We’ve spent our summer building beta units, and we’re excited to be able to ship them out this week. It took us longer than we hoped to get put everything together but we’re grateful that our beta testers will be getting their units in time to make the most of the new snow.
We’ve learned a lot while working on the betas. The setbacks we’ve had to overcome during this process will mean fewer problems as we move to production. While the alpha units used mostly components that we fabricated or machined in-house, the betas are built mostly with components from the same suppliers we’re intending to use as we move to production. Notable exceptions to this are the various urethane resin parts used on the betas. The equivalent parts on the alpha units were all 3d printed. By casting these components in-house we can produce components with similar material properties to the production units while avoiding the high cost of production tooling before we launch. The downside is that our castings feature some cosmetic imperfections.
While our betas are being put to the test, we will be preparing to launch the product on Kickstarter. We’re planning to launch our campaign in the mid-December 2021. As a subscriber to our updates you’ll be the first to hear about our launch, giving you an opportunity to pre-order the product with early-bird pricing. If you have any friends you think should pick up a PL1, make sure they sign up on the website or follow us on Facebook or Instagram!