Logbar Inc. raised over $880k in April 2014 for a wearable tech ring that was supposed to be able to ‘shortcut everything’. The Kickstarter campaign has received a lot of criticism from backers recently, many of whom received the product late, not sized properly, and lacking a lot of the functionality that the creators had promised.
The Ring uses Bluetooth to pair with your devices, and by making preprogrammed or custom gestures, it’s owner can do things like turn their devices on or off, change volume, sent texts, process payments, and receive notifications (to name a few). However, backers were dismayed to find that the Android app is still in beta, and many have said that the device only works about 5% of the time. They also find the ring much larger than it had looked in the video, and overall very unwearable.
One YouTube reviewer, Snazzy Labs, has said that the Logbar ring might be “the worst product ever made.” Some early bird shipments were supposed to be sent in April with others in July, but many backers haven’t received their rewards until recently. While the team at Logbar posted some updates on their page apologizing about the delays and issues backers were having with their product, they have not been responsive to requests for refunds or returning comments.
This is just one of a growing number of projects that overpromised on Kickstarter and couldn’t deliver. When this project launched earlier in the year the hype they created with their video and claims got them covered by popular media outlets including Time, Entrepreneur, Mashable, and TechCrunch. The Ring was available on Kickstarter for early bird prices, and then at a reduced Kickstarter price of $185. They are now being sold at a retail price of $269.
The Kickstarter page currently has over 800 comments, many similar to this one written by Dale Drechsler:
“Received my ring today. Too big without the spacer plastic ring in place, fits ok with it in place but then it won’t fit on the charger. Wow, this thing is huge, novelty size big. A work colleague walked past and said nice ring Mr T. Sadly I pity the fool who buys this retail. Gestures are totally hit and miss and on iOS there’s really nothing it can do. Music skip doesn’t work for Spotify. Can’t send an sms. Etc etc. Really just a colossal fail, very very disappointed.”
Several backers have mentioned in their comments the fact that this project was the breaking point that made them want to stop using the platform all together. Ironically, Kickstarter has been one of the stricter platforms when it comes to accepting campaigns and suspending or terminating those that break the rules.
Unfortunately in their efforts to encourage innovation some projects like these that sound really cool receive very large amounts of funding ut the finished product is not quite what everyone expected. This is why creators should think carefully before launching a project and be sure to communicate the risks involved in developing a new product – if Logbar continues on the path they’ve been going down they may have a group lawsuit on their hands soon.
