Author Topic: BloomSky malfunctioning  (Read 3563 times)

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Offline Jumpin Joe

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BloomSky malfunctioning
« on: July 19, 2016, 06:25:13 PM »
Looks like my 3rd BloomSky has ceased functioning.  I have a call into support waiting for a call. It is non responsive to any and all resets.

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Offline Jáchym

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2016, 06:56:11 PM »
Was it always the same kind of problem you had?

Offline txweather.org

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2016, 06:58:50 PM »
I was going to ask the same question ^^

Mine so far sense day one has been a smooth ride and I am very happy with it.

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Offline Jumpin Joe

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2016, 07:36:47 PM »
No.Before it was camera issues.

Just spoke with support and the engineer is going to have to reset it..... they say I should be up and running in 24 hours or so.

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Offline txweather.org

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2016, 07:46:12 PM »
No.Before it was camera issues.

Just spoke with support and the engineer is going to have to reset it..... they say I should be up and running in 24 hours or so.

Joe
WoW Joe.... Just pure bad luck with this eh?
:(
Sorry!

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Offline ocala

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2016, 10:04:25 PM »
No.Before it was camera issues.

Just spoke with support and the engineer is going to have to reset it..... they say I should be up and running in 24 hours or so.

Joe
WoW Joe.... Just pure bad luck with this eh?
:(
Sorry!
Eh, not really. On my third unit also. Just not good quality.
I think they are beginning to find that out.
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Offline nincehelser

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2016, 10:13:38 PM »
Eh, not really. On my third unit also. Just not good quality.
I think they are beginning to find that out.

Maybe that's the driver behind the Sky2. 

From what I've read, the only feature difference is it has Bluetooth, but that seems a poor reason to call it a "2".

Offline ocala

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2016, 10:25:58 PM »
Eh, not really. On my third unit also. Just not good quality.
I think they are beginning to find that out.

Maybe that's the driver behind the Sky2. 

From what I've read, the only feature difference is it has Bluetooth, but that seems a poor reason to call it a "2".
I'm sure as they grow in popularity there will be a "Sky 3, Sky 4" etc that will improve the unit.
They got peoples attention, now they just need to up the quality.
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Offline hankster

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2016, 11:23:24 PM »
Question is, is the quality problems bad enough that people won't give them a 2nd chance? I know if I bought something  for $200 that broke down a couple times, I sure wouldn't spend another $200 for v2.0.

Offline Jáchym

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #9 on: July 20, 2016, 05:26:10 AM »
Hmm.... I dont want to bring this up again, but when I suggested the quality is not ideal a few months ago not many agreed with me...

If you go through other posts on this forum you will notice that there are probably more people with a replaced unit than not and obviously sometimes even several times. I understand that it is a startup and there are always things you need to fix over time, but my worry is (and I mentioned it in the past too) that this obviously doesnt come cheap - if you have to send a free replacement to substantial proportion of your users, plus the campaing that gave out free units (and then providing replacements to people who got the camera for free already...). Question is how much capital they have left.... and I wouldnt be surprised if they ran out of money before they get to the stage where things finally begin to work better. And once you get to the stage where you have no cash left, thats basically the end of it, because you have no money to fix the problems and it is not very likely an investor will lend you money if you have already failed with it once.

I am not suggesting this is what is going to happen to BS and I think it is a very interesting device, but I fear it more and more.

Offline nincehelser

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #10 on: July 20, 2016, 07:47:12 AM »
Hmm.... I dont want to bring this up again, but when I suggested the quality is not ideal a few months ago not many agreed with me...

I am not suggesting this is what is going to happen to BS and I think it is a very interesting device, but I fear it more and more.

Honestly, the future of their business is for them to worry about.   There's no need to fear it unless you're making a big investment in them.

Offline Jáchym

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2016, 08:04:29 AM »
I know, I was not even approved for the free sample so I dont have one and therefore dont have to worry about their future at all - but I actually do because it is a nice product and idea and also, it is always better to have more players on the market, which is what drives development forward.

Offline nincehelser

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #12 on: July 20, 2016, 06:10:35 PM »
From what I've read, the only feature difference is it has Bluetooth, but that seems a poor reason to call it a "2".

I just noticed another difference of the Sky2... it has no UV sensor.

That's been moved to the Storm.

Offline hankster

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #13 on: July 20, 2016, 06:15:21 PM »
Hmm.... I dont want to bring this up again, but when I suggested the quality is not ideal a few months ago not many agreed with me...

I am not suggesting this is what is going to happen to BS and I think it is a very interesting device, but I fear it more and more.

