Getting started with PyGos and Pylife

[arikb]

@Peter-Bankuti I noticed that sometimes I get the blue-teal immediately when I start charging, when the device doesn't sit on the pad in the correct place, there doesn't seem to be a lot of leeway in where to place it and a few mm here and there can make a big change.

I did upgrade to the latest firmware on the 3 devices that I didn't brick (I have a 4th one that doesn't charge or otherwise respond at all, possibly literally fried). I still have a problem with BLE - I have 2 devices charging but only one gets the BLE connection. When not charging they seem to be connected for a very short while until they're entirely unresponsive.

NONE of the features in the app work at ALL. This is categoric. No functionality. I tried playing around with the "alert templates" and thereafter "alerts" but I cannot get a single one to trigger. Not even to upload

I just don't know how to characterise this. I'm usually good at this black box analysis stuff. This is really frustrating and disappointing. In a private chat to @Pete-Allen-0 I wrote:

"I had the feeling that the target of this kickstarter project is (also) relatively technical people who want this device to play with and mess around with and reprogram.

"If it's targeted at technical people, then give all the information. Log files, technical information inside the app, ability to control the device mode and put it into firmware update mode explicitly - and not as a side effect of the firmware update mode failing and forgetting to reboot the device.

"If it's made to be an end consumer device, all I have to say is that it barely feels like an alpha version."

This pretty much summarises my feelings about this project. I have nothing against Pycom - in fact I've participated in the original WiPi kickstarter and have only good things to say about that product. And although waiting from 2018 until now is a bit long, I've seen worse in Kickstarter and there was a pandemic in the way. The hardware itself is a bit of a miracle - so much hardware in such a small package. I honestly think the idea and the execution of the hardware (assuming none of these problems are hardware related) is fantastic. I think Pycom really aimed very high and actually hit the mark. However, the overall quality - just feels off, and the lack of control I have over this buttonless portless little brick (I know it has a serial port, but I haven't manufactured a cradle for it and it can't be bought) is frustrating. The firmware leaves much to be desired and the phone app feels like an afterthought with some obvious grammar errors.

Additionally, if I had the responsibility of dealing with what is very obviously a problematic product, I would make sure to dump as much information as possible on how to work around, mitigate, solve and debug these issues. It's been a bit silent around here, as far as people from Pycom responding.

Could it be that only us handful people on this forum have problems with our PyGos? I'm kickstarted backer number 131, so there must be quite a few people out there. Based on the serial numbers I assume more than 1000 units have been manufactured. Do they mostly work and I / we just got stuck with the malfunctioning ones? Are there happy PyGo customers that love their new hackable tracker / communicator?

I don't know how much more of my time I will keep dumping into this project before I set it aside in the "failed kickstarters" bucket, to be recycled in a few years when I move again. My monetary investment into it was €239. I've made worse financial mistakes in my life.

Feeling a bit frustrated now.

[robert-hh]

@arikb maybe the number of complaints is low because only few people received their devices until now. I'm. still waiting.

[arikb]

@henri-lepervier The location - Atlantic ocean just west of Gabon and south of Ghana - happens to be GPS coordinates 0 longitude and 0 latitude. That's why it seem to pop up in many applications when GPS coordinates are not available and they default to 0, 0.

[arikb]

@robert-hh for your sake I hope they stopped shipments in order to deal with these problems.

[Keptenkurk]

@arikb I share your frustration and cannot agree more on your writing. The investment of 2018 was written off but customs required me to spend another € 40 to get hold of these PyGo's. I'm done with it. My usecase has been fulfilled with a Tractive GPS tracker 3 years ago.

[arikb]

@Keptenkurk I also find it weird, I live in the Netherlands and can be in their Eindhoven office within a couple of hours by public transport, but I got them shipped by DHL from the UK.

On the other hand, logistics are not as simple as they seem, considering they made them in the far east they had to import them into the EU anyway so they want you to pay for that import. However, importing them en masse to the EU would have probably been cheaper, since you pay customs for the transportation costs as well.

I was more into the ability to run my own code on these things. I don't see that option at all now... yet.

[Keptenkurk]

@arikb For me getting to their Eindhoven office is no more than a 22 min drive :-) I registered an issue with Pycom Support (PYCSD-5760 Failing PyGo's). Maybe we all should do to get it onto their radar.

[henri lepervier]

@Keptenkurk @arikb

We are all very disappointed by this product (that is clearly more a prototype at this stage : the App is not good and buggy, the Product itself is not matching basic expectations). Still the concept is attractive (to me) : Mesh + SMS per group + multiple technologies.

