Q-Widget is back in stock

[cmonaghan76]

Many of you were waiting on the Q-Widget USB remote for QLab to be back in stock - after we decided to reject the last batch of graphic overlays - we couldn't have the Q-Widget not looking its best! Fortunately the wait for those that did get there orders in was over the summer break. So, if you've been waiting to place your order, they are back, ready to ship. - and now verified compatible with QLab 3.

http://widgeteering.com

Chris

[Vinny Osborne]

I think it is a fantastic product. Looks very professional. But I have two small issues. Personally I think the Play/Go button should be in the middle. Second, I think the unit is overpriced. I have read your reply to a previous comment saying much the same. I do understand that there are R&D and manufacturing costs and that you are only a small business. But I do believe for the product to really take off it would need to be able to retail at about $150-$200.
This is not a critism of you or the product. It's more of an observation on the product sales plan and future growth.

[Mark Nizer]

Why not just use a iPhone? Or a USB keyboard?

Mark Nizer/Neisser

📩 Ni...@active-media.com

📲 434-974-9699

💻 http://activemedia.org

💻 http://Nizer.com

On Aug 12, 2013, at 2:09 PM, Vinny Osborne <the...@eircom.net> wrote:

I think it is a fantastic product. Looks very professional. But I have two small issues. Personally I think the Play/Go button should be in the middle. Second, I think the unit is overpriced. I have read your reply to a previous comment saying much the same. I do understand that there are R&D and manufacturing costs and that you are only a small business. But I do believe for the product to really take off it would need to be able to retail at about $150-$200.
This is not a critism of you or the product. It's more of an observation on the product sales plan and future growth.

--
--
Change your preferences or unsubscribe here:
http://groups.google.com/group/qlab

Follow Figure 53 on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Figure53

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "QLab" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to qlab+uns...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[MD]

completely agree, while i understand that some Theaters / Techs have the Money, i personally
cannot afford it at this price.

150ish would be defenetely a buy for me

[Andy Dolph]

There are times in theater and live events that having a hardwired positive button really does make a difference - though not at my level at that price.

Andy

[Kelly Schmidt]

 Personally I think the Play/Go button should be in the middle.

That's interesting. I would put the Play/Go button on the way left. Right handed / index finger being the easiest, most trigger happy finger I own; I would rest my fingers on the button where my right index finger would sit on the way left button. Pause on my middle would be my panic moment and of course stop on the ring finger makes sense as that finger is pretty darn hard to use anyway.

Seriously. I would recommend that order. Then keeping the current model for left handed people :)

[Willo]

THAT'S interesting, Kelly!  I think exactly the opposite - that the buttons are correct where they are!

Being right handed as well, I would be resting my hand on the desk immediately to the right of the unit, possibly with a finger on the Play. It would be no stretch at all to reach the GO button, a slight stretch to reach the Pause, and a deliberate move to reach the Stop. With this configuration, you wouldn't need to be even looking at the unit to know that you would be hitting the closest button, the GO.

If the GO was on the left, I'd be concerned about my hand resting on or touching the other buttons while reaching to press Play. And I wouldn't be certain I was hovered over the far left button without visually checking.

Cheers,

Willo

[Nigel Hogg]

Hi Chris,

I would disagree with some of the others on price. Having tried all sorts of setup to trigger  a main and backup simultaneously - midi with splitters, network midi etc etc, I'm desperate to get my Q-Widget and happy to pay a little extra for reliable cueing.I might add that I'm a 1 man business, and not a rich subsidised theatre. I would disagree that it's 'fortunate' that the delay happened in the summer. I'm right in the middle of a busy summer season and I need my Q-Widget like, yesterday to rescue me from missed cues!! Glad to hear mine's on its way. Thanks, Chris!

Nigel

[micpool]

I think the price is very fair , but for UK buyers, taxes etc bring the cost to over 280 pounds which is expensive in comparison with a single mac mini, but as a proportion of the cost of a dual Mac Pro rig with twin screens KVM's and audio changeover switching is obviously  less significant.

The thing that most interests me is your claim on your website blog

"Furthermore, the Q-Widget is designed for hard-working professionals. It uses the highest quality components, designed to NEVER fail"

As one of the ongoing pains of my life is dealing with worn out switches on go buttons on long runners and from hire companies, which seem to last less than a year on busy shows, could you qualify 'NEVER fail" with an estimate of the minimum service life of the switches you use.  When they do eventually fail, as all switches presumably  must, how easy is it to replace them?  UK practice has always been to use  dumb button boxes with nothing but easily replaceable buttons and all the expensive electronics in a box that lives in the rack with the computers.

And most important, are the switches silent but with good tactile feedback?

Thanks

Mic

[cmonaghan76]

Interesting discussion.

