[PART 1] Official BLF GT Group Buy thread. Group buy officially closed! Lights shipping.

teacher · March 13, 2018, 7:36pm

Welcome to BLF Boots.

I see you joined today, was there a BLF GT list on CPF? Is that where you purchased yours from?

Boots · March 13, 2018, 7:44pm

I was sent directly to Neal to purchase. I contacted him and he had me order through his page.

Texas_Ace · March 13, 2018, 7:51pm

Yes, it would appear that you happened to be in the last batch of 50 to be shipped. If not then we will have to track down your order and see what is going on. It is also possible your order was shipped last batch but being registered mail has simply not been delivered yet.

keithd · March 13, 2018, 8:23pm

Was there a list of who was in the last 50?

Texas_Ace · March 13, 2018, 9:37pm

danallen:

Texas_Ace:

Not to worry, you have not been forgotten. If you are waiting for the next batch, everyone is in the same boat, we will send out the next batch of PM’s as soon as I feel they are ready for more orders. This means they need to finish all the existing orders first.

If you have an existing order, sure you filled out the survey. I will be putting that in list of issues in Neal face regularly until it is dealt with.

I guess this is restating the obvious….the plan is to address issues on orders already filled before taking the next round of orders? If I were filling these orders, that is what I would want to do, as part of trying to make the next round of orders as close to perfect as possible, correcting any problems causing the issues already encountered.

I am 1554 on the list. That has me a little worried, because I read the group buy is limited to 1,500 lights. However, my number of 1,554 is not adjusted lower to account for all the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th lights ordered by some people. I did a quick count and saw there are way more than 54 of those 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lights that I thought were supposed to get my number down below 1500. The part that worries me is I know some people have already got more than one light, so I am assuming those lights past the first per person were sent only after accounting for the number of people who are supposed to be able to get one light, even though we are way down near the bottom of the list. The problem with that is we obviously are working with a stressed process here, so it seems plausable that I could end up with a bad news email that says, “Sorry, dude, ’we’d love to send you a BLF GT for $150, but unfortunately, the group buy has reached its limit and you are SOL.” I feel like this is a big favor to even have a shot at the GB, so it’s not like I feel like I am owed anything. That doesn’t mean I would not be disappointed.

A lot of people will not end up going through with the final order, so far we have around a 20% drop out rate IIRC, which was expected from the start. So if that keeps up then everyone should get a light.

That said only the first 1500 are guaranteed at the GB price, everyone over that should have a shot though if the current drop out rate continues.

Texas_Ace · March 13, 2018, 9:41pm

danallen:

JasonWW:

Lumintop tried to find a second reflector making company capable of making these giant reflectors, but could not find one.

That’s what I remember off the top of my head.

Jason, I am just wondering if I am not reading carefully enough. Where did you get the info about Lumentop looking for another reflector company? Was that posted here? Or do you communicate privately with Neal or Lumentop?

Who is Neal?

I find the cast of characters here confusing. Is it that way on purpose?

Believe it or not, this is a related note for me: Where does the name Narsil come from?

Regarding the psychological issue you mentioned, about how people feel vs. actual supply of lights, it sounds to me like you have it all figured out, except maybe you are puzzled about why people are the way we are. Especially when money is involved, reasonable people turn into all sorts of things. I don’t see how the waiting game aspect of a group buy could have been explained more clearly than it is in this thread, but people toss it out the window.

Lumintop has been looking for another company for the reflectors but they have not found anyone able to handle this level of size and quality.

Neal is our contact / translator in China. He has been in the flashlight game and around BLF for many years. He is able to communicate our enthusiasts desires to the companies even when they don’t understand why we want a 5mm thick LED shelf when thinner would be lighter for example.

Narsil is the name of the firmware the GT uses. It’s creator TomE gave it this name.

Texas_Ace · March 14, 2018, 1:39am

Got a reply from the NASA contractor today now that they have had some time to play with the light some, I will quote part of it it below

I would say that is an endorsement we can be proud of

M4D_M4X · March 13, 2018, 10:54pm

congratulations!

LloydV · March 13, 2018, 11:51pm

congratulations!

it probably won’t be the last.

DENGOH · March 14, 2018, 1:18am

When customer praise a product, they are definitely happy about it.
Congratulations to BLF GT Team to receive NASA endorsement of excellent flashlight! :sunglasses:

Tejasandre · March 14, 2018, 3:16am

Are we redefining “moon light”?

JasonWW · March 14, 2018, 5:04am

I’m not sure if that was ever said in public.
I think I was suggesting to Texas_Ace in a PM that Lumintop should look for a 2nd reflector making company to speed up the orders. Then he told me that they have tried to find another company, but we’re not able to, etc…

I think TA answered your other questions from this post. If not, ask me again.

