Discontinued The Grasshopper

[mario]

Just to make sure we keep balancing the discussion.

I have been using my Hopper as a daily unit since I recieved it from them the first week of June. I have had 0 problems with it, and it has performed well above my expectations for it. It is as amazing as people say it is. I have had no problem recharging the batteries with the usb cable, or the nitecore charger that I have.

I have even gone away for the weekend and only took the Hopper. It worked flawlessly the entire time and I even got compliments on it.

I do not refute whatsoever that what they are doing with the RMA process is wrong. But the ones that are being built AFTER the May 1st update, do appear to be working well, in my experience so far.

 

[elykpeace]

Just to make sure we keep balancing the discussion.

I have been using my Hopper as a daily unit since I recieved it from them the first week of June. I have had 0 problems with it, and it has performed well above my expectations for it. It is as amazing as people say it is. I have had no problem recharging the batteries with the usb cable, or the nitecore charger that I have.

I have even gone away for the weekend and only took the Hopper. It worked flawlessly the entire time and I even got compliments on it.

I do not refute whatsoever that what they are doing with the RMA process is wrong. But the ones that are being built AFTER the May 1st update, do appear to be working well, in my experience so far.

Received mine a little before yours. Although it has an old backend it's still hopping beautifully.

I added a SS screen as a safeguard to the on that comes stock in the oven. Didn't want any debris getting down there since that's half the problem of these things. I get on occasion the blinking blue lights which is fixed by adjusting the dial.. always heats up fine and charges from the USB great!


I used a separate charger and had a couple batteries in rotation but found just leaving one battery in I don't have to mess with the back end and it's working great for me so far.

Cfx at Max temp looking avb after ~25 seconds, only 5 second heat up time.
Cloudy! And my screen spacer I made is still my preferred method to use this vape.

 

[newVaper420]

Ok they finally responded. I ordered 3 batteries. Let’s see if my RMA hopper and batteries ship today and get here by Friday. I doubt it.

 

[Mr.GoodK@t]

Just to make sure we keep balancing the discussion.

I have been using my Hopper as a daily unit since I recieved it from them the first week of June. I have had 0 problems with it, and it has performed well above my expectations for it. It is as amazing as people say it is. I have had no problem recharging the batteries with the usb cable, or the nitecore charger that I have.

I have even gone away for the weekend and only took the Hopper. It worked flawlessly the entire time and I even got compliments on it.

I do not refute whatsoever that what they are doing with the RMA process is wrong. But the ones that are being built AFTER the May 1st update, do appear to be working well, in my experience so far.

So realistically if that's the case it took them about 3 whole years to get this right...smh

 

[mario]

So realistically if that's the case it took them about 3 whole years to get this right...smh

Are you saying that 3 years is too long for a company to get a very technical product developed and manufactured in a way that resulted in less failures? Because 3 years seems an impressive turn around for me for a company to go from not existing, to bringing their manufacturing in house, to fixing QA problems and even halting production until they had it sorted.

That actually sounds like a decent company to me. I'm not saying they are perfect, but 3 years still seems like a damn good turn around time for a company to find mistakes and fix them in such a huge way.

 

[Baron23]

That actually sounds like a decent company to me. I'm not saying they are perfect, but 3 years still seems like a damn good turn around time for a company to find mistakes and fix them in such a huge way.

I'm sorry but I can't actually agree with that. But we are all entitled to our opinions.

 

[JoeMama]

I don't know. Spare bodies seem like a good idea when ignoring the production bottleneck and my own RMAs. I am enjoying having three front ends for one hopper, a second body would be nice to have too. Just to store fresh chambers or indeed to take travelling for some peace of mind... Though a whole unit is better again. If I didn't already have 3 units I'd be quite happy to pick up a spare body, and I think its a good option for those that don't have surplus units to do so.

The lead time for getting anything HL has always been longer than they quote and longer than anyone would like. The pricing structure is interesting too. There is less assembly work with the body than the back end, they pick and place PCBs in house, print their own heaters and import tubes to hold it together. Making circuit boards and laser sintering metals isn't exactly cheap, but considering the size and their previous batch potential, 90 per Ti piece isn't that cheap, but it's pretty good value.

Sure it sucks that they can't produce the fantasy of thousands of units made per week, but it really doesn't suck nearly as much when you get to selfishly appreciate having a working one. If throughput is approaching a 50% increase from the last few months, that's solid but slow progress I'm happy about. I was recently quoted about a month til they get to either of my RMAs, which were processed in November last year. It'll be a 10-12 month ordeal in total before I see them again. I still look forward to getting them back, as still nothing compares. It's really not hard to endure some necessary bullshit, I actually have a use case for this device that nothing else can offer, not only am I waiting on HL, I'm waiting on every other portable manufacturer to deliver too. HL might not be miraculously fast, or even on time, but they're better and quicker than anything else happening. It's a shame the general consumer isn't savvy to the fact.

