Around the web there seems to be lots of confusion about whats happening at HL and with the hopper, but really it's pretty clear and they've been quite transparent about it.
They have, and I'd guess will always have, terrible time estimations. But, besides and including that, they're not lying or scamming or whatever conclusion is jumped upon.
Their device is pretty snazzy for a start up. It's been 5 years, but they will always be a start up. That's their origin and it's a conversation point for a lot of seemingly obvious reasons.
A start up is going to perform on its own volition, and there's many tasks with the hopper project.
Systematic failures that are as widespread as we've seen - dodgy components.
Heating coils are vulnerable typically. HL seem confident in their heater, and theoretically that's founded. But in practice, it's a leading issue they've had that has been disclosed subtly from the beginning.
Reading this Indiegogo update from over 2 years ago reveals interesting info about the nature of the heater. Complex in design and nature.
During our last few days in China, we received a call from our heater manufacturer in the US. We’d ramped our order size a few weeks prior, and they were having problems getting a reasonable yield rate in mass-production. They proceeded to tell us that they would only be able to deliver 30 parts per week at a revised cost of $40ea in the near-term. This was some bad news, and we knew that we needed to get to their facility as fast as possible to work out a solution. Redirecting our flights out of China, we headed directly to the northeast United States.
We arrived at their facility after 27 hours of travel, and immediately got to work on a solution. After a few days of intensive problem-solving, we were back down close to our original numbers. While we were supposed to have thousands of heaters in-stock by now, it was still a victory to not be permanently crippled by the issue. By our departure on Friday afternoon, the manufacturer was assuring us that heaters would begin shipping in within the month.
This is the manufacturer that has either wound up opting out of production, was always a considered stepping stone or has hopefully become one.
The heater is a 3D printed "shell" heat exchanger, using state of the art laser sintering manufacturing methods. Now that this production is owned and operated by HL it means a few things, they can more rapidly prototype and improve revisions of the heater, and start producing them around the clock, eventually generating surplus inventory. It also means cheaper heaters, and complete IP control.
Something to consider though, as a reality check for the waiting times many are enduring, is that if a dedicated manufacturer is limited to 30 parts per week with initial, perhaps theoretically ideal, design parameters - what do you honestly expect a makeshift business to deliver?
A while back there were claims that ~250 units had shipped within barely a few months.
That doesn't seem unlikely, but who really knows. Things are seemingly ramping up, so perhaps production is actually running at fairly impressive rates despite the potentially seemless and consistent sensation of bereftness.
I have finally been able to recommend a Hopper to friends, and recently one has received his and he's in love.
I have yet to figure the Temp that is best for dry use (non-water), because, well, I'm a cloud freak. Perhaps I should go for the terps and phytos and see how that shapes my experience at first.
Yep, it's a beautifully designed machine, feels good to hold, and finally methinks it feels good to recommend.
I've got three friends on board so far, lots of interest but it's a hard sale to push over here. Too much stigma around a plant. Barely any awareness.
The three that purchased, one who just received the new one I've been using as a second unit, are very happy and have had much better reliability than me, although their devices have seen much less intense use than the abuse I have killed units with before
I think you'll get a swifter and more normal transaction/customer experience in the future, but with the lifetime warranty it is a fairly moot point to wait to buy or RMA.
It's a niche item and if there's criteria matching, I think this device is very recommendable. But it shouldn't be a big surprise if it fizzles out or needs a service. Even from here on out, it has vulnerabilities. Much less than in 2015, but it's worse if something goes wrong currently.
It'll be interesting to see what happens, but I'm quite happy experiencing it first hand. The waiting sucks but everything else is sweet.
(gotta love the folk here on FC), but I now have 3 nice new GHB2s, and am Hopping again (stealthiest vape I own), so I'm good (sincere thanks for the offer though).
First, my HT Hopper started doing the straight to blue light issue. I removed the screen (first time doing this) and couldn’t believe the amount of debris under it. Got it nice and clean and it’s working again, but it seems as though it isn’t getting as hot as before and hardly any vapor.
