Arsenal 2 October Update

by Nate Stephens

Hey everyone, Ryan here.

For the last month our #1 priority has been solving the WiFi Module challenges caused by the global chip shortage. And we have good news! So let’s jump into some updates.

Parts Availability

We have the WiFi Modules!

We received a partial shipment of WiFi Modules earlier this month, and then the remaining arrived this week! This is a little later than we hoped, but it’s great to have them finally in hand. All of the other components are ready to go, so that means we can start manufacturing Arsenal 2s!

Manufacturing

Our contract manufacturer is completing the staging and final prep work currently, and Arsenal 2s will begin rolling off the assembly line next week. We’ve already completed sample and pilot runs, so we feel great about the quality of the components, assembly process, testing, and ultimately the finished product.

We have a lot of Arsenal 2s to make, and our schedule shows them being 100% completed on November 19.

Freight Shipping

Ideally, we’d use ocean freight shipping to get the Arsenal 2 units to localized fulfillment centers who then ship Arsenal 2s to each backer directly. Ocean freight is much cheaper than air, and it’s what most Kickstarters and small companies do. But, COVID.

That’s the maritime map of the freight ships outside of Los Angeles as of October 21. If you aren’t up on your maritime maps, that’s not normal - COVID-related issues have caused a massive backup at the port, with nearing 100 ships anchored waiting for their cargo to be unloaded. Other west coast ports are facing similar challenges, as are ports around the world. The best case we’re being quoted is 2 months if we ship by ocean to the U.S., and similarly long timeframes for other destinations. Are we doing that?

It’s going to be rather expensive (we’ll cover the extra cost), but we’re going to ship air freight and get the Arsenal 2s in your hands much sooner. It takes about two weeks to air freight the units to the various destinations.

In addition, rather than wait for all of the Arsenal 2s to finish manufacturing, we’ve convinced our contract manufacturer to batch them for several smaller shipments. That means we can start air freighting out Arsenal 2s sooner. And once we get units, we will ship them.

Shipping to You

The short version: we will begin shipping out Arsenal 2s on November 15. Based on the current manufacturing and logistics schedule, we expect to have the last Arsenal 2 backer rewards shipped by December 10th.

The detailed version: when your personal rewards will ship is dependent on a number of factors including when your SKU is manufactured and when it reaches the regional fulfillment center. There are 20 SKUs (Stock Keeping Units). The SKUs represent a combination of the two Arsenal 2 versions (Pro and Standard), the camera cables (5 different types), and whether or not it includes a USB wall charger (US and CA only). Our manufacturer makes all of the units for a particular SKU before moving on to the next.

I’ll have more info on the order of the SKU shipping soon. Beyond that, we can’t provide exact shipping dates for individual rewards. We will of course email you once your order has been shipped.

An additional bit of good news is that all of the accessories and camera cables are in and ready to go so they won’t hold up any shipping.

Pledge Manager (Kickstarter backers only)

Before we can ship we’ll need to gather your shipping info, and we’ll do that in the Pledge Manager. As a reminder, in the Pledge Manager you’ll be able to:

  • Upgrade to Arsenal 2 Pro

  • Add additional USB cables

  • Buy accessories (Phone Mount, Micro SD Card, USB Powerbank)*

  • Select your camera

  • Fill out your address and contact information

  • Pay taxes and shipping

*We think all of the accessories are great, but the Phone Mount in particular is really helpful/convenient in a variety of situations. And it’s really popular too - over 65% of the pre-orders we get on our website include a Phone Mount.

We did some testing on the pledge manager this week (we built our own instead of using a third party) and it’s looking great. The best part of making our own is that now our CRM is connected via API to our fulfillment partners, so once we lock an order the data is immediately sent and they are ready to begin fulfilling. We’re making a few more upgrades and will send out the pledge manager starting November 2.

Wrap Up

First off, thanks to the Arsenal team for all of the hard work and extra hours. And likewise thanks to the Arsenal community for all of your incredible support. There’s still more work for us to do, but we’re energized and excited to bring you Arsenal 2 very soon.

  • Ryan