This is simply amazing. The pricing per lamp (1200 or 1500?) - how did you arrive at that? And which segment of the population are buying this powerful corner lamp?
Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product
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Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product
#252I'm curious that this story seems to be missing a big part of hardware design - certification.
It seems like the design was being changed up to the minute these were shipped to customers, so it doesn't seem possible that any testing was carried out on the final design?
Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product
#253I never ever buy any crowdfunded product, because the moron that makes it always offshores production to China. I support local businesses, with a local supply chain. Please do that too, it’s how we get a better future!
Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product
#254This is super interesting, and I'd actually be quite interested in buying a 60K-Lumen lamp... but not at $1200. Years ago, there was an HN article "You Need More Lumens"[1], which in turn led me down a rabbit hole. I ended up purchasing: 4 standard table lamps from Target, 28 2000-lumen Cree LEDs bulbs[2] and, 4 7-way splitters[3]. The end result is somewhere around 56,000 lumens. And I LOVE it. Makes me much happier…
$1200 is a lot, and it would be a straight dealbreaker to me as well. But I also noticed it draws 580W, which is a lot too. Besides not wanting to waste the money, I doubt the lamp will last 5 years (not 5 years of projected use of XX minutes per day…). 580W converted to heat on a small disk will take its toll.
~100 lumens per watt is rather poor, especially given the cost. It's the same as a standard LED lightbulb, and that includes the miniature AC voltage converter.
150lm/w would make it at least a cut above domestic lightbulbs.
200lm/w would make it a premium product.
Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product
#255This is the second article about hardware supply from China I've read and it reads very much the same, albiet in a different niche (the other one was about SBC construction) -Anything you don't specify will be done least cost, and there is no amount of "least" which cannot be chased in manufacture. The other one noted if you don't specify the density of plastic for bags, or paper for bags and packing, you get clingfi…
So I'm curious, if you give them a really detailed specification, will they actually follow it all? If they don't, do you have any recourse? Are these small shops/fronts that are constantly coming/going like Amazon sellers, or do they have reputations?
> Are these small shops/fronts that are constantly coming/going like Amazon sellers, or do they have reputations?
Depends on the shop. The one I use for prototyping has been around for at least 15 years with a good reputation.
Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
$1200 is a lot, and it would be a straight dealbreaker to me as well. But I also noticed it draws 580W, which is a lot too. Besides not wanting to waste the money, I doubt the lamp will last 5 years (not 5 years of projected use of XX minutes per day…). 580W converted to heat on a small disk will take its toll.
~100 lumens per watt is rather poor, especially given the cost. It's the same as a standard LED lightbulb, and that includes the miniature AC voltage converter. 150lm/w would make it at least a cut above domestic lightbulbs. 200lm/w would make it a premium product.
> ~100 lumens per watt is rather poor
Is it, though? Most of the LEDs I've seen are very similar, and lower temp LEDs are slightly less efficient. If it were 60lm/watt I'd be a bit surprised, but 100lm seems pretty typical. Maybe not "well engineered", but average. (Which, with all due respect to the founder, seems the quality of the product.)
Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't know enough about your neighborhood, and I might have misread your comment (the "under the eaves" makes me think these are outdoor) but as someone who appreciates darkness I'd be really upset to live near someone who did this. Unless you can keep your light on your property (as in, you are extremely rural). why are you lighting up outside unless you are outside in the light?
The lights are indeed outdoor, and cover most of my backyard. It's a neighborhood within a major metropolitan area, but the light doesn't bleed beyond my property lines. As for the "why", the answer is security. If someone attempts to hide in my yard, they'll find it quite difficult to remain unseen. Most of my neighbors have floodlights of their own (though mine are easily the brightest), and I've gotten no complain…
My neighbour has a motion activated flood light. It's annoying. Not annoying enough to risk a feud by telling them though. It also completely ruins any natural habitat for nocturnal animals.
The whole concept of permanently lighting your garden is crazy! Where do you live that you're so worried about people hiding in your yard? Could you not solve that with cameras and an infra-red floodlight?
Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product
#258Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone living in the Nordics my experience already with central Europeans and especially so Americans is that these cultures are already much more high context than the Nordics. I guess up here we're all borderline autistic?
I am entirely convinced that the entire country of Germany suffers from Asperger's. Denmark is a bit better, maybe because they drink more ? Dunno.
I have observed the same across a bunch of linguistically Germanic countries (DE, AT, CH, NL, DK, NO, haven't been to SE, didn't observe it in IS), and I thought of it as "cultural autism." Apparently "higher context" is the politically correct way to say it. Now I know!
Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product
#260This is the second article about hardware supply from China I've read and it reads very much the same, albiet in a different niche (the other one was about SBC construction) -Anything you don't specify will be done least cost, and there is no amount of "least" which cannot be chased in manufacture. The other one noted if you don't specify the density of plastic for bags, or paper for bags and packing, you get clingfi…
That's not my experience at all. I manufactured simple objects in China some years ago (2017-2020) at scale (around 50k units) and everything went extremely well. The objects were order of magnitude simpler than in the post (no electronics and no plastic, only metal) so maybe that doesn't compare, but I never had any bad surprise from any supplier, including packaging (which can be quite complex and involve several p…
I would reckon the simplicity of the objects and the single material helped. If you specify 304 and you get 304, they can really only cheap out on tooling, and that'll cause them pain rather than you.
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