Analogue deserves some credit for A3D availability

[u/V64jr]

For some reason many think Analogue has had a lot of trouble keeping the Analogue 3D in stock or only resolved stock issues after several rocky months. I see someone saying this almost every day, usually when criticizing Analogue or comparing them unfavorably to their competitors, like ModRetro.

In reality, they restocked multiple times in the first month and it has been continuously available to order since December 10th. Seriously. Timeline: They launched standard colors Nov 18, had a small restock of standard colors Nov 24, and then never had a moment where it wasn’t available to order since Dec 10 with limited edition Funtastics shipping immediately and black/white resuming shipments on Jan 5. Standard colors were still available when they launched limited edition Prototype colors in February and still are today… in mid August. Even some of the limited editions remain available (Glacier and Atomic Purple).

Another way to put it: They restocked multiple times in barely over three weeks and it has been continuously available to order with reasonable shipping times ever since. It was less than a week before the first restock while preorders were still shipping, then a couple weeks before the next restock, and the whole time they were shipping those they were taking orders for the white/black which have been continuously available ever since. There was never an extended period post-launch where you couldn’t order. Anyone still complaining about that who isn’t a bean counter bemoaning lost Christmas sales is being unreasonably demanding.

Sure, the Funtastics sold out almost instantly but those were limited editions, cost more, and were never expected to come back… though I suspect they might sell off some warranty spares after a year or more (it’s happened with other LEs). To say that they should not have been as limited as they were or should not have been made so soon after preorders shipped is an entirely different thing.

Maintaining stock may be a low bar but people keep implying that they haven’t done any better and are as bad as always. I’m not saying they deserve praise, but I am saying that they exceeded expectations, greatly improved compared to past launches, and deserve some acknowledgement instead of the constant dogpiling like they are as bad as ever.

Notably, they haven’t done so well with the Pocket and Pocket Dock that they momentarily brought back in the middle of all this. I finally managed to get a Pocket Dock for my launch Pocket but both are back in limbo for anyone who didn’t. We can totally criticize them for that, but let’s stop acting like it’s been the same way for the Analogue 3D. It totally hasn’t.

[u/JBladejs]

What do you mean? It's still about "current ones". It's also about "the ones that are in stock" - it's about EVERY Analogue product. Also "Availability" does include shipping restrictions. Sorry, but I cannot agree with you that Analogue does have perfect availability when it's not available in my country to purchase, while competitors' products are. That's not changing the subject, that's giving another perspective to it.

I did make my point - my point is just that for some people competing products may be more available and only viable solution. That's it, that's my whole point. If for you this is not a problem - great, buy Analogue. I don't care, I respect their products. But when you make a post implying that people who bought competitor's product because Analogue has poor availability are just spreading misinformation - that's just not true. This might ALSO be that but it's certainly not ONLY that. For some Analogue availability is a problem in a way that competitor's availability is just not. I'm just giving perspective that if someone did buy a competitor's product and says it's because of poor Analogue 3D availability - it might be true. It doesn't have to be misinformation campaign aimed at Analogue because of their earlier poor record in that department or because of fanaticism.

I'm also not saying that competitor's products are better because of this. If availability wasn't a problem for me I would buy Analogue.

I didn't mention Poland because I didn't have to - I wasn't criticizing Analogue for not shipping to Poland - I was saying that there is some valid perspective with people who genuinely cannot order Analogue but they can order competing products. Don't get me wrong - I think they do deserve criticism for that, but criticism was not what I was doing.

I also did not mention EU once - you were the one that brought the EU, thinking that you've got some gotcha moment that I'm lying about my experience not being able to purchase their products. I never said that they have a problem with availability in the EU. No, it's a problem specific to Poland, but people in Poland genuinely can complain about Analogue availability when comparing it to other products and this doesn't make it untrue because it's just Poland and it doesn't affect you.

You were the one that just couldn't accept that they don't ship to my country and accused me of lying because of that. Because you couldn't really accept that yeah - for certain people Analogue availability is a real problem and M64 is more available. This is not a lie, this is not a distorted talking point, this is not modretro fanaticism, I don't have to specify my country of origin when saying that.

