u/Iamgalavanter

This thread details a failed part on a Fellow Aiden coffeemaker, and The Fellow Fix™ being applied, their publicly announced firmware solution for a failed, physical part that was causing them warranty headaches (costing them money).

I have lusted over the Fellow Espresso Series 1 as much as anybody. No more. I see no reason to believe that Fellow won't apply the same unethical solution to the Fellow ES1, a much more complicated machine. I'll stick to my GaggiMate/GCP, which also "permits" me to use a bluetooth scale. Yes, I am very disappointed in Fellow as a company.

I have an Aiden. I like it, it makes good coffee, and it broke. Sound familiar? It wasn't a bad break, it still made coffee, but an error started popping up on the display saying "Set showerhead selector to single", even when it already was. Some don't read underneath the warning, where it tells you, admittedly in very fine print, to push the button one more time to override the warning, and brewing resumes. Hardly the end of the world, but I chose to fix it.

I got online and found the culprit, the tiny showerhead selector switch in the center of the showerhead. https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowProducts/comments/1mzq7zl/set_showerhead_to_single_error/

Turns out it is a well known, well documented problem, one that has been a recurring headache for Fellow. They have replaced entire units due to the failure of this tiny, cheap (too cheap, apparently), user replaceable part. The tiniest metal part on the edge corrodes (this has no effect on the function of manually setting the showerhead), likely due to heat and water intrusion, and when it corrodes enough, it no longer allows Fellow's elaborate magnetic detection system to detect the showerhead position.

Since my Aiden is about a year old, I give your Aiden about the same amount of time until yours fails too. But don't despair, because the Fellow Fix™ solves the problem! For Fellow, that is.

I bought my Aiden used for about half price, and lucked out with the updated model with the stainless steel mesh over the water inlet, and the only "Add water" warning I have ever received has been the result of the reservoir actually running out of water.

I did look over one day and noticed my lid looked crooked, like warped upward but only on one corner (the opposite corner of the pic in the link). Heat expansion (yes, nearby that pesky showerhead selector) had apparently made the corner pop out of its seat. Hard snapped it right back in, problem solved.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowProducts/comments/1j9rjle/comment/no0tfg4/

I ordered the $20.00 with shipping showerhead (They don't sell the $1.00 center switch separately, even though it just quarter turn screws into the showerhead), in white because black is sold out. No surprise, right?

The very next day, I read this, a public announcement from Fellow, announcing their latest, 1.5.9 firmware: "We are removing the showerhead-specific logic". The Fellow Fix™. https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowProducts/comments/1t7crg5/upcoming_aiden_firmware_update_version_159/

They refunded my money on a Sunday, and told me to keep the showerhead when it arrived. Nice of them.

I think it is fair to say, Fellow does not have a reputation for quality (That has not stopped them from becoming a 9 figure company, nor me from buying their products). The Fellow Fix™ is not the way to redefine that image.

The Fellow Fix™ is the dumbest, most unethical, legally risky thing Jake Miller has ever done as the founder and CEO of Fellow. Instead of fixing an oft failed, cheap, user replaceable part, Miller has decided to make it go away (along with the safety feature and most importantly, the costly warranty replacements) with a firmware patch.

He ordered the removal of the feature, the SAFETY feature Fellow engineers thoughtfully designed, that warns one of a mismatched showerhead selection relative to the basket, which could cause the overflow of scalding hot water. This conveniently makes the faulty part inoperable, for sensing purposes, and will simultaneously do away with many, many future customer service tickets. He wants to save money, by reneging on his obligations to his customers. Instead of replacing a failed Fellow part, he wants it to remain, only go unnoticed.

Users will now have to just ignore the dead, decaying mouse behind the refrigerator. Future buyers will not even notice the mouse.

I can distinctly remember being both surprised and delighted, “Oh yeah, I forgot!” when I got the warning the first time. “Wow, how cool, it knows!”. Fkn A, Fellow™!

Yeah, it's just a Fellow first world bell and whistle (although companies often add forced "warnings" for liability reasons. Miller may regret this yet), but Aiden customers paid for it, as it was marketed to them, and he's only removing it so he doesn't have to send you a dollar part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDvm1cIpC0Y&t=30s

I was seriously considering the Fellow Espresso Series 1 (Miller likes you to say the name in its entirety). I have repeatedly said the design is MoMA worthy, and it truly is. I told Nick the beefy steam wand is macho, and reminds me of a Harley tailpipe. I like to think that is part of his vernacular now.

But the build quality is of course unproven, and if this is how Fellow chooses to handle cheap, failed, user replaceable parts on the Aiden, only a diehard fanboy should consider buying the ES1.

