The Grasshopper

[zymos]

So, as a backer, I was a bit confused by the other email Trevor sent out, about them throwing in an extra battery for the delay, since someone on reddit quoted him saying that this was just for preorders, not for backers. I was worried that maybe they had me down as a preorder, not a backer, and so I was going to get bumped farther back in line. As I was writing him, I realized that I had ordered an extra battery a couple of months ago, and that might have caused confusion.



Here's his response:

"Correct, you got the email because your battery order fell into the "pre-order" group. You are in the backers group so no worries! The extra battery email to you was a mistake on our part, and often an unavoidable one as people use different emails between inidegogo and our site."

So, backers will not get a free battery, because we will receive our orders earlier. Or something like that....

 

[Delta3DStudios]

So, backers will not get a free battery, because we will receive our orders earlier. Or something like that....

Because you got your vapes less than us preorder customers? I paid $135 for my vape plus $7 for each battery. How much did you pay?

Kinda shitty that they're giving the battery to some and not others, but I hope they make up for this by giving something else special to the backers.

 

[RUDE BOY]

I'd avoid anything that would cause me to have to unscrew the GH tip and potentially lose it.

If this is how you feel the GH may not be for you 'cause Don't you have to unscrew the tip every time you fill or empty the herb chamber?

 

[zymos]

I don't care about whether or not I get a free battery this point.
Someone on reddit posted this:

" Indiegogo backers will enjoy additional benefits in the future so don't think we forgot about you! Best, Trevor"

 

[Fenton Mewley]

The thing is, it won't be a believable pen, because clicking on the bottom won't make the tip come out.

Maybe, all you need is a little prosthetic piece to fit in the hole which looks like a ballpoint tip?

Anyway, what we really need is for MJ to be legal everyplace, so we don't have to sneak around anymore.

I've been coming up with an plausible defense for the Grasshopper and since you called it out, I'd like to share my defense.

This is an electronic pen for artists. It works on touchscreens and also communicates via buletooth. The dial increases or decreases stroke size. The light indicates connection to a bluetooth device: red for searching, blue for connected (you can always say "oh, it connected to my phone").

The only thing that makes this argument weak is the lack of a ball point like real electronic pens. I'm sure someone coughRatchettcough can create a small little plastic tip that goes into the mouthpiece and is easily removable, but the silicone mouth piece cover could suffice as the point.

Also because you got your vapes less than us preorder customers. I paid $135 for my vape plus $7 for each battery. How much did you pay?

Kinda shitty that they're giving the battery to some and not others, but I hope they make up for this by giving something else special to the backers.

We paid a year of patience, we laid the foundation.

But I do not expect a free battery for being a backer, as much as I would love one. A signed card from the GH team would be enough for me.

 

[vapebuddy13]

If this is how you feel the GH may not be for you 'cause Don't you have to unscrew the tip every time you fill or empty the herb chamber?

not really because if you swapped the tip out for a pen tip then the actual tip will have to be kept somewhere, chances of losing it are a lot higher than taking the tip off just to lead it

 

[Mrbinky]

We paid a year of patience, we laid the foundation.

But I do not expect a free battery for being a backer, as much as I would love one. A signed card from the GH team would be enough for me.

I just missed being "allowed" to be a backer by days. Then, I had to wait a year until I was allowed to pre-order. And, it turns out, they needed my money anyway, to be able to ship product.

Who knows? If they would have "allowed" me (and others like me) to be a backer a year earlier, then we could have all gotten our Grasshoppers earlier and with less drama. And I would have gotten the same deal as you: but I probably would have ordered a red Ti in that case, because that's what I really wanted all along but cannot afford now, since the price for "non-backers" is so much higher.

 

[RUDE BOY]

not really because if you swapped the tip out for a pen tip then the actual tip will have to be kept somewhere, chances of losing it are a lot higher than taking the tip off just to lead it

Thanks. now that i see the context was having a fake pen tip to switch out with the real gh mp what @syrupy said makes good sense.

 

[marduk]

If they're only giving the free extra battery to pre-orders and not to backers, they should at least give backers the option to order extras at the original backer price of $5. The battery life they claimed during the campaign was way off, and I'm sure that affected battery purchase decisions. Yes, I know it's only a $2 difference per battery at this point, but it's the thought that counts.

 

[Mr. Me2]

If they're only giving the free extra battery to pre-orders and not to backers, they should at least give backers the option to order extras at the original backer price of $5. The battery life they claimed during the campaign was way off, and I'm sure that affected battery purchase decisions. Yes, I know it's only a $2 difference per battery at this point, but it's the thought that counts.

I remember Trevor talking about the battery price increase from $5 to $7 and think he said they were basically selling the batteries at cost (I'm pretty sure it's in this thread somewhere). So the $2 could mean a lot to them. You don't make up a loss by selling volume... Hopefully (his) battery prices/costs will come down as his manufacturing orders increase. Otherwise, I wouldn't be surprised to see the retail battery prices go up.

 

[vapebuddy13]

I'm still waiting for the first Shipping notification post... They should have had enough time/parts to ship out at least one FC backer that was early on the list by now

 

[Mr. Me2]

I'm still waiting for the first Shipping notification post... They should have had enough time/parts to ship out at least one FC backer that was early on the list by now

From your lips...

 

[Delta3DStudios]

I'm still waiting for the first Shipping notification post... They should have had enough time/parts to ship out at least one FC backer that was early on the list by now

My thoughts exactly. There should have been at least one shipping notification between the users on reddit and FC by now given all the positive responses from Trevor recently. I won't believe grasshoppers are shipping until I hear someone on this thread get their tracking number and it starts moving.

