ethomas1013
Fractal Fanatic
I really can’t understand this comments, yeah I know I will play my gear until the great gods will do me a favor and I should be grateful. I think fractal who are known for working relentlessly on updates for us customers really care for us so I suggest taking it a step further and give us some kind of a time table for the release of the units and only because they said now shipping.
Perhaps you don't understand the comments because you have not participated in this forum or previous FAS waitlists? I have been involved in the last five waitlists (AxeII, AxeIII, AX8, FX8, and FM3). These are my observations based on participation in previous waitlists. Perhaps this will help, or not...
All "now shipping" means is that they have units in stock and they will start shipping them to the waitlist. The "now shipping" verbiage is significant because the FM3 was announced and waitlist invitations were extended several months before they had units available to ship. There were multiple delays with FAS making statements about when shipping would start, only to have those estimated dates pass by more than once. It was very frustrating for those who were on the waitlist and it was a good 6 months after the product was announced and the waitlist was opened before units started shipping. And even then, the first batch of units were manufactured incorrectly (without a headphone jack) and those who wanted a headphone jack had to wait even longer. Overall, I think it is fair to say that the FM3 launch was poorly managed and it's clear that FAS has learned from that experience.
This time is different. Units are in stock at the time the product was announced and the waitlist was opened (well done Fractal - that's the way to do it). How may units are in stock is a total unknown. FAS is a small company any they historically have ordered units in batches. If previous launches are any indication, they aren't manufacturing thousands of these in advance that are sitting in a warehouse, and they do not have the manpower to ship thousands of units a day. The FM3 waitlist took a year to clear (maybe more). Even if you got on the FM9 list a couple hours after the initial announcement you could be looking at a few months, or more, before receiving the invitation to purchase.
I do recall that Fractal did give occasional updates on the FM3 shipping status. Every once in a while @Admin M@ would post an update stating the date and time of the waitlist that they were processing. For example, I got on the FM9 list Aug 28 at 10:01 am Eastern. If Matt posted an update that they were serving people who got on the list before Aug 28 9:45 am Eastern, then I would know I'm getting close. Whether he does that this time remains to be seen, but I do agree that this would be helpful. For example, I got on the King of Tone waiting list July 3, 2019. The Analogman website says that the King of Tone is now shipping to those who got on the list before Sept. 25, 2017. So, I know that I'm not getting one of those any time "soon"...
Hope that helps to give some perspective.
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