dbrand - New Case's Magnet Stop Some Steam Deck's Fans!!! (dbrand pulling their launch)

[robedude]

Above. 

 

I ordered a dbrand case and got an email from them tonight saying they were pulling their product launch for their new steam deck case and having to send me a second updated case because the first one could slow/stop my steam deck's cooling fan:

 

Original Email form dbrand Below:

---------------------------------------------------

Last night, we tweeted that we were pulling the launch of Project Killswitch for the general public. Maybe you've already ordered one and are wondering what's up. Maybe you haven't ordered yet and are wondering why you can't.   Over the past few months, we've sent production samples of Project Killswitch to various content creators and press outlets. Their level of technical expertise ranged from "casual" to "built their own Linux distro". Their feedback was quite positive. The most noteworthy criticisms were related to skin installation and the kickstand being a bit tight to open up before it’s worked in.   Then, we shipped a few units to editors at The Verge.   Yesterday, they sent us an email. They asked if we were aware that the magnetic kickstand was slowing down the Steam Deck's fan. This was, quite literally, the first time we had heard about this. Concerned, we told them that we had performed extensive testing with our own units and that nobody else with a production sample had raised this as an issue. After a bit of back-and-forth, one of the editors enabled the Level 4 Performance Overlay (i.e. the UI overlay which reveals the current fan speed in RPM) and shared a video of the fan increasing in speed with the kickstand attached. This contradiction was perplexing - we’ll loop back a bit later to share what we suspect was happening. Now, as luck would have it, another Verge editor on the email chain had multiple Steam Decks readily available. He tested on two. One of them had a fan problem. The other did not. What was the difference between these two units?   The Steam Deck that was unaffected had a Huaying fan.  The Steam Deck that was affected had a Delta fan.   We immediately cracked open all of our own Steam Decks. Sure enough, all of our fans were from Huaying. We got to work on sourcing a Delta unit. After reaching out to a few local content creators, we learned that Dave2D had a Delta fan unit. We borrowed Dave's Steam Deck and verified that The Verge was correct: with the kickstand attached, there was indeed a reduction in the Delta fan’s speed.   Word on the grapevine is that Valve no longer uses the “whiney” Delta fan in the production of Steam Decks, switching exclusively to the Huaying component. This doesn't change the fact that there's an indeterminable number of Steam Decks out there that are going to have issues with the magnetic kickstand. It also doesn’t change the fact that there’s no certain way for either us or end-users to determine which version of the fan they have without cracking open their Steam Deck. This 11th-hour curveball is what prompted us to pull the public launch last night and suspend sales. We didn't want any more Killswitch orders to be placed until we had a plan in place to overcome this challenge.   Before we get into the next steps, it’s important to note that the case itself does not interfere with either type of fan. Naturally, the Travel Cover, Stick Grips, Tempered Glass, and Case Skin do not either.   With that point out of the way, let’s talk about our plan: All orders currently placed are still shipping.   We're pivoting from a magnetic mount to a mechanical interlock system for the kickstand (and all future accessories). This will require re-tooling of our existing production lines and is expected to take some time.   Once the re-tooling is complete, every single customer who purchased a magnetic Killswitch is getting a free replacement of both their case and kickstand. We expect to have these shipped out in January. These replacements will be fully compatible with the existing Travel Cover, Skin, Stick Grips & Tempered Glass. When you receive your replacement, you are under no obligation to ship back the magnetic version. Now, you might be wondering why we’re replacing every single one, rather than just those affecting Delta fan owners. While this issue only seems to affect units with a Delta fan, self-diagnosing which fan you possess isn't easy. Even if you’re certain that you have a Delta fan, you genuinely might not notice the issue: during a low-RPM scenario, the fan motor has a lot of headroom to make up for the kickstand's magnetic interference. This is what we suspect was happening with the original findings from The Verge. That particular editor may have had a Delta fan and, when the kickstand was attached, there was a momentary loss in fan speed, which then caused the fan to kick higher into the programmed curve and overcompensate with the available motor overhead. Ultimately, any self-diagnosis may lead to the incorrect conclusion that you have a Huaying fan. To be safe and to take full ownership of the uncertainty in this issue, we'd rather just replace every unit out there.   As a result of the above, whether or not you have a Huaying fan, we do not recommend using the magnetic kickstand. Instead, feel free to keep it on your fridge as a memento of our failure.   To clarify once more, everything BUT the kickstand is safe to use. If you made a purchase since the private launch on Sunday, you have two options: Use everything BUT the kickstand until our re-tooled stock is available, then receive a 100% free replacement of BOTH the kickstand and the case. No need to return the magnetic version.   Reply to this email to initiate a return-and-refund process.  If you’re among those who had a reservation and have yet to redeem it, don’t worry - we didn’t take your $3 and run. The purchase interface has now been re-enabled and features a series of “pick your adventure” disclaimers to unpack the current state of affairs. It also includes instructions on how to claim your $3 reservation discount.

