Have they given any indication of when they think they will be past this perpetual "kickstarter"/pre-order phase and actually have devices available for purchase? Or is it gonna be onto Remote 4 kickstart before 3 is even readily available? I am glad there are folks willing to spend $$ on a product with no idea or clue when they will get it if ever...I just cannot do that.
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Concerns about buying via Kickstarter
- Thread starter rafaelsmith
- Start date
I can’t answer that but I can say they’ve delivered 3 models of their remotes successfully and each Kickstarter round has been bigger than the last. There are a lot of folks who can’t get past this even though this company has delivered each time. This question is asked constantly, and I’ve given the same response every time. I don’t make anything off convincing you to buy an Unfolded Circle remote but I could get a commission from other remotes. I’m honestly very tired of this question because it’s not taking into consideration the history of Unfolded Circle and the people running the company, it’s based 100% on opinions and stories about Kickstarter.
Maybe the Sofabaton is a better remote purchase for you, there’s zero risk of it not arriving.
I admit, my distaste for Kickstarter is probably clouding my judgement. The fact they have not been able to graduate beyond Kickstarter after 3 rounds is not a good thing IMO. I have recently been having more and more issues with my Harmony Elite not charging so will most likely soon find myself forced to go with an alternative unless I can find another "new" Elite on Ebay or something. I have been tempted to retry Sofabaton ...hoping they have improved from the first time I tried it. Cheap enough to try i suppose.
So you're saying they should overcharge everyone for the hardware in order to make enough to "graduate beyond Kickstarter"? Or maybe they should make it a subscription service where users had to pay $12/mo to continue using the remote, in order to create an ongoing revenue stream that could fund future manufacturing?
Or perhaps look beyond Kickstarter and realize this is the same small group of guys who care about their product, and pricing it fairly, and have repeatedly been successful at delivering via Kickstarter to a larger audience each time.
Fun fact, only 9% of fully funded Kickstarter projects fail to deliver, and there's even fine print there that indicates most of those 9% were partially fulfilled. And campaigns that raise less than $1000 are most likely to fail. Checking my notes, Unfolded Circle raised a lot more than $1000.
All the time you're spending doubting this company and trying to find someone to convince you to join the party is time you're spending with a failing Harmony and considering remotes that are far inferior to what you could be configuring today if you just look at the facts.
I'm not going to respond to any more questions about "what if it doesn't show up" or "but kickstarter" or "will it ever be for sale at Walmart" or anything about that. I don't know, but they're moot questions. The remote was available, you chose to skip it, and that's not going to change soon. You can preorder it or you can go to Best Buy and get a poorly designed remote that's easy to set up.
I'm here to help those who bought the remote.
At this point I only have one negative critique but that has been mentioned here already. Battery life could be better. Beyond that I am thrilled with the remote. The flexibility it affords to tailor the remote to your own use is really an unexpected find.
The remote has gone through its second iteration and I’m kicking myself (no pun intended) for not ordering a second one. Is there a learning curve? Yup. The remote is not for the average consumer just yet. Does it do everything that my Harmony could do to where I will be leaving my Harmony behind? Everything and more!
If a Sofabaton works for you, go for it. I couldn’t pack that POS back up fast enough and get my refund.
The remote has gone through its second iteration and I’m kicking myself (no pun intended) for not ordering a second one. Is there a learning curve? Yup. The remote is not for the average consumer just yet. Does it do everything that my Harmony could do to where I will be leaving my Harmony behind? Everything and more!
If a Sofabaton works for you, go for it. I couldn’t pack that POS back up fast enough and get my refund.
I'm of the same opinion as to why they haven't left "Kickstarter" after all this time so haven't bitten yet. I did try the Sofabaton and sent it back within the 30-day return period. I did end up getting the 2nd release and kept it but only use it in one room that hardly gets used. I tend to do a lot of tweeking with my Harmony remotes and am pretty good at it after 20+ years. I bought an extra Harmony Elite and keep it in a closet just in case my other two Elites break and can't be fixed. As long as the Harmony servers remain turned On, I just be good for now. I'm not even sure the Unfolded Circle remote can do all the sequencing tweeks, etc. that I use. I don't care about Home Automation but just what my current Harmony remotes do. I don't need things like the lights dimmed and curtains closed done. I just want the remotes to turn On devices, switch inputs, and command the devices.
Kickstarter isn't t he red flag it used to be. Major companies now use Kickstarter as it turns out to be both capital-efficient for new projects (even if they easily have the blanace sheet to support large R&D) and ends up with very cost-effective new product awareness marketing.
Good recent examples: Logitech, Gillette, Anker, Hasbro, Xiaomi... they have all launched new products via kickstarter or similar platforms like IndieGoGo.
Why?
Good recent examples: Logitech, Gillette, Anker, Hasbro, Xiaomi... they have all launched new products via kickstarter or similar platforms like IndieGoGo.
Why?
- Market Validation - highly effective and more accurate than previously-used "focus groups" and surveys
- Buzz Building
- Pre-sales pipline building for cashflow
- Community Engagement - cultivate early adopters and superfans
- And it's even a brand boost - makes them seem scrappy, innovative and grassroots-focused, even for a big company that can't really achieve this in any other way.
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My order is finally on the way, but just got hit with $144 of import tariffs. 
"So while one should still use some caution when joining a project that's being crowsdfunded, it's no longer a negative on its own that companies choose to go this way, and definitely does NOT mean they couldn't get funded any other way. Trust me, I'm an angel investor and VC and see companies all the time I'd like to invest in that are finding that early-stage funding via kickstarter is more efficient for all those reasons than taking money from quality VC firms."
I don't think it's related to "efficiency." It's because the company likely doesn't want to give up control required by the VC firms. With KS/crowdfunding there is no loss of control . . . just funding.
I don't think it's related to "efficiency." It's because the company likely doesn't want to give up control required by the VC firms. With KS/crowdfunding there is no loss of control . . . just funding.
That’s effing ridiculous.My order is finally on the way, but just got hit with $144 of import tariffs.
Welcome to the real world - if you lived in Europe you would probably be paying a VAT for sales over 135 pounds or equivalent euros.My order is finally on the way, but just got hit with $144 of import tariffs.
Are you talking about a Kickstarter order or Kscape?
Mr. Big
Well-known member
The latest November update doesn't paint a rosy picture for US backers, with shipments paused due to "... excess amount of parcels being stuck in limbo for months without any resolution." And "... we got a few packages back with the reason: Service disruption occurred" and "... however we still have 60+ packages that we have no idea when, if ever, we're going to get them back." And now having to deal with tariffs this Kickstarter experience has really become a big cluster.