When hardware Kickstarters ship • Hacker News Board

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#51

Post by nugga » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 10:35 AM UTC

steven_pack wrote: post #37

rebootthesystem wrote: post #34

As someone with over 30 years in hardware + software + mechanical product design and manufacturing one thing that always bothers me on Kickstarter is the dishonesty of funding goals. Now, I do realize quite a few project owners come at it without the product manufacturing experience. I definitely get that part. Yet, I don't see it as an excuse. People need to do due diligence and get numbers closer to reality. I reme…

It's probably the number one question we get asked now rebootthesystem, by people in our network who considering KS. It's a catch 22. Aim too low, you can't deliver (unless you get additional capital... which might be the point), aim too high, people don't believe you'll get there, project fails. It's because of these incompatible goals that projects will keep going to low and keep posting eulogies on HN.

I don't understand the "people not believing you'll get there" point. The pledger loses no money if the project doesn't attain its goal so there is no reason to not pledge just because it might fail.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#52

Post by ild » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 10:53 AM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #20

polar8 wrote: post #12

I've shipped one hardware product on Kickstarter [1] and I'm in the process of fulfilling the second [2]. Lessons I've learned are: 1. Design with your factory. Finding a good supplier is important but the real work starts once you've shaken hands. Your factory is your greatest resource as a presumably inexperienced hardware designer. It's like having an expert-level consultant work on your project for free, so take…

The Lexan inlays are laser cut to a precise, water resistant fit (from Rideye campaign page) A little off topic but the Epilog guy told us never cut Lexan or any polycarbonate plastic because it makes a chloride gas thats dangerous to humans and destructive to the laser. But lexan rocks as a building material... So FUD? or does it require special considerations?

Chlorine, not chloride.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#53

Post by ild » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 10:56 AM UTC

listic wrote: post #14

zrgiu_ wrote: post #3

As a hardware maker on Kickstarter who is about to ship [1], I can sort-of agree with what the article is saying. Yes, one of the most important things is to find THE right partner in China, as that can easily make or break your product. However, if you're afraid to build your own hardware (or at least drastically modify something pre-existent), you're severely limiting your flexibility and the areas where you can in…

I remember reading a postmortem about a failed hardware Kickstarter campaign (some photographic accessory: a flash remote?) and they said they contacted a professional manager from the industry who told them he wouldn't even try developing new hardware without a few million in funding, tens of millions being more common. So there, turns out making new hardware is really expensive.

Hardware involves certifications (unless you are small-time EBay vendor).

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#54

Post by yoodenvranx » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 11:17 AM UTC

mgraczyk wrote: post #9

Congratulations, the final product looks sleek. I have a comment about the blog post itself though. Your page took 90 seconds to load on my gigabit internet connection. The two culprits are your high resolution images of the product DSC_0031.jpg and DSC_0014.jpg. Each image is around 3MB. I would strongly recommend recompressing these down to something like 200KB or less.

Hacker News should automatically add the size in MB for each submission. This would a) act as a warning for mobile users (the BBC article about dark matter on the front page at the moment killed chrome on my phone because it has too many images) and b) acts as a wall of shame.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#55

Post by federico3 » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 11:34 AM UTC

norswap wrote: post #50

Unrelated to the topic of the article. But I find such devices (kid surveillance, it's what it is) heinous.

Indeed.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#56

Post by amelius » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 11:36 AM UTC

Is it just me, or are most hardware projects on kickstarter easily replaceable by cheap standard hardware like a mobile phone or a raspberry pi, and the right software?

It seems strange then, that shipping is such a big problem.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#57

Post by boundlessdreamz » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 11:42 AM UTC

polar8 wrote: post #39

qq66 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Rideye looks great. Is that based off the keychain cams widely used in R/C video? Like the 808 #16 or the Möbius?

That was the original design intent, since the 808 camera provided all the video recording functions I needed. I thought I would just buy a bunch of cameras and make some carrier boards for them. I was just out of college at the time, and my coworkers recognized my naivety. They suggested I contact the 808 manufacturer for a custom board spin, and that opened my eyes to the world of mass manufacturing in China. To ma…

You could make this a dashcam? AFAIK most dashcams have terrible battery life and so have to be plugged in to the car charger

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#58

Post by moron4hire » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 11:47 AM UTC

Of all the kickstarters I've funded (and it has been a lot) only two have failed to deliver, eventually, and only one of those was a hardware project. It was an attempt to make an open-hardware GPU, and when it turned out way more expensive than he imagined, he released all the work he had done on github.

The other failed project was Neil Stephenson's "Clang!" sword fighting game. We all know how that ended >:(

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#59

Post by bsbechtel » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 12:56 PM UTC

For those commenting here about working with your factory ahead of time, would any of you be willing to talk a little about the process of choosing a factory to partner with? Thanks.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#60

Post by divisionfurtive » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 1:02 PM UTC

gfwilliams wrote: post #44

As someone who's now shipped 2 hardware KickStarters on time (both of which were bigger than KoalaSafe), I find it a frustrating when people post up 'hardware KickStarters never ship'. It's just not true. It's definitely 'buyer beware', and if you back a KickStarter that shows loads of renderings and no working finished product then you may hit trouble - but many people come to KickStarter with a working product, hav…

I completely agree. As a hardware maker (e-watches) with KS experience (2 campaigns), I find it frustrating that hardware projects on KS start with a negative perception from the public. It seems to me that a track record indicator is missing on KS. Like ebay feedback or a star-rating system...something that people can quickly look at and determine the level of reliability of a returning hardware maker. The number of project created is not enough...it does not speak about level of satisfaction.