My suspicion, bases solely on conjecture:
Hydros saw that the Trident NP was coming out and they didn't have their own solution. To get some time, they created a mock-up of what their own tester would look like and had a spitball session about what they hoped to do. Then they announced the spitball results, implying that they had a working system when all they really had were some ideas.
I suspect that they never actually planned to release in Q4 of 2024, but wanted to put that target out there for people who may have been on the fence about which system to go with, and to keep their own customers from jumping ship.
As for what's taking so long, take a look at the Alkatronic and the Hydros IV alkalinity test system. They're the same thing. They even use the same reagent.
Now look at the claims on the Hydros Maven. Those claims are quite similar to what the Trident ACM and NP do. In fact, there's only so many ways to test these things, and so why not set up a system that uses reagents that are already on the market? There are a couple of companies that make knock-off Trident reagents.
My suspicion is that Hydros planned to ape the Trident once it was released, only to find that it was either too hard to copy or was protected by patents they couldn't get around.
For each test, there really is only one viable wet chemistry where the reagents have a chance of any shelf life. They are known reactions that any average person can go look up. There is nothing novel about the reactions or wavelengths.
The variables are
- measuring (stepper or syringe pump) accuracy
- Colorimetric accuracy. What ADC, what Photodiode or sensor.
- Cuvette quality (optical clarity)
- The basic mechanical quality of all of the above
- The ability to rinse and repeat with more than one chemical workflow.
- COST FOR ALL OF THE ABOVE.
There is a reason that a lab grade colorimeters cost thousands and cuvettes many hundreds to thousands.
To make these devices salable to a hobby they have cost lest than $1500 to $2000 max. But that price, how many will they sell? R&D costs, and per unit margin makes it not worth the hassle unless tremendous corners are cut. That means poor accuracy and precision, and unhappy people for the price.
Yes - I would bet the farm on CV playing the "first to market" game with no viable product in hand, or even a working model. Some people say they know people with "beta" units out there. At this point I doubt that. Something would have leaked. We are 9m or more from the puff piece update that CV put out saying it was almost ready but they had new features and tweaks. I think that is likely BS. If not, then the holdup is cost of the prototypes not being anywhere close to target per unit cost to make this worthwhile.
All guesses, it could ship tomorrow, but I bet it wont, if ever.
I really like the project box look. I feel like a mad scientist running them on my tanks. I don't like the way apex looks. I know, I know, it's about function not looks. I am very shallow.
I think they are terrible. The form factor is not uniform, wires and tubes going every which direction. To me it is emblematic of the entire offering -- seat of the pants decisions at every turn. Random product names, random case sizes, random wire directions, random feature sets, random marketing (non uniform) at every turn.
From where I sit, these folks are a goods distributor trying to be a technology company. In the end they may sort it out, but hydros certainly has the appearance of being run by a committee of grade school kids being sustained on candy bars and caffeine.
