Discontinued The Grasshopper

[moondog]

Grasshopper Pre-order
August Update

Wow, there is a lot of what I consider real news in this one.

Below is the new building where Hoppers will be machined.

I guess their cash flow must be OK if they are putting up a new building. Either that or their P&Ls look strong enough for some deeper pocket to be willing to help them reach the next level. Either way, that does not look like a company on the ropes.

While August did not see a large increase in Grasshoppers shipped, we did get address confirmation emails sent to every pre-order placed in 2015! These units will be shipping shortly! Although shipping times and order volume are both greater than we anticipated, we are making rapid progress. With 2015 orders almost complete we will get 2016 estimates updated soon.

WHAAAAAAT?!?!?!? Did I fall asleep? I haven't seen a single mention in the shipping thread of 4th quarter orders getting confirmed. In fact, I haven't seen any activity in the shipping thread for days. Oh, whaddaya know? The shipping thread once again unwatched itself. Now I have to catch up on 3 pages of posts. I'll be right back.....

Damn, they really are getting through all the 2015 orders!!!

The ESD on my Jan 2016 order is still showing August. I guess that will be changing soon and I may actually be hopping as early as this month! Or not. Who knows.

We are using our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts to post mid-month updates and send out friendly reminders. In case you missed it, we used our social media accounts for a Grasshopper T-shirt Giveaway this August! Thanks to everyone who participated and congrats to the winners! Follow the Grasshopper on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, keep an eye out for more giveaways and look forward to more mid-month updates posted on these platforms.

Guess I'll have to include a check of their FB page in my daily rounds since I'm not spending QUITE enough time in front of the computer looking at GH-related stuff.

One of our long-term goals at Hoppers Labs is to always listen to the community and provide products that improve our customer's’ overall experience. We closely follow the forums and social media outlets to read about your Grasshopper experiences, ideas, or concerns. We bring those same discussions into our brainstorming sessions and because of your feedback, extra-front ends are now available for individual sale! Additionally, new Silicone Mouthpieces are in the works and the new Grasshopper Tee is available on the site!

Wow, they are actually reading what we write! Looking forward to seeing the new silicone mouthpiece. Maybe mine will ship with it?

 

[Icon13]

Don't use it. The bare metal of the battery will touch the GH body and could short out. Never use a battery with damaged wrapper. And since you will be throwing it out if you could rip the wrapping all the way off the battery and see what is written on the battery itself. Most batteries have its specs or its number written on it. I would be really interested to see whats there.

There is some sort of PVC tape we used to use when we would tear the wrap on a cell when building packs. I'm sure if you Google it you will be able to find it.

 

[Tdtour]

Does anyone know if the grasshopper is really made in the USA? I thought it was made in Colorado. From the picture of their new factory, the white car in it shows a wide blue license plate. Blue license plates are not the color of Colorado license plates, nor the surrounding staes. But a quick google search shows blue license plate are used in China.
I may be wrong but...
Also the forklift looks to have chinese characters printed on its side.

 

[ZC]

@Tdtour

While I think it's been implied that they're assembled in the USA, I kind find it mentioned anywhere on their site.

It's possible that they WERE being assembled in CO and are now moving to china.

That said, I don't think a blue license plate is necessarily evidence of that. That car could be anyone's, including an investor or something from CA or Michigan, which can have blue license plates.

 

[Joel W.]

Final total on my external battery pack testing came to 119 or so (level 5 hits), with 4) new Sony VTC5's 2600mah cells (10,400mah total).

I stopped testing at 3.73v (before I got red lights) because the flickering blue lights were getting pretty intense and I was getting nervous of low voltage usage in the hopper on level 5. This will work fine for me though.

The aluminum bit sure seem to soak up a lot of heat out of this SS hopper body and back end and or there is no battery inside getting hot, to add to the heat issue. (not sure whats happening really). So the hopper runs much cooler over all.

Pretty damn happy with this gizmo so far. Look for a new thread soon, as I may try to put some bits/kits/the shitz, together..

 

[Stu]

Does anyone know if the grasshopper is really made in the USA? I thought it was made in Colorado. From the picture of their new factory, the white car in it shows a wide blue license plate. Blue license plates are not the color of Colorado license plates, nor the surrounding staes. But a quick google search shows blue license plate are used in China.
I may be wrong but...
Also the forklift looks to have chinese characters printed on its side.

The update says:

Below is the new building where Hoppers will be machined.

Notice it says "machined" not "assembled".

 

[Skywalker OG]

 

[Kalessin]

Pretty damn happy with this gizmo so far. Look for a new thread soon, as I may try to put some bits/kits/the shitz, together..

