We’ve been making excellent progress towards getting Snap into your hands, despite some frustrating delays. As we get closer to shipping, we wanted to share our latest progress and answer some questions we’ve been hearing from you. Let’s dive in:
Beta progress
Our Beta testing has been both positive and productive. We have been finding and fixing a healthy number of bugs, but haven’t had any issues requiring significant redesign. We’ve been getting valuable and constructive feedback as well, and incorporating it into our design wherever possible. Most of the issues we’re dealing with have been software related, and the hardware related bugs have been on smaller components.
Manufacturing status and shipping expectations
We cannot guarantee any precise shipping dates yet, but we target ending the beta test period and beginning production shipments on March 1st. We think our chances of getting all our parts and hitting this goal is about 70%, and have no reason to expect any major delay. From there, we expect that it will then take approximately six weeks to manufacture all pre-sale orders.
We understand we have moved this date back enough times to stretch everyone’s patience. We’re not happy about it either. Delays from our manufacturer in shipping PCBAs we needed for FCC approval and beta scale-up were the primary cause of the most recent delays. However, the responsibility for maintaining the schedule is ultimately ours and we accept full responsibility.
We have subsequently received the delayed boards, passed FCC testing and resumed beta expansion. We will be scaling up beta over the course of the next month, so if you are an early backer and live in the US, look for an email from us as we expand the beta test.
We’ve made substantial progress building up our assembly line and training staff to scale-up production. Check out this glue robot we created for building rotor sets below. We are getting final parts delivered every day and our inventory is filling up. We are not, however, entirely out of the woods. Snap is made out of 450+ parts, and every single one is required before we can ship. Until we have all of them in our hands, we are dependent on timetables that are not entirely in our control.
Firmware and software status
We are finding and fixing bugs every day, and improving on all existing features. Android is coming along well and will be ready to fly by the time we ship, although the full feature set may lag iOS just slightly. Our autonomous flight and tracking modes are looking top notch. Here is a recent video from a test flight testing our newest feature, free-form tracking with elevation changes.
How about some recent footage?
While we still want to post awesome footage that showcases Snap onto our youtube channel, that takes a lot of time and energy away from development, hence the lack of recent posts. So we decided to make our private Vimeo channel public. The videos on this channel have bugs, are unedited, and are sometimes a bit boring (unless you are excited to see Joe’s backyard), but this is the easiest way for everyone to keep up on our progress with full transparency. We publish new videos just about everyday, and have also released old videos showing early prototypes (and much younger looking founders!). Check it out, https://vimeo.com/user25547420
When do you expect to ship out the first wave of accessories?
We are focused on filling pre-sale orders. We expect to complete our speed rotor set and range extender quickly after pre-order units have shipped. If you want a glimpse into the future, these prototype rotors are designed to fly much faster and in high wind conditions. Additionally, the prototype in the picture flies for 32 minutes and is over four times quieter than a Mavic according to our acoustic testing (67 dBA vs 74 dBA).
Necker Island
Tobin and Joe are heading out to Necker Island today, and will be presenting to a panel of judges, which includes Sir Richard Branson himself, tomorrow (Thursday)! If you are interested in watching the event, there is an XTC Facebook event that will have a live feed, https://www.facebook.com/events/1444915052199045/. The rest of the team will be hanging back and charging along in the office getting your Snaps ready (the team vacation will have to wait until next year).
Do you have a user manual? Can I see the app before I get Snap? How does the app work?
We are still developing the app, and will not publish it until we are close to shipping. The app contains tutorials, videos, and a full manual to help you get comfortable flying. We will publish the tutorial videos before releasing the app, but not for a few more weeks. Until then, here are a couple quick peeks of our iOS app. Note that this is subject to small changes (like adding the free-form tracking to the list of automated features).
What features will or will not be ready at launch?
Manual control with the SmartTilt, all of our automated flights (Orbit and Out and Back) and tracking features (air tripod, virtual wire, and free form tracking), return-to-home, smart battery, and geofence functionality are all working very well right now and we expect them to be ready for launch.
There are a few areas that require additional work and may not be 100% complete at launch. The video streaming latency is excellent, but reliability and range still need software improvements. Tracking is GPS only, as our computer vision software isn’t ready. The DSM module will not be ready at launch. These issues are high priorities, and we plan to focus on getting them up as quickly as possible.
Will we be able to order extra parts and batteries before shipping still?
