OpenBarbell v3 on sale again

[TimK]

I was watching the eBay auction and someone actually bought it for $350.

What the what?

Totally cray cray

Supply and demand, bitches!

[omaniphil]

Sometimes the demand portion of the equation makes no sense to me. My wife works for American Greetings and her job sent her to a Barbie convention, where every participant received a custom barbie made for the convention (La Reine de la Nuit). We recently sold it on Ebay for $400. Makes absolutely no sense.

If the demand is high enough for these Open Barbell units, they should really put some serious effort into expanding their production line. I flipped through their instagram - it looks like they set up tables in their gym with bins of parts and had volunteers (probably paid, but still probably friends and friends of friends) come in to put these together.

Then again, the market for these is probably not all that large, and any investment into improving their production capacity may not see a return if they quickly sell to everybody who is interested.

[TimK]

If someone is really wanting to get into velocity based training, spending an extra $100 to not have to wait several months for another *chance* at getting one isn't that crazy IMO.

[gtl]

I was watching the eBay auction and someone actually bought it for $350.

Sorry, @SeanHerbison the price of the v1 just trippled! It's like vintage or something now, plus supply and demand stuff.












jk

[TimK]

If someone is really wanting to get into velocity based training, spending an extra $100 to not have to wait several months for another *chance* at getting one isn't that crazy IMO.

Ok, just realized that V2 is not the current model. I was thinking that it was the same one you guys were after. I can see how it's a little ridiculous in that case, but if someone can get that for it then more power to him. I'm all for mutually beneficial exchange.

[Mkgillman]

If someone is really wanting to get into velocity based training, spending an extra $100 to not have to wait several months for another *chance* at getting one isn't that crazy IMO.

Ok, just realized that V2 is not the current model. I was thinking that it was the same one you guys were after. I can see how it's a little ridiculous in that case, but if someone can get that for it then more power to him. I'm all for mutually beneficial exchange.

Not only was it not the current model, it was used, the eBay seller had no previous sales, and he said he wouldn’t accept returns. I understand people paying a premium for something they want, but there were a lot of red flags on this one.

[gtl]

Not only was it not the current model, it was used, the eBay seller had no previous sales, and he said he wouldn’t accept returns. I understand people paying a premium for something they want, but there were a lot of red flags on this one.

I wouldn't accept returns either. You just never know if something broke in shipping, if someone changed their mind, etc. A personal eBay account isn't a business.

But, you're right. This n00b has only been on eBay since 2010. I've been on eBay since 2000 -- at the ripe age of 14 years old. Oh man, those were the days. MONEY ORDER ONLY. WILL SHIP ONCE YOUR CHECK CLEARS. Pictures were Polaroids scanned at home.

[thejosef]

Still can't believe the V2 went for that much. He lucked out with the timing of the V3 release/sell out happening during his auction. I missed a V2 on eBay at $175 a couple months ago and I was pretty bummed. BUT I lucked out and nabbed a V3 on Monday after furious refreshing and dealing with their site crashing dozens of times during checkout. Should be arriving today. Can't wait to start collecting data and applying this to my training. Really stoked to get one after stalking their site and IG for many months waiting for updates.

[thejosef]

...

If the demand is high enough for these Open Barbell units, they should really put some serious effort into expanding their production line. I flipped through their instagram - it looks like they set up tables in their gym with bins of parts and had volunteers (probably paid, but still probably friends and friends of friends) come in to put these together.

Then again, the market for these is probably not all that large, and any investment into improving their production capacity may not see a return if they quickly sell to everybody who is interested.

I'm pretty sure they're looking for investors now and they may even have them already in order to make this a bigger thing.. who knows how long that'll take, but demand is obviously there. I'm very suprised/thankful they didn't jack up the price on the V3. I think they could've EASILY asked $450 per unit and got it.

[gtl]

...

If the demand is high enough for these Open Barbell units, they should really put some serious effort into expanding their production line. I flipped through their instagram - it looks like they set up tables in their gym with bins of parts and had volunteers (probably paid, but still probably friends and friends of friends) come in to put these together.