Once we have our re-tooled non-magnetic stock, we'll be shipping it out in the following sequence: Replacements for units that have already shipped.   New orders from those who claimed their reservation.   New orders from the general public. Disappointed? So are we. It took a tremendous amount of effort to get this product to market - to hit a speed bump like this at the eleventh hour is unfortunate.  That said, we're committed to getting this product right. Everything but the kickstand turned out even better than expected. In the coming days, tens of thousands of you who placed an order in those initial 48 hours are going to get it in your hands - we’ll let you be the judge. If you have any questions, want to claim a refund, or simply want to yell at us in all-caps, just reply to this email.     Signed, A Robot

[dizmo]

Seems like they're being pretty fair with their response. Unfortunate but these things happen. Good on them.

[AlTech]

Summary

 

Dbrand's widely anticipated project killswitch case for the SteamDeck had it's launch cancelled after staff from the Verge , who had received production samples ahead of launch, alerted Dbrand to a flaw in the magnet system used by the case's kickstand.

 

The flaw: The magnet system causes Steam Decks with Delta fans to have their RPM slow down significantly when the kickstand in the production project killswitch case is attached. When the kickstand is removed, the fan RPM goes back to normal.

 

Dbrand conducted testing and found that the flaw affected some Steam Deck units which use the Delta fans (none of Dbrand's units had the Delta fans but some of the Verge's units and Dave2D's unit had them) but not those that use other fans.

 

 

Dbrand alerted customers via email and has given customers 2 choices for how to proceed if they've already purchased a unit through the reservation system prior to public launch:

• Option 1: Receive the production cases with the flaw and then later, when the redesigned case is ready, receive the redesigned case for free - Dbrand says the redesigned cases are expected to ship in January 2023
• Option 2: Ask for a refund and if the customer still wants a unit when the case is re-launched then purchase it when it's available again.

 

Quotes

 

Email from Dbrand

Quote

Last night, we tweeted that we were pulling the launch of Project Killswitch for the general public. Maybe you've already ordered one and are wondering what's up. Maybe you haven't ordered yet and are wondering why you can't.

Over the past few months, we've sent production samples of Project Killswitch to various content creators and press outlets. Their level of technical expertise ranged from "casual" to "built their own Linux distro". Their feedback was quite positive. The most noteworthy criticisms were related to skin installation and the kickstand being a bit tight to open up before it’s worked in.

Then, we shipped a few units to editors at The Verge.

Yesterday, they sent us an email. They asked if we were aware that the magnetic kickstand was slowing down the Steam Deck's fan. This was, quite literally, the first time we had heard about this. Concerned, we told them that we had performed extensive testing with our own units and that nobody else with a production sample had raised this as an issue.

After a bit of back-and-forth, one of the editors enabled the Level 4 Performance Overlay (i.e. the UI overlay which reveals the current fan speed in RPM) and shared a video of the fan increasing in speed with the kickstand attached. This contradiction was perplexing - we’ll loop back a bit later to share what we suspect was happening.

Now, as luck would have it, another Verge editor on the email chain had multiple Steam Decks readily available. He tested on two. One of them had a fan problem. The other did not. What was the difference between these two units?

The Steam Deck that was unaffected had a Huaying fan. 

The Steam Deck that was affected had a Delta fan.

We immediately cracked open all of our own Steam Decks. Sure enough, all of our fans were from Huaying. We got to work on sourcing a Delta unit. After reaching out to a few local content creators, we learned that Dave2D had a Delta fan unit. We borrowed Dave's Steam Deck and verified that The Verge was correct: with the kickstand attached, there was indeed a reduction in the Delta fan’s speed.

Word on the grapevine is that Valve no longer uses the “whiney” Delta fan in the production of Steam Decks, switching exclusively to the Huaying component. This doesn't change the fact that there's an indeterminable number of Steam Decks out there that are going to have issues with the magnetic kickstand. It also doesn’t change the fact that there’s no certain way for either us or end-users to determine which version of the fan they have without cracking open their Steam Deck.