Our current payment partner is great with pre-order sales, but does not support shopping baskets for extra parts. We need to relaunch our website with a new payment partner in order to do this. This has been a lower priority and may not be ready when we start shipping, but we expect to launch soon after. We will make sure to announce as soon as the new website is online!
When will the pre-sale end?
Soon. We will make sure to announce a few days before it ends so that all of the last-minute shoppers will be able to squeeze in an order.
We’ve been touched by the outpouring of support from our community, and are incredibly grateful for your patience while we finalize everything over here. We also love getting feedback from our community, so please feel comfortable letting us know if you have any questions, thoughts, or requests.
— the Vantage Robotics team
© 2024 Vantage Robotics
YAHOO!.
What a brilliant detailed update!!.
I think I’ll have to read it a few times to take in all that is here.
This along with the released Vimeo account videos is great for us all to feast on.
Hopefully the 01st March date comes around quickly without any major issues/setbacks so we can all get in on the fun!.
Thanks to you All.
Thanks Gizmo! Feel free to send any questions if you have them.
Absolutely marvelous update. Best of luck tomorrow Tobin and Joe. Regardless of the outcome, VR has already proven itself by reaching the final round.
I’ll be saying this over and over again. Free-Form tracking with elevation changes is huge! There was a lot of criticism on the blog a while back as to what features we would see during launch and I think the list of features now puts Snap ahead of the competition and we have the vimeo video’s to prove that they are working! I don’t know how you guys have pulled off the elevation changes when no one else in the industry with a full featured drone has been able to (including the big boys). I strongly believe that once Snap reaches mass market and all of the additional features are built into Snap, it will rival all other self-video capturing drones. The safety and user friendliness was never in question but now it is becoming more and more clear that Snap will rival its competition in video capture features as well.
Special thanks to posting all of the vimeo videos and for constantly answering questions on the blog and in e-mails almost every single day. That is company transparency and customer service at its best. Some might think that it does not make up completely for the delays but if we compare VR’s customer service to the rest of the industry, I believe their track record thus far puts VR significantly above the average if not at the very top.
Once again, good luck tomorrow.
K
Thanks Kevin!
Have missed so many opportunities to get great footage on trips I probably won’t take again for a long while.
Hopefully, this will be in my hands before I head out to Iceland again, but it looks doubtful.
Sorry Ken. We hope you get to have more amazing adventures in the future that you will be able to capture with Snap.
Great update ,looking forward to using Snap on our outback adventures .Happy to wait for an awesome product . Great work .
Thanks Peter!
It is quite exhausting every single extension for the shipping date, and its made me reconsider several times on quitting and simply buying another drone. I would say it was a mix of the videos and pictures every now and then and the fact that you do reply to comments on this blog very often that kept me from quitting. I too have missed awesome trips with this drone, trips that will never again be had, shame, but I very hardly try to understand the conditions you opened the pre-orders under and will continue trying to do so. Eitherway, this is the second blog post that actually lifted my spirits and gave me oxigen to spire for the drone to arrive.
The Vimeo acount was the BEST thing you could have come up with and I cannot stress this enough: DONT STOP USING IT! its marvelous watching the videos, specially loved the one named “someones first flight” or something, actually seeing someone use the drone for the first time is what made my terrible last week and a half been bearable.
I do have a a couple of questions:
1) how big and heavy do you expect snap’s box to be?
2) you did mention some posts ago something about a free battery, and if im not wrong a case? any news on that?
finally: the app looks great, like it a lot. AND ABOUT ENDING PRE-ORDERS?? that was the part that made the post so great, it feels like we’re getting to a close, finally..
keep up the good work and publishing all those photos/videos/posts.. that has made me kept on waiting and not backing down.
Thanks Nick. We know that these delays are super frustrating. We want to get everyone flying more than you can imagine. But as frustrating as those delays are, Snap progress is really moving along and this is an exciting time.
Glad you like the vimeo account, we will certainly keep posting stuff. We will also try to record some other peoples first flights. You should also check out of Facebook and Instagram pages because we post pics there more often than on the blog.
The box we are currently using is about 24x14x6, but is subject to change. If you want precise dimensions and weights, let us know and I can measure it out.
Pre-order customers will get a free case. We have a solid design for it, but its a pretty low priority right now.
and by box i mean the one you’ll actually ship
Free case? Earlier emails/blog posts suggested a free additional battery? Please confirm.