Honestly, the future of their business is for them to worry about.   There's no need to fear it unless you're making a big investment in them.

Not so sure about that, it is every BS owners worry. If they go out of business than every BS will be nothing more than a lawn ornament.

Offline Jáchym

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Offline nincehelser

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #15 on: July 20, 2016, 06:22:13 PM »
Not so sure about that, it is every BS owners worry. If they go out of business than every BS will be nothing more than a lawn ornament.

Yeah, that's a risk.  On the other hand, I feel I got my $99 worth of enjoyment out of it long ago. 

If it becomes a lawn ornament, I'll be hacking into it.


Offline Jáchym

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #16 on: July 20, 2016, 06:26:28 PM »
With that Revolv thing it was sort of extreme.

Usually the risk is just that if a company goes bankrupt or quits, there is no longer any support available or no further development and updates.

With that Revolv thermostat it was extreme because the device cannot function without the server. It is now just a totally useless box. Nothing more. And it was just 2 yrs old.

This is not very common though, different situation is with services - all these cloud services we have today can just stop from one day to the next and then.... too bad. And it is only going to be more and more common, software licenses, disk space, music services....

Offline nincehelser

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #17 on: July 20, 2016, 06:58:12 PM »
BloomSky must be doing something right.

The Kickstarter campaign they started this afternoon in currently only open to previous backers.  It's only been a few hours and they've passed $50K with a goal of $80K.  The campaign is set to last for 40 days.

Someone must be happy with what they had before.

Offline Jáchym

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #18 on: July 20, 2016, 07:21:57 PM »
BloomSky must be doing something right.

The Kickstarter campaign they started this afternoon in currently only open to previous backers.  It's only been a few hours and they've passed $50K with a goal of $80K.  The campaign is set to last for 40 days.

Someone must be happy with what they had before.

That is a valid point. However, it does not mean much in terms of what I mentioned. The fact that they replace it for free makes the users happy, but it is still a problem.

Offline Maumelle Weather

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #19 on: July 20, 2016, 07:49:13 PM »
These folks may make their $80,000 before midnight. Currently up to $61,624 with 362 backers. Impressive. I'm going to wait and see how things before I make up my mind on whether to get one. My BS is running just fine currently. Hope I didn't jinx it.
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Offline nincehelser

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #20 on: July 20, 2016, 07:53:32 PM »
That is a valid point. However, it does not mean much in terms of what I mentioned. The fact that they replace it for free makes the users happy, but it is still a problem.

It's a sign the customers must be happy and are returning with repeat business.

That's likely a better indicator of success than how many returns you think they might be getting based on a public forum.  That's a tricky business as you don't know how well they are selling.  For all we know, their return rate could actually be in an acceptable range.

Anyway, I just checked their progress on Kickstarter.  Now they're up to $63K.  If this keeps up, they're going to easily hit their funding goal before tomorrow.



Offline Jáchym

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #21 on: July 20, 2016, 08:03:14 PM »
Well I wish them good luck, though Im sure they will easily surpass their target.

I actually also think it is an intersting product, still quite new and maybe more buggy than others, but I hope it will continue.

The only time they disappointed me was when they announced that the free give away of cams applies globally, though I do not know a single person outside US or Canada who was approved for that, so filing in that questionnaire was a waste of time :D And of course I would understand if they said it was only for the US and Canadian market, but they didnt, they said it would be global.

Offline nincehelser

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #22 on: July 20, 2016, 10:22:59 PM »
At about 9:22 PM, they've past $80K.

I'm not sure when it officially started, but that's less than 6 hours, I think.

Offline hankster

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #23 on: July 21, 2016, 07:29:27 AM »
Not so sure about that, it is every BS owners worry. If they go out of business than every BS will be nothing more than a lawn ornament.

Yeah, that's a risk.  On the other hand, I feel I got my $99 worth of enjoyment out of it long ago. 

If it becomes a lawn ornament, I'll be hacking into it.

Not sure everyone would agree that it was worth spending $100+ for 6 months of usage was good. If you're happy with that level of performance than you are expect a lot less out of equipment than I do.

Offline nincehelser

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Re: BloomSky malfunctioning
« Reply #24 on: July 21, 2016, 08:33:09 AM »
Not sure everyone would agree that it was worth spending $100+ for 6 months of usage was good. If you're happy with that level of performance than you are expect a lot less out of equipment than I do.

I took a risk and backed it over two years ago for $99, and have had the hardware for a year or so. 

It's still working.

I feel I've got my $99 of fun out of it.

Some like to gamble in Vegas.  I like to experiment with unproven equipment.

To each his own, you know.