To say I’m a compulsive crowdfunding addict would be putting it lightly. There’s a thrill to backing innovative projects at low pricing, typically substantially better than retail. As with all crowdfunding projects, there is a certain risk of failure during the course of development, and as these platforms will remind you, they are not a store. In this instance, the Lumin8 Full Spectrum was neither developed, nor has it delivered the quality backers were after. Let’s take a dive into their deception…
The Premise
The 4′ Full Spectrum RGB tube was Lumin8’s second Kickstarter project. Promising a cost-effective alternative to the industry standard Astera AX1 Pixel Tubes that photographers and videographers alike fawn over. Their campaign promoted a product that was in development already, promising features such as IP68 waterproofing, app control, 5-12 hour battery life, 1400 Lumen 95+ CRI RGB over the course of a relatively quick 14-day crowdfunding campaign for quick delivery in August. Kickstarter even bestowed the badge of “Projects We Love”.
With prices ranging from $199 (Early Bird) for a single unit to a $799 package for essentially 5 units, 1421 backers pledged a total of $724,855 USD to bring this product to life. The campaign ended to a rousing success… and then things went horribly wrong as discovered by the sleuths and community over discussions in the comments section.
Con-plications
The August deadline was missed, and it wasn’t until late September that lights started shipping. The first backers, pledging for single and double units started receiving their pledges. Comments came flooding in regarding hardware issues, from being unable to charge their units, lights not staying powered on, app connectivity issues and the poor quality of the RGB output.
The solution? An unlisted 10 second YouTube video from the official Lumin8 account advising customers to bang the USB port of their new $199 light against a table as “your light most likely had a piece has slid down”.
On the 1st of October, a shocking revelation came to light. A backer had discovered identical products under the different branding on B&H and Aliexpress. Now, rebranding isn’t something new and happens quite regularly, especially with cheaper third party photographic accessories, a good example would be Godox lights rebranded as Flashpoint, distributed and supported by Adorama in the US. Diving deeper, armed with the knowledge that another “brand” also had the same product revealed a more malicious abuse of the crowdfunding platform. The light was launched during the missed August deadline under the brand name “DigitalFoto” with coverage on a prominent photography blog!
When enquiring regarding the rebranding allegations the response is as follows:
The Alibaba listing for the same light, under the Luxceo branding is even more revealing, showing the price breaks at different quantities, and even offering a customisation service for orders over 1000 units. Essentially the cost of these $199 “Early Bird Special” lights (SRRP: $279 USD) is only $68!
Courtesy of a fellow backer, when liaising with the Chinese sellers, they claim Lumin8 to be the US distributor of their products and have exclusivity, even linking to the Kickstarter campaign:
Things become even more disjointed and apparent when you use the app to control the lights, let’s take a look at some screenshots:
Why would Lumin8’s app contain functionality to operate smart home devices? Bearing in mind this company only has three Lumin8 products available for sale.
Clearly, the app is not their own design either…
The Diffused Deception
A fellow backer recently discovered details from over a year ago from the creator (username: videoadmaster) investigating “selling through Kickstarter”:
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform, and as such has a list of rules and prohibited items.
The Lumin8 Full Spectrum is in violation of two of these:
- Projects that share things that already exist, or repackage a previously-created product, without adding anything new or aiming to iterate on the idea in any way.
- Resale. All rewards must have been produced or designed by the project or one of its creators — no reselling things from elsewhere.
When confronting the creator on the Kickstarter platform, there has been radio silence. Nothing to address the backer’s concerns in the comments section, nor an update to dispel any criticisms of blatant reselling or offering a tangible solution to a multitude of faults.
Even on their Instagram, they have been deleting and restricting comments due to the negative feedback on their social media platforms.
Note at the bottom: “Comments on this post have been limited”
A (…Just One) Light At The End Of The Tunnel
My lights did finally arrive, unannounced, in the afternoon on the 12th of October. I had hopes that they had worked out all the issues or that quality control would be better.
Of the 5 lights received:
- One unit was somehow turned on whilst in transit, this unit took approximately 6 hours to charge and when “completed”, replugging in the USB-C cable would show a 75% charge and keep blinking for another hour.
- One unit had the cover for the USB charging port undone, seems like matching the internal connection to the outer case/ cap is a poor fit.
- One unit when turned on, kept flashing in a “Police Siren” effect, with the on/off button not functioning after… it had to be completely depleted (which took approximately 8 or so hours) before it would stop flashing.
- One unit’s power button is less than responsive.
- And a final unit that works? *fingers crossed*
The diffusion “panel” is also poor quality in comparison to the images shown on the Kickstarter campaign, the individual LED’s are visible though the front of the tube.
The internal components do not appear to have any functioning structural support (aside from some glue?) inside the transparent tube.
When showing a fellow cinematographer and gaffer the internals, they voiced a concern regarding the safety of these lights.
Close up of the tube, after taking off and on the gooseneck support, which scuffs the front easily.
Of the $840 USD pledged (including shipping fees), it is disgraceful that I only received one light in good working order for now. Meaning the usable value from this order being only approximately $80USD.
I have serious doubts regarding the build quality and structural integrity of these units. The claim that they can be submerged underwater at a depth of 1.5m for 30 mins is something that I am hesitant to test, for fear that I may lose out on the only properly functioning unit and in the event that the poor build quality and electronic components fry a model… I’d like to keep my 10-year track record of no fatalities on set.
Final Musings
This has to be one of the most disappointing Kickstarter campaigns that I have supported (to date I have backed 218, with only 11 campaigns failing to deliver due to issues with development). Sadly, the Lumin8 lights abused the Kickstarter platform by reselling an inferior product at inflated prices. Crowdfunding platforms are not the place for this, Amazon would have been a better choice.
By misusing crowdfunding platforms, the creator of the Lumin8 campaign has taken away from the legitimate development of similar and potentially superior products. Two of which (that are currently active at the time of writing) are the TEKE and Vibesta tube lights.
The final word is that I can not recommend Lumin8 due to the lack of transparency and support. There are far cheaper options out there for exactly the same product that reflect the build quality of their lights.
Caveat Emptor.