What ever happened to the Vertex Cerebra?

[Tobe71]

they are going to have to change the name... vertex is going to be FOREVER synonymous with broken gear and failure.

Dont believe me? Go to any reefing event and tell someone you are going to install a vertex controller and see what kind of looks you get.

I’ve had some interesting conversations at reefing events when I’ve mentioned I was in the Vertex Beta Test Group.
Mostly a sense of arrogance from the Apex booth people to be honest. Had a similar experience with some guys from RE.
I think Apex in particular have the market cornered but something just doesn’t ring true for me because if they are so certain Vertex will never produce a competitive product, why would they make the effort to crap on it and/or the company?
And I expected to get some snide or sarcastic remarks. Under the circumstances it’s to be expected. Just like me busting the kids balls at the Apex booth at a swap in Indy about the Trident release date.
Vertex definitely has a lot to prove. I’m hoping they defy the odds and if what I’ve been hearing comes to pass, they really will be revolutionizing the controller game.

 

[Tobe71]

For real. If anyone wants to sell, PM me

 

[Blue Lip]

I bought my Cerebra from BRS. It was not listed as a Beta unit. It was sold as a functional and stable controller with listed features it did not have. It was discounted because you had to pre-order and wait for the units to be manufactured. Only the first 600 units were to be sold at a discount. The price was supposed to go up after 600 units were sold. I was led to believe the discount was because of the introductory offer and pre-order, not because it was a beta unit.
The biggest die hard supporter is Tobe. He has been purchasing people’s old Cerebra in hopes he can make a profit if /when a new Cerebra comes out. He is up to 25 Cerebra. Vertex has made many claims that we are so close but time has proven that to be untrue. Vertex told the beta testers that the new Cerebra was to go to beta tester Dustin first to see if there were any kinks he could find. Vertex didn’t send a sd card with it so it was useless. Months later they send him another Cerebra and that also had no sd card. Tobe tells the Cerebra owners that a big update is coming. The problem is we keep being told that and Vertex doesn’t do what they say. People are ticked on the Cerebra forum. Tobe wants us to let go of all the lies and they are lies that Vertex has told us and move forward believing in Vertex. Vertex sent a second Cerebra to Dustin without a sd card. What is the status of that if we are so close. The silence from Dustin speaks volumes! But hey, Vertex is close and big update coming!

 

[FirstContact]

Well, bottom line is Apex and GHL still kick butt and have a huge inventory of products in production that work extremely well and are available at retail. Since 2012 Vertex still needs to prove it’s revolutionary and for the last 3 years HONEST. Certainly there were a lot of lies up to this point, everyone is feeling the burn and Vertex is looking for a fresh start at a 2nd beta.

 

[FirstContact]

For real. If anyone wants to sell, PM me

Honestly Tobe if you or Vertex want to buy me out, I’m good for $1,000.00 with probes and extra power bar. That would be my sell out price at this point. Otherwise, I just really want to see what happens.

 

[Tobe71]

I bought my Cerebra from BRS. It was not listed as a Beta unit. It was sold as a functional and stable controller with listed features it did not have. It was discounted because you had to pre-order and wait for the units to be manufactured. Only the first 600 units were to be sold at a discount. The price was supposed to go up after 600 units were sold. I was led to believe the discount was because of the introductory offer and pre-order, not because it was a beta unit.
The biggest die hard supporter is Tobe. He has been purchasing people’s old Cerebra in hopes he can make a profit if /when a new Cerebra comes out. He is up to 25 Cerebra. Vertex has made many claims that we are so close but time has proven that to be untrue. Vertex told the beta testers that the new Cerebra was to go to beta tester Dustin first to see if there were any kinks he could find. Vertex didn’t send a sd card with it so it was useless. Months later they send him another Cerebra and that also had no sd card. Tobe tells the Cerebra owners that a big update is coming. The problem is we keep being told that and Vertex doesn’t do what they say. People are ****** on the Cerebra forum. Tobe wants us to let go of all the lies and they are lies that Vertex has told us and move forward believing in Vertex. Vertex sent a second Cerebra to Dustin without a sd card. What is the status of that if we are so close. The silence from Dustin speaks volumes! But hey, Vertex is close and big update coming!

You’re not wrong.

I got mine from BRS as well and until I just read your post, I never even thought to call them onto the carpet for the misrepresentation of the product. It would be worth a phone call.

It’s been a PR **** show for sure.
Looking back I wish I’d just talked to Jason directly all along. The people that were in charge of the forum going all the way back to a woman named Kim were all handicapped in various ways and all generally ill-equipped to handle such a situation.

I think Vertex’s intentions have been good from the beginning. When the V1 was determined to be a failure I commend Vertex for trying to make it “right” by promising to replace everyone’s hardware. The owner himself just posted to the forum Saturday and conceded that it was a much more circuitous path than he expected.

Being a business owner myself, I understand that the ultimate responsibly goes to the top but I can see how he had his hands full trying to make good on his promise and, like all things Vertex makes, make it as close to perfect as possible and beautiful at the same time. Not to mention he still had a business to run.

He delegated the responsibly to various people along the way to run the forum and they were largely unsupervised/trusted to do the job.
When I finally reached my own breaking point, I fired off a sternly worded email and he seemed genuinely shocked at the state of the forum. I can only speculate on what happened internally but we started getting weekly updates thereafter. I suspect the oversight was not there again as the people in charge, when pushed for a date (and their was LOTS of pushing), would kinda sorta set a date and then on the phone with me tell me more with more certainty and I unwittingly became the carnival barker for them. That was a valuable life lesson.

