That’s why I’m actually hopeful. I figure if there was something ugly they’d have raised the alert already. They’ve typically provided more than a month’s notice if they’re missing a date.
I {speculation alert} believe the only thing they think will impact December shipments is if the November pre-release shipments get wrecked in transit. I expect Dan’s promised announcement in the beginning of December as to whether the pre-release taught them anything new.
Nobody has any firsthand knowledge save for the staff and the people working at the factory. None of us know the production rate nor the shipping timetable. Therefore it is useless to speculate.
A date has been specified. We will have our units in hand by the end of the year.
Further word on the subject likely won’t happen until after the pre-release units roll out at the end of this month, meaning that we won’t hear anything until the beginning of December.
GF staff have first-hand knowledge. And I know they watch the forums. I thought GF wanted customers to discuss things here. And that we could count on getting their input.
Sure, but they have also stated that they won’t make statements about stuff like this. Repeatedly. We’ll get an announcement after the pre-release units ship and that will have more info. Until then they have made a promise of delivery by 12/31, and given us no reason (no matter how much anyone might speculate as to their production or shipping capacities) to believe otherwise.
I spent way more time here at work than I should have searching… I can’t find it.
Maybe I was wrong about seeing that specifically. I thought I had. It was a reply to a question I’m sure, not an “announcement”. Ship in December is for sure though.
That’s the current promise. Delivery was not committed to - that came out of a thread from Bailey’s interview at the MakerFaire where she pointedly said that they were scheduled to ship this year. I raised that as a change from delivery and Dan came back with a post affirming her shipping comment and then followed up later with the one you linked to where he said it again.
But everything is subject to the caveat that it has to be “ready” and we don’t know what that means except that it’s supposed to be wonderful.
I’ve actually been encouraged by the walkbacks on some things over the past month or two (like the Pro software, filter, etc). That means they’re probably assessing what’s really needed to be a successful launch vs what they had promised from the beginning. It feels like they’re having the “Day 1” vs “Day 2” conversations that precede product launches.
Yeah, that hasn’t been my experience at all.
I’ve been happy with the updates and communication from glowforge, but I totally understand that some people feel like they’re being kept in the dark. I do agree that you kind of have to look for the information and updates yourself.
That’s actually an interesting concept. It suggests that full on production will not begin until they are happy with the November pre-release shipments. That might imply that best case scenario is production, claibration, testing and shipping, all in the month of December. I mean there would be not point manufacturing 10,000 units only to find out that the November pre-shipments showed that beefier stepper motors were required type of thing. Unless the only thing being tested in those shipments was the freight forwarder itself.
So I guess if 10,000 ship in December it will be cool and I’ll be able to start doing my thing with it. And if it gets delayed yet again, well, what you gonna do. . .
Or that production is well underway and what they’re looking to test/evaluate the shipping - what happens as these boxes traverse the country vs. the narrow range of the current beta users. If they ship pre-release units and see some damage issues they can address the packaging before boxing up 9900 other units.
Yes, I think that’s what I was at in the last sentence of the first paragraph. 
Yep. We’re agreeing.
I think their silence on the hardware is encouraging (vs those who think its troubling) - Dan has been slowly pulling back on some things (software features, air filter, etc) and to not have pulled back on the shipping date suggests the hardware is fine in their eyes. The only other thing they can’t have tested yet is large scale shipping (I believe the betas are all pretty local to the PAC NW) and that’d be the logical last testing step before calling in the brown trucks 
@sfarmer, thanks for your post! I appreciate you joining the conversation. I’ll update everyone before the end of the month with the latest progress towards shipping. I know that’s not what you (or many others) want to hear right now, and that everyone would like more pictures, updates, and so on, but we’ve decided to keep our focus on our deadlines and provide shipping updates when, and only when, we have definitive news to report. We’ll have that by the end of the month.
Thanks for responding @dan. I for one am happy with that response. I’m a big believer in if you don’t ask you won’t receive. It’s also nice to see you’re ALWAYS plugged into the communication going on in the forums.
That’s great news, @dan! An update by the end of the month is perfectly reasonable.
Please know that I want this product to be great too. We’ve all been waiting over a year. And no news leads people to speculate that we’re going to see the date slip.
Thanks for chiming in.
I think its just more of trying to get reassurances that the date will be met rather than slip a 3rd time. Seeing is believing…
When that 6 month delay was announced, it was like a punch in the gut. If it happens again, it will feel the same.
I understand that only one promise has been made - that Glowforge will ship when the founders are confident in the design, with a standing guarantee of your money back without question at any time up until they ask for the shipping address.
The date that is causing or hopes to rise in a crescendo is a projection. It’s not chiseled in stone until the man in the Hot Seat says it is. He hasn’t… yet.
One thing I am certain of, is the team is doing their level best to meet our expectations - and that Dan would do everything he could to avert the pain of having to announce another delay.
how do you read this as great news? really! they can’t take a photo to show us all the units ready to ship out? Still no sign of the Pro Model, why? because they are so focused or because they are not actually ready to ship out? Sorry but no news is bad news, expect a another delay!
Probably because he didn’t look at “What do we have right this moment?” NO NEWS!
And instead looked at “What have we just been promised within the next 2.5 weeks?” NEWS!
So… is news of news also bad news?
You gotta choose to be happy with what you have, or miserable because you can be.
Have to agree with you here. Little to no news up to this point, followed by delaying until the last excusable second to say anything screams of another delay. This way when it is announced they can say “we held on as long as we could buts its just not possible.”
I’m not mad though, as soon as they said December I laughed, maybe they will surprise us…