I thought the 'thin sleeve' design that holds less water than typical setup for cleaning was a good idea. Always wondered how much distilled (triple distilled in my case) one would have to go through with the larger ultra-sonic baths.
i've been resisting this since i have a ultrasonic setup already, but i'm getting more tempted. setting up my ultrasonic and running batches and then vacuum drying gets very time consuming.
This is of massive interest to me as I just can't bring myself to spend the coin on a Degritter, even though I can afford it and have a huge record collection. However, after being burned before by crown funding there is no way I will jump in...yet. The target "retail" price of this unit is not really that much more than the early bird Kickstarter buy-in, so I will wait until it has shipped, been reviewed, and debugged. I realize the actual retail price might be higher than they are predicting, but at least at that point you'd be getting a known quantity.
Reasonable... hopefully you don't have to wait too much longer for the retail version. What is the estimated retail price? $350?
Here some updates the HummingGuru team provided in the comments recently: Thanks for bringing up the questions. As our team has been working on improving the cleaner in several aspects based on feedback from our backers, we will list out the improvements in our update by next week. We are glad to bring you some good news in advance as below. 1. HumminGuru will be adding a filter in the cleaner for recycling the water, even though we do suggest users changing the water in every cycle for the best result. 2. An air filter will be installed at the air intake area to prevent dust from blowing onto the record. 3. As of now, we have tested multiple times regarding the label not getting wet (if user follows the indicator of water level). For users who want extra protection, HumminGuru will be considering developing a label protector in near future. 4. Again, we have tested multiple times using water to clean the records and the result is positive in effectiveness. For user who would like to use cleaning liquid of any kind, it is possible but it will not be covered under warranty due to the fact that there are so many different types of cleaning chemical & agents in the market (alkalinity/acidic/soap/alcohol/etc) that we cannot guarantee any possible damage to the cleaner. Hope it helps & thank you for your support! HumminGuru Team They sound like beneficial improvements if they are effective.
I had some questions around Warranty, as I've used many cheaper Chinese sourced UltraSonic cleaners and they have all failed within 12 months, without recourse. So I emailed the HumminGuru team directly. The answer below I suspect means there is only cheap return to base in HK itself, but not anywhere else in the world. Something to consider (as always, YMMV). This was the reply: "Happywell says: Dear Jon, Sorry for the late reply. YES, HumminGuru will offer after-sales supports for all Kickstarter backers with 1-year warranty for repairing and servicing if the cleaner is defective. Our after-sale service center will be located in Hong Kong. Customers will notify us via email and our customer support team will be engaged in the process. The internal components we will be using for the HumminGuru cleaner are industrial graded that will ensure the durability and reliability. We aim for making good quality products that our customers can trust. Thank you - please Support us! HumminGuru Team"
I'm with you on that, even though I have backed kickstarter things before I don't think the saving at jumping in early now is worth the risk but I will be interested in getting one when they go on sale
I took the leap a few weeks ago. Love it how they took customers questions/wishes and used that to make improvements on the device. I especially like the added airfilter.
Playing around with the implied exchange rate from the various specials - it looks like the current HK$ 140 discount is around US$ 18, which makes potential retail US$ 347. So not much in it, but I don't think they are necessarily bound to that retail price. BTW also very impressed with how quickly they took suggestions on board. I had chimed in for the water filter, but the air filter is also a great idea.
Knowing myself as a cheapskate ;-) I think I would easily be willing to pay $499 for a device like this...if it works A-OK.... Just look at the competition, The Degritter is great, but 3000$, the Kirmuss is nice, $900.... but huge, and holds over a gallon of water, quite inconvenient. Whit a year of warranty I like the odds with this HumminGuru
If these are good, after this they can charge what the market will bear correct? Don’t some of these campaigns have significantly cheaper prices than if it hits the market later & there’s good demand?
In general, the Kickstarter price is the lowest you'll get. Once the item hits the marketplace, it almost always is more expensive.
It will be interesting to see what price they come to market with after the kickstarter campaign. I agree they do have the ability I believe to position it higher.. IF it is a quality product.
