I am VERY excited for the news because it means Basic are shipping, Pro are coming soon. They may have some things to finish for Pro, in part because they had Basic PRU out before getting their testing Pro units. They can apply everything they learned with the Basic towards streamlining the finish process on the Pro. Yes, @dan wanted Pro shipping at same time as Basic, and it may be coming very soon (we just don’t know), but he never committed to that. What he did commit to was that the solid goal was all pre-order units shipping by the end of July. We don’t know if they will hit or miss that goal, but they are well on their way to it.
The forums should be blowing up with celebration. Seriously, it should be party time, not complaint time.
Units ARE shipping. Even if they are not placing any Pro units in the mail, yet, They have started shipping Basic units 10 weeks before the goal date for shipping all pre-order units. I’m sure this is a small batch run, just like the production, but it lets them work out all the kinks and bugs in the production-to-doorstep path. Everything they learn shipping these units makes the shipping of the rest better and faster.
@dan and Glowforge are putting their money where their mouth is. This isn’t Beta. This isn’t PRU. This is Production. Customers are receiving the product they ordered. One concern with crowdfunding, while I never worried about it from Glowforge, is that it is possible that the campaign goes nowhere. This campaign is getting places.
Pro is coming. The step to shipping even Basic is huge and logical. There is no way that you could take a company like Glowforge, start shipping Basic in time for a publicly announced goal, then put off Pro another 3 or 6 months past that goal for a known reason and not risk losing up to half their customer base. This tells me, despite ongoing firefighting against different issues on the part of @dan and the Glowforge team, that they are well on the way to meeting this goal. (Yes, shipping Basic proves Pro are coming. The consequences if the fail there are severe, and any savvy company knows that.)
It is possible that they may still encounter issues that prevent the full shipment on time, or with only minor slippage. If they are shipping Basic, the likely issues to prevent that shipping is not likelihood of Pro units not being ready. It is the likelihood of issues in the shipping process itself, or with the expediter, which are unpredictable. They cannot be foreseen beyond wild speculation and guesswork until they arise. But as we have been shown with units and production, if such issues arise, they will be approached head-on and aggressively until resolved.
The delay incentives are still in place. @dan committed to a monthly incentive for every month your unit does not ship. If you are waiting another month for your Pro unit while Basics ship, you get more stuff for the delay.
While energy levels are insanely high at Glowforge HQ from shipping units, I suspect they are holding off the cake and champagne until either the July or August goals are met. For us owners in the forums, start the parties! Break out the cake and champagne. Make sure your Maker space is ready. Basic is shipping, Pro is coming soon, you have your incentives, and there are lots of reasons to celebrate.
I’m so very impressed that you guys at Glowforge have done exactly what you said you were going to do, a year and a half ago. You’ve fought your way past so many obstacles; well-intentioned ones, not-so-well-intentioned ones, and the normal business related cock-ups, and you did it with class…and also a considerable amount of style, which made it a lot of fun along the way.
The end is in sight, and if you’re not bursting with pride at the feat you’ve pulled off, you should be.
Can I just say that I am super excited. I’m a basic buyer. I am not in the first batch; but I’m so enthusiastic about this after 2 years.
I’m delighted and I’m getting my studio set up this weekend, because my email is coming soon.
I think it just shows how things are in our world of instant gratification. Very few folks have any idea of what it takes to manufacture a product. Even less for a product that basically opens a new market for a product that wasn’t in their price range as an option. (Kind of like Ford did with automobiles for the masses)
I had no disillusion. I signed on expecting a well made, well designed product whenever the necessities of production allow.
Now that time appears just around the corner and I for one am sad that I cannot attend the Faire to see it first hand.
One thing anyone doubting that Pros will be shipping soon just need to remember that Pro units make up a significant majority of their orders; It will be very bad for them if they don’t get them ready very soon. Also, they have already done testing and gotten feedback on pro components in basic chassis, so they are likely a lot closer than most of us realize!
So I assume if I have no idea what email is being referenced, I’m not among the lucky few in the “first batch”? Just wondering if anyone knows more details for those of us who didn’t get an emails? Thanks! Hype!
Whitelist any communications from ***@glowforge.com . (Rita coordinated the units for the PRU users, but I’m not sure where the new emails are going to come from.)[quote=“joe, post:31, topic:7838, full:true”]
The Email came from hello@glowforge.com.
[/quote]
Basic model, here. And yeah checking the spam folder too. After a more meticulous crawl through the forums, I’m seeing others like me, confused and hoping for an email, and I don’t feel so alone. Either way, it’s exciting if finished units are shipping out! It feels more likely that I’ll get a glowforge this summer rather than another postponement.
That is a very true statement. Been a long 18 month wait (as measured from Dec 2015 missed shipping date), but the summer happy dancing will be seen in June through August.
If you are a Basic customer, it would probably take a major fall-through in the Logistics/courier department to cause delay of yours past shipping deadline.