Price has always been a hot topic with the Q-Widget, and more recently the position of the button and even the horizontal/vertical orientation of the remote. We do our absolute best to deliver a high quality product in a configuration that works well for many - at a price point that is within reach, provides value, and keeps the lights on. The backorders occurred out of a quality control decision - we refuse to ship anything that fails high standards. With any show, and now with more high-profile shows using the Q-Widget, failure is not an option in any application.

And Nigel, agreed, the backorder situation was not "fortunate" for anyone, my apologies - it was a generalization that I should not have made in regards to the number of university orders that "fortunately" didn't need delivered until the start of classes. You, and many others, were left out to dry due to the overlay problem - and we did offer everyone the option to take a Q-Widget without the graphic overlay, with the promise to send out the overlay when they arrived - which some did. One wouldn't think that an overlay would affect performance, but when it rubs the buttons the wrong way, a lack of confidence in the remote is the last thing we wanted.

Thank you all for your continued support.

[cmonaghan76]

Mic,

We spent a great deal of time finding the right button. Our buttons are the same button used on many of the highest-end video switchers in the world. The particular buttons on the Q-Widget are rated by the manufacturer for more than 5,000,000 presses. At 40,000 presses per year, you're good for the next 125 years. :) Those buttons aren't cheap - they better work! Yes, they are silent. The only real tactile response is the button hitting the bottom of its throw - we even sampled different button options for throw length. If you want something more tactile than that, there is an option for it, just not our initial preference - let us know if that is what you want when you place an order.

Chris

[cmonaghan76]

You've asked for it, and we've listened. Because of the awesome sales volume of the Q-Widget, and some new supplier pricing, we're excited to be lowering the price of the Q-Widget to $299. Hopefully, this will allow more people to experience this incredible little wired remote for QLab. It's been an exciting year-and-a-half - thanks to many of you here and many others.

[Adam]

Chris,

Out of curiosity, what is the time set for the built in Go Protection?

[ray...@sympatico.ca]

Hi everyone, i hate to do this on this forum but I have been unable to reach Chris at widgeteering, i've been trying to get in touch with him for well over a month now....I thought perhaps a post here would attract his attention..or someone here could steer me to another means of contacting him.......I purchased (internet purchase directly from widgeteering) and eventually received a Q-widget dual usb remote, after putting it through the paces of a cue intense show I made several comments/recommendations on the widgeteering forum,my posts have yet to be approved by the moderator (Chris) 2weeks later!. I've sent several emails to widgeteering, never got a reply..... 

As far as my experience goes the Q-widget remote needs to be more solidly made...it is too light and lacks the non slip base the sides have. I suggested more mass to keep it from sliding all over and for a more rugged feel. I also found the stock buttons to be somewhat noisy in operation...they wobble a tad which makes them rub against the chassis (perhaps enlarging the chassis mount around the knobs would help) and, some of the noise I experience from the buttons is direct transmission from the light plastic chassis....i've read here (after my purchase) that some other control buttons are available but this was not made apparent on the site, again, being unable to reach chris I was not aware of this special order modification. 

The most annoying thing though is I can't load a cue from the remote, try as I may it won't load.....I've downloaded the latest usb driver but no go....as far as price goes, I think it has a digico price with a m-audio feel, so by all means Chris, keep the price the same but make it more "pro" .

thx

Ray

http://widgeteering.com

Chris

[Tyler]

Ray,

were you ever able to get in touch? I've been pondering the purchase but not if there is no support...

thanks

tg

[ray...@sympatico.ca]

Hi Tyler, never got a reply nor did any of my many posts show on the widget support site .....there seems to be no way of reaching widgeteering once you've made a purchase.. ....

Ray

[Tyler]

Thanks Ray

Looks like a nice product but if he fell off the face of earth I will avoid.

tg

[cmonaghan76]

Ray...my apologies are due, and thank you Tyler for letting us know about this concern. We've most definitely not fallen off the face of the earth. 

We do take support seriously and have always worked to be sure everyone is happy. We are available on twitter (@widgeteering) and on facebook (facebook.com/widgeteering). There is also a "contact us" form on the site. And we do respond.

This forum is not a support forum for the Q-Widget, it is Figure53's forum for QLab - therefore it is not something we monitor for support requests. We do have a support forum, but based on Ray's post, something must not be right with it - something we can look in to. Posts to the support forum should not need moderator approval.

As for Ray's concerns...and understand that I am only looking to help...

• More mass is coming in a minor update early 2014. A rubber/rubberized back pad is coming that will add significant base weight to the remote and give it stability on all surfaces. This rubberized back can be requested by any existing customers, at no charge, once it is ready. There will be an online request form for this upgrade.
  
• Would a metal box make more sense to our customers? We're using a very high grade ABS for the enclosure and have never had an enclosure issue.
  