I am high so. I can't make up my mind whether this means you are thinking of making some up for sale....but if so, I would fucking love one. Any idea how much such might cost? (Won't hold you to it, swear)

 

[lovecrush]

These pics of grasshoppers being used on glass without mouthpiece irks me, don't you fear possible scratches by doing this?

 

[MoltenTiger]

These pics of grasshoppers being used on glass without mouthpiece irks me, don't you fear possible scratches by doing this?

on the plain Ti it's fairly negligible. I am more careful with my blue unit, but it still wears fairly well against glass.
My main concern is the seal won't be air tight unless using silicone, so if you want peak performance, the silicone is necessary.

 

[vapviking]

The update says:


Notice it says "machined" not "assembled".

Yes, we understand most all the parts are made in China; assembly is in Colorado.
@moondog @Tdtour and @ZC,
The update does not say HL is building the building, nor does it say they're paying (directly) for it, just that machining will be done there. Best guess is that it's in China. An empty building somewhere...that's what I see!

Unrelated quick report;
Of four hoppers I received a month ago (my long awaited preorder), one SS that is lightly used is still in working order. The other three are all shot, unusable.
One (Ti) worked very well for the month, the other two (both SS) failed within the first ten bowls (both yesterday!!!!).
My purgatory has relocated from the Shipping Thread to the Warranty Thread.
I'm so happy to hear that HL is reading the forums (yawn...). I happen to dislike social media (except FC!) so I'll never win a T-shirt that way.
Sorry, but I'm a little grumpy this morning.

on the plain metal it's fairly negligible. I am more careful with my blue unit, but it still wears fairly well against glass.
My main concern is the seal won't be air tight unless using silicone, so if you want peak performance, the silicone is necessary.

I'd be just as concerned with the hopper scratching the glass, should any grit get between the two. But I've still done it, I just try keep it all clean.

 

[Vapor_Eyes]

These pics of grasshoppers being used on glass without mouthpiece irks me, don't you fear possible scratches by doing this?

I used to fear this. When I first got my Grasshopper I tried it on glass without silicone and immediately got a couple small scratches on my SS. I quit doing it after that.

I was using an 18mm piece before so I needed a reducer anyway, might as well use silicone.

Now that I have a 14mm piece, and more importantly now that you can buy mouthpieces, I have been using it bare. I'm thinking I might order a new mouthpiece and keep the old one at home for dedicated water use. Or just buy a new one if this one gets too scratched for my liking.

 

[Hammahead]

Still shocked... friday nite, my Hopper just broke...

Update: it's still in the (german) shop as they're waiting for a replacement back-end spare part to arrive some time this week. Bummer... the repair guy said it was going to be an upgrade, because the backed is "improved". So apparently the backend stuff got to their attention.

My Firefly got replaced, which is nice, but I really miss that Hopper. Nothing gets me done like that.

 

[voodoo_vape]

Damn, they really are getting through all the 2015 orders!!!

The ESD on my Jan 2016 order is still showing August. I guess that will be changing soon and I may actually be hopping as early as this month! Or not. Who knows.

Have you checked the actual invoice in the system? My order was a Jan'16 one and they have put me down as March'16 as I found out today, probably this was done due to the fact that I added ONE! Ti unit, although they had guaranteed to me that I wouldn't be taken back.. This was at the very deadline that the Ti price went up.
So, I think that what the invoice says with the red letters is where your order stands and not when the actual purchase took place.. which really sacks...

Personally, I've stopped the amount spent on the GH thread. I cannot take it anymore and I'm just hoping that I will receive those bl&*&^y units at some point... HL communication strategy and estimation abilitites, really sackz baLlz... Anyway...

Happy waiting to you as well dude... peace..

 

[moondog]

Have you checked the actual invoice in the system? My order was a Jan'16 one and they have put me down as March'16 as I found out today, probably this was done due to the fact that I added ONE! Ti unit, although they had guaranteed to me that I wouldn't be taken back.. This was at the very deadline that the Ti price went up.
So, I think that what the invoice says with the red letters is where your order stands and not when the actual purchase took place.. which really sacks...

Personally, I've stopped the amount spent on the GH thread. I cannot take it anymore and I'm just hoping that I will receive those bl&*&^y units at some point... HL communication strategy and estimation abilitites, really sackz baLlz... Anyway...

Happy waiting to you as well dude... peace..

Invoice still says August as well. I'm not sweating it either way. It'll come when it comes.

 

[Joel W.]

I am high so. I can't make up my mind whether this means you are thinking of making some up for sale....but if so, I would fucking love one. Any idea how much such might cost? (Won't hold you to it, swear)

I am thinking about doing something here anyways.

Where am I going to find any time is my biggest hurdle right now?

I have not even thought about pricing yet..

Edit: I think I will make 5-10 at a time. Get a interest list going and just work down the list?