Confirmed. Pre-sale orders will get both of those, though the case is a bit of a lower priority for us in terms of development.
This is absolutely the longest wait I have ever had, but I will still be there and wait for my snap. Pre ordered in Sep 2015.
Thanks for hanging with us Terence.
Truly a great update, ive been following ur vimeo posts each day, again—well done guys! Beginning to see a glimmer of light starting to show up at the end of this shipping-tunnel…(place extended applause here)! Gonna also mention how kewl the free-form tracking with elevation changes is !! ….im getting very excited now, and am so very glad i stuck it out…its gonna be super….hope ya win the contest, ill be bragging on ya’s anyhoo….believe that!! tks again for the update.
Thanks Chuck!
I hate to admit it to the world, but I’m a techy nerd. What is meant by free-form tracking with elevation changes?
I too have at times been temped to hang it up, but I’m patiently dancing a jig for the release. After all, I would rather have it late and purring than earlier and stuttering.
Thanks Loren!
This is great news. Thank you so much for the update and the Vimeo videos. I am so excited to own the best drone on the market. Thank you for the hard work and for putting up with frustrated(ing) people ( me, thank you for putting up with me).
Can I be sold bold to ask some questions about the future?
In the distant future…can yall set up a First Person View flight mode using the smartphone + controller + off-the-shelf VR headset?
I want to feel like I am flying!
Would you please please show a video of the Endurance rotor set?
Thank you James.
Thanks Paul and no problem! Looking into the future, we definitely want to get more into VR. We have played around with a few different headsets here in the office, and have made some subtle design choices that will one day allow for this. However, its not super high on our list of 1000 awesome features we plan to unroll (maybe halfway up the list?).
I looked through all the old video footage, and couldn’t actually find any with the flight endurance rotors. We built a prototype of them before we launched in 2015, and took it out one morning. I remember taking a bunch of pictures, but don’t remember any video. The design has changed quite a bit since then, and we don’t have the bandwidth to make all the required changes involved to get another prototype in the air right now. This is one accessory that we are most excited about though, and is at the very top of our list. As soon as our manufacturing issues are tackled, we will get something out asap.
Thanks for the lengthy update. I’m thankful you guys shared the information you did. I do have a probing question though.
Seeing that the FCC clearance was a hold up due to delayed PCBA shipment and that Snap has 450+ parts that are all required prior to shipping, can you guys actually give us something tangible to grasp? Or is that something that is just not going to be shared.
I think knowing about the delayed PCBA for FCC clearance would have made the delay back at Christmas MUCH easier to cope with.
I don’t want to be a Debbie downer, and this could just be MY OPINION, but I’m a detail oriented kind of person and would actually like to know when all the parts arrive.
Details make understanding so much easier from my perspective. When my “employees” show up late to work, they need to let me know they are going to be late, and why. Perhaps many of us don’t understand the little things and clearances and authorizations you guys had to go through, but some of us have a better understanding than others.
So, to recap – can we get an update on how we are doing on parts arrivals over the next 4 weeks? That will give us super detail oriented folks a running tally on whether or not that March 1 production spin up is realistic. We are talking 27 days…. It would be AMAZING to know around the 15th of Feb if the targets for parts arrivals are still awaiting fulfillment or if things are proceeding as you guys planned.
The drone enthusiast community is beginning to see just how CHALLENGING bringing a new quadcopter/drone to market really is when parts are sourced from the four corners of the globe. It’s not easy.
However, keeping the customers informed is easier. Just my 2 cents. Keep up the great work!
Hi Tibor,
Bringing a new piece of tech is incredibly complicated, and giving an update on the status of all our parts is just not possible. Further, it is critical that we keep a good relation will all of our vendors and partners, and posting details of every issue can damage that relationship in the long run.
That being said, the vast majority of parts are secure. Chinese New Years is wrapping up and we expect everything to be shipped on time. And, in broad strokes, we will keep you posted on how our target dates are looking as March gets closer.
Nice job on the update VR. Like Tibor, I am a bit worried though that there will be a lack of updates between now and March, other than the replies on this blog that will probably be along the lines are “an update is coming soon.” Also, there is a 30% chance it does not ship March 1. That is a pretty high probability, and I fear you guys saying “well, we did say there is a 30% chance” if in fact they don’t ship by then. Again, I don’t mean to come off like an (insert whatever comment here). This is very constructive criticism. PLEASE KEEP US UPDATED ASAP IF YOUR MARCH 1 SHIPPING DATE DOES NOT LOOK FEASIBLE. In the long run, you will be pissing less people off than if you were to wait after March 1 and make that type of announcement.
