That was a repair I had received in late October that failed several months later. It seemed to be a simple mechanical fix in the clicker, and I was able to have it repaired and back to me in a week and a half because of the unique nature of the repair. Thanks to Hopper Labs for helping me out there!
That one is still working great, in fact it was extracting great the whole time, when I could get it to turn on and off. I must have lucked out with that batch of defective components.
It’s hard to talk about versions as there have been many small incremental changes along the way. I consider there to be three main versions of Grasshoppers, but there will be variation within each version as far as upgraded components, etc.
I consider the first version to be the version with the blue screen and white temp sensor. This is the longest produced variant, with a lot of variation in individual components between models. If it were software it would be the alpha version.
The second version has a white screen and blue temp sensor. It was produced from approximately July/August-November in 2017. This variant had notably increased airflow and most likely features slightly higher temp settings, at least for the lower numbers. Max temp is roughly the same. This is also the variant with the batch of defective components that HL is now producing in house. We could call this the beta version.
It seems the newest versions have white screens and white temp sensors. Unfortunately there isn’t much data about them yet. Perhaps this is finally version 1.0, a proper, fully realized product. It’s too early to tell.
I have an alpha Ti and a beta SS and to me the airflow is perfect in the beta units. With the stock mouthpiece it is better than the alpha with the PFE. I can get decent visible vapor even on temp one, three seems about the same maybe a little higher, four and five seem the same. Three is enough to make me cough sometimes, I always finish on temp five though.
Hopper Labs is far from perfect but they have been steadily and constantly improving every aspect of their business. A lot of us were unsure they would make it this far, including me, so I am actually very hopeful about their future.
We can’t fix past mistakes but I’m glad to see the increased transparency and producing more parts in house is great news. They have quite a hole to dig out of at the moment but it seems they are making good progress. I think the renewed focus on customer service will only be fully realized when the production line is caught up and they are not spending so much time on repairs and assembly.
Honestly, it blows my mind that this thing even exists right now, and I’ve had my SS for nearly two years. In my opinion it’s very telling that none of the established companies with vast resources have even come close to combining the form factor and performance of the Grasshopper. As far as I’m aware there’s not even anything on the horizon that looks like it can compete.