They don't need excuses, it's not hard to understand. Everyone else needs excuses as to why they can't produce something similar. The reasoning is the failure rate and complexity. Take it or leave it, there's only one applicable option

I guess I've had different karma with these things... Out of a dozen RMA's in two years, I've had one due to the body, and the rest due to bad backends!

 

[Mr. Me2]

I can’t figure out how to post a picture. I feel like such an idiot...



Modnote: Imgur's not liking FC these days. Here's a link to the image: https://i.imgur.com/lLsFFyT.jpg

Edit: Thanks for adding the link. I hope it works for everybody (I just tried on my iPhone and it didn’t work, though).

It’s a picture of a natural edge gh stand I just got from @Aezhenn. He’s been making some beautiful pieces for vapcaps, and I persuaded him to make this one for my gh. I LOVE it!!!

I hope this is a link to his thread - http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/wood4vape.24078/

Tinypic.com. Yay!!!

 

[kilo]

I like the NewVape Pax scoop.

 

[Shieldsab]

After getting a "1 to 2 weeks" at the end of May and a "this upcoming week" at the end of June my hopper shipped today. I have a tracking number which is working and correct.
If it works like the device I loved for a year, I'm very excited to have it back. As good as the Fury 2 is, I miss the hopper. I hope my luck holds out. If it's clean, they replaced my charger, included my batteries and aside from brand new parts it's the unit I sent in, those will be bonuses. Not having to pay border fees would also be nice. I haven't had many US warranty returns so I don't have much personal experience to go by there. But I find generally with UPS sooner or later there's a price to pay. I shall find out in a few days.

 

[vapviking]

Well, the trap is sprung!
Hopper batteries have now gone to $12 US each (formerly $7).
This is a 71% increase, overnight, on the only battery available that will power a Grasshopper.

In other 'just shoot me' news, I've just purchased a Hopper from TheHerbCafe, in Toronto. Got a 5% discount code, Sachin confirmed stock and is getting it out to me today. Free shipping to US. No taxes, no duty (because it's made in US). Should reach me before end of the week.

This is the place that is handling warranties in Canada (if it's one they sold). So, if HL keeps up this long wait-time thing, I may have a place I can fall back on

 

[newVaper420]

Well, the trap is sprung!
Hopper batteries have now gone to $12 US each (formerly $7).
This is a 71% increase, overnight, on the only battery available that will power a Grasshopper.

In other 'just shoot me' news, I've just purchased a Hopper from TheHerbCafe, in Toronto. Got a 5% discount code, Sachin confirmed stock and is getting it out to me today. Free shipping to US. No taxes, no duty (because it's made in US). Should reach me before end of the week.

This is the place that is handling warranties in Canada (if it's one they sold). So, if HL keeps up this long wait-time thing, I may have a place I can fall back on

Wow! I had 3 in my cart so I only paid $7 dollars for each today. They are supposed to be sending my hopper back but I have little faith.

 

[nonbeliever]

My TI RMA has been going strong since end of April, I’m happy to report. (My SS RMA is still a hostage in Boulder).

Has anyone tried using a titanium backend with a SS body (I can’t believe I never tried it with mine - duh), as I ordered a spare SS body not thinking about SS vs Ti.

 

[vapviking]

My TI RMA has been going strong since end of April, I’m happy to report. (My SS RMA is still a hostage in Boulder).

Has anyone tried using a titanium backend with a SS body (I can’t believe I never tried it with mine - duh), as I ordered a spare SS body not thinking about SS vs Ti.

Yesterday I tried the reverse, put a good working SS back end on a good Ti body, and it worked out fine.

 

[MoltenTiger]

I guess I've had different karma with these things... Out of a dozen RMA's in two years, I've had one due to the body, and the rest due to bad backends!

Yeah, I guess most of the faults I’ve had have been body/heater/sensor issues. Though I don’t know the technicalities, I’ve had cop lights three times, long heat ups twice, red then dead twice, flashing red twice, straight to blue once and stripped threads on a front-end after a replacement body mismatched it. I have had a back-end replaced once, my original GT001159 was preventing proper extraction which I could prove by swapping back-ends between units. It’s definitely better to have whole units as a back-up, but the newest back ends do seem much better.
Not sure if I mentioned it already, but between buying a backed unit and receiving a preordered unit through 2016 to purchasing in 2018, the quality of the product has really transformed into a full fledged offering. The USB charger is so much better, and so is the device itself. I’m really impressed with it.

____
I'm going to have to get that NewVape scoop! Thanks for the input everyone

 

[Scarpvape]

So after some type of mixup being remedied, I finally have my dec 19 RMA SS Hopper back as of today. And my god it makes me think my old unit never ran right. I could never get thick clouds quickly. I had to draw forever, and had to hit it like a pax. Like sipping hot coffee to get clouds.

Now, this thing heats up in half the time it used to and I get clouds right away. Thick dense clouds. I’ve been using my cap cap vong through water and it’s been great. But this grasshopper get bigger clouds and much much faster than the vapcap.


Here’s hope it lasts. Even though it ran cool, my last unit lasted like 8 months. So we shall see.

I dare say, as much as I grew to resent and become bitter with hopper labs, the frickin thing was worth it.