 

[zymos]

They might not literally ship them one at a time. Logistics might dictate a batch of say 100 going out at once. We still don't know how long it takes them to get from a bunch of parts to a boxed GH.

As said above, till we hear that someone has gotten at least a tracking number, then they aren't shipping yet.

 

[Mrbinky]

They might not literally ship them one at a time. Logistics might dictate a batch of say 100 going out at once.

I don't know about that. UPS will ship one box for you if you want. You don't need to wait until you have 100.

Given how long the backers have been waiting, I think they should rightly be shipping their boxes just as soon as possible. They obviously still don't have all the parts. Or, maybe, some of the delivered parts are defective, somehow. For example, they don't fit together properly or whatever...

 

[zymos]

Reread my post, paying attention to the word "logistics". Of course UPS will ship a single box.

Pretty much anything any of us says about this is speculation, since we know nothing about their assembly and shipping procedures- I'm just offering a possible explanation, as are you...

 

[Delta3DStudios]

They might not literally ship them one at a time. Logistics might dictate a batch of say 100 going out at once. We still don't know how long it takes them to get from a bunch of parts to a boxed GH.

As said above, till we hear that someone has gotten at least a tracking number, then they aren't shipping yet.

Once again, from the horse's lips

Hi,

Thanks for reaching out to me. Things are going pretty well here. I'll do my best to answer your questions.

The estimated ship dates are for the most part reliable. We are working out to see who got a March date as some of those will not be met.

The majority of the Colored TI units and Stainless units will go out at the same time. Some Stainless will go out first but if your turn in line for shipping comes up and you want to switch we will work with you on that.

Yes, the ones we shipped were mostly production units and went to a few people who we knew were okay with that and were pre-indiegogo backers. We are working on expanding that number of people, but it was still significant to us to get those units out.

We are having some parts shipped back but full assembly won't be happening before we get back. Some of the stuff just takes to long to make and we will most likely beat the batch back to the US.

We will do rolling shipping for the most part. We plan to work around the clock to get them out as fast as possible.

Hope this helps and sorry for the short hand.

All the best,

Trevor

Note this line:

We will do rolling shipping for the most part. We plan to work around the clock to get them out as fast as possible.

I take "Rolling Shipping" to mean they're going to ship as they make them. If you have even a staff of 5 people working to assemble these pens "around the clock", theoretically they should be able to get out a dozen+ units per day. You can schedule UPS or FedEx to come to the office daily to pick up shipments. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't ship daily as they start mass producing these units

 

[Mrbinky]

Reread my post, paying attention to the word "logistics". Of course UPS will ship a single box.

Pretty much anything any of us says about this is speculation, since we know nothing about their assembly and shipping procedures- I'm just offering a possible explanation, as are you...

I understand what logistics means. It may be less efficient to send them out in tens rather than hundreds. But that doesn't mean they couldn't do it if they wanted to make their backers happy. Buzz got one, after all...

 

[Kalessin]

I think they're at the point where they ought to realize that they need to reassure people. I don't see why they'd refrain from letting a few go, since it would almost immediately make it's way through the grape-vine and would almost certainly do a lot to make people feel better about them. It would make -me- feel better about everything, anyway.

 

[Mrbinky]

I think they're at the point where they ought to realize that they need to reassure people. I don't see why they'd refrain from letting a few go, since it would almost immediately make it's way through the grape-vine and would almost certainly do a lot to make people feel better about them. It would make -me- feel better about everything, anyway.

Absolutely. That would be the smart thing to do at this point. The minute even *one* verifiably ships to a backer, it will make a *huge* difference.

And, I'm sure they realize that, too. Which is why I'm fairly sure that, if they *could* assemble and ship product, today--*any* product!--they would do so. The fact that, so far as anyone on this board knows, they have not shipped even a *single* box speaks for itself.

 

[zymos]

Again, not one of us knows how the assembly is actually performed, or how many people are doing it.
For all anyone knows, they have a pile of 100 finished grasshoppers, but the person whose job it is to pack them in the boxes is a flake.

Also note the qualifier in Trevor's quote- "we will do rolling shipping FOR THE MOST PART". Meaning that there is another part, where they aren't doing rolling shipping.

I'm just throwing out possibilities, though really , I really don't care WHY no one has a tracking number yet, it's just a fact that they aren't shipping yet, and knowing any reason behind it doesn't make me receive mine any faster.

 

[Kalessin]

To me, knowing the reason behind why they aren't shipping is of utmost importance...I'm cool with waiting, as long as I know why I'm waiting. If I'm being told I have to wait and I'm not given a reason why, it makes me irritable.

 

[Mrbinky]

Besides, which, they are still accepting pre-orders. What if the reason why they still cannot ship even a single box, is because their suppliers messed up the electronics, or the size of some vital part? That would be a highly relevant fact for people who still haven't made up their minds if they want to pre-order, or for people who'd rather get back their money and invest it in a shipping vaporizer, instead.

For those of you who know Tagalog, these guys remind me of a "pakipot" girl.

Or that song "Kailan" by Smokey Mountain

Kailan, FYI, means "when". It's a song about yearning to be noticed by an unrequited love interest.

 

[grokit]

I've been coming up with an plausible defense for the Grasshopper and since you called it out, I'd like to share my defense.

This is an electronic pen for artists. It works on touchscreens and also communicates via buletooth. The dial increases or decreases stroke size. The light indicates connection to a bluetooth device: red for searching, blue for connected (you can always say "oh, it connected to my phone").

Brilliant !
Just call it an electronic stylus instead, then no analog writing functions are necessary

 

[zymos]

Why not just say it's an e-cig?