Thanks for the feedback Scott. Duly noted.
What great news and update! Great luck tomorrow!
Thanks Al!
I know I (along with many others) busted your guys’ chops a lot, but the vidoes on the Vimeo page speak for themselves. You created a Mavic that’s not fragile, is adaptable (sweet looking fast-pod set), and has what seems like rock solid footage. Great job making the wait worth it, seeing the light at the end here!
Thanks Eugene!
Great update, I’ll be attempting to watch the live Stream on Saturday morning and rooting for you guys.
Will express shipping be an option? (at an extra cost of course). I ask as I don’t want to have to wait till early/mid May (shipping US-Me is generally upto a month).
Thanks Chris. Just FYI, the event is today!
Sept 2015. I ordered in March 2015. It will end up being an entire year wait for me. Assuming VR does not delay again. I’m not holding my breath on that one. If they don’t start shipping in March, I’m cutting my losses, getting a refund, and purchasing a drone I can actually use.
Thanks for your patience Dustin. We hope you can hang in there for this final push.
Sorry, I meant March 2016, not 2015….
Just realized: 32 minutes flight on speed rotors!! Thats fair impressive, I cannot bring to mind another consumer level drone that can do that. Is that time recorded hovering or flying? Indoors or outdoors? Have you done any top speed testing?
Thanks Chris and good questions. We have not done extensive testing on this, and that time might change (for better or worse). It was not tested flying at full speed, and there will likely be some design changes before we ship. This was just our preliminary results, but they were all really good.
Have you thought of developing a Motorola Moto Z mod shell incorporating an altimeter to solve elevation changes with free form tracking ?
No. We have a lot of development in the works right now, and more and more new phones are including altimeters these days. If you have a phone without an altimeter, the elevation changing feature of free form tracking will be disabled.
Congratulations to Vantage Robotics for their win at Necker Island .
Thanks Scott!
Congratulations team VR!!! Excellent to have outside Validation!!!
Thanks Tibor!
Congratulations also to Tobin, today was his best recorded presentation so far that I’ve seen. Extreme Tech Challenge – once again – great validation!
Congratulations, I did not get to see it as I dont have Facebook but I’m looking forward to seeing a video of the presentation on youtube or Vimeo. I dare say old Richards stamp of approval will crush the nay sayers for a while.
Thanks Chris! We will make sure to post it somewhere other than FB as soon as we can.
Quite the amazing accomplishment to say the least! Congratulations guys. Huge win for you and you deserve it after all the hard work you’ve put in. I’m willing to bet that the company with benefit significantly from this win in so many ways. Hopefully this means all sorts of good things to come for both VR, their investors and of course their customers! Can’t wait to hear more about “Tracks”. Sounds like a pretty awesome concept.
Thanks Kevin!
Great presentation & the correct result!!(OK I’m slightly biased)
Words don’t mean much but building such a great platform like Snap does!.
Go Team VR
Thanks Gizmo!
Im very excited-thanks for the update and the access to Vimeo.
PR work by Mr. Squires in my opinion has been /upper level/top notch throughout and kept me interested/hopeful re ultimate outcome.
Congratulations re XTC award, huge.
Thanks Seth! I will make sure to pass your comment up to the bosses 😉
I plan to wait until “hell freezes over”. We in the US must support innovation and development. We cannot fall behind in this area.
Thanks Dennis but certainly plan to get you flying well before that.
Congratulations to the team – an amazing outcome, certainly if you consider the social/global impact of the other contestants in the top 3. You guys should be proud and capitalise on this – but do not lose focus of getting the core product out to your early backers ! If and whhen ready and when scalable – and be clear about all of that and when it will be (and if it (again) takes longer – COMMUNICATE that too !)
And – yes – preaching for my own community here !
PJH
Thanks Philip!
How do you control the camera/gimbal?
There is a slider on the app that controls the gimbal.
777,
There is manual control built into the app for the camera gimbal.
Thanks to Tobin and Joe for posting the demo videos today! The zipline, and trampoline videos are really highlighting snaps wind performance. Does look fairly good. Thank for taking the time to post those!
V/r
Tibor
Thanks Tibor! There was actually a ton of wind in all of the videos.
Loving the new Necker videos!.
Thanks Gizmo!
