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I fully agree with you here boss.
And I'm in no position to criticise a company that can't deliver when they hoped to, so I can empathise with them.
I'm kind of at the point where if they wouldn't insist on sending emails I don't need to see, that don't contain my shipping notification, I would actually forget about the karoo, and it would be a pleasant surprise when I finally receive it.
In the words of a Black Rainbow Project customer "it can't be much longer right?" :)
Black_Rainbow_Project
I'm sticking with my Hammerhead order.
I have faith that I'll receive a great device, though not so much faith that they as a company will survive.
This is pretty much my experience from having ordered a Kickstarter project for a heads-up display unit for a car that plugged into the car's onboard diagnostic system. I ordered it when I ordered a car for a three year lease, and only got the HUD 6 months before the lease expired... 2.5 years waiting for a product to be created and shipped.
But when it arrived... wow. It was flawless, and worked fantastically well. It had been delayed by a team of over-achievers who clearly had a perfectionist streak and kept pausing the ship date whilst they just made some feature better. Hardware being harder to fix and lengthier to produce than software... this just dragged and dragged. But when they delivered, they managed the Kickstarter dream of actually delivering a really good product.
The Hammerhead team reminds me of that. Instead of shipping a v1 that is good enough for commuters, they're over-engineering and making something that will shine. And they're having to contend with Android, and supporting hardware that Android hasn't typically supported natively, and yet doing this with good battery life, a great UX/UI, waterproof, shake-proof, dust-proof.
I think they're going to lose money on the devices they ship. I wouldn't be surprised if they go out of business.
But I also think that they're going to ship an incredible product that will work really well for as long as the software can run on it :)
If you're in the market... the Wahoo Elemnt is probably the better bet for a device with longevity. But if you're willing to risk your money and not receive long-term support... the Hammerhead Karoo is being built by a team of perfectionists who may well destroy their company to successfully deliver a good product. Bad long-term, but great if you're one of the ones who get the the mature product out of them.
I'm going to wait... it's not much longer now :)