zimm
Expedition Leader
it looks like qualcom has that taken care of on their "watch", so the BW screen will end up being obsolete in a year or two.
New Ruggedized Android Tablet with GPS/FRS/Radio and a solar charger. Meet Earl.
- Thread starter Tinker
- Start date
it looks like qualcom has that taken care of on their "watch", so the BW screen will end up being obsolete in a year or two.
JimBiram
Adventurer
For those who were/are a bit skeptical, they are making progress. Here's a link to their most recent updates http://www.meetearl.com/updates/
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
NetDep
Adventurer
I was just hoping it came out! First post is last May - this is February 2014. I was quick on the pre-order bandwagon and even held onto until way beyond the promised and promised again delivery date of August of last year. I wrote for, and quickly received, a refund very recently. I have moved on to an iPad Mini with a Bad Elf and some first rate navigation apps. That said - I would still look at the Earl WHEN IT SHIPS and AFTER it is in the hands of several different reviewers. Might be an amazing unit - as promised - but I got very tired of waiting and endless "updates" and upgrades.
I really normally don't rain on parades or knock gear -- I LOVE gear -- but wanted to be a voice of reason to anyone going to part with some hard earned cash on a pre-order.
Take care & good luck!!!
pugslyyy
Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
There's just been another significant progress update with a good timeline and talk of the second prepurchase round they plan for 4Q14.
They are just about to lock in the hardware design, and are confirming that there will be a 2m version if you have the license, GMRS only if not.
They are just about to lock in the hardware design, and are confirming that there will be a 2m version if you have the license, GMRS only if not.
I think people are out 699,000 at this point. I will never pre order something with a timeline this long. I think they had mismanagement right from the beginning. And had someone great in marketing. At this point, they have a second crowdfunding campaign listed? I think if they get 20 bucks they will be lucky. I don't think we will ever "meet earl". Awesome concept, Poor poor management.
If they do pull it off, and it has full up to date topo coverage for Canada and US, I will pay for one......If its available to be purchased and shipped to me right away.
If they do pull it off, and it has full up to date topo coverage for Canada and US, I will pay for one......If its available to be purchased and shipped to me right away.
robgendreau
Explorer
Kinda fascinating in a train wreck sorta way. Now that those folks got that Gotenna device past the FCC there's even less need for this.
This is the main reason I do not put anything into crowdfunding etc. Waste of money imo...Develop the product, if you can't do it without getting crowdfunding, either sell your idea to a major corporation, or give up on it. Everyone who paid into this, has NOTHING to show for it after 2 years.
I guess these people have more money to waste than I, or are suckered in easy.
I guess these people have more money to waste than I, or are suckered in easy.
Wow still nothing on earl. sorta like the train wreck that is kreyos. Their smartwatch was announced, pushed back mulitple times, while the "ceo" was out jet setting in his ferarri etc, obviously paid for by the crowdfunding project. They did finally release the watch and it was a piece of crap.
Kmrtnsn
Explorer
Their latest spew of excuses. Until I see one work, I wouldn't send them a dime.
