DavecUK it’s certainly raises concerns. I saw the content on HB and Reddit a month or so ago and I’ve posted about it earlier (or maybe it was on CoffeeSnobs?) but in summary the story goes something like this: two brothers, serious covid related supply issues, probably some mismanagement, second brother is working on Meticulous while the first is still stuck trying to sort out the chess mess. Yikes.
IMHO, having catastrophically messed up the chess thing, my guess is that brother number two would be quite motivated to put some winning runs on the board (pardon the chess pun) and make the Meticulous project a winner so that their names are redeemed somewhat.
And ANY time you get a KS project that gets delays (and granted, the chess thing may prove to be worse than a delay of two years) there are those who reach for the rocks and to start the stoning process. I saw it with the Osma, people can be brutal in their threats and accusations.
Still, definitely a concern. It may come down to how risk averse you are. And that’s a very individual thing. I have a high risk threshold at this price point. But add a zero on the end of the price and then, not so much.
And I really liked someone’s earlier post who said something like: "I will wait and if it’s any good I’ll pay the bit extra and buy it retail later. : That alters the whole risk/reward equation.
That’s a pretty smart approach and covers folk who want a bit more security around spending their hard earned.
If we pay our money then we take our chances.
For me, the Decent (love them or hate them) is a brilliant machine and prices start at around US$4,300 whereas the Meticulous is launching at US$1,200. Yes, the D does steaming, some models can be plumbed and it has a water resevoir, comes with an integrated tablet and the software is now very well refined and supported by the extraordinary community in their Diaspora. But still, for me, I don’t value all of those extras very highly (other than the refinements) so when I strip them all away, the US$3,000 price difference is quite a lot.
