My Belaycord has finally arrived from the Kickstarter project that I backed way back in September 2014.
During the funding campaign the comments section on Kickstarter had a lot of negative comments from backers who claimed to have backed projects from the same team behind Belaycords. The on-going negativity revolved mainly around certification of Lightning connectors and access to the reversible USB technology but moved on with concerns about the lateness of the project. I wasn’t overly concerned about comments about delays as in my opinion the project was always going to be late as the funding closed early November and shipping was estimated in November also. Clearly there is a pent-up demand for such cables as the project was over 9,000% funded with over 7,900 backers all buying at least one cable and many buying many many more.
There were issues with the magnetic keepers which delayed production of the first parts to go into production, namely micro and mini USB cords. In January we were told about issues with certification of the Lightning connector and that a second factory had been engaged. I received an email on 21st March 2015 to say that my Belaycord had been shipped and the package duly arrived on the 31st March from Hong Kong.
I had requested retail packaging but no big deal the cord was just in the postal packaging. The biggest annoyance was that the cord did not have the magnetic keeper that was promised as one of the rewards during the funding campaign and that had been the cause of so many delays at the start of the year. I did complain but my complaint was just one of many on the Kickstarter comments page.
Just like lots of projects, Belaycords ran into unexpected snags, the sheer number of orders for the initial production run coupled with the variety of cables offered (colour, length and connectors) only added to the problems of production in China and specific issues such as the Apple Lightning connector.
Was I ripped off? I didn’t initially order a cable with a magnetic keeper but I was promised one, however, the good news is that the cord works fine and that I finally have it. The reversible USB plug works just as it should also. If you want to have a look at the Belaycords retail site here it is.
