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@vinylpimp
Received 3 days ago, in short, 2 more months of wait :(
Hello hellooo our brilliant Burner backers!
Final straight and a Burner hurdle!! We are SO close to the finish line, we can literally smell the white paint. It is truly agonising this end, but we have just had to make the call to delay shipping a little. So this is the email I really, really didn’t want to write, and trust me it is physically painful doing so! There are people working around the clock in Blaze HQ in London, in Salisbury and with suppliers in China and Europe to make sure we didn’t have to.
The long and the short of it is the decision has been taken to make sure we are delivering a better product and that over speed and rushing. Which I guess should always be the reasoning behind a delay, but I truly think this decision is an important one. We are just as impatient and excited to get you your Burners, we just want it to be the very best it can be.
Basically the major change is in the software - after we made the first few lights, we found ourselves wanting to make a couple of design changes to the PCB (printed circuit board) for the testing process. These changes allow us to test more parts of the PCB during the quality assurance phase of assembly. Which ensures an extremely robust quality check and allows us to ensure all electronic components are working perfectly on leaving the factory.
PCB testing means programming - so actually writing our firmware onto the PCB for how the light will operate, so needs to happen on every light. Hence taking a time to action such a change.
What this does mean is your lights have improved firmware, with superior flashing sequence and a simpler UX Design (the user experience and way it operates) we’ll hope you’ll love! And more subtle features such as the reliability and speed of charging the battery.
Another input into making this decision was the additional brackets. Because so many backers in the end wanted to have an extra bracket - and these were on a slightly slower delivery schedule, we decided we should take the additional time to get the firmware of the main manufacture tip top and then send it all out together.
The additional brackets (as mentioned before) took a little more man-power than anticipated, as they had to go through the DFM process from the prototypes we had during the campaign to a manufacturable solution. But we’ve done it! And to sweeten this very disappointing news, below are some pics of your new, snazzy, additional bracket solutions.
Another factor is our batteries - we use arguably one of the best suppliers in the world, for superior batteries across all of our products - the Laserlight, integrated devices into Santander Cycle Hire bikes, and have been delivered a 4 week delay by them. This is extremely uninteresting and hugely frustrating, proven nothing we can do about it, but it secured the decision to change the firmware.
Will be back with more detailed info on actual shipping dates, but the delay is sadly a few more weeks and we will now be delivering in July. I truly am aware of how disappointing this is and am hearbreakingly sorry!! You will receive tracking orders once dispatched, so please just hang tight for the moment. We’ll keep you up to date with every twist and turn in the race from here to the finish line!
Thank you, thank you for your ongoing support and patience. We cannot tell you how much it is appreciated while everyone is hustling hard this end.
With our love and thanks!
Emily + Team Blaze