The group buy started in January of 2015, by September we had samples and were giving the greenlight… 711 members here were on the list with the H-L set-up well known. Price was around $20. I was on the team, my protected cells fit, several other testers also had protected cells that fit in the shorter tube. I don’t use protected cells myself so the shorter tube wasn’t an issue to me then, nor is it now.
Mind you, this was a different place 3 years ago…