G7 Setbacks

I've been waiting for years to get my alpine shelter, and they just keep pushing dates back and avoiding replies. Has anybody had the same problem with these guys? Has anybody found a suitable alternative to the G7 shelter that works with the pod?

https://highmtngear.com/products/snow-pea-storm-fly

There's a cottage company making third party rainflys: https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/126253448/new-single-storm-fly-for-g7-pod-snow-pea-299

I'm holding out for the alpine shelter that I ordered a long time ago but it's rough.

I was waiting to buy their Crack Gloves and rumor has it they had some issues with their warehouse (potentially moving to a new location?). I think everything was on hold until that stuff was sorted.

There was a pod for sale on here earlier this summer along with a metolious fly. I'd surmise from that that they must be compatible.

They’re focusing on the haul packs IMO. Other items are probably on the back burner (like my ordered alpine shelter…)

I remember a thread last year asking about g7 delevering their packs.  Are they being delevered or are the dates also slipping like the alpine shelter.  Their web site is taking 'pro-order' for both for delivery this month.  They are sold out of the Pod.  It looks like you can buy a hand jam.

Are they batch ordering from China (or somewhere) periodically and delivering more or less on time or have they turned into a scam???  Has anyone received a Alpine Shelter or Haul Pack as scheduled recently?

I'd be cautious ordering anything mission critical on a deadline, they can't seem to get anything done on a schedule. The only reliable way to get G7 gear is to buy it used. 

Their prices are exorbitant too.

Ideally, the pod will get sold/licensed too a large company that can actually deliver on orders. 

It’s early October, so that Sept/Oct timeframe is still possible. It’s just that after all this time and all these delays, I think they’ve burned a lot of trust.

I ordered a pair of hand jams over the summer, and they were delivered quickly. But they’ve only got a couple sizes and it’s been that way forever and who knows when those other sizes get restocked.

I’ve got a friend who ordered a pack from the kickstarter. By all accounts it’ll be amazing when it finally arrives. They’ll be very expensive at full price, but if they can actually get them in stock, and if once Ive had my hands on one IRL they seem to live up to the hype, I could see shelling out for one. But at this point, there’s no way I’d click that pre-order button for anything from them. 

I pre ordered a pack in the original campaign. Kind of crazy looking at the new pricing. I didn’t realize the 55L is now $455 soon to be $590. I paid $220. It’ll be worth it if I ever get the pack which I believe I will. Estimated delivery is November at the moment if you are getting backer updates. The website is out of date.

Regarding the company, it’s not a scam and I have it in good authority that the bags will be excellent quality. It’s just a cottage company carving a brand new niche in gear that got rocked super hard by Covid and the difficulties of manufacturing scaling. I’ve also got a pod and I’ve never had an issue with it. I’ve never seen a thread complaining about any of their gear being of poor quality. So, no, you will not receive a Walmart tent but it may take a long time. 

Alex Guzman wrote:

It’s just a cottage company carving a brand new niche in gear that got rocked super hard by Covid and the difficulties of manufacturing scaling. 

I don’t know G7 but I have a long history in custom bicycle, diy hifi, and custom keyboards and when the words “cottage company” and “scaling” appear together it only ever ends in tears. 

Alex Guzman wrote:

I pre ordered a pack in the original campaign. Kind of crazy looking at the new pricing. I didn’t realize the 55L is now $455 soon to be $590. I paid $220. It’ll be worth it if I ever get the pack which I believe I will. Estimated delivery is November at the moment if you are getting backer updates. The website is out of date.

Regarding the company, it’s not a scam and I have it in good authority that the bags will be excellent quality. It’s just a cottage company carving a brand new niche in gear that got rocked super hard by Covid and the difficulties of manufacturing scaling. I’ve also got a pod and I’ve never had an issue with it. I’ve never seen a thread complaining about any of their gear being of poor quality. So, no, you will not receive a Walmart tent but it may take a long time. 

This post is similar to the posts about Merlin where the original product was great and unique and he kept taking orders but stopped delivering.  After many years the community eventually decided he was scamming people and had lost the intention of delivering. 

