HoverGlide: World’s First Floating Backpack

Sun Jan 30 '22 Announcement
almost 3 years ago – Sun, Jan 30, 2022 at 05:04:56 PM

Update of TREKKER 2

Hello Backers,

When I last contacted you in late November, I had gotten the hopeful sign that the factory in Vietnam had reopened. Unfortunately they are now operating at a significantly reduced capacity because of COVID with a large backlog caused by being completely shutdown for 3 months. In addition to making the packs, they have to get material and hardware which evidently been slowed by supply chain. Hence they still have not gotten to our samples.

This is incredibly frustrating for us and more so for you.

Because of these factory shutdowns and inevitable shipping delays, it will still be awhile before we can get your TREKKER to you. In the meantime, we do have small packs in stock (HIKERs with small and large harnesses and TACTICALs with small harnesses). If you would prefer to get one of the small packs now instead of waiting for the TREKKER please let us know [email protected]

Please note that as a special offer we can increase the maximum weight suspended by the HIKER and TACTICAL to 30 lbs instead of the standard 25 lbs we initially offered. We can do this free of charge. Please note that if you are always carrying under 25 lbs, the standard 25 lb system willprovide better performance.

I will keep you updated. Thanks for your support and patience. Larry

Thu Nov 25 '21 Announcement
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Nov 25, 2021 at 07:37:09 AM

Tue Aug 24 '21 Announcement
about 3 years ago – Tue, Aug 24, 2021 at 08:14:40 PM

Dear Backers,

Apologies for our radio silence, we have put all of our resources towards diligently working on development of the Trekker 2 and wanted to make sure we had a clear ship date before we updated you again. Unfortunately, because of the Delta and Lambda variants, we are still not clear on the ship date, but wanted to make sure you had an update and a reiteration of our apologies for the delay, but also our promise to get the Trekker II packs done.

Below is more information about what we have been working on since our last update.

The Trekker II is more complicated than the Tactical/Hiker because the frame is taller, and we must be able to accommodate the positioning between hip belt and shoulder harness. This involved developing an adjustable shoulder harness positioning mechanism and to make a 2^nd shoulder harness size to accommodate smaller people.

This also required us to develop an additional mechanism for adjusting the vertical positioning of the load lifters for tall and shorter wearers. These all took some thinking and iterating between the cloth work and frame.

Since our last update, we have made three full iterations of the cloth work and 4 iterations of the frame including 3-D prints. This also required two visits to our backpack designer in California to review proposed changes.  At this point, the harness of the pack is very comfortable and can be adjusted to fit different sized people.

To some extent, we may have "let the perfect be the enemy of the good” but we wanted to add all the features we thought were necessary.

The other challenge we are facing is one that many of us are navigating -- worldwide issues of supply chain and the COVID Pandemic. In normal times, our backpack designer would travel to Vietnam, work on packs with the manufacturer’s design room, and quickly finish designs and manufacturing would commence. Since the start of the Pandemic, travel from the US to Asia has been too risky. Hence, we have been using the less efficient method of sending samples back and forth a number of times to try to get it right. To get around this for the Trekker II as much as possible, we are sending the factory a near final version.

Additionally, COVID has closed down many of the factories in Vietnam, including ours. They haven’t given us an ETA on re-opening production, but will share an update once we have it. For now, it’s a waiting game until we can start production.

In the meantime, please find below pictures of the final frame and cloth work iterations that we have done.

Thank you,
Larry and HoverGlide Team

Mon Apr 12 '21 Announcement
over 3 years ago – Mon, Apr 12, 2021 at 10:03:33 AM

Hello,

We hope that everyone is doing as well as possible. 

Small HoverGlide Update
We have manufactured and shipped about 650 small HoverGlides.  If you haven’t gotten your small pack yet please contact us at [email protected].

Large (Trekker) HoverGlide Update
We took a great deal of pride in the creation of the small HoverGlides and the large version is no exception. Significant time, money and attention to detail have been put into the large HoverGlide.
We made the decision to not merely “size up” the small HoverGlide, which would have saved time and money. Instead, we revisited the design as feedback from backers and further examination highlighted additional possibilities that we are eager to implement.

For instance, the small HoverGlide can provide excellent operation over about a 2-fold range of loads (the half-maximum to the maximum load). However, we have invented a way for excellent operation on the Trekker with nearly a 4-fold range from 12.5lbs to 50lbs. This took considerable invention and design to create – we are even submitting a new patent for it.

What this means is that you will be able to not only effectively carry a large load, but also a small load if needed. Imagine if you are out for a long trip and wanted to make some short hikes from the base camp, you can also use your Trekker for carrying a small load effectively.

We have also…

• Increased the up and down “travel distance” of the load on the Trekker. This means you almost never hit the boundary stops during normal hiking.
• Designed the harness so that its size can be easily changed
• Made the Trekker harness even more comfortable

There are additional functionality improvements that we will share at later date.

We are so excited with the product improvements that we are rebranding the Trekker as Trekker II.  The overall style and look will still be similar. We will be sending all backers of the Trekker, the improved Trekker II.

Making these improvements and inventing new capabilities with independent testing has taken some time. Because of that, we are only now moving into the mold-making process. What this means for you, is that our timeline is being pushed six months. We know you have already been very patient (thank you!), but we assure you the time invested into making it better than ever will be worth it.

If you would rather not wait any longer, we still have small HoverGlides (Tactical and Hiker) available and will work with you on a solution. If you would like to take advantage of this, email us at [email protected].

Wishing you wellness,
Larry and the HoverGlide Team

Wed Jan 6 '21 Announcement
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jan 06, 2021 at 07:54:08 AM