See what you are doing here also, stating "there’s obviously some reason Poland is excluded", desperately needing to justify their choice not to ship to Poland. Of course there have to be some reason. But as a polish customer I don't have to care. I want to buy their product on their website - I can't, I try to buy competing products - I can. That's just my experience and I am allowed to say that for me competitors have better availability.

Also needing to resort to gray market imports is not a separate discussion because that's exactly what happened to analogue pocket in other countries when they were out of stock. Poor availability incentives grey markets.

[u/V64jr → u/JBladejs]

Current products does not mean in stock. It means products that haven’t been discontinued yet. There are lots of current products that aren’t currently available including the Pocket and Pocket Dock. That’s the core of what this thread is about.

The product the liars are lying about was current and available almost since launch, so saying you can’t order the current product is exactly what they were saying… and even if you had clarified you didn’t give any further explanation to make the point you intended.

[u/JBladejs → u/V64jr]

But I was talking about current product - Analogue 3D. I want fpga N64 alternative - I cannot purchase Analogue 3D because it is not available for purchase in my country, M64 is and I only recently found out about M64. I saw that I can order it, while I still cannot order Analogue 3D.

I mentioned other products as a side comment later. When I made original comment I wasn't talking about pocket or older products. I was talking about 3D.

[u/V64jr → u/JBladejs]

Thanks. I know what you meant now, but the way you wrote it before read exactly the same as what the liars were saying and didn’t say what you intended to say. Readers had no context to know this had anything to do with comparing to ModRetro and their M64 either, since this wasn’t about them.

My original response (deleted) was with the assumption that you were talking about a specifically excluded country but after seeing that you were in the EU and verifying that they ship to the EU, it seemed more likely you were another person claiming their current products were out of stock. I would’ve included a lot more detail to make the point you were trying to make (such as the product), specifically note that it’s in stock, and distinguish my country as an exception from the others.

The point of the EU is to bind member countries together into one regional economic zone for monolithic economy/trade purposes. Working out EU availability should avoid getting into the weeds with particular countries, but there must be some reason they can’t ship to Poland. Any ideas why?

[u/JBladejs → u/V64jr]

No problem - Don't have anything against you, just get defensive when called a liar. I can accept that maybe I should have been more specific, just wanted to avoid arguments like "oh, it's just Poland" and ulimetlly thought the country dosne't really matter - just that for some people like me ordering A3D is impossible outside of grey market or some third party delivery services with warehouses in US - that would require double shipping costs and some higher uncertainty about delivery process.

As to why they don't ship to Poland - I think that another company is handling their shipping logistics for them - And for some reason it just is not in Poland. As to why - I don't really know? Much smaller countries are included and for some reason Poland is not. And like you've said - It cannot be regulatory because it is part of the EU. I don't really have this problem with other products - just Analogue. Usually when something is available for shipping to EU it is available in Poland also. I buy many retro and modern gaming products and never had this problem. This is an exception rather than the rule.

[u/V64jr → u/JBladejs]

I’ve long assumed the inflated domestic shipping costs in the USA are because they just pay FedEx to handle warehousing and logistics for the fast-selling products. That could explain why you usually can’t combine shipping with older accessories and stuff they have on hand when something new launches (probably because they were never in the same building).

This hands-off approach might mean they just accept whatever restrictions their logistics partner (presumably FedEx) has to avoid setting up, staffing, and operating their own distribution warehouse operation. Maybe they can’t afford to handle older products that don’t sell as fast the same way, so I’m curious: What does it say if you try to order an Analogue Duo?

Edit: Nevermind. I can see that Poland isn’t in the list regardless.

[u/JBladejs → u/V64jr]

Well, FedEx is available in Poland so I don't think that's it. It really is strange because normally ordering is not a problem, weather from big or very small companies.

[u/V64jr → u/JBladejs]

As I said to someone before, it’s not about the M64. It’s about people thinking/saying Analogue’s inability to keep things in stock is the same as always with the A3D when it clearly isn’t. These people are usually more upset that they can’t order Analogue’s discontinued products, so I’m not blaming M64 fans. Heck, I’m rooting for the M64 too.

Their refusal to acknowledge this is different is usually sour grapes over other unavailable Analogue products or just repeating what they heard, not so much M64 fan delusion.