When Jake Miller went to Kickstarter years ago, asking for money, I doubt he said failed parts on his products would be ignored, and their (safety) features eliminated by firmware. What changed at Fellow? What happened to standing behind your product? Has that business principle been neuralyzed?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0057/6235/1219/files/Jake_MIB_GIF_Option_1.gif?v=1688142313

I bought a used KBT last night, with the old style tapered all stainless steel carafe, and I'm excited. It's only about 5 years old I think – some ebay seller got his hands on 60 used KBTs – how does that happen?

I'm disgusted with Fellow, and am going to replace my Aiden with the Moccamaster. Fellow actually did away with the function of a tiny, cheap, user replaceable part in the showerhead that was causing them warranty issues. It gets corroded, and since it's serves as a sensor combined with magnets, the machine starts throwing errors. I just experienced the error, and the replacement part fixed it.

But now, Fellow issued a firmware patch that actually does away with the function of the part, which warns you if you have the wrong showerhead setting relative to the basket you are using. Just a first world Fellow bell and whistle, but something they also marketed to the world, and now that their cheaply made part keeps failing, what do they do? They kill the part and the feature. Failed part, who needs it! It is called the Fellow Fix™, and they did it to save money, the hell with the customer and what we promised them, what we sold them.

Don't stand behind your product, don't fix a bad part, just eliminate the advertised function. Problem solved! So even though I just replaced the part, if I update the firmware, which happens automatically unless you delete the Aiden from the app, I lose the feature I just went to the trouble to get fixed.

How unMoccamaster of them. I have also been comparing in my mind the Aiden (which does makes pretty good coffee), with the Moccamaster, and I was wondering about the fact that there are no lids with hinges like the Aiden (both water reservoir and basket), and I thought I would have to remove the brew basket each time to load it, or clumsily manuever around the spray arm to place the filter and add the coffee.

Then I watched this 16 year old video. 16 years old, and that's my KBT (the Aiden would be long in the land fill). The spray arm can be moved to the side! I didn't know that. I've never seen anyone other than this gentleman do it. Everyone I've seen always removes the brew basket to install the filter and add the coffee. You don't have to! Maybe everyone knows this but me, but I am even more excited now. It's the little things. :)

One button, no wifi, no apps, no features removed by the Fellow Fix™, just great coffee from a great company that knows what "standing behind your product" means. Cheers!

https://youtu.be/dKoIs_oEM0Q?t=171

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Here is my rather minimalist setup, designed to work as much as possible from the bottom of my Kobo Libra Colour. I hold it down there, so why reach? My bottom right corner tap gesture pulls up my quickmenu with most everything I need. I have one in the Library and another in the Reader. The Reader left corner tap simply takes me back Home, and a long press toggles the front light.

What made me post was my discovery today of the simple yet elegant Bottom Navigation Bar patch https://www.reddit.com/r/koreader/comments/1rx98gg/bottom_navigation_bar_with_extras_vos_based_on/, which follows my bottoms up philosophy and adds some basic, yet useful functionality. With the help of https://github.com/qewer33/koreader-patches/blob/main/2-hide-pagination.lua, which hides the stock pagination bar, my nav bar is clean, like my conscience.

I didn't think I cared much about reading stats, but since Bottom Nav Bar provides an optional Stats button, which activates https://www.reddit.com/r/koreader/comments/1rlbi28/colored_modified_reading_insights_patch/ when added, I thought I'd try it. I like it.

Up top I use https://gist.github.com/sebdelsol/494c897446deefe6995d8e38adc0a4b6 as I wanted an active wi-fi icon (visible on and off), and, forgive me KOReader, but "Kobo", easily entered in the custom text field (and, as we all know, an anagram of "book"), brings me joy. :)

As for the Reader, I use the Bookends plugin https://github.com/AndyHazz/bookends.koplugin, what else? I'm a fan. Alternating author/title and chapter title (by using odd and even page numbers) up top, and whatever your heart desires down below, I always have the page number and metro status bar visible, and a tap brings up or dismisses all the additional info.

Of course none of this is my doing, I'm just a contented noob. All the credit goes to the developers who have put the time and effort into making KOReader a stellar reading experience. Thank you.

Today I tried out Project Title, and uninstalled it, just as I had Simple UI. I think I prefer my KOReader raw, with a large single tap quickmenu in the bottom right corner. I've had my KLC/KOReader for 2 weeks so I've naturally been experimenting (like I once did with drugs) a lot.

But I had a lingering icon(s), a back arrow partially atop a hamburger icon, in the top right hand corner of my home screen, where the large plus sign usually is. So I deleted the koreader/icons folder, (the developer suggests deleting icons, but I didn't know where to look at first) and have since learned the koreader icons are in the resources folder. This worked, but the icon folder (I have placed no custom icons there, that's a rabbit hole I don't want to go down at the moment) gets recreated upon restart with a single chevron.down.svg icon inside.

Get info shows it as a Google Chrome icon, with "Open with" defaulting to Google Chrome.

My patches are pictured, and I have added only Bookends and LocalSend plugins. I'm guessing one of those is creating it. A single icon! I have to know. Thanks.