What is stopping this from being brought back

[archercorals]

The mindstream device was so innovative and potentially revolutionary. Why has no company tried to get it back up and running?

Step Ahead Innovation Shuts its Doors, MindStream Future Uncertain | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

When the MindStream aquarium water monitor was first announced by its creator, Step Ahead Innovations, the device seemed so ahead of its time that it almost came off like a futuristic concept product.

reefbuilders.com

 

[Opus]

The mindstream device was so innovative and potentially revolutionary. Why has no company tried to get it back up and running?

Step Ahead Innovation Shuts its Doors, MindStream Future Uncertain | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

When the MindStream aquarium water monitor was first announced by its creator, Step Ahead Innovations, the device seemed so ahead of its time that it almost came off like a futuristic concept product.

reefbuilders.com

I believe the patents were bought by another company to be used in another field. I'm guessing it would just be too expensive to license it from that company, assuming they would even do it. It was a good idea but they killed themselves on the marketing/communication side. They were years late with their product and were horrible at communicating updates. Plus the high cost plus then the subscription amount was just too much for many people.

 

[archercorals]

It’s crazy for think it’s too much now. It’s 24/7 readings. And it read so many parameters. I can see it be licensed for not much for only aquarium use

 

[Opus]

It’s crazy for think it’s too much now. It’s 24/7 readings. And it read so many parameters. I can see it be licensed for not much for only aquarium use

But most people don't need 24/7 readings. It is a luxury not a must have for most. There are just too many expensive toys in this hobby now.

They really did make a lot of people angry with the way they handled a lot of their dealings with customers and the whole selling off in the end. I was one of the people that figured their entire goal was to get the product to market and then sell the company for a nice profit. I was burned on another product that crowd funded and after the product was out for a year or so they sold the company and the new company stopped supporting the equipment. It was cloud based so once they turned of the servers the equipment was useless.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I'd like to know from those that tested it 1st hand, why it didn't see the light of day. Speculation was that it just wasn't reliable in saltwater.

 

[archercorals]

I'd like to know from those that tested it 1st hand, why it didn't see the light of day. Speculation was that it just wasn't reliable in saltwater.

My friend was a beta tester. The developer just wanted it to be perfect l, so it kept getting tweaked.

 

[o2manyfish]

I was a beta tester for the Mindstream. It was a really cool product. I was an early Beta tester and actually ran the product for over 18 months before they went down. And they went down in a way that was really crappy for the people that had faith and believed in the product. Many interested reefers bought and paid for the unit at the Orlando MACNA being told their unit was shipping in 2-4 weeks (and units were in production), only to have their credit cards charged and then the company sink. It was not a great way to exit the market.


But the technology was really cool, a bit ahead of its time and a bit pre-mature. The results were very cool. The unit did what is was supposed to do. The app was simple and worked. While the whole setup process was a little rudimentary - once setup it was stable. And the ease of changing the discs monthly to get another 30 days of results was way better than any other gizmo monitoring device around.

The key was the 'disc' which was a colored kaliedascope of films. Just pop in / pop out and in 10 seconds you were testing a dozen parameters for 30 days without having to calibrate, fuss, pour, adjust anything.

The issues they had with the product 'reliability' was the production of the discs. It was a newly evolving tech and with each tweak of the tech and the production of the next batch of discs the consistency of the results would vary. Sometimes from Disc to Disc a parameter instead of being 'slightly off' was just wrong.

But the tech and concept was good. All the tech and patents were bought by another company.

While Mindstream is Dead, the tech and concept is not.

You haven't seen the last of it.........


Dave B