^^^ lol

But.... seeing as I took delivery of an X1 earlier this month it looks like I'll (allegedly) be missing out on a X1.5.

That's good. People who ordered after me get a more powerful product.
Feeling the love here 

This is just for info really as this whole Blackarrow fiasco has left a very sour taste in many people mouths...

Back in November 2013 I looked at a few different hardware option and amongst others I chose Blackarrow. But being sensible I also hedged my bets in other companies.
But as this is the Blackarrow thread and the worst performing of my (small) investments I am sharing my thoughts on the single X1 that I ordered from Minersource.

Arrived at the beginning of October 2014 (LCD and Wifi) and has been earning on average 0.01 BTC every 7 days running at 1200Mhz/120Ghs.

I paid 0.4977 (at the time $422) including shipping.
So some simple maths tells me that I currently earn an average 0.0014 BTC a day. Ignoring difficulty increases (hahah yeah right) that would mean ROI in around 350 days.
When you factor in difficulty increases I can't ever see ROI happening. I usually aim for <180 days ROI which is still achievable with other products.

So today I have just sold the X1 for $160.
USD Total loss $422 - $160 - $11 earned mining = $251
But if we look at this in BTC I purchased at 0.5 BTC and sold for 0.4 BTC. Loss of 0.1 BTC

I then have to ask myself would I buy an X1 today for 0.5 BTC (~ $200).... and the answer would still be no, ROI will never be achieved.
Would I pre-order again? Maybe given a company with a good track record.

Am I angry with the whole situation? Not really I came out with minimal loss when you consider they could have taken our BTC and just disappeared.
But I do feel for the guys on here with $5k+ invested and still no hardware. I really wish you all luck and I'll be happy to help out anyway I can.

Needless to say I no longer have any need to monitor this thread (I'm not holding my breath for compensation), which after nearly 12 months of checking every few days might take a little getting used to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

Good luck all

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Thanks for the replies. I've managed to order stock from aamarket's suggestion (funny when I checked Farnell they were out of stock!).
I've got the rest on back order with 4 -8 week lead times, which I guess isn't too bad considering I don't have chips in hand yet (but from the news this morning it seems samples are arriving with the group buy organisers)

Cheers.

Looking for some tips on sourcing parts....

Ignoring the current situation(!) I'm struggling to find suppliers for these bits without long lead times.

USB Micro Controller            PIC16LF1459-I/SS/ML   Microchip   
1.2V, 16A Buck Step Down Regulator   IR3895                   Intl. Rect.   16A
Dual NOR Gate               74AUP2G02DC      NXP   
Oscillator                       ASDMB-32.0-LC      Abracon   32MHz
Power Inductor, Low DCR, 18A      38L361C         Murata   0.360uH
Power Inductor               MLP2016S4R7M      TDK      4.7uH
Ferrite Bead Choke            ILBB0603ER600V      Vishay   60 ohm, 25%
Ceramic Capacitor            C3216X7S0J476M      TDK      47uF
Ceramic Capacitor            C1608X5R1V225M      TDK      2.2uF
Ceramic Capacitor            C1005X7S1A474K      TDK      0.47uF

UK suppliers would be preferred. Can anyone help out?

Cheers

Hi nekonos

Perhaps you could provide us with an update on parts procurement?
With the Klondike boards now in final beta I can see a lot of builders have started bulk buying parts ready to manufacture the boards when the chips arrive.
And I can see bulk buying is already causing component shortages with some lead times up to 14 weeks.

Could you provide an update on:
1. Are you using eurocircuits.com for PCB manufacture?
2. Have you found someone to assemble the boards?
3. Did you get in early and source all the parts/components required? If not do you have lead times for the missing items?
4. Are you flashing your own PIC's or will you be buying them in from BkkCoins (with or without license)?

Thanks.

I guess there is a difference in being kept awake all night (baby!) or staying awake all night (clubbing!)

I expect that staying out all night clubbing your body will be also have to deal with many other factors, like alcohol, fatigue etc so I would say that would be worse than just bring kept awake...

Hi all

First post here. Been following Bitcoin progress for well over a year now and saw the massive price jumps earlier this year. That obviously encouraged me to set up my own mining rig. TOC was easy as work was going through a hardware refresh, leaving a couple of decent dual Xeon HP desktops going spare.
ATI 6870 purchased for £109 - total cost of first mining rig. ROI already acheived :-)

My question is what are the views on Avalon ASIC's? I'm going to order (or even send to manufacture) a handful of Klondike PCB's. In your opinions are these first truly first generation IC's? Are we expecting there to be a lot of work (not announced on these forums) on second gen IC's? Is it worth waiting or is all the money to be made as an early adopter?