PR is just as important as any other aspect of their business.

Please do not comment negatively about another member's posting style. If a post breaks the rules, report it. If it doesn't break the rules but bothers you, either send a PM or ignore it.

 

[Kalessin]

im sure some extravagant theory will manifest

The Illuminati are secretly sabotaging the Grasshopper parts shipments

 

[invertedisdead]

This is just what happens when you're the first to get something. I pretty much expect this to happen with any new product these days.

The Illuminati are secretly sabotaging the Grasshopper parts shipments

Yeah, cause they preordered theirs 2 years ago and still can't catch a buzz yet.

 

[Mister G]

Its not undocumented, after the first return, Trevor responded to say that the LEDs also have other functions and this flashing r/b is to indicate an error, and once triggered the GH will no longer function to protect itself from further damage.

Not in the user manual = undocumented.

 

[zymos]

The only time Trevor or Matt have ever publicly imparted ANY information is in the bimonthly updates. And I think we all know what those are like: some weird combination of continual setbacks mixed with unwarranted optimism. We'll probably get some vague allusion to this issue on 7/1, followed by some unrealistic assurances.

Seems like further delays are likely, which is sad, but like everyone else, I'd rather get one after the kinks are worked out than before...

 

[TheVapeStation]

Ok guys just wanted to give a small update. My unit still works however I had an interesting thing happen the other day. I would go to click the unit on ot would go red then blue like usual but after my draw and i would go to click it off it would return to the red led. I would click and click but still see red and then it would turn to blue. I wound up removing the battery to fix that issue. It hasn't happened since but thought I would mention it. I will be emailing trevor on monday so we will see what he says.

Also i noticed in bright daylight only one hole noticably shows an led light. I think it is because there is only one led and it relies on the reflective interior of the hopper to make it show all around. My led is the hole to the right of the clip I would be curious to know where others are. Out in daylight i can hold it so only i see the led light.

 

[vapemon]

Has anyone mentioned this may be a software issue? Maybe something in their code is triggering it to flash weird and since trevor said it has a safety auto lockout its just a software glitch.

 

[zymos]

Here's a 3rd hand explanation, from a reddit post- the manufacturer attached the temp sensor incorrectly.

 

[Delta3DStudios]

Here's a 3rd hand explanation, from a reddit post- the manufacturer attached the temp sensor incorrectly.

Which would seem to indicate poor QC by the PCB manufacturer. Hopefully this doesn't hold up shipping these units out.

Of course I expect there will be no mention whatsoever to this issue in the next update.

 

[vapebuddy13]

Not in the user manual = undocumented.

only undocumented to the public... doesnt mean they dont have it documented internally

Ok guys just wanted to give a small update. My unit still works however I had an interesting thing happen the other day. I would go to click the unit on ot would go red then blue like usual but after my draw and i would go to click it off it would return to the red led. I would click and click but still see red and then it would turn to blue. I wound up removing the battery to fix that issue. It hasn't happened since but thought I would mention it. I will be emailing trevor on monday so we will see what he says.

Also i noticed in bright daylight only one hole noticably shows an led light. I think it is because there is only one led and it relies on the reflective interior of the hopper to make it show all around. My led is the hole to the right of the clip I would be curious to know where others are. Out in daylight i can hold it so only i see the led light.

Curious... why wait till Monday?

Has anyone mentioned this may be a software issue? Maybe something in their code is triggering it to flash weird and since trevor said it has a safety auto lockout its just a software glitch.

yes, by me but who knows

Which would seem to indicate poor QC by the PCB manufacturer. Hopefully this doesn't hold up shipping these units out.

Of course I expect there will be no mention whatsoever to this issue in the next update.

If that were the issue I would think it would very much hold shipping off... who'se to know which ones were incorrectly attached? Unless it was like a certain batch and they just know to start with the ones after that batch... guh really hope the update sheds light on this

 

[zymos]

Here's the thread from reddit

http://www.reddit.com/r/GrassHopperVape/comments/3b76lc/heartbroken/

"Trevor responded, looks like their manufacturers did a poor job of attaching a certain sensor and this is the error code indicating it. He said he will expedite a new unit and shipping label to me asap"