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Giant Robot.
Right. I know.
Please understand I did not reach this decision without much deliberation.
I feel obligated now to go ahead and elaborate on my thought process here...and my only intent is to outline these concerns as plainly as possible.
Despite my lack of emoticons, no ill will or offense is intended in any of the following.
As I begin to type out this monumental wall of text,
I should preface it by stating that after the last round of orders got refunded I pretty much stopped paying attention to the thread(s).
At that point it seemed to just be a waiting game for everything to come together and there was little relevant information being posted at the time.
Since then I've dropped by every month or so to dip into the thread and see if anything new was happening, but to date I had not really seen anything of note.
Fast forward to this week and I receive my order email.
My first concern right of the bat is I have been issued this 24 hour ultimatum to immediately order or risk not being able to receive the product I chose ... this mind you after extending the courtesy of my own patience to the manufacturer for nearly 3/4 of a year ...
But this is a minor irritant, I digress.
So off I merrily traipse to place my order.
Wait, what's this?
The product I originally ordered (SGW tube) is not listed as one of my possible selections.
Damn.
Wait, the other HT I was interested is not listed either?
What?
And what the hell is a HydraCirc?
And why are there no pictures of any HT at all anywhere on the order page to assist me in making a buying decision?
Great ... so off to FC.com to get the scoop I go.
Of course, like a good member I refrain myself from posting my questions, and instead proceed to wade through 1300 posts over the next four hours in an attempt to figure out why there's only two HTs (only one of which I've ever heard of in the entire development process) and to see what the current circumstances are.
Along the way I've come across a few things which, as far as I can tell, are for me considerable drawbacks.
These issues also appear to be universally occurring and are not random one off circumstances arising from the variable nature of many manufactured products.
My main sticking points were these :
1. The unit will exhibit a repetitive constant or intermittent clicking sound while in operation. For many this noise may not be an issue. For myself, given my temperament and the relative constant silence of my home, I fear I will find this constant noise either extremely distracting, highly irritating, or even possibly a source of concern.
2. Exhalation into the HT comes with the imminent danger of loss or injury. While I think I may be able to avoid ever breathing out while using the product I do not feel confident wagering near $400 that my wife will be equally capable of controlling her muscle reflexes. I would wager though, that every single person here has either performed or witnessed the occasional murph, so I do know this occurring is certainly well within the realm of possibility.
3. HT quality control (both "Pro" and In-House) appears to need addressing. IMO enough people out of this small subset of orders have mentioned issues with the Vertigo label peeling and design inconsistencies with the HydraCirc to cause me to pause.
4. After usage the unit can become uncomfortable to hold. Not monumentally concerning for me, but again with my wife, I don't want something that is going to be uncomfortable or impossible for her to use. As she has very small hands as well as a quite limited reach, I'm guessing the usable "grips" for her would be fewer than many others here, and if the product is too hot to use in the usual grip areas ... then kinda what's the point. I'm guessing given our pattern of usage (that is together) and the amounts we use (because all I can afford is $120/oz crap) a single session would either not be possible or excessively prolonged due to waiting for cool down. (This all is requiring a bit of conjecture on my part, so a ways down my list of concerns).
So those items, and several other minor concerns I have not mentioned, all add up leave me rather hesitant.
Certainly not confident enough to rush to slam down my money in the short time period allotted me to place my order.
I think for the most part my reasoning is logical.
As has been stated repeatedly the VE folks want to produce a good product.
That is evident. Their intent appears to be impeccable, enthusiastic and heartfelt.
I believe that ... I've already tried to give them money for this before.
But given the limited amount of information I have to work with I can only conclude they have not quite succeeded yet; but I feel somewhat confident they may yet be able to do so in the future.
So I think maybe the more prudent course of action, despite my reluctance to do so, would be for me to wait until they have addressed the production issues and pay the extra $100 for a clearly superior product.
I dunno...like I said, I didn't just jump to a decision and have tried providing evidence of that fact here.
I didn't see a couple little comments and have a knee jerk reaction.
I've tried to accumulate and parse as much information is available here at the moment.
And it is with a great, great deal of disappointment (and still second guessing) that I did reach this decision.
I've been very, very excited to get my hands on this and still want it right this very moment; but yet I cannot see that I will be anything other than disappointed with some aspects of the product in its current state.
I originally only came here the other day to mention that VE could skip my order in case any of the staff needed to know ... because after I emailed them my a short message indicating my decision to not order the response I received was another set of instructions for how to order...
so I just wanted to make sure if it needed to be noted that it was.
Anyway, there you are.
I apologize for taking up an entire page with this, but I felt obliged to share.