The new videos look amazing for the wind testeng, thanks! Do have a comment on them: id like a VR shirt like the one tobin is using on some of them!
Thanks Nick. We will make sure to have some extra shirts ready once our new website is launched.
James,
Nick isn’t the only, T-Shirt and ball cap would be cool 🙂 Oh, same color T shirt, but with same pattern on the back, and a small VR logo on the front chest area, that would be sweet.
Super awesome that Tobin and Joe spent time taking videos and posting them during their working vacation. I’m thankful you guys decided to share the Vimeo with all.
V/r
Tibor
Hey James. Could you give a verbal description of the sup tracking virtual wire?
You might remember way back when, I made a post about how Snap is going to be the first drone to allow someone to have auto follow and tracking with water sports as there are many waterproof cases for smart phones.
I love this video as it really showcases that very unique feature of snap. However I’do love to hear from you the definition of this smart autonomous feature. It looks like thebvirtual wire portuon of the flight path was prepplanned by Tobin and that an improvised portion was being carried out by Snap automanously.
Thanks so much James these videos are awesome. Wind performance is phenomenal.
Kevin
Actually, we talk about this video in the description portion on Vimeo:
“We set this shot up using an upward angled virtual wire. The upward wire angle and crossing back and forth under the wire creates a bit of movement between camera and subject, which felt more interesting than the straight tracking shots. Shot in 4k 30, raw footage from camera. There were fairly strong offshore winds, so water was flat, but Snap was getting hit hard by gusts. Can’t see much of this in the video, thanks to gimbal, although yaw control still needs just a bit more dialing in at times.”
Such a cool shot!!!! Apologies for missing the description. I’m new to vimeo. Thanks for clarifyingetting that up.
Upward angled virtual wire with auto-framing and tracking over water. Available on DJI Mavic? Nope. DJI P4? Nope. Karma? Not even close. Yuneec typhoon? Nope.
Snap? You betcha and tonnes more all in a safe and compact package! Drooool.
Reference your new video, how much rain can you fly this in and is it recommended?
Snap is water resistant. Clearly it can fly in rain, but we don’t recommend pushing this too much.
Yeah…. also in reference to the new video…. is that particular Snap still functional. It looks like it got drenched!
That’s impressive!!!!
Yes. Its still working fine. They were all quite drenched after that.
I’m in agreement with Kevin reference the new video, it looks as though that was heavy rain to me & non too warm either.
I think I’l be treating mine with kid gloves for a long while but it is good to see what it is capable of if required!.
Probably smart. The video didn’t show that umbrella getting destroyed right after.
Forgive me all, but I’m fixated on the “team” of people Tobin is doing to demo for. Looks like a DJI team to me. Of course I could just have a bad case of stereo typing going on in my brain.
On a second note – Please tell me you guys have weather data – like wind speeds, temps, I know rainfall is not feasible, but wind speeds would be a bonus – wind speeds during that video –
For reference, I know it was “windy” on Necker Island, but what does “windy” equal? My eyes aren’t calibrated to detecting wind speed based on the movement of palm tree “fronds”
So, just to recap – for testing purposes – remember I’m in an AF test organization – all data points are pertinent, did you guys take of note of the wind speeds during those flights? Thanks! Sorry to nit pick, but when I’m doing testing overseeing Boeing we look at, and record all pertinent details that could affect the system under test.
V/r
Tibor
Sorry. We didn’t note the wind speed. We will try to bring out something to measure this next time.
James,
I was curious, that looked more like a demo for clients rather than a full up test flight, of course I imagine that every time Tobin or Joe take Snap out they look at the logs and video afterward. Forgive my probing, I’m just trying to get any bit of information I can.
Any words on required parts arriving?
V/r
Tibor
2.5 weeks from the last projected estimate of when preorders will be shipped. This page and these comments have been way too silent. You guys said you would keep us more updated…. but it looks like once again we are being set up for disappointment on March 1.
As I stated before: —-but do not lose focus of getting the core product out to your early backers ! If and when ready and when scalable – and be clear about all of that and when it will be (and if it (again) takes longer – COMMUNICATE that too !)
And – yes – preaching for my own community here !
PJH
Scott,
Just to re hash their last estimate – beta testing was going to run through the end of February, and they were 70% sure they would start production shipments on March 1st. Not that tickled about the wording. I’m not holding my breath either. Until they proclaim on the blog that they have all production parts necessary to start – I won’t expect my Snap for a “while.”
