Originally Posted by redgreen

Vapourlab8.

Just curious how many you have on order and if non what difference does it make to you?

FYI


The first two lots of pre orders sold out. Within a month or so there will be hundreds shipped most likely. Thunder Power does not expect to have their new charger on the market for a couple more months, Hyperion just announced a 4 week delay on their new chargers due to a supply issue. There is currently a global wide parts shortage. It does not matter how many components you need to meet production to fill orders you have to take a number a wait. If you demand only higher quality components you have to wait longer.

Any manufacture / vendors want to ship orders as that is how they recover their investment in development and make a profit

Charles

"vapourware A product, usually software, which has been announced but has not yet been released to customers."

Vapourlab8: A product, which has been "been in development and in house Alpha testing for aprox. 18 month", but has not yet been released to customers.

Glad to hear it's coming :-)

", but has not yet been released to customers.

Splitting hairs are we?

Commonly when someone post vapor whatever they are referencing a product which they feel will never make it to market or at least not in the near future.
Fact is I have been an FMA customer for around 20 years and if you include their past history with ACE /RC products I have been a customer for close to 40 years or so.
So myself and at least 3 other past FMA customers have in fact had a PL8 for over six months and not only that but I have two of them.. Some will be very glad that I was given the opportunity to do Primary / Exp. tests before they received their's but then some are just anxious.

I for one really hate it when I purchase a new charger only to find out it will not operate under the latest version of Windows, needs to be updated out of the box, is difficult to find / load the required drivers and such and if you make one mistake it has to go back to the vendor for repaire / replacement.

Charles

I am VERY glad you had this as a beta tester.

I got my feathers ruffled when they pushed the due date out...so I am grateful and anxious.

Originally Posted by everydayflyer

Splitting hairs are we?

Commonly when someone post vapor whatever they are referencing a product which they feel will never make it to market or at least not in the near future.
Fact is I have been an FMA customer for around 20 years and if you include their past history with ACE /RC products I have been a customer for close to 40 years or so.
So myself and at least 3 other past FMA customers have in fact had a PL8 for over six months and not only that but I have two of them.. Some will be very glad that I was given the opportunity to do Primary / Exp. tests before they received their's but then some are just anxious.

I for one really hate it when I purchase a new charger only to find out it will not operate under the latest version of Windows, needs to be updated out of the box, is difficult to find / load the required drivers and such and if you make one mistake it has to go back to the vendor for repaire / replacement.

Charles

Without wanting to encourage more mudslinging, which I personally feel is in danger of tarnishing an otherwise informative and excellent thread.

Mainly as feedback to the Manufacturer for allowing the community of potential and actual customers here the opportunity to ask questions to those directly involved in this products development. I would like to say thank you to all involved in helping create this thread.

For my own part I am, as most probably are, disappointed if there is a delay when I order a product but these things happen. Normally as a consumer I do not know quite so much about the whole process as I am fortunate enough to do so here.

I am happy to accept the delay in the shipping of my product knowing that it is being thoroughly tested and checked. Providing the charger lives up to its billing I shall remain a happy customer.

Thanks again to all.

mrhelichopper

Originally Posted by mrhelichopper

I am happy to accept the delay in the shipping of my product knowing that it is being thoroughly tested and checked. Providing the charger lives up to its billing I shall remain a happy customer.

+1 Communication from FMA about the progress has been transparent and timely. I have no problem with the delay. Besides, even if they start shipping next week as expected, FMA is still way ahead of the competition for this class of charger. The only exception is charger that shipped recently which appears to have been sent to customers before it was ready.

While I don't want to particpate in the mudslinging, its important to compare the beta cycle vs real ship date. In the case of FMA, the beta testing was done in a controlled way and completed before the product was made available to end users. Other vendors may use earlier adopter's feedback to finalize the firmware. Nothing wrong with either approach as long as the end user's expectations are set correctly from the outset. But the differences between release processes must be considered when comparing two different manufacturer's ship dates.

I have received NO timely updates from FMA. Not for the any of the delays, and not for notice of the accessories. And for sure not now. Nice that gw or whomever called in to get an update.

Vapour is Canadian spelling.