After the recent departure of the latest person in charge of the forum, Jason actually called me as he realized I’d become a mediator of sorts.
We spoke at length over the last two weeks and he assured me things will be handled very differently going forward and just this weekend issued a statement to the forum accepting responsibly and reaffirming his commitment to produce the best product possible.
There is a major announcement coming to the forum on the 8th. And I for one am very excited.

As for any misconceptions or insinuations about my intent in promoting the product:

#1 Yes I own 25 units. So I’ve put my money where my mouth is. I truly believe that Vertex is going to come through in a big way. I could be wrong, but I really don’t think I am.

#2 I am in no way trying to pump this project solely for profit. Of course I’d like to turn a profit on this investment but my bigger reason for promoting it is that I believe in it. I want it to be a success. And we will need a large user base for it to be viable into the future.

#3 on the front and back end I have no choice but to be painfully honest with what I know or think to be true at any given time.
The last SEVERAL Cerebras I’ve acquired I have made sure the people didn’t want to hang on for the replacement. (And I always genuinely thought it was right around the corner).
To me it made zero sense to sell unless you really thought you were going to end up empty handed. All people would need to do is wait and they’d be handed an item that will probably retail for $800 or more after investing what $374? But people had their reasons and I was glad to oblige. I literally picked up the last unit last week. And the guy had just given up hope and wanted out, which I understand. But just like on the front end, if this turns out to be a goat, I would never try to sell these at a profit. If anything I’d go back at Vertex for the $374 per and call it a lesson learned.

With all that said, I really think we are FINALLY on the cusp of getting these into at least some of the Beta owners hands. There has been speculation from 1-80 and I’m hoping we find out Monday and from my conversations with the owner I have a feeling those that waited will be glad they did.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

this thread should be called Vertex Annonomous.

 

[Tobe71]

this thread should be called Vertex Annonomous.

That’s genius

Bwhahahahaha!!!

 

[bkelley02]

Would be nice if they could share the order they'll be sent back out. I've been patiently, and quietly waiting on the beta forum and it hasn't been an easy few years. Hopefully it will all work out and everyone will be happy with the results.

 

[shred5]

I was not in beta but feel for those that are.
It is a weird situation because you paid to beta a product. I have done beta for allot of different products and companies and some in the reef industry and I never had to pay to beta a product.
I just hope this is not a new trend. Some people are so eager to say they are in beta for a product they are willing to pay.
As this shows people need to beware stuff like this can happen or a product can go away completely.
You know if it does dry up they should refund money. Companies should not get away with that.

 

[Todd31]

a lot of people didnt know it was beta when we bought. Therefore i hope fiery evil karma on anything/anyone vertex. hahahaha

 

[Terence]

To be completely fair here in regards to who sold as "beta" and who did not. To my knowledge, BRS was the ONLY retailer to sell it as "beta".
https://web.archive.org/web/2016070...rebra-aquarium-controller-package-vertex.html

Others did not say one thing about beta. Just introductory pricing.
https://web.archive.org/web/2016061...specialty.com/vertex-cerebra-prima-controller

This leads me to believe that the description of "beta" was not by the manufacturer, but by BRS themselves - possibly as a condition to selling it at all. But that is complete speculation on my part. But, the internet wayback machine does not lie - so you can see at least two examples above. If someone finds otherwise in the internet historical records, feel free to correct me.

 

[DarkSky]

I asked BRS if they thought the controller was in a final state - they told me the hardware was final but the software would evolve - so I bought one!

 

[Sleepydoc]

this thread should be called Vertex Annonomous.

"So tell me about your mother...err... aquarium. How does it make you feel?"

 

[hart24601]

Holy buckets, these still have not been released? I forgot to follow along a long time ago and figured they finally released a final product. Man this stinks for people they took money from.

 

[Tobe71]

a lot of people didnt know it was beta when we bought. Therefore i hope fiery evil karma on anything/anyone vertex. hahahaha

That's been brought up a few times. I'm really curious what the responsibility of the retailers was on that. Did anyone try to return their unit to the retailer when they found out it was a beta? And, if so, how did that go?

 

[Tobe71]

Holy buckets, these still have not been released? I forgot to follow along a long time ago and figured they finally released a final product. Man this stinks for people they took money from.

We are getting instructions this coming Monday on the logistics of getting our replacements. It's my understanding that they are ready to ship the first 80 and if any of the first 80 users had additional power bars, those will be shipped at the same time. We'll know the details on the 8th. And, for the record, I know I was in the first 80 after talking to Vertex but told them I did not need all 25 of my units at once as to let more beta testers get their units quicker. Plus I'll be selling most of my extras so I can wait.

 

[hart24601]

We are getting instructions this coming Monday on the logistics of getting our replacements. It's my understanding that they are ready to ship the first 80 and if any of the first 80 users had additional power bars, those will be shipped at the same time. We'll know the details on the 8th. And, for the record, I know I was in the first 80 after talking to Vertex but told them I did not need all 25 of my units at once as to let more beta testers get their units quicker. Plus I'll be selling most of my extras so I can wait.

I can't wait to hear what they say Monday!

 

[Sleepydoc]

A word to the wise - if/when Vertex does send out replacement units, no matter what they say, users should consider them to be beta units and proceed cautiously. I don't mean this to disparage Vertex, simply as a statement fact that both the hardware and software have been redesigned from the ground up in a relatively short timeframe and bugs are to be expected.

 

[hart24601]

We are getting instructions this coming Monday on the logistics of getting our replacements. It's my understanding that they are ready to ship the first 80 and if any of the first 80 users had additional power bars, those will be shipped at the same time. We'll know the details on the 8th. And, for the record, I know I was in the first 80 after talking to Vertex but told them I did not need all 25 of my units at once as to let more beta testers get their units quicker. Plus I'll be selling most of my extras so I can wait.

And what did they say today?