Then again, the market for these is probably not all that large, and any investment into improving their production capacity may not see a return if they quickly sell to everybody who is interested.

I'm pretty sure they're looking for investors now and they may even have them already in order to make this a bigger thing.. who knows how long that'll take, but demand is obviously there. I'm very suprised/thankful they didn't jack up the price on the V3. I think they could've EASILY asked $450 per unit and got it.

Somewhat agree here. I think they could push the price if they had more inventory/availability (opposite of supply/demand theory), while also reducing costs by mass producing... assuming quality remains.

[Manveer]

If their objective is to grow into some big business, why did they make the design open source?

[gtl]

If their objective is to grow into some big business, why did they make the design open source?

I don't actually think that is their objective. But the open source would allow for more brains to come together on what the data means and how to use it.

[damufunman]

If their objective is to grow into some big business, why did they make the design open source?

I don't actually think that is their objective. But the open source would allow for more brains to come together on what the data means and how to use it.

I think the biggest benefit of their whole operation is getting all the users' data via the app. I don't know if they have any info on weight being used and if they can tie programming in to set-by-set info, but having a barspeed, RPE, percentage database could prove useful.

The Bluetooth and app bring in the open source stuff means is people do their own they get that data too. Unfortunately I think the set of lifters who want to make their own is very small. I'm working in it right now, and will report when/if I get it working.

[Hanley]

If their objective is to grow into some big business, why did they make the design open source?

Is version 3 still open source? What I found on Github was old

[Manveer]

If their objective is to grow into some big business, why did they make the design open source?

Is version 3 still open source? What I found on Github was old

I dunno m8. I thought that was the idea behind the project. I was a little confused when thejosef said they were seeking out investors. They take your money, make the units, then ship them out.

[Hanley]

If their objective is to grow into some big business, why did they make the design open source?

Is version 3 still open source? What I found on Github was old

I dunno m8. I thought that was the idea behind the project. I was a little confused when thejosef said they were seeking out investors. They take your money, make the units, then ship them out.

Huh. They say it is. I might be looking at old code.

[thejosef]

You're making me doubt myself now. Lol. I'm 99% sure I received an email from them basically asking for investors for their "next step".. Trying to find it now, but think it was around 3-4 months ago and I trashed it.. b/c I wasn't interested. Ha. Here's a quote I found online from the guys at S&S:
"V3 is the second step in our long term plan."

Maybe the investor thing has something to do with a whole new product?

Another quote from same article.. talking about Open Source:

"We embraced the Open Source mentality with our devices because at the beginning, we were [searching for] other people who made their own home VBT brew solutions. There was a community of people who were solving the problem themselves because no company was willing to make a product for them. When we decided to make OpenBarbell V1 we had those people in mind. Our open source efforts have gathered a great team of developers and data scientists around OpenBarbell that have made our devices better, and we’re very thankful for that.

Going forward, we will always embrace a hacker mentality. Things will always be better when the people who use a product can improve them."

Article:
https://barbend.com/open-barbell-versio ... d-science/

[damufunman]

If their objective is to grow into some big business, why did they make the design open source?

Is version 3 still open source? What I found on Github was old

I dunno m8. I thought that was the idea behind the project. I was a little confused when thejosef said they were seeking out investors. They take your money, make the units, then ship them out.

Huh. They say it is. I might be looking at old code.

I found several versions of the code strewn about the interwebs. I think version 0.25 is most current, but not sure. Also found 2 versions of the mechanical parts, but version 0.25 is definitely the newest. Unfortunately the v0.24 PCB I couldn't find, so have to deal with surface mount parts, but I think the only problem will be the battery level chip, which I've tried once and I think ruined. Might try to find a reflow station and someone that knows how to use it...

[Mkgillman]

I just received a surprising package in the mail from the OpenBarbell guys. It was a hand written note from the founder Jordan apologizing for the ordering error. They tossed in a stringer backpack and a pack of Sour Patch Kids as well. I had been perfectly satisfied with the email explaining what had happened, but this was entirely unexpected gesture. Now I just want them to make more of the actual units so I can give them my money for real.

[Manveer]

They are awesome.