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Answered R2

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by Rich Lienesch, Mar 15, 2017.

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  1. Rich Lienesch

    Rich Lienesch New Member

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    Are there any reviews out yet for the new R2 or C2?
     
  2. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    There will likely be no independent reviews of the R2 before it is available and all you will see are reviews from people who actually bought them. Robo appears to shy away from giving review samples to people who have large followings.

    I am not a fan of buyer reviews because they tend to be initial impressions only and no one likes to admit they made a mistake if the product isn't all it is promised. That is only a general assessment and not specific to Robo.
     
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  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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  4. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, but that video "review" put more effort into being an ad for the machine than an actual review.
     
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  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Sadly none of the more trusted reviewers have done one on the C2 likely because of availability (i.e. Robo did not provide them a review unit).

    Until/if that happens it it what it is. @WheresWaldo nailed it for the R2 -- there are none out there TO review yet. Same thing will be true with them I expect in that unless a reviewer bought one and reviews it, we are not going to see much in terms of official reviews.

    My tear down and rebuild is as close to a review as you are likely going to see for a while.
     
  6. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    Did anyone other than Barnacles review the R1?

    EDIT: Anybody that made a video worth watching/who still reviews things, to be clear. I know there are a ton of "reviews" by owners similar to the video review above that is basically just "spout the specs, show it running for a minute, nothing really useful".
     
    #6 daniel871, Mar 16, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2017
  7. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    I don't think so and look how that turned out.
     
  8. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    I never did get to see the drama around why Barnacles and Robo parted ways, other than some vague references in the Chatbox as it was happening.

    EDIT: And that's a real shame apparently, because Googling about it turns up results like this listing for an R1 on Craigslist:

    https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/ele/6002626403.html
     
  9. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    I don't know all the details either but the word 'hate' comes up a few times when Barnacles is asked about Robo. He doesn't mention them unless someone specifically asks him about what he thinks, so it's not like he is all hung up on what transpired, whatever that was.

    It is very hard to be objective when you plunk down real money for a product. You really have to be in bad shape to give something a more objective review and then usually you end up going to the other extreme. Very few items are either all good or all bad. I wished they would just send one to Thomas Sanladerer, he can and usually is pretty objective in his reviews.

    In my product testing past I have usually found that doing all your testing internally and not releasing product to reviewers or beta testing outside of paid employees comes from a place of fear. There is something that just doesn't add up between marketing and reality that you would rather not have anyone find out before purchasing. And every manufacturer should always remember perception is reality.
     
    #9 WheresWaldo, Mar 16, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2017
  10. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Amen to that.

    The issue from a company perspective is that it is an unknown quantity, but IMHO if you are confident enough in your product it is a risk worth taking.

    There are a lot of really nice design changes with the C2 compared to even the R1+ (not capabilities -- design) and if they can manage to leverage that into the R2 it will be a nice machine from a technology standpoint (price is another issue, I just mean the tech).

    It is unfortunate that they have not scaled their support to meet the C2 (and certainly not the R2). Sure these are much more user friendly and will attract less technical minding folks, however then you need to be ready to support them when they DO have issues since there is a lot less to troubleshoot. With the C2 a significant portion of it comes down to "I need a new part" and the only source of that will be Robo. I can't imagine the R2 will be any different so I sincerely hope for their sake that they have plans to scale that. They certainly have struggled with it enough in the past. The forum can help, but in the end if they need parts -- they need parts.
     
  11. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    Did you catch where he got all triggered over people asking him about CoreXY designs while he was doing the Prusa clone build yesterday?
     
  12. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    @daniel871 I usually don't watch build videos, too boring. But I know he loves the Ulitmaker so he can't have a real objection to CoreXY About how far into the video is it so I don't have to watch the whole thing?

    I found it at 1:04 of the video, he doesn't actually rail against CoreXY just say it wasn't any better or worse than any other design. His words exactly; Design is "irrelevant".
     
    #12 WheresWaldo, Mar 16, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2017
  13. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    I meant more about his being visibly upset over being asked about it while doing his i3 live build video.
     
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Eh, he was just annoyed to get that question in that context I think :)
     
  15. colton81

    colton81 Active Member

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    When i was on facetime with support i kept mentioning issues with the C2 and that others on this forum are having it as well after going through all my issues i had he and, I qoute, said " well i dont know what the issue is, your best bet is to take it apart and make sure everything is connected peoperly" so finnaly i had to ask for a new bed at least since mine was warped he told me he can do that but it might be awhile because they dont have any spare parts in stock. You shouldnt have a warranty advertising part replacement with no spare parts in stock! Or they have been replacing everyone's c2 and ran out of parts lol.
     
  16. colton81

    colton81 Active Member

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    Im assuming thats probably one reason they dont send out review units because they dont have any to send out due to replacing everyone elses or getting greedy and want the money
     
  17. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    @colton81 I think the answer is a number of things, not having stock of C2 and R2 units, not having any good relationships with community advocates (Thomas, Joel, etc.), and not wanting reviews that don't match the hype. You can't really ask for premium pricing when you can't deliver premium service, whether that is initial product or after sales service or warranty parts. You also can't rely on the community to pick up the support slack which is kinda what Robo has relied on in the past. Evidenced by the people who have come and gone from the Robo fold.
     
  18. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    Yep. Pour one out for @Mike Glass @Mike Kelly @jb-something-or-other and a few others I've forgotten the screen names for.
     
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  19. dmerlin7

    dmerlin7 New Member

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    I just returned my second broken C2 for a refund. And as for there customer service, (lack of), it will be the death of the Robo 3D company.

    Sent from my BLU LIFE ONE X using Tapatalk
     
  20. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Sounds like what I was saying in 2013 :)

    It doesn't help that is for sure.
    Back then the reasoning used to be "post-kickstarter startup" but... that was then.
    It is a hard space to succeed in, but you win with customer service. I hope they get better at that.

    P.S. on the plus side (if you can call it that) I have dealt with a couple of other printer manufacturers and they were worse... yep, worse.
     
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