For the time being, I will let it in a corner -- hoping for a real firmware update that may fix all those issues. I think this is not supporting LTE CatM (there is no embedded SIM card, and no SIM slot to insert it).

I am also very curious about the feedbacks from others customers... I predict they will report the same frustration (or we had faulty units ?)

I will enter a case in the Pycom support ticketing machine, but I stop there with this unit. (too much time spent on it)

@arikb : thanks for the GPS (0,0) info -- so I can add that GPS is not working on my unit (I tried outside)

Kind regards from Paris (30€ for the Customs as well...)
H.

[arikb]

@henri-lepervier regarding the GPS - it doesn't mean it's not working, it usually means you didn't get a position fix. It could be a software thing. I can't get a position fix with mine either, despite putting it right next to a window (my phone gets it easily even with cellular turned off).

[henri lepervier]

@arikb said in Getting started with PyGos and Pylife:

get a position fix with mine either, despite putting it right next to a window (my phone gets it easily even with cellular turned off).

Thanks Arikb
About the SIM card, this is mysterious to me :
I can read in the documentation : PyGo2 includes WiFi, Bluetooth, LoRa, Sigfox and dual LTE-M (embedded SIM for CAT M1 and NB IoT) the PyGo2 gives access to all the world’s LPWAN networks on one tiny board.

and the picture is showing a Sim card slot (that I do not have on my unit) -- see red square below

Regards
H.

[henri lepervier]

@henri-lepervier

[Peter Bankuti]

@arikb I am backer #406. I guess we should speak at least about 1000 devices as most backers opted for more than 2 devices. I was somewhat lucky i did not need pay any duty as my order was below 150 euros, for me only 27% VAT has been charged extra, but i knew it would happen. For sure there are always some devices that are not fulfilling the specs or maybe even defective. But my impression is too many of us complain on totally unresponsive PyGo1 devices. Hope we will get some information later on how to revive such devices.

I bought my devices to check me out what LoRa is capable of as a POC for one of my envisioned applications. Of course i would not mind if i could play around with them even after approving/disapproving my expectations about LoRa. Hopefully we will still get there in some days.

[arikb]

@henri-lepervier I read somewhere that they have a Vodafone e-SIM set up. I am not familiar with e-SIM but I assume it's a programmable SIM card that sits inside the modem.

[arikb]

Check your mailbox... An apologetic mail from Pycom received as a Kickstarter update.

[Keptenkurk]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pycom/pylife-and-pygo-the-most-connected-device-in-the-w/posts/3542695
Curious if an app update will help my fried unresponsive devices though...

[henri lepervier]

@arikb
yes , just received as well. "There will be a further update later today.". Crossing fingers -- but the first message will be probably about the Firmware Upgrade via PC. I hope there will be more soon.

[Gritty moonshaw]

I've managed to update the firmware on my unit after around 10 attempts, but even after that I am left with nothing more than a small useless piece of plastic that I can't even use as a paperweight.

The app is worse than I imagined, none of the 'alerts' actually work, the battery status never updates, and the Pygo randomly flashes its battery status but other than that nothing. Honestly I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with the damn thing. We all know this project was delayed with supply chain delays being a major factor, but surely a product that has been in development for 4 years should be better than this.

Don't get me wrong, kudos to Pycom on delivering an ( on paper, feature-rich) product in such a small package, but a great idea and impressive HW design is only as good as the software under the hood, which in this case is abysmal to say the least.

Pycom is not a new company, after 4 KS campaigns over 6 years you think they would have got it by now. Yet again over-promising and ultimately under-delivering.

[Keptenkurk]

Some good news! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pycom/pylife-and-pygo-the-most-connected-device-in-the-w/posts/3544098?ref=ksr_email_backer_project_update_registered_users

[henri lepervier]

@Keptenkurk @Pete-Allen-0 @arikb
Hello,
A lot of hope here... let see
Do you know if we will have to pay again a custom fee for the craddle piece ?
I hope they will fix the TI PMU stuff quickly -- my units is simply not usable as of today

Regards
H.

[hjoe]

@henri-lepervier said in Getting started with PyGos and Pylife:

@Keptenkurk @Pete-Allen-0 @arikb
Hello,
A lot of hope here... let see
Do you know if we will have to pay again a custom fee for the craddle piece ?

I hope not.
In my case, the PyGo delivery was more than 150 € that's why I had to pay customs and another German tax.
Let us hope they will send it from the Netherlands.

I hope they will fix the TI PMU stuff quickly -- my units is simply not usable as of today
the same here.

Regards
H.

Heinz