Can’t say I disagree with you – not at all. But (and you knew there was a “but” coming ) I choose to have a slightly different approach.
Now, you’ve probably seen my posts lamenting the premature release of the Aeros and Maestro, and, while I’m sure there are market forces at work that pushed them to release too early (my own complaining on this very board likely contributing to that), like you, I do wish they had waited until they had 85-90% of the functionality baked in.
That said, though, I am taking a glass-half-full approach: Because they have extended the return window to 60 days starting when the functionality is in place, unless I missed something (and I may very well have), we all have these units in hand to begin to play with and can still return them any time, because the clock on the return period has not yet started. We still have 60 days from “some time in the future.”
So, unpaid beta testers? Yeah, actually, I think you’ve got it exactly right, there. But we are also in many ways getting a sneak peak into upcoming products and the chance to influence their development. I know no-one signed up for crowd-sourcing, and it really does kinda suck to have money tied up in the devices while we wait for the full-boat-real-deal software/firmware release so we can see what these devices are going to be when they mature. I definitely see how that could be a deal-breaker, and if that’s you, send it back and wait for the full-fat version to get released. You might lose your early adopter discount, but you won’t have money tied up.
Again, I am not happy that the products – especially the Maestro, in my case – came to market half-baked. But there’s opportunity in chaos, so – glass half-full – I’m playing with mine, and I got myself into the (Unpaid ) Beta program for the app – about which I am complaining loudly where appropriate. And it is appropriate in some cases (although, in others, I really like what I see).
Summing up, yes, I entirely agree with you. But I trust Singular to get it right eventually, and if they don’t, back my Maestro goes. I’m lucky in that I can afford to let SS hold my money on this and that I don’t need the MM to be fully-functional RIGHT NOW(!!!). So when they handed me lemons, I decided to make no-risk lemonade.