"October 18th, 2014
Simply put, Earl's delayed. There's never an easy way to spin bad news. I cringe at the thought of announcing each of the delays we've faced over the last 18 months. I like to have a clear solution before presenting others with our problems. Early on in this journey, it became apparent that we needed help to get it right. We partnered with Onyx International, a specialty e-reader manufacturer from Guangzhou, China. Without them, I don't think we would have ever made it this far. Sourcing individual components, while possible, is a complete nightmare without someone with experience. However, the scope of this project has presented so many unforeseen issues that we've all had to push ourselves to come up with creative solutions. Following our last post, our hardware team informed us that Earl's shell had a 40% chance to survive a substantial drop and remain sealed against outside elements. The solution, add some bulk. Unfortunately, that means certification and tooling were put on hold. During development we relied heavily on the opinions of their in-house engineers. What we needed was a third party with experience developing rugged devices to evaluate our design during the past year. I was in Delhi with our software team at the time I learned of the issues and upon arrival in Hong Kong, rushed to our hardware team to discuss our options. One thing was clear, neither party wanted to proceed to production with the current issues at hand. I had three options, continue with Onyx and adjust our design to meet the standards initially requested, proceed with our current design and use a different manufacturer, or throw in the towel. I can't think of a moment where I felt more scared in my life. Issues and delays have plagued this project from the beginning. Never once did I expect this project to take so much time to finish. We could have it be a total waste or push on. Going with a new partner could have sunk us even further. Onyx has become family to us. Though we may not see eye to eye on everything, they've brought my idea into reality, together we're a team. It would be really hard to build the kind of relationship we have with another firm. So we acknowledged our faults and went back to work. Like myself this past year, Earl's put on a little weight. Earl's shell is his armor, the protection needed for the outside elements. We thickened the walls of the shell while recessing the E-ink screen and solar panel for better scratch protection. Though Earl's internals were complete and ready to certify, we still had to adjust our PCB for the new shell design. The extra space provided room for a larger ceramic GPS antenna, battery and speaker box. So they were all redesigned as well. All of this takes time. While the team was working on the redesign, I was back in the states to build the team that will support Earl through to the end. Back in June I was picked for a climb up Kilimanjaro with a team from the Web Summit Dublin. They never officially announced the climb, so we held it back. I spent a good deal of time preparing for the climb set to begin of October. Unfortunately, due to the current crisis in Africa, the organizers decided to cancel the climb. Though with all the recent developments, this has been sort of a blessing. Because of this, I only scheduled a few days at the end of September to meet with Onyx. Upon my return I was presented with an updated design, but unfortunately our new PCB was a few weeks away. The good thing is that because we are just refitting our existing design into the new shell we're pretty much where we left off for certification. Unfortunately the 1st through 7th of October is National Day in China, the whole country tends to shut down for business. With so much going on, I headed home. The new PCB should be ready in the next couple days, along with the new shell, but I'll have to wait until the end of the week to see the progress when I fly back on Thursday. In addition to the climb, our team was selected to showcase Earl at the Web Summit conference in Dublin from the 3-6th of November. To prep I've spent a great deal of time bringing on additional bodies to help with the business and customer sides of Earl. This has allowed me to spend more time working with our software team. They're nearly 12 hours ahead of the USA, so communication can be challenging. Development has been cruising along and though we've nailed down most of the functionality of our navigation and radio applications, some of the visual elements do not quite meet our expectations. Since we have some time before we start shipping, I've been working to fine tune the look and feel of our software. Simple, clean and intuitive. There's still a bit more to go, and it's part of the reason I've been slacking on the updates. We have less than 3 weeks to have Earl ready for Dublin. It will be the first time Earl has been in the public spotlight and needless to say I'm a little nervous. So what happens next? Things are looking good on the hardware side, if the new PCB and Shell meet our expectations this week then we can keep pushing forward. So certification? We are extremely close, but I'd expect at least one additional iteration after this. We want to send this next board to an independent lab that can test the shell for durability and analyze the antenna radiation patterns before giving it the go ahead. If all goes well, then we're going to push it back into the certification and tooling cycle we had mentioned in our last update. Are you going to be in Dublin during the Web Summit? Let us know! We'd love to have you finally meet Earl! "
"October 18th, 2014
