@Eric_Inovelli sent the following via email on June 13th. Copying it here for anyone who missed the update.
Hey all,
Quick update about the Blue Series mmWave switch – we will be receiving our beta samples (finally) next week (pictures below) and can finally start beta testing. The good news is that Eric M (CTO) and I have been testing these out for a while now and wanted to get it in a good spot for beta testing. There’s been a lot of difficulties with the mmWave sensor that we had to work through, but we feel ready to let the bigger team start testing.
In addition, the switches have started ETL Certification, FCC Certification, IC Certification and are progressing nicely.
Part of this process also includes setting up a trial-production run, which has been completed.
In terms of the overall timeline, I’ve come to just accept that there will be delays and while any delay we take is disappointing, at the end of the day, I want you guys to have an amazing switch that you’re excited to have in your home. Our standards are, and have always been, extremely high (we put these in our own homes too), so sometimes that can cause initial timelines to become more fluid.
It’s possible we may still hit the July production schedule, but that will all depend on how beta testing goes.
The important thing is that we continue to see progress, which we have. This manufacturer has done things a little differently, in that they like to get as much completed as possible before sending off beta units whereas our other manufacturer takes the approach of building our switches together, which means the first couple iterations may not be on par with our expectations. In other words, the mmWave manufacturer takes the approach of getting their ducks in a row before sending off for us to test and the other one is more of a, “build it as you fly it” type manufacturer. We prefer the latter, but I’m not sure which approach is right/wrong.
Anyway, as always, we appreciate your patience as I know we’re way behind schedule and I know you all are excited about this project.
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For those that wanted/want to switch to Thread/Matter, we are still trying to lock down pricing with them – they’ve been trying to gouge us on firmware costs, which we find unacceptable. We’ve also sent out an RFP to our current manufacturer to just take over the Thread/Matter version which I’m waiting to hear back (should be next week).
Have a great weekend!
Eric
Founder Inovelli
