Angry and Disappointed

[spaceman321]

Hi,
Although i haven't yet received my router this does concern me. When we were receiving emails about extended functionality such as mounting usb3 drives and FTP i assumed they were added because the base/advanced router functionality, had already been completed? I'm glad i have seen this thread though, because else i would have expected the router (via NutsOS) to be as configurable, if not more so, than its competitors. If this is not the case, as securifi have already  misjudged what people want from this device (by your own admission, from babcocca's post:
"This might've lead to some oversights as to what features are important and we seemingly have missed our target audience a little bit and we'll be working on correcting all of these software issues.")
then perhaps we should be made aware of what you are now planning to do with upcoming releases so that we can have an input. I hope that a great deal of the current development will be contributing towards developing the software that allows the user to configure the router, without having to use the OpenWRT. Personally, i have lost a but of confidence in the direction of this product so here's to hoping you can put my mind at rest.

[LGNilsson]

A lot of things have changed since then and we're working hard on fixing everything. We've released a couple of beta versions to the beta/dev backers to make sure the new firmware is doing what it should do and we've found issues with their help that we're working on fixing. The web UI isn't really needed for most of the standard features of the Almond+ by the time that the next firmware is released, which I hope will be this week. That said, we've gotten the message loud and clear that there's very much a demand for a vastly improved web UI and we're working on that too, it'll just take a little bit longer to get there.

[babcocca]

Hello all!

So I plug in the Almond and set it up. Update to R066. The RDP connection on tlhe local lan is still present.

I sent a message to Lars and eldaria to see if a solution could be found.

Its been MONTHS. I am still disappointed.

[eldaria]

Hello all!

So I plug in the Almond and set it up. Update to R066. The RDP connection on tlhe local lan is still present.

I sent a message to Lars and eldaria to see if a solution could be found.

Its been MONTHS. I am still disappointed.

I do not answer questions that come in a PM.
If you have something not working please make a forum post so that others can benefit.
The RDP issue is mentioned nowhere else than in this rant post and is not very clearly defined. So of course no one has looked into it.

Also, note that I do not work for Securifi, I'm a backer and I use my Almond+ as my primary router at home now. And yes I do use RDP also.

[atrueresistance]

I don't feel slighted at all by Securifi. Every question I've posted on the forum has been met with a response. Yes I feel some of the software is lacking features, but performance wise I'm impressed. Before I had a Netgear WNR2000 running DD-WRT configured as an AP, which would shrivel up and die when throwing 40GB+ over wireless. I've never had a problem with the Almond configured as an AP.

[pjazzy]

I don't normally post but would like to say that I am impressed with the quality of the product. Some of the more advanced features are not there yet (in software) but this does not diminish the product as these will be added in.

Overall I would back this project again (even with the delays). I don't see another product on the market that can compete let alone at this price.

[vince1612]

I would not complain until they launch their product out to the general public... It seems logical that if they haven't yet it's because it's not yet 100% ready, and you can't really judge something that is not fully ready yet, until it is.. Then it's another story.

Like others said I think that we are lucky to have gotten the device before anyone else and without more delays. I am sure that it will be awesome very soon as it gets updated.

[SteveZ]

I really feel mislead and taken by the whole kickstarter campaign, first they were directly comparing it to how much better it will be then the vera 3 on the kickstarter page. HA! the Vera 3 has its problems but, it is 100 X better then the Almond +. The Almond + can't even do basic automation of turning on a light via a schedule, sure, they say its coming soon. Also they have no plans for email notifications, only push notifications, even the most basic webcam can do email notifications.
     
Second, as a router it stinks, my wireless locks up and stops working every other day. My 5+ year old wrt54g with dd-wrt firmware was / is more reliable. Now with the whole delay of firmware 67 I'm done with it, will be going back to my old router.

Finally, I have lost faith that they can even make this thing work as a router let alone a home automation hub, you know its really bad when they say the bandwidth graphs don't work because of the hardware manufacture, and a user on the message board gets it working that same day, and  the fix wasn't included in the following firmwares, OH but it will be in the next firmware!

I know there is a risk with the kickstarter, however I really feel I got nothing like I was promised.

[LGNilsson]

I don't think I ever said we don't have any plans for email notifications, simply that as of right now, the first thing we're doing is push notifications. We're aware that many of you want email notifications and it's something we'll look at adding, I just don't know when.

