Mon Nov 1 '21 Announcement
almost 3 years ago
– Mon, Nov 01, 2021 at 06:01:23 AM
Dear Backers,
Whilst the material quality makes us feel positive about the pre-production, our assembly partner faced some further unexpected events. It took a few days, but was solved immediately.
Pre-production
We encountered a few issues during the ongoing assembly:
- A gearing part was out of tolerance, which would lead to a functional issue. This happened because the supplier switched the tools to another injection molding machine, which will be used for mass production. This is reasonable, since all aspects of the pre-production must be the same as in the mass-production.
- The inventory of a spring was an old version. We updated it a while ago to refine the feel of operating the mechanism.
- One of the assembling jigs to add the legs to the slider broke during the assembly.
While none of these events is groundbreaking, it delayed the completion to the second week of November. It’s a pain, but on the positive side, there was no major problem. Fingers crossed, the pre-production can now be completed as planned.
Pins added successfully now
Our assembly partner sent us a ton of pics of the assembly. Here some of them:
Laser printing of the head housing
Sub-assembly Legs Go120
Sub-assembly rope reels
Sub-assembly torsion spring
Final assembly step of the gearing sub-assembly
Gearing sub-assembly goes on this sub-assembly as a final step in the full assembly
Weight to test the stability of the finished Lumapods during assembly
European Retail Startup Night
As you know, we are not a big company, but a small startup. Hence we are proud to be selected as one of the top 10 (out of 50) retail startups in Austria. We got the chance to pitch in front of a jury and in front of potential future collaborators. The feedback on the samples we had with us was again very satisfying. We are so much looking forward to finally ship the Lumapods also to you!
More Beta-Testing
To show our products in detail and to explain how to use it, a youtuber is currently testing Lumapods and working on a video. Hang on, we will let you know once it’s online.
We are testing and using our Lumapods everywhere we go, to capture some moments with loved ones. Easy, fast, lightweight. (Schiederweiher, Upper Austria)
Lumapod at a recent Rally Event in Upper Austria - fast and flexible setup was a clear advantage for this purpose.
Timeline
Pre Production / Testing October / November
Material production December
Mass-Production December / January 2022
Shipping January 2022 / February 2022
This is still an estimated timeline. More about this in the next update.
FAQs
I already paid my pledge, why did you charge my credit card again?
As mentioned in our previous update, your pledge consisted of two shares. First step was the pledge on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. This one was charged immediately. The second step was a subsequent purchase on backerkit. Mostly Add-ons. But this pledge wasn’t charged back then. Now as we have made most of the add-ons and as we are approaching the mass-production, we decided to charge the funds for the backerkit purchases as well.
In case you do not remember what you backed on backerkit, please kindly just log into your account and have a look. If you have trouble doing that, please do not hesitate to contact us anytime. We will be happy to send you an easy to access direct link to your backerkit account.
How can I change my address or payment data?
You can change your address or payment data directly in your backerkit account. Log in here: https://www.backerkit.com/backer_accounts/sign_in
If you didn’t sign up for Backerkit, you might also click on “Just looking for your survey? Find it here” (Note: You will find 2 campaigns when searching for “Lumapod”. One for Kickstarter and one for Indiegogo.)
Alternatively, just drop us a message and we will send a direct access link.
Thank you guys! We love you! Stay healthy!
- The Lumapod Team
Sat Oct 2 '21 Announcement
about 3 years ago
– Sat, Oct 02, 2021 at 12:33:50 PM
Dear Backers,
We wanted to have pre-production finished already. Honestly not everything worked smoothly at the first try. Although we talk about small problems only, we had to solve them, and ensure they are not happening again. Well the worst is, it eats up time.
But we worked it out and we have everything ready for finishing the pre-production. Even though it's really annoying, pre-production basically is being made to determine and solve all potential irregularities, so mass-production runs smoothly.
Pre-production
Telescope ASM
Meanwhile, the Telescope-Assembly is finished and QC is made. Despite solvable small things that we prevented from happening again, the overall outcome is satisfying. 
