Damn, I leave for a 2 week vacation and come back to a suspended account. I don’t really think I deserved that so here’s my 2cents and if you suspend me again whatever. I’m just spitting facts here.
- The overall design changed, without any notice. It was originally designed as something unique and, honestly, really cool looking. I was looking forward to the functionality too, but I can find any of over a dozen machines that make good coffee. I honestly wanted the design and was taking a chance on their take of “the best coffee ever”.
- The machine looks to be more conventionally set up - separated areas for separate modules/elements, flat design, knobs instead of whole rotating functional elements, etc. And that is fine and all, but also not what I was sold on for this product. Again, I can get a number of machines to do a good cup of coffee that look similar enough to this “v2”. And yes it’s a bit nit picky, I get that for anyone who has differing views. That’s ok, we’re allowed to have different views. But, If I buy any product and get something that’s so drastically “redesigned” honestly it feels like a bait and switch.
- I understand why they changed the design, whether they want to admit to it or not. It’s an easier device to maintain, the longevity is probably considerably greater, and they don’t want to deal with as many warranty claims as they were anticipating. When you have things like a heating element so close to all the other functional components, the lifespan of it will decrease. My problem with doing this is they say they’ve had “years” of testing and an actual functional prototype with many of the coffee gurus out there saying great things about the product. Again feels bait and switchy.
- The last thing that bothers me is the lack of transparency. I can’t even get a straightforward answer from them about if it’s just as easy to clean as the previous one. This bombshell was dropped on the project site after over a month of no contact. Up till that point it felt like they were really good at communicating changes and engineering needs to further the product.
Finally, I’ve done plenty of kickstarts/crowdfunding projects and there have been minor design changes with all of them. Minor changes are never a big deal, but major changes like this feel like they are trying to sell me a different product. Say what you want, say what you feel, but this is how I and a number of others feel. Trying to get any decent communication from them has been a problem since they posted this “update”. I’m not trying to get back at them for anything. They have my money, I’m vested in it, but I am saying this more as a warning since they still haven’t changed their sites for the latest design.
![Original Design](https://ibb.co/rcvnKyy)
![Redesign](https://ibb.co/gPCTGb6)
![Modules/Elements Mockup](https://ibb.co/fNtcxbf)
Image Links
https://ibb.co/rcvnKyy
https://ibb.co/fNtcxbf
https://ibb.co/gPCTGb6