The haul packs might be difficult to manufacture depending on the availability of the material they are making the pack from.  Is it really something special designed for G7 or merely something currently being manufactured for other purposes.

There is nothing special about the materials used in either the Alpine Shelter and the POD.    G7 does not seem to have an interest in selling the POD, you cannot order it and I know people want it.  The POD has turned into a modern day silent partner.  The Alpine shelter is just a tent, there should be no challenge getting that made.

The sceptic in me notes that unemployment rate in China is fairly high at the movement and it should be possible to get something made and COVID was 4 years ago.  My guess is they don't have the money to pay for any of these product to be manufactured.  If the owners and employees are take a salary from the pre-order funds then they will never have the money and the products will never be manufactured and thus never delivered.

Please let us know if you get delivery in November or not.   

Yeahhh I’m pretty skeptical of the whole operation at this point. I’ve used their g7s on many walls, have done a day mission with the haul pack that someone had (?) and ordered an undelivered rain fly seemingly a year ago at this point. It’s all interesting and innovative gear, but it’s hard to imagine something magical is going to fall into place.  I can’t imagine the economics are improving, so what is going to change? this would be many years of “black swan” snafus, if it really is a series of unfortunate events. Maybe niche low volume products + some level of complexity = very hard to actually deliver and make money? 

 I hope they do figure it out, of course.

A lot of my friends have switched back to regular single ledges, and I’ve been hauling a dyneema bag I made from readily available fabrics with a home sewing machine. I personally wouldn’t order from them again at this point. 

Economically, the US isn't doing so hot. Canada is doing worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KIqXWZ-Pvw

Desert Rock Sports wrote:

Economically, the US isn't doing so hot. Canada is doing worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KIqXWZ-Pvw

The numbers all seem great and I'm doing just fine.

Edit.  254000 jobs created last month, GDP growth at 3% inflation 2.5%. All good numbers

climber pat wrote:

This post is similar to the posts about Merlin where the original product was great and unique and he kept taking orders but stopped delivering.  After many years the community eventually decided he was scamming people and had lost the intention of delivering. 

I think you mean Valley Giant.

The Merlin guy closed down gracefully as far as I know.

Austin Donisan wrote:

I think you mean Valley Giant.

The Merlin guy closed down gracefully as far as I know.

You are right

Spopepro O. wrote:

I don’t know G7 but I have a long history in custom bicycle, diy hifi, and custom keyboards and when the words “cottage company” and “scaling” appear together it only ever ends in tears. 

I remember you from the velocipede salon days—we have definitely seen this dynamic play out over and over again!

Slim Pickens wrote:

I remember you from the velocipede salon days—we have definitely seen this dynamic play out over and over again!

Yeah… it’s unfortunately really familiar.

And to be clear for everyone, I don’t think anyone sets out to scam people. They just have a cool idea, get a little bit too much interest, are happy to cash the checks for preorders. Then delays, cost overruns, maybe there’s so many orders they need to hire/subcontract, and now all of a sudden they don’t have the resources to fill all the orders. Then comes the new products, new preorders, always before the prior orders are filled because they need the capital to fill orders. And they always think that at some point the scaling or the backlog will clear if they can *just* get this batch out the door… 

I did a warranty replacement for my Pod's stuff sack recently. It got real busted up after I let it swing around and smack into rock on a bigwall. They are reasonably responsive (emailed on Thursday, got a response on Monday). It was $10 for shipping, no cost for the sack. I believe this is since mine has the "golden ticket" aka I bought it under the original crowdfunding. They also responded to my questions about the gear cones from the Haul Pack crowdfunding quickly. 

Maybe it's copium but I really think they're trying to get product out there but are probably way more focused on shipping the Haul Packs to people (while making sure they are as reliable as people expect them to be. Can you imagine if they shipped without enough QA and had issues? That would be the end of their reputation). I'm pretty sure it's like a 6 person company and they can't manage new product development and existing product manufacturing at once.