Sorry to cause any consternation. I thought Vapourlab8 was clever when I first coined it, and balanced out (at least for me) some of the incessant rar ra ra that this board regularily regurgitates.

Originally Posted by redgreen

I have received NO timely updates from FMA.

I can't speak for you, but I've a Powerlab8 on pre-order since FMA started accepting them. I've been recieving regular updates via email, most of which are also posted in this thread if you take the time to look. I personally do not care for the "dump eveything in one thread" style so popular here on RGC. Makes it hard to find anything. But with this forum we have what we have. Even if it takes hours to find all the comments related to the question you have, its all there.

Good to hear they are going to be shipped next week. the long long wait (ordered 3 months ago) finally ends, HOPEFULLY.

So have you received an email re: the latest delay and probable release date then? I didn't, and learned the rumour here.

Just to avoid any confusion, I believe the poster that he was told it would be shipping next week.

However, from my perspective "mid June" has turned into sometime in July.

Originally Posted by redgreen

So have you received an email re: the latest delay and probable release date then?

Yes, on the 10th I recieved an email that contained the following text:

The first production run units of PowerLab 8 will be delivered to FMA next week for testing and final assembly.

Following this schedule the first production run was delivered to FMA last week for testing and final assembly. Its not clear to me what all is included in that process. But I would assume that it would take more than a week to complete. So if they ship this week, that surprasses my exepectations.

Based on my experience with ship dates and other manufactures, this is quite a bit better than most. Another vendor whom I will not name told me a long awaited part will be ready to ship in two weeks. They've been saying that for 6 months now offering no explanation for the change in schedule. In this industry, we've seen vendors miss ship dates by years without offering an explanation.

Look at this way, would you have preferred that FMA say absolutely nothing and surprise the market when they are fully stocked. I for one appreciate visibility that FMA has given us into thier processes as well as thier challenges. There are other manufactures that do announce right before general availability. While this is more "consumer friendly", I have the stomach for a little uncertainty and prefer more information than less.

Personally I never look at published ship date as commitment the manufacture has made to the consumer. I see it the target schedule set by the manufacture based on the best available data. The schedule cannot predict every eventuality. Some project managers are better about padding the schedule or "seeing into the future". But in the end I care more about FMA's ability to design and manufacture a charger than thier project management skills

I did NOT receive an update from FMA. Perhaps your perspective of FMA's actions would be slightly more negative, if you had been kept in the dark like I have?

Instead I wade through this board occasionally to learn what tidbits I can, and to be lectured over and over...

I think I am the poster your referring too. I called FMA on friday of last week and they said that they were doing testing and assembly the whole week and would be shipping this week...this week now because its monday for me...
A UPS tracking number will be what you receive when it ships. Not sure what that means for Canada oh Canada.

Originally Posted by redgreen

So have you received an email re: the latest delay and probable release date then? I didn't, and learned the rumour here.

Just to avoid any confusion, I believe the poster that he was told it would be shipping next week.

However, from my perspective "mid June" has turned into sometime in July.

My perspective would border on irritated with the updates so your not alone and I have received updates. I dont wait for email updates any more I just pick up the phone...much easier on my psycho

Originally Posted by redgreen

I did NOT receive an update from FMA. Perhaps your perspective of FMA's actions would be slightly more negative, if you had been kept in the dark like I have?

Instead I wade through this board occasionally to learn what tidbits I can, and to be lectured over and over...

Last major RC product I prerdered was a Polk Tracker III some years ago. It was 6 or 8 month late pass scheduled shipping date. The voltage display read 0.6V high ,the alerion pot failed after around 6 hours,the LV alarm is so low I can barley hear it isude and even an electric drowns it out. It was suppose to be firmware updateable by way of a flash card which never happened. They were afraid thier code would be pirated so it had to go to them for updates. It has a 99 model memory but when updated you lost all but 1-10. After around three years they discounted them down to $99 with a receiver and they still have them in stock I believe. They never came out with a 2.4 version.

Would yo believe that the Elevon mix could not be turned on except by means of a switch which meant flip that switch in flight and crash. There were many other what I consider serious bugs also. Now they are back to selling trains.

Charles