Telescope + Slider
Gearing parts
As for the gearing, we had to reject a part this month. It did pass the QC, but it did not work well in the assembly. Consequently we made an in-process-QC-tool for this part as well, in order to prevent this from happening again. Meanwhile these parts are remade and the QC outcome as well as the test assembly was positive.
In addition there is this one stupid small metal sleeve, which had dirt on it. Things like that can drive us crazy. But as we know this would likely lead to functional problems in the long run - the glue won't hold properly - we couldn't accept it.
We discovered the problem fairly late to be honest, and as China as a whole is on holiday these days, the final assembly, testing and QC will start only on October 6th.
For the sceptics among you (we can understand your doubts, now after 3 years of delay), below we share an email of the project management in China, preparing for the assembly. Showing we are actually working on the project, although - as you can imagine - it is pretty tiring, being a brand that aims to ship good products ONLY, after all what happened over the last three years. We can only hope for your understanding.
Trade Fair / Summit PHOTOPIA
This month we have been to a photography trade fair in Hamburg, Germany, with quite an interesting quality audience. Of course we had a Lumapod with us to show it to potential business partners. The reaction was amazing. After 2 Minutes of learning how the Lumapod works, the professional audience of the summit was very impressed by the engineering work and functionality of Lumapod. These moments give a lot of the energy back that our journey had cost us so far :)
More Beta-Testing
As the latest Lumapod models are now constantly Beta-Tested, we are having more and more material to share.
For the next update we plan to share an even more in-depth video!
Lumapod Go85, Smartphone
Being in the Austrian mountains we made a timelapse of the sun rising. As well as making some “selfie” images with the bluetooth remote. It all went well and the Lumapod did fit well in our backpack :)
Lumapod Go120, Sony Alpha 7 II, Sony SEL-50F18F // Lumapod Go85, Smartphone
We took our Lumpods to a sandy beach with a heavier camera setup. There was some wind, which didn’t affect the stand. Sand wasn't a problem either, and not much cleaning was needed afterwards.
Lumapod Go85, Sony Alpha 6000, Sony SEL-18105G
At the limits. This is a setup, which Lumapod is not intended for (and never was). With this kind of lens, the center of gravity is far outside the middle. It didn’t ever fall, but you have to be aware it's rather at the limit due to the small footprint of the Go85. With the included counterweight hook you can help by adding some weight to the base to make it more stable.
Timeline
Pre Production / Testing October
Material production November / December
Mass-Production December / January 2022
Start of shipping January 2022 / February 2022
This is still an estimated timeline. More about this in the next update.
FAQs
I already paid my pledge, why did you charge my credit card again?
As mentioned in our previous update, your pledge consisted of two shares. First step was the pledge on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. This one was charged immediately. The second step was a subsequent purchase on backerkit. Mostly Add-ons. But this pledge wasn’t charged back then. Now as we have made most of the add-ons and as we are approaching the mass-production, we decided to charge the funds for the backerkit purchases as well.
In case you do not remember what you backed on backerkit, please kindly just log into your account and have a look. If you have trouble doing that, please do not hesitate to contact us anytime. We will be happy to send you an easy to access direct link to your backerkit account.
How can I change my address or payment data?
You can change your address or payment data directly in your backerkit account. Log in here: https://www.backerkit.com/backer_accounts/sign_in
If you didn’t sign up for Backerkit, you might also click on “Just looking for your survey? Find it here” (Note: You will find 2 campaigns when searching for “Lumapod”. One for Kickstarter and one for Indiegogo.)
Alternatively, just drop us a message and we will send a direct access link.
Thank you guys! We love you! Stay healthy!
- The Lumapod Team
Wed Sep 1 '21 Announcement
about 3 years ago
– Wed, Sep 01, 2021 at 08:35:47 AM
Dear Backers,
Pre-production is ongoing. One supplier had to remake some parts after QC. Now also these partes passed QC without problems. All in all we are positive about the progress.