I don’t expect the actual pre-orders to start shipping until “several days” after production actually starts. I’m being pessimistic, but I don’t expect my Snap for a “while” if they do get production started. These are just my 2 cents, in the meantime I’ll keep flying my “lawnmower” with exposed propellers, dreaming of when I can carry everything around in my backpack and fly my Snap with my wife’s iphone.
On a side note, the videos on the vimeo page continue to impress, showing that Snap is progressing nicely through firmware tweaks.
I’m confident that by the time they get all their parts from their unnamed suppliers that we will have a product that Vantage is proud of. The capabilities of their test birds speak volumes.
Not only that – the only thing that comes close is the Mavic, and now DJI has “bowed” to the innovative Snap with their rushed propeller cages for it, but with those cages come a reduced flight time of 12 minutes. Snap blows that away handily. DJI knows that Snap is a contender, that makes me smile. I’ll end my rant on a good note with that.
V/r
Tibor
15 posts here disappeared, the new blog post still MIA after being released. Who fat fingered the keyboard?
15 posts? Like comments? We noticed the site went down. Glad to hear it will be back up. The XTC post will be up shortly.
Yeah, posts on this forum and replys from you guys. It was up to 96 last night and down to 79 thos morning.
Got it. Our site was down for a period earlier this morning. Thinking that a recent change caused the site to crash, we rolled it back a few days to undo any of those changes that might have caused the problem. It looks like those comments were lost at the same time… Sorry for the troubles. Please let us know if you have any questions we didn’t answer.
Sorry, comments not posts
A few comments:
I hope it ships. I’ve been doubting it will ship for a long time. I’m surprised the company is around – but I’ve had new faith given its closely anticipated launch date.
Basically it’s sole purpose is aerial photography. Based on the sample videos and so far, I’m disappointed. I commented on this before when they took feedback of what people would like. Overall, I want one thing – rule of thirds (in automated/tracking mode.) If it’s just a static (non-moving) shot, I would like the person in the bottom third. In moving shots I would like it slowly drifting around to the back thirds of the frame depending on where they are going. In other words, if your object is going down into the right I would like it to take video with the person in the upper left of the frame.
This would greatly improve the videos to show more of where the person is going and less of where the person has been. There are loads of evidence supporting this.
We have thought about this somewhat, but are a bit limited by the precision of GPS. As we build out our computer vision tracking, this should improve. That being said, you can still do a lot to compose a good shot within both automated and manual control.
Obviously, it’s not going to ship March 1. You guys promised to update a lot more, but you have been updating much less. I’m still calling for the fall. Hope you prove me wrong.
We are scaling up continually, and will be done well before the fall. More updates are coming, thanks for your patience.
Common guys…tell us some info k? Im getting closer to buying a Mavic only because it would get me in the air, i mean…i…want…my…s n a p…please?
We are moving as quickly as we can, and will be posting another update this week. Thanks for your patience here.
Just watched the latest lot of video uploads to Vimeo. Pretty cool! Looking forward to the future when I have my Snap in my hands!
I noticed a pretty swish looking Vantage Robotics tee shirt in one of the clips… will there be merchandise we can buy to come with our pre-order Snap?
Thanks Lindsay. Extra merchandise will be sold on our website when we relaunch using a different payment partner. Its doubtful that this will happen by the time you get your Snap though.
“we target ending the beta test period and beginning production shipments on March 1st.”
What’s the deal?
the silence in reference to Scott’s question above is deffening . . .
Did you guys delete my comment?
We lost a handful of comments due to a wordpress bug. Please resend.
Greetings Vantage team, I just wanted to drop in and see if the target of ending the beta test period is looking achievable or not. “We cannot guarantee any precise shipping dates yet, but we target ending the beta test period and beginning production shipments on March 1st.”
So, reading the above quote, I suppose if you guys have two Snaps ready to go, then that would qualify as “shipments” wouldn’t it? You guys have been fairly quiet, lots of videos showing up on Vimeo, but no real “meat” in the text we are seeing. I asked last week, if that last of the parts, from un-named to protect the suppliers names, have arrived with no response…
Either you guys have some VERY encouraging news you want to shotgun blast out this week or another “soon” is coming and you wish to soften the blow with news of beta progress.
Also, has that 70% chance of hitting the goal been reduced? “We think our chances of getting all our parts and hitting this goal is about 70%, and have no reason to expect any major delay.”
