Some even drag it out unnecessarily long and refuse to give refunds. Amazing right? (Need to get my dig in the guy deserves it)


When you ask where are the new Custom Hardware vendors... do you mean chips and rigs or would those producing units with others chips count?

I think there a plenty of people keen on developing "new" systems but given that the cost of developing a chip is pretty substantial and time consuming has probably put a huge damper on newer vendors because of difficulty rising sharply and the actual demand for miners will taper off if it hasn't already. What doesn't help are companies like BFL and Avalon that have pretty much soured the market and thrown up huge hurdles even for the most well intentioned company but I would say the economics are not there. Look at Black Arrow and their chip rig combo "pre-selling" at the lowest rate $/gh but given their time to market it will likely not be oversold like an Avalon or BFL offering because their really is no guarantees now to earn back your investment.

To be honest there are quite a few people at the margins as well looking to revive the DIY push that BKKCoins, Alten, Burnin all started with their DIY Avalons unfortunately Avalon failed to deliver and that I think has left many questioning the trust of chip fabricators. I suspect that DIY will push through and continue developing units even with exponential difficulty some people are keen on this as a hobby, even though it is an expensive hobby. There are plenty of people willing to keep even pushing the Avalon Gen I Klondikes just get those boards going. If you are looking for newer vendors I don't see where simply designing ASICs is going to be profitable for anyone for the foreseeable future. I suspect several companies will collapse and fail to produce a second or third generation of miner at this stage. Some of these companies really should disappear as they are literally dragging the marketplace down with their ineffectual shipping and refusal to follow fair and reasonable trade practices. With them gone it might put some needed trust back in the community and free up space for better companies in the future.

I would ask you what is wrong with KnC, HashFast, Cointerra, and Black Arrow? Are they not new enough? Different in their offerings? Better at customer services and shipping on time in the case of KnC, are they not?