I’ve previously used Hue bulbs but did a large remodel and wanted to avoid $50 / each lights. So I did research, bought a bunch of different lights and switches, and started testing. I came away liking the Inovelli Blue 2-in-1 and Halo lights.
I put together my order list for the light switches, fan switches, and aux switches. Came to the website to put my order in and 2-in-1 switches don’t ship for 3 months! Wow.
I needed 26 devices total but will likely have to head in a different direction b/c I can’t wait three months to get my lighting working. Inovelli seems to have been around a while now. What makes matching supply & demand problematic?
Edit: just realized I could order refurbished switches and get them soonish (would not prefer to have 15 refurbished switches). But I still have the same question regarding the backorders and what it means (or doesn’t) for putting my trust into this product and company.
Prefacing by saying that I don’t work for Inovelli, I’m just another customer. That said, when it comes to innovation and transparency in this space - Inovelli cannot be beaten. They are completely honest with the community about their challenges, their successes and their mistakes. That alone is why you can put your trust into Inovelli. They are a very small team, but they care about making the best product and the best experience they can deliver for their customers.
I think there’s multiple aspects to this (and @Eric_Inovelli has shared some of this publicly in different threads):
Demand has grown and grown and grown over the past couple of years. I remember Eric mentioning that their goal with the last supply of the Blue 2-1s was forecasted to get through until the end of year. With the increased demand, they sold through them much faster than anticipated and now have to wait for the suppliers and the manufacturer to do a run and then get them shipped over to the US. That process takes ~3-4 months every time.
Building up supply costs a large amount of money. For a small company, placing an order for more than 3-4 months of a product can be a super difficult thing to raise enough capital for, especially when trying to innovate with new products (mmWave switch, 2-1 Thread switch, Scene controller, fan controller, fan/light canopy module). Each of those products has an R&D cost associated with it as well, which likely has to be paid in advance too.
That said - I wouldn’t worry about the refurbished switches. Inovelli is backing them with a full 1 year warranty - same as the new ones. If you need Blue 2-1s now, I would comfortable recommend picking them up on sale. If you can go Z-Wave, the Red 2-1s are in stock right now too.
@rohan Thanks for the reply. I’m going to stick with the Blue series since they seem to have a better future with upgrading to Thread/Matter.
I was a bit hesitant with the refurbished product because I wasn’t sure why they were refurbs. But I went back and looked at them again and realized there was a note there explaining the probem & fix that resolved my concern. I went ahead and ordered those.
Welcome. Since you’re new here, here is the short course:
1 - If something is under development, add a bunch of time to the published timeline.
2 - Once the product comes out, it will be hugely popular and sell out, so order quickly. It’s just the way it is . . .
3 - Inovelli will be brutally honest . . just ask.
I’m planning to hold your order until Friday when the aux switches get here so that we don’t have to do multiple shipments, but if you need them sooner I can ship out the blue series and fan switches today.