JasonWW · March 14, 2018, 5:02am

danallen:

I am 1554 on the list. That has me a little worried, because I read the group buy is limited to 1,500 lights. However, my number of 1,554 is not adjusted lower to account for all the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th lights ordered by some people. I did a quick count and saw there are way more than 54 of those 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lights that I thought were supposed to get my number down below 1500. The part that worries me is I know some people have already got more than one light, so I am assuming those lights past the first per person were sent only after accounting for the number of people who are supposed to be able to get one light, even though we are way down near the bottom of the list. The problem with that is we obviously are working with a stressed process here, so it seems plausable that I could end up with a bad news email that says, “Sorry, dude, ’we’d love to send you a BLF GT for $150, but unfortunately, the group buy has reached its limit and you are SOL.” I feel like this is a big favor to even have a shot at the GB, so it’s not like I feel like I am owed anything. That doesn’t mean I would not be disappointed.

There are about 710 people currently signed up to buy a light and about 650 lights available. We will see what the drop out rate will be. Hopefully everyone who has signed up (and still wants one) will be able to get one.

JasonWW · March 14, 2018, 5:09am

No, not that I’ve heard. We counted the lights that went out in each shipment (roughly 800 in first 5 shipments) and there where a total of 850 orders. So that leaves about 50 lights which just got shipped out in this 6th shipment.

JasonWW · March 14, 2018, 5:20am

Thanks for confirming this. I’ll change post #1 to show they shipped out on the 13th.

Hardusvd70 · March 14, 2018, 5:40am

My Pleasure!

mrheosuper · March 14, 2018, 5:46am

isnt it too early to declare that they have shipped, i still dont receive any info, and not many people claimed that they receive too

danallen · March 14, 2018, 8:52am

Texas_Ace:

danallen:

Texas_Ace:

Not to worry, you have not been forgotten. If you are waiting for the next batch, everyone is in the same boat, we will send out the next batch of PM’s as soon as I feel they are ready for more orders. This means they need to finish all the existing orders first.

If you have an existing order, sure you filled out the survey. I will be putting that in list of issues in Neal face regularly until it is dealt with.

I guess this is restating the obvious….the plan is to address issues on orders already filled before taking the next round of orders? If I were filling these orders, that is what I would want to do, as part of trying to make the next round of orders as close to perfect as possible, correcting any problems causing the issues already encountered.

I am 1554 on the list. That has me a little worried, because I read the group buy is limited to 1,500 lights. However, my number of 1,554 is not adjusted lower to account for all the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th lights ordered by some people. I did a quick count and saw there are way more than 54 of those 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lights that I thought were supposed to get my number down below 1500. The part that worries me is I know some people have already got more than one light, so I am assuming those lights past the first per person were sent only after accounting for the number of people who are supposed to be able to get one light, even though we are way down near the bottom of the list. The problem with that is we obviously are working with a stressed process here, so it seems plausable that I could end up with a bad news email that says, “Sorry, dude, ’we’d love to send you a BLF GT for $150, but unfortunately, the group buy has reached its limit and you are SOL.” I feel like this is a big favor to even have a shot at the GB, so it’s not like I feel like I am owed anything. That doesn’t mean I would not be disappointed.

A lot of people will not end up going through with the final order, so far we have around a 20% drop out rate IIRC, which was expected from the start. So if that keeps up then everyone should get a light.

That said only the first 1500 are guaranteed at the GB price, everyone over that should have a shot though if the current drop out rate continues.

No horse is too dead to beat.

I am not looking for any guarantees, just trying to understand the facts of the situation as best I can.

What counts as the first 1,500? Is it the first 1,500 lights or the first 1,500 names on the list? Or the first 1,500 lights shipped? So far, the orders have been filled for something like the first 1,000. The drop out rate is 20%, so that would be 200 drop outs so far. That would put my number at around 1350 instead of 1,554.

Here are some graphics showing how I had misunderstood the group buy. I thought all the people in the group buy were going to get their first light before anyone got their 2nd light.

full size image at this link

This tabulation is sortable and viewable at this link.

full size image at this link

keithd · March 14, 2018, 7:35am

So it looks like Neal skipped my order yet again. Haven’t received a single email or message since 29 Dec from him.
It’s a bit disheartening - by the time I get to post beam shots, folks will be like, “Who cares?” even though I got in early. (Sorry for whining, just had to get it off my chest)

BTW - are the BLF GT lights serialized? I didn’t see if they were. I was #6 on the list, but Neal originally contacted me saying I was getting light #5. I thought it was odd, but maybe someone dropped out.

MichielSanders · March 14, 2018, 10:06am

the list numbers are in order of posting date, first come first served.

and if the 20% drop out rate (the highest number is 1049 and that totalled in 850 sold lights) of the first rounds is the same in the last round probably everyone on the list that really wants a GT could buy a GT.