This 11th-hour curveball is what prompted us to pull the public launch last night and suspend sales. We didn't want any more Killswitch orders to be placed until we had a plan in place to overcome this challenge.

Dbrand's email continues

Quote

With that point out of the way, let’s talk about our plan:

• All orders currently placed are still shipping.
   
• We're pivoting from a magnetic mount to a mechanical interlock system for the kickstand (and all future accessories). This will require re-tooling of our existing production lines and is expected to take some time.
   
• Once the re-tooling is complete, every single customer who purchased a magnetic Killswitch is getting a free replacement of both their case and kickstand. We expect to have these shipped out in January. These replacements will be fully compatible with the existing Travel Cover, Skin, Stick Grips & Tempered Glass. When you receive your replacement, you are under no obligation to ship back the magnetic version.

I haven't quoted the full email as it's quite long. I've quoted the main parts, if you wish to see their whole public statement, they seem to have made a public statement on Reddit.

 

The Verge of course had a few things to say:

Quote

However, we wouldn’t recommend using the kickstand in its current state if you already have a Killswitch. The magnets used in the kickstand are incredibly strong, but their position can cause them to interfere with the fans used in certain earlier models of the Steam Deck. We tested this on the review model of our Steam Deck and had the fan speeds drop by 1500 to 2500 RPM with the kickstand installed.

 

Quote

Dbrand is aware of this problem and has issued a disclaimer alongside the public release of the Killswitch. Until Dbrand can manufacture a version of the kickstand that doesn’t use magnets you have a few options. If you’re someone that reserved a Killswitch during its development and ordered one back on the 25th, you can either return it for a full refund or hang onto it, and Dbrand will send you both a replacement case and kickstand (ones that do not feature magnets) as soon as they’re available. If you want to reserve an order now, you can currently order a kit off the Dbrand website with an estimated ship date of Q1 2023. Dbrand has also stated that any future production of the Killswitch will only be made with a mechanical kickstand and has issued a formal statement detailing the issue and the path forward on r/dbrand.

 

 

Disclaimers:

Yours truly purchased a Killswitch yesterday on Tuesday using the reservation system before this incident was brought to my attention. I am intending to ask dbrand to refund the purchase but keep me on their reservation system.

 

My thoughts

This is a major disappointment but I guess I'll have to live with it and just contact Dbrand so that I can re-purchase the new case in January 2023 when they ship. I have nothing else to add besides saying we're all gonna need to baby our Steam Decks a little longer until this mess is sorted out. Of course I don't even have my SteamDeck yet cos I gave my first one to Pascal and I haven't reserved my 2nd one yet so it's not as big of a problem for me.

 

Sources

Dbrand via Email sent to me.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/28/23373094/dbrand-project-killswitch-steam-deck-case-magnet-stand

[Blue4130]

This is the best outcome of a bad situation. They got ahead of the problem and are doing the right thing. The company got a lot of hate recently, maybe this will balance the scales. 

 

I've never been a customer, but if this is their response, I'd happily try their products in the future. 

[TetraSky]

As good of a response they could give. Everyone who pre-ordered will still get theirs unless they ask for refunds and they will get the revision in january, for free without needing to send back the current product. If only there was an easy way to tell if they have a delta fan or not based on manufacturing dates, eh.

[Arika]

First thing I've ever seen from dbrand that isn't them being edgy douches

[Blue4130]

1 hour ago, Arika S said:

First thing I've ever seen from dbrand that isn't them being edgy douches

Makes me think that the edgy douche persona is just a marketing tactic. 

[Velcade]

I'm shocked LTT or someone else didn't find this flaw sooner.  All early release SteamDecks would have had the Delta Fan.  

 

Everybody shits on The Verge but good on them to checking fan speed ramps and noticing something that went unnoticed.  

[Misel22]

Heh, my case is already on the way. I wonder what I'll do with this rather unique item.

 

As far as I can tell, I don't have a delta fan. I need to open it up soon, anyway. I want to install new joy sticks.

[LogicalDrm]

On 9/29/2022 at 4:05 AM, AluminiumTech said:

Sources

Dbrand via Email sent to me.

Merged with earlier thread. Product callbacks aren't really news worthy when there's no significant damage caused.