Update #12

Hey everyone, Ryan here. This update will be a bit more concise than the last few as we’re really in crunch time to get Arsenal shipped.

I won’t bury the lede here - unfortunately, the ship schedule will be delayed four weeks. We had hoped to get Arsenal out starting in April, but that will now be May 14 to begin shipping with an expectation that all orders are shipped in May.

The main reasons for the delay are a) the power charger used for Arsenal and b) the plastic enclosure. The chargers we were going to use failed conductive emissions testing (despite the fact we were provided documentation that they had already been certified for conductive emissions). This was extremely troubling and would have resulted in us failing FCC and CE certifications. This forced us to find another vendor, which we quickly did, and the good news here is that Arsenal has passed RF and conductive emission testing with the new charger. However, the best lead-time we could get on the new chargers still added a delay.

Additionally, the plastic enclosures, which we mentioned in the last update, needed further revisions to give Arsenal the clean look and durability we wanted. Every time we thought the injection mold was ready another defect would come up or the snaps wouldn’t hold well. Fortunately the enclosures are withstanding drop tests extremely well so we gave the greenlight to mass produce them.

We’re as disappointed and frustrated as you are with the delay. These are all very recent developments that were unexpected. We’re sharing all of this with you not to make excuses; we ultimately own all of this, and as we learn and grow as a company it’s clear to us both the importance of great partners and ways we can improve ourselves. Rather, we want to be transparent on the date and the challenges we’ve encountered so you know what’s going on.

We’re knocking items off of our launch list every day, and that reduces risks. We’re also doing everything we can to bring the dates in, including working with our partners to expedite delivery by paying premiums and adding more staff to the project. Our manufacturer and fulfillment partners are both at the ready and move fast so we will quickly get through batches of Arsenal once underway.

Email Confirmations (Address and Cable Selection)

With that said, the other steps necessary to prepare for shipping are getting underway. We’ll be sending out order confirmation emails in the next few days. You’ll be able to validate your camera selection/USB cable and also confirm your shipping address. In that email we will ask for you to confirm everything looks right before shipping, so make sure you click on the finalize link in the email even if you have no changes. As a reminder we’ll be shipping in the order that Arsenals were backed, so the early backers will receive theirs first.

Software/App Update

One other thing I’ll note is we’ve gotten some really great feedback on the app walk-through we published in the last update. Positive feedback from our backers is really great to see and energizes the team even more. I’ll also note that Arsenal’s software is working great and our testers are giving great reviews. That’s the real driver of Arsenal’s success and I couldn’t be happier with its performance. We’re bringing on a video editor to start building more tutorials using Arsenal and the app so you can be prepared for its arrival.

Next Steps

We’re all very excited to see Arsenal in your hands and complete the first phase of this incredible journey we’ve been on. Phillip, our electrical engineer, and I have already booked flights to be at our manufacturer for the pilot and mass production runs. That seems like a small step, and it is, but mentally that really locked it in for us. We’ll keep you updated more frequently as progress through these final stages, including more demo videos and shots using Arsenal.

Finally, thanks to our backers for your incredible support. To give you an idea of magnitude, we’ve had over 40,000 interactions with backers between Kickstarter, Indiegogo, our website, and social media. Our Support team has done an amazing job answering questions, managing orders, taking in feedback, and overall ensuring a great experience for all of you. I’m constantly amazed at how excited people are for Arsenal and the positivity exhibited in those interactions. Really, thanks so much.

• Ryan

P.S. A few weeks ago we were able to make it out for a few days to shoot some demos. Below is the first one. We’ll be putting out more examples of Arsenal in action as soon as we get time to edit the footage :-)

Lastly, here's some more Arsenal shots.