HDS Systems truly shipping in October?

HDS Systems site says they are shipping in October? Is that still a go?

They promised to do so. A promise is a promise...

Sandor

well beside the ultimate GT and the action light, nothing have been reported to change in the main HDS thread in the manufacturer's corner.

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SoSa said:
They promised to do so. A promise is a promise...

Sandor

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Where is the promise?

Henry told me (10 days ago) that they were still planning to ship in October. They have been waiting on the delivery of parts from subcontractors.
My fingers are still crossed for an October delivery.

AFAIK, delivery has been postponed to november.

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HDS_Systems said:
Update for October 12, 2004

One of our vendors is running very late. They made a mistake on the production run which was caught by the next vendor in line. That same part was prototyped correctly without issues. Needless to say, this delay will push the schedule into the first week of November - at least. ....


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I wonder if it is normal to delay shipping from august (first planned delivery date) to november (if that date holds). What could be wrong ?

I think your quote explains it... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
Whenever you have to deal with subcontractors, you are pretty much at their mercy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

you'd think a sub-contractor would be quicker to turnaround a mistake then to put something that far behind.

I think Henry is known as a perfectionist - I´m sure a lot of companies would have shipped already knowing some minor or major defects are still not fixed - not so it seems with Henry & HDS - when he finally ships the product should be 100% ready for prime-time - some old joke about american, chinese and german PC manufacturers come to mind - the joke ending with the germans making a product about 150% ready, being 200% more expensive and never making it to market /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Klaus

I am happy to wait until the product is really reliable.
We have already to much rubish in the market ... Mainly
in the software area, but as well some flashlights are
working not reliable. And thats in a customers point of view
not acceptable ...

Cheers
Ralf

It is far better that faults that identified in the late stages of development are fixed than to ship faulty units and catch them on the gaurantee. This sort of thing has happened to often, the consumer ends up being an extended beta tester. I would much rather wait till it is right to go and get the lights without faults. Henry has very high standards and should be commended for it. It is never acceptable for a company to release faulty products to the market, however it has become common. sigh.....

I've only been around CPF for a short time (few months), but it seems really common for manufacturers, large and small, to sell stuff that isn't even in existence yet. Is this a recent trend, or is this the way things work in the flashlight world? I know I ALWAYS get behind on a knife that I'm making for someone if they pay for it/trade something for it before I have it finished. It's to the point now that I will not take $$$ or a trade until the knife is done on my end of things.

But, it seems weird that people want to fork over their hard-earned dough on stuff that isn't made yet and may not be reliably tested, and whose release date is up in the air. Seems strange to me, at least....

An example of overdue dates by a large(r) company: SureFire U2...

Just because a product is delayed doesn't mean it is vapourware. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

I hope Henry will have his product ready ASAP, but I can understand the delays. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

It would be weird if that was the case but it is not. HDS are accepting pre orders att eh moment but funds are not being paid, credit cards will only be processed when the lights are ready for shipping. At this time it is just like any other product, it all comes down to quality control and the standards of the manufacture. In this case, Henry has very high standards. The release date seems to have blown out due to late production problems, but no one has yet "paid" anything to HDS.

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Hallis said:
you'd think a sub-contractor would be quicker to turnaround a mistake then to put something that far behind.

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Right, but when one sub-contractor puts another behind, you end up with the first trying to get them re-done, and then the second having to wait for the first, so they can do their part of it. So the delay is compounded.

Those who pre-ordered have first dibs when they are ready to ship. In this case pre-ordering doesn't cost the customer anything.

Henry and HDS are experiencing all the labor and stress of birthing this light. Potential customers are like the husbands in the waiting room. They just have to wait, pay the bill and take the baby home. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

This is a good sign. Henry is keeping the lights until all the bugs are worked out. I'd happily wait several more months, to ensure the best chance at quality. I appreciate that Henry is honest, and pushed back the date rather than shipping some lights with a minor but known defect. I'm impressed!

It is really unfortunate whenever a product is delayed. I think though as the number of times that dates are pushed back increases, there is a natural tendency to question whether this product will ever become reality.

Regards

And we should not forget that the manufacturer has the highest interest to bring them on the market.
So the danger is more that products arrive too early.