 

[Thebigsmoke]

Hi everybody. Could someone give me some advice. I ordered 3 batterys from hopper labs on the 11th. It says prossesed on my order history for 6 days now. I'm just wondering should it say shipped and do they provide tracking for standard UPS international as I'm in the UK. I don't want to start messaging them if it's already been sent and will be in the post for a few weeks but on the other hand I don't want to wait a few weeks only to discover they havnt even been shipped. Could anyone with experience ordering from them shed some light on it please.

 

[Rel2018]

Any recommendations for an A+ quality pocket size no-spill bubbler for the hopper ?

I just broke a perfect nectar glass..

Would this work for the hopper ?

https://www.smokecartel.com/products/honeytip-nectar-collector-with-titanium-tip

 

[lazylathe]

@mario

My Hopper is about 1 1/2 years old and has NEVER been sent in for an RMA.
It has worked pretty much perfectly since I received it with only a few flashing lights here and there but zero issues.
Sometimes when I click it on I need to rotate the button a bit before the lights come on but that is not every time and I do not see the need for an RMA as it still works.

What I have been doing lately is some basic maintenance that I hope is extending its lifespan.
After a few loads, I load a freshly charged battery with an empty chamber and rip it through my bong a few time. I them remove the front and back end and blow through from the back end.

I have never experienced "cop lights" or any type of failure that I could not use my GH.
It has been super stable with my usage.

Still don't know if I would recommend them just quite yet though, they have many growing pains to get through first...

 

[Cheesequake]

Both my accessory orders have been refunded by PayPal (NOT by HL) and I've been told I will receive a refund for my Electric Blue Ti within a few days. Anyone waiting for a refund I HIGHLY recommend you open a case with paypal. My accessory order claims were processed and refunded within 24 hours. Not sure why it's taking longer for the Grasshopper but they assured me I will not be paying for it.

Hopper Labs is a sorry excuse for a business.


The funny thing is, if they would've just contacted me and said "Hey man we're really strapped for cash and would appreciate it if you could just wait a little longer." I wouldn't have made a big deal about it but they simply aren't competent enough to do something like that.

 

[newVaper420]

They told me my hopper was ready to ship back 2 weeks ago, and talking to them is like pulling teeth. I want to have my Hopper for my trip, but I really doubt it's going to happen at this rate. And now I can't even edit my ticket anymore ?

 

[Baron23]

My TI RMA has been going strong since end of April, I’m happy to report. (My SS RMA is still a hostage in Boulder).

Has anyone tried using a titanium backend with a SS body (I can’t believe I never tried it with mine - duh), as I ordered a spare SS body not thinking about SS vs Ti.

Yes, there are no incompatibilities at all.

 

[mario]

So after some type of mixup being remedied, I finally have my dec 19 RMA SS Hopper back as of today. And my god it makes me think my old unit never ran right. I could never get thick clouds quickly. I had to draw forever, and had to hit it like a pax. Like sipping hot coffee to get clouds.

Now, this thing heats up in half the time it used to and I get clouds right away. Thick dense clouds. I’ve been using my cap cap vong through water and it’s been great. But this grasshopper get bigger clouds and much much faster than the vapcap.


Here’s hope it lasts. Even though it ran cool, my last unit lasted like 8 months. So we shall see.

I dare say, as much as I grew to resent and become bitter with hopper labs, the frickin thing was worth it.

So I'm curious. I get decent clouds from my hopper, but it doesn't 'milk' a bong or anything like my vapcap can do. It heats up fast and does get good clouds, but I do have to take long draws and do the 'sip' method you talked about. I am not unhappy with how it vapes, but I did expect a bit more of a punch when I stepped it up to 5. I would say that I think my vapcap gets hotter than my hopper, but isn't that to be expected? I'm just trying to figure out if I am having a good experience, or a bad one because I don't know any better.

 

[JCat]

So I'm curious. I get decent clouds from my hopper, but it doesn't 'milk' a bong or anything like my vapcap can do. It heats up fast and does get good clouds, but I do have to take long draws and do the 'sip' method you talked about. I am not unhappy with how it vapes, but I did expect a bit more of a punch when I stepped it up to 5. I would say that I think my vapcap gets hotter than my hopper, but isn't that to be expected? I'm just trying to figure out if I am having a good experience, or a bad one because I don't know any better.

A properly working Hopper will milk up a bong in seconds ... it should perform comparably to a powerhouse desktop like a VapeXhale EVO or a NewVape ShowerHead etc. If it's not hitting as hard as your hardest hitting desktops, it's not working up to it's potential. (that's the main reason I love the hopper ... finish a .15g bowl in 1 to 2 huge hits through water ... it's my replacement "desktop" vape when travelling! )

 

[newVaper420]

Yes, there are no incompatibilities at all.

Wouldn’t putting a stainless steel metal and a titanium metal eventually cause corrosion? I’m pretty sure I learned about it somewhere on this site. Also my mechanic. Galvanic corrosion.

In other news they really are doing their best to get my hopper to me. Gotta give them props. They shipped it.