Chuckle! Wow…I held out for a whole 3 days! (I’m just an iron man!)
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I only found out about it on the 24th, then it took me about a week to convince my wife. 
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After reading the comments on this thread I must say I remain on the “cautiously pessimistic” camp of people feeling a little disappointed and frustrated with the lack of clear communication throughout the campaign. I bought two Glowforge Pros, when the first delay came, I stood by them. When the second came, I cancelled one of the Pros, bought a huge laser from China, got it delivered and already working and receiving orders on it. Couldn’t be happier with it. Which brings me to my main cause for worry with the Glowforge.
@dan and the Glowforge team have always mentioned that you can get a full refund up to the point when the machine is shipped to you. If you receive it and you love it, great! But if for some reason it gets launched without a promised feature or “future updates” coming, you are stuck with it. It is stated very clearly in their FAQ that they will not take any returns on them. So what they are asking is a huge leap of faith in my opinion, after waiting it out for over a year, without even being able to see the true capabilities of the machine and the way it works. The no-returns policy makes sense for products that have been tested and are available for you to review at stores or online. Not so much for a $4,200 product that will take over a year before you can actually see it working.
In my opinion a lot of the discussion of “you promised this…” or “the website stated…” would be dismantled if you put the same amount of faith in your product as we, your backers, have put into it. Let us return it after we get if we are not satisfied with it. At least I would be a lot more at ease if you did this.
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Wow. Thanks for posting this deeply personal and well-written history. I can relate to the phone trigger. Once in my life it was not only a phone trigger, but the update scrawl on the news channels. If you have ever been one of the scrawlees, it will cure you of watching news channels forever.
I can imagine the challenge it is for Dan to be so faithful to this forum and know that any given time he’s going to be reminded of the things that were less than helpful that they did during that first month.
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Yikes! Can’t imagine. 
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I’m debating to upgrade too… but not sure if I really need it…
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Wow, thanx for reminding me that where I work is not the worst possible. Looks to me that the only major mistake you made was staying as long as you did but I am guessing you were young inexperienced at handling toxic people.
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I disagree. I can understand why everyone is apprehensive about the finished product and the time delays. But regardless of when people thought they’d receive their item, everyone knew it was preorder - with the “preorder now” button (rather than ‘buy now’) and the giant preorder tally. There are inherent risks with preorder, one being that the product isn’t tried and tested. Obviously that doesn’t mean it’s not still nerve wracking to spend thousands on an unknown, but no one went into that aspect blind. The risk of the unknown is why we all got the preorder pricing; it’s a perk for taking a leap and committing early. If you want to wait to see if glowforge lives up to your expectations, get a refund, wait until it’s tried and tested, and then order at whatever price it’s selling for. I think that’s a totally valid option for anyone who isn’t comfortable with any and all of the potential outcomes.
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Once you get to the 70’s, you’ll see the version of the Kool-aid character in the graphic.
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In light of the upcoming price increase, if you really wanted your money back, for the effort of reselling it there would be a potential to make money on it - if that’s any consolation.
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Me too. I seem to always have a sudden panicked “should I upgrade?!” moment when shipping becomes a little more real. I don’t really want or need the features of the pro, but I think not having that option anymore makes me second guess myself 
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You may get more replies to this than you might care to see…
“Drinking the Kool-Aid” refers to the 1978 Jonestown Massacre; the phrase suggests that one has mindlessly adopted the dogma of a group or leader without fully understanding the ramifications or implications.
Sam Hill; an American English slang phrase, a euphemism or minced oath for “the devil” or “hell” personified (as in, “What in the Sam Hill is that?”).
(Sam Hill is also the name of the ex-Mayor of Portland, Oregon…from my neck of the woods.)
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Yes! I have that sudden panicked moment too. I’m pretty sure I will upgrade when shipping becomes reality. I’m sure I’ll love the Basic but I don’t want to regret later on with “Darn, I should have gotten the Pro for XYZ reasons.”
*XYZ reasons are yet unknown for me (Maybe to cut/engrave something that’s longer?)
Wish there was a visual aid or video that compares the two so I can convince myself - Yes, for $1800 I need the Pro.
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Adding to Xabbess’s excellent description, the remark supposes the superior intellect of the person saying it, implying that others who “drink the Kool-Aid” can’t think for themselves.
That’s why it’s considered an insult, and if you say it to a person’s face, you’re begging a poke in the nose.
(That’s what they do around here anyway.)
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I think I missed the boat on the upgrade. I’m pretty sure it was less during the crowdfunding.
Can’t justify another $1800 for a toy, no matter how spectacular it is.
Gonna just have to make do with the Basic. (Which should be excellent, so no complaints.) 
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Thanks. Wikipedia takes the bow. 
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Toy! How dare you - As far as my wife is concerned I’ve order a machine capable of light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation and it would be safer all around if she stayed out of the workshop and away from it… 
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I tend to argue in favor of Glowforge almost all the time, so would likely be one of those identified as a Kool-Aid drinker (and I grew up on the stuff. Never, EVER forget the sugar…), though I prefer to believe my arguments are grounded more in reality than optimism or blind faith.
Anyhow, I fully admit that when I ordered I had expectations to get the thing in my hands before the end of March, and be able to use it in my class that semester.
I did not read extensively on the website to figure out the chances of that happening. But, I was absolutely a novice to crowdfunding/preorders. Though I am experienced in product development, so once delays did happen, I understood the reasoning quite well.
And when I realized manufacture had not started yet, I immediately had expectations for the CURRENT delivery timeline (I doubted the mid summer as possible, but was willing to be proven wrong). But, this insight was because the one preorder I had participated in previously had given elaborate updates on what the manufacturing process was like, and I had seen many documentaries on how LEGO bricks are made and what they do for QA.
The point? This back and forth is borderline insane. Both sides have their own viewpoint. Nobody is going to convince anyone else to change their mind, nobody is even trying to. People are just seeing who can be the loudest person in the room.
So, like… stop. M’kay?
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Precisely 
Thing is, our personal perspective is an aggregate of our life’s experience, so it is ours alone.
Because I don’t identity with someone else’s or they with mine doesn’t invalidate either one - but with verbal communication we are at the disadvantage of piecing together the intended meaning.
The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred
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Chuckle! Well, I won’t spill the beans.
Actually, my toys are orders of magnitude less expensive than my husband’s, which tend to come with four wheels and go really fast.
To be honest though, I’m driving the fastest one in the bunch, and it’s a freaking monster.
If you’ve never tried driving one…give an Eqqus a shot for your next test drive. Absolutely no cachet at all, but boy, can those puppies move.
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