Note to Zpider Users

Back in August 2016, we did a crowdfunding campaign for the Zimanox and the Zpider power meter products on both the Kickstarter site and the Indiegogo site. Following this, a number of units were sold on our webshop. The Zpider turned out to be the best of the two products in many ways and is available on the webshop and through a number of partner webshops around Europe.

Webshop customer?

If you bought a Zpider on our webshop, you need not read any further.

Your product is covered by the standard warranty as described in the standard terms and conditions.

Please make it clear to support when you contact us at hello@teamzwatt.com that you are a webshop customer.

Crowdfunding backer?

If you backed us on a crowdfunding site as described above, we want to thank you again for that support and take the opportunity to clarify your warranty situation.

A Zpider from crowdfunding does not include a warranty. This is very clear from the terms and conditions and generally not to be expected from a crowdfunding item.

Above and beyond

We are going above and beyond on our service for you as a crowdfunding backer in two ways:

  1. For the first year (2017), we actually provided repairs and both-way shipping for free anyways
  2. After the first year, we started to offer a full repair/recalibration for both Zpider and Zimanox at cost (meaning we make nothing on this)

Still being very much a startup, this is as far as we can go. Our advisors tell us that we are being too nice, but that’s how we are 😊

Further to this, the monthly fee is completely optional. That was our way of reducing your risk in case the crowdfunded product did not work well for you. You never have to pay this unless you want to use the product (which you probably don’t if you feel it doesn’t work for you). Manage your payments at the My Account page.

Known problems

The crowdfunding process taught us a number of things. Including what works well and what does not in this type of product. This includes reliability, manufacturing, and ease of repairs. All this is being put to great use on new developments and also for the integration work we do when we sell the core technology to the bigger brands.

For the Zpider, we have noticed one problem that we want to share with you in the hope that you can prolong the life of your Zpider by knowing what may happen to it over time. Far from all Zpiders may ever experience these problems, but enough so that we call it a known problem. Any of the newer Zpiders (from around May’18) should not have this problem.

Not watertight

The area around the charging port is not watertight on some units. This is quite ironic. We looked at some competing arm-based power meters when we did the design and immediately saw that they would not be watertight due to the battery lid (turned out to be true). So, we went to great lengths to design a solution that would be 100% sealed. And it works really well – when correctly assembled.

Unfortunately, some units were not assembled according to the instructions, meaning water can leak in around the charge port. And worse: We did not have a good test for that in place at first. We do have that test setup now and all units coming in for repair (or being manufactured) are now tested for water sealing. We really tried hard and were fully aware of the potential problem, yet we were not 100% successful. Ironic, but that’s life. We learned from that and are in a much better position now.

Have a problem with your Zpider?

If you run into problems with your Zpider, this is your options in a nutshell:

We would love to provide an even better service on this crowdfunding item, but we can simply not afford that at the current state of the business.

Have no use for your Zpider?

If your Zpider truly offers no value to you, here are a few things that you could do in the spirit of crowdfunding:

  • Give it to a friend*
  • Sell it to somebody. You got this at way below the retail value – if you want to recuperate that value and possibly even more, try selling it second hand*
  • Give it another chance. Some products can take some getting used to. Maybe it doesn’t work for you right now, but perhaps you’ll find the right time and place in the future

*) This is how a new user gets signed up if they buy a used power meter.

Allow me to add a personal note. Most of the crowdfunding rewards I have received are really not in use. They just sit in some drawer somewhere – from time to time reminding me about all the cool and interesting projects I have been a tiny part of though my contributions. I know I am not alone in feeling that way about crowdfunding and if you share my way of dealing with crowdfunding I can assure you it’s absolutely stress-free 😊

Thanks for your understanding and have a great day.

Rolf Ostergaard
CEO and founder
Copenhagen Jul 26th, 2018