[Company:]

Hey, I'm hearing so many conflicting stories on what companies can be trusted to produce an ASIC machine and deliver on the sale.  I've heard that some have yet to actually produce anything.  I realize that developing custom hardware isn't exactly an overnight thing or cheap, so I know that companies can take a bit longer on their first product while they're laying the groundwork for future ones.  I also know that when dealing in BitCoin you need to be careful and I'd imagine that some mining hardware companies might also be shady.

WoT (Web of Trust) is the only real way you can tell who's who in the BitCoin world limit your chances of being scammed.  So, I figure if you've purchased ASIC hardware from a company and received your purchase, we can safely say that the company will most likely come through on future orders.  (I did hear that BFL sold GFX chip based hardware and then created fake ASIC machines that never shipped and offered to trade in the old GFX card ones, but they instead kept the returned units and never gave the customers anything.  I can't verify the validity of this statement, so for all intents and purposes, it should be considered just a rumor.  Personally after hearing that and that BFL is run by an ex-con known for scamming people, I won't be buying from them.  However, someone who might have a vendetta against BFL might be saying these things as well in order to hurt them.  This is why the WoT must exist so that many people can give their opinions on a company and people can make an informed decision.)

When replying, to make things easier on people who read this thread, please use the format below.  I'll keep this post updated with the names of companies and their number of satisfied / dissatisfied customers as well as the link to the last post that I added to the list.

MODERATORS: If this post is successful, please consider making it a sticky so that people have easy access to the WoT for ASIC machines.  Thank you.

Please post in this format:

Company: [Company name]
Product Purchased: [Product Name]
Date Purchased: [12/31/9999]
Date Received: [12/31/9999]
Satisfied/Dissatisfied: [Satisfied/Dissatisfied]
Comments:
[Your comments about the company or product]

Company Name	# Satisfied Customers	# Dissatisfied Customers	Popular Notions
BFL	2	0	BFL delivers systems a year after the order is placed which make the product useless in the BitCoin market when received. BFLs wait list: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=89685.0;topicseen

The last post recorded for these figures: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=262524.msg2804351#msg2804351

Well I've been searching for mining equipment for the past few weeks and until I came here I never thought of BFL as a scam, but I did have to wonder why someone would even sell an ASIC machine to begin with.  I mean, if you know how to build one and you do it, you can pay for the investment and just build many more of them and get more bitcoin.  I figured that as ASIC machines are something that are known in the bitcoin community, then someone has to make them and sell them, so I figured why not BFL.  I sent them a message to ask if I could pay them to float my order to the front of the list just a few minutes ago before I joined this forum.

Anyway, after hearing that some people think that BFL is a scam, it makes me more cautious about doing business with them.  So, where do baby ASIC machines come from?  lol   If not from BFL, then where?  I'm willing to put out a good initial investment for a worthwhile machine and I'll be smart enough to tuck away some bitcoin for when I need an upgrade as the difficulty increases or payout decreases.  I just need to know of good machines or brands that people here trust who are experienced with them.  As for electricy, I'd imagine that the machine will pay out much more than what you'd need in electric costs.  I looked at the profit calculator to see if the BFL machines would be profitable and substituted in 1KW for their 500 GH/s machine and it came out to a nice tidy ~$3,000 a month in the end.

Calc: http://www.bitcoinx.com/profit/

Also, when I sell my generated bitcoins, how can I do that?  Right now I'm set up to go through localbitcoins.com and it seems to have a nice community and a good WoT as well.  Are there any legit sites that work as a currency exchange place where I can just send them the bitcoin and they transfer the funds to PayPal or my bank?  I'd imagine in order to stay in business they'd sell bitcoin as well and charge a premium both ways.  That actually sounds like a nice lucrative business when I get going with all of this.  I might make a sight like that at some point.  Anyway, in the mean time, does one already exist?