Words would be great addressing the listed concerns, which I’m sure are shared by more than just me. Thanks guys! Stay dry!!
V/r
Tibor
Sorry Tibor. We just sent out an update on the XTC, and are working on another update regarding shipments. We are scaling up our production and are shipping out more units every week. Might not be at 100% production by the first, but still plan on filling the bulk of pre-orders in March/April.
Tibor,
Well said!.
Okay guys this is getting ridiculous. Where are we at on shipping Snap? Because of the amount of investment we all gave you and the patience we’ve had, you owe it to us to let us know what is going on with the product we purchased; some many moons ago. Are we ever going to get Snap or is this another failed drone like Lily. I’m trying to stay positive and patient but you guys are making it very difficult.
Sorry Tim. We just sent out an update on the XTC, and are working on another update regarding shipments. We are scaling up our production and are shipping out more units every week. Might not be at 100% production by the first, but still plan on filling the bulk of pre-orders in March/April.
They promised to keep us better updated… and haven’t. No doubt this will be delayed. As predicted, my money is still on for the fall.
We have been sending out more updates than before, along with vimeo and FB posts. But if you would like to continue expecting a Fall delivery, that will make you more excited when you get it before then 🙂
James,
Thanks for the answers!.
Sounds like things are going well & the light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter with every day.
March is here. Snap is not.
Going to miss my once in a lifetime trip to Iceland. I leave a week from today. No snap footage. Already missed a number of adventures because of the 12 month delay.
I would not recommend you to a friend or a colleague.
Sorry Ken. We wish you many adventures in the future, and hope that Snap will make up for the delays with awesomeness!
Ken I’m not so sure they give two shits. You just mentioned ONCE in a lifetime trip and its ridiculous the response James just gave you. I’m holding out but I’m sure in the hell aren’t going around telling my friends and colleagues about their company and Snap. With the way they are publicizing the Extreme deal, in my humble opinion they are developing a product hoping they’ll get bought out for a huge dollar value and leaving us in the dust with Snap never coming to market. I hope I’m wrong, but until I see Snap in my hands, its hard to think otherwise.
Sorry you feel that way Tim. We get several emails a week from customers telling us what kind of cool adventure they want to take Snap on. Often, those emails are accompanied with a request for a bump in the queue or a faster delivery, which is something we can’t do. We too talk all the time about cool ideas for how to use Snap that have not come to reality yet. Perhaps I have dealt with enough of these issues to become desensitized a bit, and apologize if I came off as dry.
You must understand that we have invested a HUGE amount of time, energy, emotion, and money into this project, and are doing every possible thing we can to get people flying as quick as possible. Every day that goes by without having Snaps in the air adds stress to our lives, and we are pushing at max throttle. Reminders of missed adventures are not needed to keep us from thinking about this constantly. All we can do it keep moving forward, and stay optimistic that there will be more amazing photo/video opportunities waiting for us when we do have Snap.
+1
Desensitized is a very key word here Jim.
When will you be shipping SNAP, thats all we all want to know. Your production team is onsite and you all keep saying; “you’re getting close”. You should be able to give us a time frame if “your getting close”, but I question “are you really”? The only thing we have heard about is the Extreme Tech contest. I’m not trying to knock what Vantage has achieved but I hope you would sit back yourself and your company and realize most at this time could probably care less because we are still waiting to get a product in our hands that we purchased months ago some even longer. The time away to go to Extreme had to take away from the production time and order fulfillment, no two ways about it. To say otherwise would be foolish.
Mr. Growing,
Not saying I’m not frustrated, but just for the record, only Tobin and Joe went to Necker island. The ENTIRE Vantage team did not go. Just for the record. James will back me up on that fact since I am not an employee.
V/r
Tibor
Thanks Tibor. That is correct. Tobin and Joe missed three days in the office, but still did a lot of work while traveling. No one else stopped for this trip. We understand that the XTC is less important than getting Snaps into our customers hands. However, many of our customers and supporter were interested in the competition, and asked us for more information about it.
I’ve done a few of these beta/unreleased/etc. products. I’m willing to take that risk and show the support for innovation.. Whenever something is this delayed it always ends up “in tears.” However, I’m really quite more excited about this one. I’m hoping against hope that this will be released.
Don’t be like all the rest – ship it soon. :-/
Thanks Mark
Yo…James…..Dude…..Interrogative Snap?