I don't think we ever said the Almond+ would be better than the Vera and if it's the table you're referring to, yes, we do have more features than the Vera3, as the Almond+ is a much more recent product which is a higher-end router with additional features that the Vera3 lacks. On the software side they have what, a 5 year lead on us, so I think it's a bit unfair to compare us to them in terms of equality on software features.
Yes, we didn't get the automation done in a timely manner, but we expect to have something ready for you guys to start testing in the next month. Will it be perfect from day one? I highly doubt it, but we have to start somewhere, just like I'm sure Vera did at one point in time.

I'm sorry about the issues you're having with your Almond+ being unstable, that's not at all what we want anyone to experience and I really hope the next couple of firmwares will fix that.

For the graphs, we were told one thing by our chipset partner, but clearly they somehow didn't understand the problem and it turned out wasn't something all that hard to solve, as it was simply a matter of an incorrect MIME type.

I can only agree with you that so far, we haven't delivered what we promised, but it doesn't mean that we've stopped working. Please believe me when I say that I'm as frustrated as you are with some of the problems we're having, but I believe a lot of the issues should be fixed in the next month or so and we'll be adding a lot of functionality over the next 3-6 months, so if you're willing to be a little bit more patient, I think things will come together quite nicely.

[SteveZ]

Thanks for the response Lars, I will say you do a great job here keeping everyone informed. I will hang in but, I'm going to box up the Almond and wait and see what happens.

[babcocca]

It is looking like my Almond may go back in the box FOR A SECOND TIME.

At this point, I would like to ship it back and receive a refund. What good is the most processor heavy router available, if the software is seriously delinquent?

[windexh8er]

I'll agree here - this product is a significant disappointment.  Compared to other products on the market it's generally not good at any one thing.  Compared to my Ubiquiti APs the RF performance of the Almond+ is sub-par (roughly 20-30% of the range of a Ubiquiti UniFi AP Pro) and the general support of ZWave compared to my Vera Lite is horrid.  No scenes, has problems with more than 20 devices, etc, etc, etc.  I backed this project as well and would like my money back - or if someone wants to buy a green unit, by all means I'll sell it to you.  Just know, that IMO this thing is a waste of time and money.  Securifi shouldn't have tried entering the home control / home automation business.  The product is half baked at best.

[pete]

Welcome to the forum windexh8er.

Yup; here using Ubiquiti today for one of my AP's.  It is a very good product.

I also utilize a Vera controller here.

I am curious what you like about the Vera contoller and Ubiquiti AP.

Here I see the Almond + as a product not ready for release; still building the receipe playing with a variety of stuff based on input and participation from those that participated in the kickstarter.

Tell us what you are looking for relating to what you think the Almond + should be like?

Your input is recognized as participation in the kickstarter.

Keep your Almond + for a bit longer...write about your playing with it some more...tell us ....let it bake some more...

[Cotesy]

With all my respect SteveZ, you clearly don't understand what a kickstarter project is. Sometimes it succeed without any glitch witch from my experience account for around 25%, sometimes it completely fails, other time you'll face delays. I don't know if you backed soap router project but I did, i expect a completely fail result in this case but i can be wrong. Another good point with A+ was that they replaced mine that went dead after a couple days at no cost in and out. I'm willing to consider buying your if you want to get rid of it, just let me know the amount you would ask for.

[francehopper]

I guess I must be in the minority, but I love my unit, far better than an Airport I've ever owned. Now, am I ready to rip out the Airport Extreme I have at home for the family and replace it with an Almond+? Not yet, but I don't see it as far off. Save for a couple bricking incidents (all my fault from screwing around with settings and features I had no idea what I was doing with (side note: backups and Google are your friend)) and a touch screen failure (still not sure I didn't cause that), I haven't had an issue with mine that was not my fault. Yes, configuring it to your liking takes time (I think my other posts on here show that) and to be honest, I'm still configuring mine. I turned VPN on the other day to see if it worked. It does, and it took three minutes to set up, drastically less than when I configured VPN in OS X Server. Are LuCI and the touchscreen limited in what they can do? Yes, very much so compared to OpenWRT (otherwise known as the beauty that lives on port 91), but they are insanely helpful for quick things. There's no bloat to them, and I love that. All of the management interfaces I see as functions in code: they're built to do one thing, and one thing well.
And I, for one, think they do.