Big update. Bad news: one month delay. Good news: the product is now a lot better and our most important milestone (tooling) is done!
over 5 years ago
– Thu, Jan 17, 2019 at 04:15:59 PM
Happy New Year to all you past/current/future Rumblers!
No burying the lede here: we're delayed by one month and Rumble Gos are now estimated for March delivery. [frowny face] Our apologies! We pride ourselves on meeting the estimated delivery dates for our campaigns, so it's a bit of a bummer that it won't be happening on this one. But that's also because we decided to make a number of improvements to the filter, so in the end you'll be getting a product that performs a lot better, and we can live with that. For all the deets, please read on.
So why this 1-month delay?
We've been keeping out of your inboxes recently because up until a few weeks ago, we were still smooth-sailing for a late February delivery and there wasn't a whole lot to report. But then we decided to make an additional tweak to one of our molds (specifically, the height-adjustable base silicone piece), and that set us back a few more weeks. Obviously we think it's a change that makes for a better product, so it's worth a few more of your weeks and a few more of our dollars.
What's changed with this new base?
We actually tweaked this mold two separate times...the first tweak was accounted for in our timeline with that buffer month we included, but the second tweak was the one that pushed us back. The base is vastly improved though, and below we've got some pics and descriptions to walk you through these tiny but important changes.
Here's where the original prototype stood at campaign time:
And here's where the final prototype is now:
Let's dive into the nitty-gritty to illustrate the changes we made and why:
1) Lowest notch now filled in: We eliminated the lowest notch by filling it in with silicone. This makes the entire base a whole lot easier for your hand to detach it from the metal filter. Formerly, when the butt of the base was flush with the bottom of the metal filter, it was difficult to get a firm grip on the base so you could pull it off of the filter. The new filled-in notch now gives you plenty of real estate to grab hold of. Since it turned out that none of the compatible bottles actually needed to use that bottom notch anyway, filling it in was a no-brainer of an upgrade.
2) Bevel added to the top: We extended the base a bit higher to add an angled bevel to the top of it. This bevel makes it far easier to insert the base into the bottom of the metal filter. Previously, the silicone base was totally flat on its top edge, and that meant you had to apply a lot of force just to install it inside the filter. That insertion process also put unnecessary strain on the bottom rim of the metal filter, and our hunch was that would inevitably cause wear-and-tear problems down the road.
3) Vertical channels added to the interior walls: These channels increase the lateral flexibility of the base so it's easier to maneuver. Think "feels more squishy".
4) Notches added to the butt: These bottom notches prevent any suction effect from occurring when you're pulling the filter up and out of a narrower-mouthed bottle (looking at you, CamelBak). Previously, the old, notch-less butt would create an air-tight seal on its way out of a narrower mouth, and that would make it both difficult to remove and potentially at risk of detaching entirely from the metal filter as you pulled it out, ruining your perfectly good, time-intensive coffee.
5) Thinner walls to allow it to be more flexible: This is a bit tougher to depict in photos, but the original base's walls were just too thick, tough and bulletproof, so we needed to soften them up and thin them out. The net result is that the new base is now a whole lot more flexible and a bit lighter-weight too, and this makes it a lot easier to put it on and pull it off and also make incremental up/down height adjustments.
A few other design changes that didn't effect the timeline
Metal filter - Just a few cosmetic changes to the metal filter (adding branding, adding a "Max" line etching mostly so you know which direction is "up", & rounding off some of the corners/edges).
Silicone cap - One functional change was to add 2 horizontal protrusions on each side of the vertical ridge that runs across the top of the cap, and those protrusions should make the cap easier to grip as you pull out a heavy filter full of wet grounds. (Folks who own Rumble Jars...you're already familiar with this design). We originally did away with them on our Rumble Go prototype because we didn't think they were necessary...we were totally wrong about that and they're definitely helpful with finger grip. We also added some "Rumble Go" branding to the cap. Obviously we do this to identify the product, but we also do it because the cap is a fairly small part, and in the cases where someone else finds it (e.g. in a dishwasher or on a kitchen counter), they can better figure out what it's for/where it goes/who might own it. We heard some reports of the silicone caps getting mistakenly tossed out for our Rumble Jars, so hopefully identifying each piece helps prevent a few of those instances.
Where are we now?
Tooling is done for the important stuff (cap, base, filter). What does that mean? That means all the molds are final, our metal machining parts are final, and basically they're ready to make these things! We've heard production will be finished by mid-February and these things will be shipping by February 20. The Rumble Jars took 18 days to reach us from Taiwan this past spring, so we're just going to budget a full month and if they happen to come earlier, great! So let's assume March 20 in our warehouse, then fully assembled the week of March 21, and shipping the following week. So if you're US-based, let's call it in your hands by the final days of March?!?! Fingers crossed!
As for the bottles, this is our shortest leadtime item and most reliable supplier since we're not creating anything new other than the custom laser-etching, so our order for these bottles won't be placed until we're absolutely certain our production is running on time. No reason to have these bottles sitting for weeks in a warehouse. But rest assured they'll be in our hands ready for assembly well before the filters arrive.
More info to come soon, including pics of the stretch goal bottle in the People's Purple color with the laser-etched logo, and also our pretty packaging.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your patience! Give a shout with any questions. Happy to help.
Hans & Karl
p.s. Fill out your Backerkit surveys if you haven't already! Link is in whatever inbox is associated with your Kickstarter account. Just search "backerkit".