Pre-production
As we already mentioned before, we have two assembly suppliers. One assembles the telescope and the telescope slider. The other assembles the rest of the Lumapods. This reduces the risk and the dependence to one single supplier. Our suppliers assured us to put very high attention on this project. It is planned that by the end of this week the telescopes and sliders are being forwarded to the final assembly.
Telescope Sliders
Telescope Parts
More Beta-Testing
Another person did a Beta-Testing with Lumapod Go120. Here his feedback: “At the last minute nobody was available to help me on a quick bike shoot for another brand. It wasn't possible to carry my bigger tripod on my back so I opted to use the Lumapod. We live in a world where everything is part of time and accessibility. The Lumapod meets that goal and is the fastest tripod I've used. I think it will be worth the wait.” @trigarrick
@trigarrick
Timeline
Material production June / July
Pre-Production Assembly August / September
Shipping / Testing September
Material production September
Mass-Production October
Shipping November
This is still an estimated timeline. More about this in the next update.
FAQs
I already paid my pledge, why did you charge my credit card again?
As mentioned in our previous update, your pledge consisted of two shares. First step was the pledge on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. This one was charged immediately. The second step was a subsequent purchase on backerkit. Mostly Add-ons. But this pledge wasn’t charged back then. Now as we have made most of the add-ons and as we are approaching the mass-production, we decided to charge the funds for the backerkit purchases as well.
In case you do not remember what you backed on backerkit, please kindly just log into your account and have a look. If you have trouble doing that, please do not hesitate to contact us anytime. We will be happy to send you an easy to access direct link to your backerkit account.
How can I change my address or payment data?
You can change your address or payment data directly in your backerkit account. Log in here: https://www.backerkit.com/backer_accounts/sign_in
If you didn’t sign up for Backerkit, you might also click on “Just looking for your survey? Find it here” (Note: You will find 2 campaigns when searching for “Lumapod”. One for Kickstarter and one for Indiegogo.)
Alternatively, just drop us a message and we will send a direct access link.
Thank you guys! We love you! Stay healthy!
- The Lumapod Team
Sat Jul 31 '21 Announcement
about 3 years ago
– Sat, Jul 31, 2021 at 11:05:12 AM
Dear Backers,
Pre-production goes into the assembly phase. So far, despite small delays at sub-suppliers, all goods are of good quality. More about it below :)
Pre-production
All plastic, aluminum and stainless steel material is produced. Of most material we already made the QC with a positive outcome. Due to a new lockdown in parts of Guangdong, we could not go to one of the factories to check the quality just yet. But we await these samples to be shipped for quality checking.
One of the plastic parts has to be remade, since the overmolding process had too much impact on the dimension. These parts are expected to be remade till August 5th.
Due to heavy workload one of the sub suppliers can only send customized screws till August 6th. Followed by a quality check.
Therefore the telescope and slider sub-assembly can only be started around August 11th. Final assembly starts roughly a week later. More to the timeline below.
A couple pics of produced material waiting for assembly
More Beta-Testing
This month in our small city a regionally famous 24h hour bike race took place. A friend who did some shootings for a bicycle club took a Go120 for this occasion. Her feedback: “Nice and flexible tripod. Perfect for taking social media pictures with a mobile phone. The ease of packing and unpacking made it easy to capture pictures in cycling moments. I did not even unpack my own tripod. ….” https://www.instagram.com/malzilandcycling/?utm_medium=copy_link
“... yesterday I took the Lumapod for a walk. Had it in my backpack and did not notice this tripod on my back. I really like that.”
Charge Cards (Backerkit orders)
As announced in the last update, during the month of July we charged the fundings for the purchases you did on Backerkit. Now as much time went by since you backed us, some of the credit cards have already expired. Please be so kind and quickly check if you got an email from backerkit. This email will tell you if everything worked fine, or if there is a need to update your payment information. This email also contains a convenient link that makes it easy for you to update your information. Thanks for your help!
