TravelWide Repair Question

[Bob Salomon]

Bob, stop this. It was a great idea with some product development problems that didn’t get worked out. Many problems did get solved, and the guys that made them lost a fortune. Everyone who was owed one got one, exactly as advertised. Many work fine. No warranty was implied. They were priced at a hundred bucks, and nobody expected them to be perfect. I find not a shred of evidence of dishonesty or negligence, Monday quarterbacking notwithstanding. Talk of suing over a hundred-dollar novelty serves nobody.

Let’s work the problem.

Rick “please” Denney

Sorry Richard, I spent over 40 years in the photo industry representing manufacturers and if a product did not perform as represented we, and our factories, backed it up so the user wasn’t burned. Even if we all lost money, our dealers and our users did not.

With the small quantity that were sold they could have stood up and resolved the problem.

If they could or would not then they are not ethical!

[rdenney]

Sorry Richard, I spent over 40 years in the photo industry representing manufacturers and if a product did not perform as represented we, and our factories, backed it up so the user wasn’t burned. Even if we all lost money, our dealers and our users did not.

With the small quantity that were sold they could have stood up and resolved the problem.

If they could or would not then they are not ethical!

Bob, it’s not your grocery money those high-end manufacturers, some of whom are now out of business, by the way, were using to correct problems. The Travelwide was a cooperative effort. The design was revealed on this forum in detail. There was no secret about the development problems in moving from a light-porous 3D printed prototype to a production item. If the design problem was obvious, still nobody noticed.

It’s easy to condemn a couple of guys who ended up spending a lot of their own grocery money when it’s not your money you want them to spend.

In any case, the damages for any one person were small.

If someone will send me a CAD file, I know a guy who can cut stainless steel thin plate with a water jet, and I’ll find out what it takes to make a replacement for the part in question.

That’s what I mean by working the problem.

Rick “this is not the place for commercial advocacy” Denney

[rfesk]

rdenney, I appreciate your reply to Bob's comments. I agree completely. Yes, these guys lost money on the project trying to do the right thing.

Also, someone is already working on a replacement part. (See earlier posts.) But it is good to know there is a back up.

[Tin Can]

I agree with Rick, somebody send him the data, Stainless Steel is a better material for this very thin part.

If this can be made, sold and shipped by envelope for $20 each set of 2, many will buy even if their TW is not yet broken.

I will buy asap.

If someone will send me a CAD file, I know a guy who can cut stainless steel thin plate with a water jet, and I’ll find out what it takes to make a replacement for the part in question.

That’s what I mean by working the problem.

Rick “this is not the place for commercial advocacy” Denney

[Paul Ron]

How do you know, for a fact, that it wasn’t a scam?

and how can you prove it was a scam based on the facts?

see, thats your burdon of proof in a small claims court to prove neglegance.

besides, over a $100 isnt worth the time to file a claim.

solve the problem, share the fix, n everyone benifits.

[Bob Salomon]

and how can you prove it was a scam based on the facts?

see, thats your burdon of proof in a small claims court to prove neglegance.

besides, over a $100 isnt worth the time to file a claim.

solve the problem, share the fix, n everyone benifits.

Just as a point of interest, why don’t the original makers of the camera interject their thoughts? Or have they just decided to leave everyone high and dry?

$100.00 isn’t a lot of money individually but it becomes a meaningful sum when multiplied by all of the people that spent the $100.00!

[plywood]

Just as a point of interest, why don’t the original makers of the camera interject their thoughts? Or have they just decided to leave everyone high and dry?

$100.00 isn’t a lot of money individually but it becomes a meaningful sum when multiplied by all of the people that spent the $100.00!

I think the creators of that project, and Ben Syverson especially, were just overwhelmed by the problems that arose during development. I also suspect that they spent a large sum of personal savings to complete the project, which had run quite late.

That is the problem with many of these photo hardware related projects. The estimate of the level of difficulty and amount of funds needed to overcome problems are just not envisioned by creators. This is true even if they feel they have done their due diligence and constructed and tested prototypes. Trouble is, when problems and delays happen, many creators just go comatose, and refuse to communicate to backers in a timely and regular fashion. This silence, more than any problems or delays, are what infuriate backers.

[Paul Ron]

i understan how you feel bob. but you have to realize the developers can only stand behind their product so long n cant be held responsable for life. it was clear tw was a concept experiment. if problems arrise down the road, then anyone devoted to tw should chip in to make the corrections n pass it along... exactly what everyone involved here is doing. i was very impressed with the efforts of everyone in this thread.

do holgas n lomos come to mind?... real junk that became a cult because everyone is contributing to make it work.

i wonder how many wonderful photos were a result of tw cameras? was it worth $100?... you bet.

[Tin Can]

Along that vein, how many cameras have we all scrapped over the years?

Not all are collectable.

How many here have,"McKeown's Price Guide To Antique & Classic Cameras 2005-2006 (Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras) 12th Edition"?

I do and it's too bad they haven't updated yet...

[Drew Bedo]

McKeown's, Yeah . . . .and its full of defunct camera makers at every level of the market from the cheapest giv-away cameras to the most expensive high-end makers of their time.

We had mcKeowen himself give a talk at the Houston Camera Show one year and he couldn't/wouldn't saty how he figured the prices for anything.