We’re getting funds ready for the next big order so we’ll be listing the next two batches worth of EcoStenos to the next restock Tomorrow, February 25, 2022 at 7PM EST! We have all 100+ boards tested and assembled, with only the packing and shipping left (for the most part), which means we shouldn’t sell out as quickly as we have in the past. We’ll be aiming to have all of the boards shipped by the end of the first week of March, though we may also be able to get them out a lot faster. After this, the next (and smaller) restock may be ready around early April.

The price of the EcoSteno has increased to $95

We’ve been needing to increase the price for most of the past year, as we’ve been hit with shipping losses and increasing parts costs from the beginning (our processor costs alone have more than doubled!) but we wanted to keep the cost consistent through at least the first year. Our goal is still to keep the EcoSteno affordable and under the $100 price tag, and we don’t currently have any plans of increasing its price again.

New International Shipping Courier

We’ve had issues with USPS shipping internationally for most of the past year (extremely high prices to some countries, packages lost in purgatory for months, not generating the correct customs forms for some countries, etc) and are now moving to DHL, which should increase our international shipping speed and reliability. While a few countries may see an increase of a few dollars, others will have their rates slashed in half (Australia in particular) and most will remain similar with the average shipping cost per customer decreasing.

Potential Issues

All of the boards being sold this year so far have been from the same (new) manufacturer, but unfortunately we’ve already had a few RMAs from our earlier batch of ~60+ boards. We’ve traced the issue back to a bad batch of voltage regulators which seem to give out within one week of being powered on. To remedy this, we have been testing the keyboards in this upcoming batch by keeping them plugged in for at least a week, so hopefully any issues pop up here if they ever will at all. If you do end up receiving an EcoSteno which has this issue (all defects we’ve seen have come up within a week of sporadic use), shoot us an email and we’ll fix/replace it.

Other Changes

We’ve switched to using plastic spacers instead of an extra hex nut in between the PCB and the backplate. This makes it easier to assemble/disassemble the EcoSteno on our end. This change shouldn’t affect normal use at all, but it is something to note if you decide to open your EcoSteno.