Timeline
Material production June / July
Pre-Production Assembly August
Shipping / Testing August / September
Material production September
Mass-Production October
Shipping November
This is still an estimated timeline. More about this in the next update.
FAQs
I already paid my pledge, why did you charge my credit card again?
As mentioned in our previous update, your pledge consisted of two shares. First step was the pledge on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. This one was charged immediately. The second step was a subsequent purchase on backerkit. Mostly Add-ons. But this pledge wasn’t charged back then. Now as we have made most of the add-ons and as we are approaching the mass-production, we decided to charge the funds for the backerkit purchases as well.
In case you do not remember what you backed on backerkit, please kindly just log into your account and have a look. If you have trouble doing that, please do not hesitate to contact us anytime. We will be happy to send you an easy to access direct link to your backerkit account.
How can I change my address or payment data?
You can change your address or payment data directly in your backerkit account. Log in here: https://www.backerkit.com/backer_accounts/sign_in
If you didn’t sign up for Backerkit, you might also click on “Just looking for your survey? Find it here” (Note: You will find 2 campaigns when searching for “Lumapod”. One for Kickstarter and one for Indiegogo.)
Alternatively, just drop us a message and we will send a direct access link.
Thank you guys! We love you! Stay healthy!
- The Lumapod Team
Thu Jul 1 '21 Announcement
over 3 years ago
– Thu, Jul 01, 2021 at 11:49:39 AM
Dear Backers,
After our last update we only cared about pre-production - getting everything in line.
Pre-Production of the reinforced metal Leg Struts (really makes a difference in terms of stability to what we had initially - moreover, really nice quality)
Pre-Production of the Head Housings (really happy about the quality - we finally achieved another level of manufacturing performance here)
Pre-Production of the Telescope Actuators
The rest of the parts are still in production.
Pre-production / Mass-production
Now pre-production is in progress, as mentioned in the previous updates with the use of In-Process-Quality-Control (IPQC) tools, which make it practically impossible to have critical dimensional deviation coming out the molding machines.
More Beta-Testing
We are constantly doing more tests with the Lumapods we have available. Here are some impressions.
Add-ons / Charge Cards
As already outlined in the updates some months ago, practically all add-ons (despite the exchangeable leg-extensions) are finished, quality checked and paid. The add-ons are now waiting for delivery in a warehouse till the Lumapods are ready to be shipped. Backerkit didn’t charge cards for the addons yet. With the pre-financing of all the add-ons and finalization of the Lumapod project, we came to a point where we decided to charge cards soon. This helps us staying in a safe zone till the project is finished and every backer got his order.
Charge Cards
For better understanding: All add-ons and subsequent changes on the order made on backerkit have not yet been charged. In order to make the calculated liquidity available we have to press a button that says “charge cards”.
Once this happens, you will receive an email letting you know if your card was charged successfully or if your card was declined. Some cards might have expired meanwhile. If so, please kindly reach out any time. We will send a direct link to your backerkit account to update the credit card information. You can also check the FAQ below.
Please kindly note that we can only ship out the items which are fully paid.
If you did not add any items on backerkit, you have certainly paid the whole pledge already. So no action required in your case :)
Charge Cards will happen on July 9th, in order to give you enough time to double check your order and the credit card information. See FAQ below.
Timeline
Material production June
Pre-Production Assembly June
Shipping / Testing July
Material production July / August
Mass-Production August / September
Shipping Starting September
This is still an estimated timeline. More about this in the next update.
FAQs
How can I change my address or payment data?
You can change your address or payment data directly in your backerkit account. Log in here: https://www.backerkit.com/backer_accounts/sign_in
If you didn’t sign up for Backerkit, you might also click on “Just looking for your survey? Find it here” (Note: You will find 2 campaigns when searching for “Lumapod”. One for Kickstarter and one for Indiegogo.)
Alternatively, just drop us a message and we will send a direct access link.
Thank you guys! We love you! Stay healthy!
- The Lumapod Team