• I do not know if I understand about the buttons being noisy. The buttons we use are entirely silent. Ray, some more info would be needed on this topic. There have never been any other control buttons officially available - yes, there are other buttons made by our suppliers - but none that we have ever included on a remote. The other buttons that could be an option are a "tactile response" button that actually click when you press them - not something that we deemed appropriate for a theatre environment. Other than that, they are the exact same button. Is this something the group deems as a necessary option?
• Load function not working? That is indeed something we can support you on. It's definitely not a firmware or driver issue. I can assure you that the LOAD function does work - I cannot divulge numbers, but countless Q-Widgets are deployed with working LOAD functions - included the remotes I personally use on a weekly basis (no different than the stock model that we sell). Please contact us via the "contact us" form on the site so we can sort that out.

We're still here...and still supporting. Just this past week we replaced a Q-Widget that had been stolen from a customer - at no charge. Another customer was offered an advance replacement unit when their model was suspected faulty, even though it was still being used well - simply as a professional courtesy. It's all about trust - and we actively seek out opportunities to do our customers right.

And, yes, we love suggestions for improvements, and make them. We added dual redundant USB support after listening to our customers (at no additional cost) - two entirely independent Q-Widgets in one enclosure with no price change. In this next year we expect to roll out some additional changes - though none that stray from the base function of the remote. Expect minor circuit changes, dimmable LEDs, rubber backer, and the long awaited for customizable driver (for customizing the button functions and allowing the remote to work with iTunes or any other Applescript capable software).

Again Ray, my apologies. Please contact us via email so we can sort through your concerns.

[ray...@sympatico.ca]

Sorry to bother this group again with this but I still haven't had any luck in getting a replacement for a defective Q widge (since oct 2013)…....I've emailed Chris Monaghan of wigeteering many times as well as attempted to contact him through widgeteering,com but the only answer came back in June when he offered to send me a replacement unit as well as a RMA…..alas, since then, no reply to any of my messages and no replacement !  ….so if anyone knows can contact him please steer him my way.

thanks

Ray

[Allan Branson]

I have the same problem...I ordered one and have not heard from him after the initial auto email. I wish I had read this post before I ordered and payed for the device.

[Daniel Richert]

Widgeteering must focus more on the customer service part.

I ordered my unit and it came fast. but there was a problem, it was not working at all. Then after an email " we will send you a replacement unit"  there was just two months of silence and no new unit, I tryed the forum, direct email, facebook and twitter... no reply. Then I met whit the finnish reseller, and he gave me a replacement unit.

I love the Q-widget remote. I like the placement of the buttons, the feel and the functions, I have not had any problems whit the unit and I even think the price is justified. BUT, Im afraid that when something happends, and I need support, I cant afford to wait for months for an email reply, not even days.

[cmonaghan76]

I am still here - and brave enough to post to the group.

I recently had a discussion with someone that woke me up to a problem that I didn't know we had. I knew we had dropped the ball on a few things - and in the frantic busy-ness of keeping up, hadn't stopped to think about the few we let down.

We have not been on top of support in the way that our users deserve. While some users will claim that they've had excellent response (yes, we do have very happy users), some others have fallen through the cracks. I am personally sorry for this. And while I would like to blame some phenomenon like "we're a very small company", I won't go there. Support should come with the territory, and we've not been able to keep up.

We have made changes this week to how we handle support, to ensure a positive experience for all of our users.

1. We've not done well to monitor this group. From the beginning, I didn't feel that it was my place to use Figure53's group to support a peripheral product that is not theirs - so I dismissed the group from a Widgeteering support perspective. Now, seeing that so many have used this group to air their frustrations with lack of support, we promise to monitor this group on a regular basis. Not as a support mechanism, but as a check and balance for our primary support model, to ensure we're not leaving anyone behind.

2. We've just added a support structure to make us accountable. Much in the way that we have all enjoyed the awesome response time from Figure53, we promise to strive for fast response times. The new support solution we just put into place will help us to get there.

3. We have reached out to every user who ever contacted us for some type of support that we believe may not have received a resolution. While we found that it was only a small number of users that weren't supported well, it still wasn't something we were happy about. We will also very soon send an apology email to all of our users, with an invitation to still address any outstanding support issues.

Within this group, if anyone still has an outstanding issue with their Q-Widget, please let us know so that can remedy it. We can be contacted for support at the following:

via email at sup...@widgeteering.com

via facebook at facebook.com/widgeteering

via twitter @widgeteering

via phone at 858-943-4387

via widgeteering.com, there is a "Support" button on the left side of every page

I will say that this group got us started, and that we have sold more Q-Widgets than I could ever have imagined. So many so, that it is a constant challenge to keep the supplies coming in to meet demand. We are many times in backorder status. When we first started a couple of years ago, I didn't know if we'd sell our first 5. There was one month this year where we sold over 45 units. At times it has been overwhelming. But we keep pushing on, continuing to be better. We have distributors in two additional countries now, and we're working on expanding our production capacity. When the production capacity is increased, I'll be able to get back to focusing on development.

So, here I am, let me have it, if you will. We've not been what we are capable of being, and we promise to be better.

Chris Monaghan