I got an email yesterday afternoon and first thing this morning my Pandora arrived.
Congrats to FaTBoB (give us your opinion when you've had some time pls)and Olexxy.
Commiserations to Loonie! Sounds like an expensive (nostalgia wise) fall on the ice. Ouch.
Benji-Stein - There have been no alterations mould wise to the cases at all (some are planned, or thought of by the team and DaveC, including the diff electro-sparked finish).
So the cases will have the same degrees of potential bezel bowing, left side higher lid position (as a result of the hinges arrangement and cable)and potential for cracks around the USB ports to arise as prior units and I believe the rest of batch 1 and 2. Unless folk want another delay with the mould refining process to contend with?
The buttons havent been painted for awhile now either, so the current wild units are a mix of both types.
I've had two units with painted buttons and not found them a problem (only a slightly tactile and perhaps visually looser R button, that is perfectly responsive) and they look fine. I hope the unpainted ones look as good as these and function aswell, or better, if thats possible though.
Granted they're not xbox 360 pads but then again, given the number of those that have died on me, whilst my Psx, Saturn and Dreamcast ones soldier on (aswell as the units themselves)I'm not complaining.
The OPT have endeavoured first time around to make something that will last and they've given a damn enough to halt production (much to our woe) to attempt to ensure that. They've been supportive as best they could so far, with nothing but promises to themselves to pass onto us. If this MP run is really up and running now, then that's 750 boards, with enough nubs to match, additions to the LCD cable supply and the potential of faster production (as 400 boards were made during holidays, perhaps as goodwill....bah!)in just 2 weeks! Which is rivalling the entire supply in the wild thus far produced before the 6 + month delay.
I call that potential happy times
The Nub question seemed to be answered before you asked it, in that hopefully ED has been informed correctly and that ALL of the remaining required Nubs for at least Batch 1 if not 2 (+iCP) will be in hand by the 16th. Thats a godsend if so, as it looked like the controller pcb's for those nubs could end up the next 'shortage' problem.
How the new nubs perform in the wild is now the acid test, aswell as if CC has made the boards as well as before and if perhaps by chance, the wifi chips are better behaved. Beyond that its the dreaded LCD cables and whether in the long term, the placing tool and the potential redesigned version, accounting for the stress points hold up. As it is a truly painful moment when the Purple Haze shows itself. Or at least it was. As if MP keeps up, and if the Haze does too (hopefully not), at least it will be a fast process to return a unit for turnaround.
Its a lovely machine Benji-Stein and I hope you get yours soon and enjoy it for what it is. Dont expect perfection, as this aint a huge corporate thank fuck but what they have made already, has shown that's for the better and that if they succeed to future iterations, well hope springs eternal!