I’m not sure we’ll get them this year either. (Which is common sense, based on the recent spate of shipping issues.)
But I’m going to continue to hope that we can. I know they’re trying hard, but likely weren’t expecting to get hit with manufacturing issues and shipping problems.
Once they get those sorted out - they can start making more of these wonderful machines and getting them out to everyone who ordered them. The machines are awesome. The problems now are the usual manufacturing and shipping problems that take a little bit of tweaking to get under control. It’s new, the folks building them are still working out how to do it efficiently without skipping anything, and the packaging needs to hold up to the transportation. If they don’t get those locked down before they start shipping in bulk, it will put an end to the dream. They can’t afford to replace ten thousand machines because of shipping damage. And these items are not under Glowforge’s direct control. Talking about it on the forums here does absolutely nothing to speed things along - they can’t do anything else that they are not already doing.
Except start over again with another manufacturer. Tack on a year. Not the greatest solution to the problem. We have no option but to wait, and to be as supportive of the team as we can. Because if they lose heart, (and listening to people complain about the job you’re doing is pretty disheartening overall), then the Muse folks will be thrilled to death, because there won’t be a Glowforge.
I want to opine for a minute since everyone else here does…They have put so much more into these than I was expecting in a simple tool. And it’s understandable that with anything this complex, there are going to be more snags in manufacturing and shipping than if they were shipping something really basic. They have to test them to make sure everything is in good condition before they go out, and that might be a bottleneck as well.
They probably could have gotten away with releasing a lesser version of the machine in bulk last December, but the functionality on these now bumps it up into the true “Holy crap! What a bargain!” level.
I’m curious about the statement that GF can’t afford to replace machines damaged in transit/delivery. I get there’s a large expense to quickly replace it but I find it hard to believe they’re out the cost of the machine that was damaged. I mean surely they have insurance coverage on the machine inside the box, right? (Just to be up front, sorry about calling you surely).
I’ve read this concern a few times and it doesn’t quite add up to me.
Think about it…they are selling the machines to us basically for cost, because we pre-ordered. If a machine is damaged in transit, it has to be rebuilt, and reshipped both ways. So they make practically nothing on those machines.
Yes, they have insurance, which will cover the damage, and the cost of the insurance then gets higher. If it were to happen on too many of them, they would probably be uninsurable, and that’s it. They can get by with a few initial problems, but it’s one of the reasons why they are taking the initial launch very slowly. They have to be able to get the machines to the customers without them being damaged before they can scale up production.
(This is all speculation by the way - I’m not getting any secret insider info. It just appears to be what is going on from reading the forum posts. Our business deals with delays on a daily basis, so it might be a little easier to see. Or I might be completely incorrect.)
I didn’t order a pro and I am not international, but I did get tracking for my basic unit, yesterday… plus two other folks I work with who ordered after me (they ordered day two) also got their emails, so things seem to be picking up… FWIW.
oh calm down, jeez. all this polemic is unnecessary, as is @darkdesign’s obvious snobbery.
anyway, while each country tends to view its own products as being quite well done, americans look very favorably upon european made products (the german flour mill i bought featured this prominently in north american reviews, as an example); europeans don’t have quite the same love for ‘made in the usa’, but it’s also nothing close to what was intimated above:
this was a survey of more than 40,000 people around the globe; apparently germany is the current reigning favorite for products bearing an origin label.
of course, it’s important to consider potential quality differences between products designed for sale and those explicitly designed for export.
anyway, the us is still very good at producing low numbers of complex things, like these lasers.
I have a BMW 135i coupe and an S1000RR motorcycle. Admittedly, the bike has been bulletproof so far and the best street I’ve ever owned, but any praise I give my 135i is completely tainted. One one hand I love it! 6 speed manual twin-turbo charged rear wheel drive coupe with 50/50 weight distribution What’s not to love? Reliability! I hate this car! It’s been nothing but trouble since purchasing it brand new. At least when it was under warranty when things went wrong, they were just an inconvenience. BMW fixed the frequently arising problems and I was always given a loaner to drive while it was in the shop. Now that the warranty is expired, the problems are just as frequent and very expensive to deal with. It’s like having a car payment even though it’s paid off. My next car will most likely be American.
I hate the inconveniences as much as the problems. The “it’s covered” lessens the bite but it’s still a PITA.
OTOH, I do own two BMW motorcycles and I love them. Just none of the other German vehicles I’ve owned. I switched to Lexus because they cover everything as well, but they tend to not break in the first place and that’s what’s important to me.
I have owned a couple of Audi A3 cars over the last nine cars and they have been very reliable. The first one I had was two wheel drive and it had lots of understeer. The one I have now is four wheel drive and seems perfectly balanced. It drifts sideways if it lets go.
I hate this car! It’s been nothing but trouble since purchasing it brand new. At least when it was under warranty when things went wrong, they were just an inconvenience. BMW fixed the frequently arising problems and I was always given a loaner to drive while it was in the shop. Now that the warranty is expired, the problems are just as frequent and very expensive to deal with. It’s like having a car payment even though it’s paid off. My next car will most likely be American.