No preorder deal. Just pay when something is actually ready to be shipped.

Edit2: I now have permission from the wife to do this. I will start gathering parts and make a thread for more discussion.

Edit3: New Thread. http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/external-18650-battery-pack-and-adapter-for-the-grasshopper.22612/

 

[newVaper420]

Ok so I got good news and bad news. Good news is that I haven't had any screen problems since I screwed it back in. Bad news is I can't get it out for cleaning now. LOL. Oh well. I'm not too concerned.

I'll let it soak in alcohol for a bit to clean, and then I'll make sure I clean it pipe cleaner in the tip (not too hard), and then Q-Tip in the mouthpiece.

Also I got my Evo out today, so I'll let this dry good. I cleaned the chamber and back end already.

I love this thing.

 

[Baron23]

Does anyone know if the grasshopper is really made in the USA? I thought it was made in Colorado. From the picture of their new factory, the white car in it shows a wide blue license plate. Blue license plates are not the color of Colorado license plates, nor the surrounding staes. But a quick google search shows blue license plate are used in China.
I may be wrong but...
Also the forklift looks to have chinese characters printed on its side.

Yep...it was my impression that the building where "Grasshoppers would be machined" is for one of their contract parts manufacturer and not Hopper Labs. Truly meaningless. The amount of this new machining facility dedicated to GHs may be the entire building or more likely a small bit of it. Bit misleading I thought.

 

[Skywalker OG]

These pics of grasshoppers being used on glass without mouthpiece irks me, don't you fear possible scratches by doing this?

Nah, it'll be warrantied within 3 months so it really doesn't matter. I stopped babying my hopper after the third replacement. A lot of the ones they're sending are pre-scratched for our pleasure. Also unless you're extremely careless and grinding the metal on glass you aren't going to scratch anything.

 

[newVaper420]

Ok so I got good news and bad news. Good news is that I haven't had any screen problems since I screwed it back in. Bad news is I can't get it out for cleaning now. LOL. Oh well. I'm not too concerned.

I'll let it soak in alcohol for a bit to clean, and then I'll make sure I clean it pipe cleaner in the tip (not too hard), and then Q-Tip in the mouthpiece.

Also I got my Evo out today, so I'll let this dry good. I cleaned the chamber and back end already.

I love this thing.

Ok I got the screen out after extreme persistence. No damage thank God. I noticed my tweezers had some sort of ball on the tip so I scratched a table to remove it LOL :-). Tweezers more important LOL. Anyhow, was disgusting in the brass piece and inside the screen. I'm hesitant to keep doing this without the proper tool but it does get disgusting in there.

I may order a new mouthpiece as a backup.

 

[moondog]

Yep...it was my impression that the building where "Grasshoppers would be machined" is for one of their contract parts manufacturer and not Hopper Labs. Truly meaningless. The amount of this new machining facility dedicated to GHs may be the entire building or more likely a small bit of it. Bit misleading I thought.

I thought it was a good thing that they were communicating more. Guess I'm just a naive babe in the woods.

 

[Baron23]

I thought it was a good thing that they were communicating more. Guess I'm just a naive babe in the woods.

No!! Not at all!!

I do think they are trying to be communicative but I also do think, like everyone else, that they are always putting their spin on stuff.

I don't think this is Hopper Lab's building, I do think this the site that one of their contract manf will use at least in part for GHs, and I think they purposefully left out any clarification of this building's ownership status, which is misleading on their part.

Cheers

 

[akwardsauce]

is this a good deal for $10?
Bundle:Nitecore D2 Charger 2015 New Smart Universal Charger with EASTSHINE EB182 Battery Box Car Adapter


https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WLMRW9W?tag=slicinc-20&ascsubtag=8e2f1ce073a811e68ead06ddc1f9ee330INT

 

[moondog]

is this a good deal for $10?
Bundle:Nitecore D2 Charger 2015 New Smart Universal Charger with EASTSHINE EB182 Battery Box Car Adapter


https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WLMRW9W?tag=slicinc-20&ascsubtag=8e2f1ce073a811e68ead06ddc1f9ee330INT

I would look at the Nitecore site for the page on how to tell if the unit is authentic or a counterfeit. Then ask the seller to prove it's authentic. There are apparently a lot of fakes floating around.

 

[newVaper420]

is this a good deal for $10?
Bundle:Nitecore D2 Charger 2015 New Smart Universal Charger with EASTSHINE EB182 Battery Box Car Adapter


https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WLMRW9W?tag=slicinc-20&ascsubtag=8e2f1ce073a811e68ead06ddc1f9ee330INT

I've bought from Eastshine. I didn't verify but I'm pretty sure it's legit. I threw the box away so I can't check. They told me if I open the unit, then I can check but I don't want to bother.