Simply put, Earl's delayed. There's never an easy way to spin bad news. I cringe at the thought of announcing each of the delays we've faced over the last 18 months. I like to have a clear solution before presenting others with our problems. Early on in this journey, it became apparent that we needed help to get it right. We partnered with Onyx International, a specialty e-reader manufacturer from Guangzhou, China. Without them, I don't think we would have ever made it this far. Sourcing individual components, while possible, is a complete nightmare without someone with experience. However, the scope of this project has presented so many unforeseen issues that we've all had to push ourselves to come up with creative solutions. Following our last post, our hardware team informed us that Earl's shell had a 40% chance to survive a substantial drop and remain sealed against outside elements. The solution, add some bulk. Unfortunately, that means certification and tooling were put on hold. During development we relied heavily on the opinions of their in-house engineers. What we needed was a third party with experience developing rugged devices to evaluate our design during the past year. I was in Delhi with our software team at the time I learned of the issues and upon arrival in Hong Kong, rushed to our hardware team to discuss our options. One thing was clear, neither party wanted to proceed to production with the current issues at hand. I had three options, continue with Onyx and adjust our design to meet the standards initially requested, proceed with our current design and use a different manufacturer, or throw in the towel. I can't think of a moment where I felt more scared in my life. Issues and delays have plagued this project from the beginning. Never once did I expect this project to take so much time to finish. We could have it be a total waste or push on. Going with a new partner could have sunk us even further. Onyx has become family to us. Though we may not see eye to eye on everything, they've brought my idea into reality, together we're a team. It would be really hard to build the kind of relationship we have with another firm. So we acknowledged our faults and went back to work. Like myself this past year, Earl's put on a little weight. Earl's shell is his armor, the protection needed for the outside elements. We thickened the walls of the shell while recessing the E-ink screen and solar panel for better scratch protection. Though Earl's internals were complete and ready to certify, we still had to adjust our PCB for the new shell design. The extra space provided room for a larger ceramic GPS antenna, battery and speaker box. So they were all redesigned as well. All of this takes time. While the team was working on the redesign, I was back in the states to build the team that will support Earl through to the end. Back in June I was picked for a climb up Kilimanjaro with a team from the Web Summit Dublin. They never officially announced the climb, so we held it back. I spent a good deal of time preparing for the climb set to begin of October. Unfortunately, due to the current crisis in Africa, the organizers decided to cancel the climb. Though with all the recent developments, this has been sort of a blessing. Because of this, I only scheduled a few days at the end of September to meet with Onyx. Upon my return I was presented with an updated design, but unfortunately our new PCB was a few weeks away. The good thing is that because we are just refitting our existing design into the new shell we're pretty much where we left off for certification. Unfortunately the 1st through 7th of October is National Day in China, the whole country tends to shut down for business. With so much going on, I headed home. The new PCB should be ready in the next couple days, along with the new shell, but I'll have to wait until the end of the week to see the progress when I fly back on Thursday. In addition to the climb, our team was selected to showcase Earl at the Web Summit conference in Dublin from the 3-6th of November. To prep I've spent a great deal of time bringing on additional bodies to help with the business and customer sides of Earl. This has allowed me to spend more time working with our software team. They're nearly 12 hours ahead of the USA, so communication can be challenging. Development has been cruising along and though we've nailed down most of the functionality of our navigation and radio applications, some of the visual elements do not quite meet our expectations. Since we have some time before we start shipping, I've been working to fine tune the look and feel of our software. Simple, clean and intuitive. There's still a bit more to go, and it's part of the reason I've been slacking on the updates. We have less than 3 weeks to have Earl ready for Dublin. It will be the first time Earl has been in the public spotlight and needless to say I'm a little nervous. So what happens next? Things are looking good on the hardware side, if the new PCB and Shell meet our expectations this week then we can keep pushing forward. So certification? We are extremely close, but I'd expect at least one additional iteration after this. We want to send this next board to an independent lab that can test the shell for durability and analyze the antenna radiation patterns before giving it the go ahead. If all goes well, then we're going to push it back into the certification and tooling cycle we had mentioned in our last update. Are you going to be in Dublin during the Web Summit? Let us know! We'd love to have you finally meet Earl! "
robgendreau
Explorer
Geez. It's just painful.
And now I can't help but think about the South Park "Washington Redskins" episode every time I hear the word "kickstarter."
And now I can't help but think about the South Park "Washington Redskins" episode every time I hear the word "kickstarter."
biggoolies
Adventurer
It is good the guy was hoping to climb Kilimanjaro. He sounds so stressed. Travelling all over the world and such. ;-)