BlackArrow => Scam or not?

[takagari]

Ack, a Jr. member with 3 activity has told us it's a scam, we all must flee and scream in terror! Oh the horror! THE HORRRRRRORRRR!!!....

[FlappySocks]

Don't listen to the Trolls.  Black Arrows FPGAs were sold through CardReaderFactory. So this is not news.
They also have links to Europe, so hosting in Germany is not exactly anything to worry about.

[Slander]

Don't listen to the Trolls.  Black Arrows FPGAs were sold through CardReaderFactory. So this is not news.
They also have links to Europe, so hosting in Germany is not exactly anything to worry about.

insert clapping emoticon  'clapicon'?

[McKinley]

hi,

i *wanted* to buy, ordered with payment by bitcoin, then got after ~12 hour an email with the Bitcoin amount to submit the payment to within a 24hour frame. However i got online 25hour after this, so i missed the deadline - since then 9 days have passed and i have no reply from them.

This makes me at least believe that there is a certain risk involved.

[Teka]

So why are the UK and US numbers the same? Everything about the site and prices does seem a bit off.

[rext]

Hmm I was about to unload all my bitcoins on them until I saw this thread hahaha. Well they do have one of the best bang for buck asics out there. If you found better ones, do let me know lol.

However, I personally don't think that they're a scam, if you take a look at the 2nd vid posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9ybLGF1AkY

you can see a one of their staff is inspecting for flaws on the hardware made, and she certainly does look Chinese to me. And them being located at China, that tallies up.

You could order from Butterfly labs, but my goodness, anyone who has ordered stuff from them will know, exactly how longgggggggg we had to wait lol. But the good thing about them is, they eventually deliver, so if blackarrow proves to be a scam, which i doubt so, then I just might have to settle with a monarch card.

[jimmothy]

you can see a one of their staff is inspecting for flaws on the hardware made, and she certainly does look Chinese to me. And them being located at China, that tallies up.

10/10 investigation work

The only reason I decided to give them a chance is because they (according to others) have delivered and even on time.

[Teka]

you can see a one of their staff is inspecting for flaws on the hardware made, and she certainly does look Chinese to me. And them being located at China, that tallies up.

10/10 investigation work

The only reason I decided to give them a chance is because they (according to others) have delivered and even on time.

Yeah I wouldn't decide if a company is a scam or not based on a video made by the company in question. You never know they could be faking it. Also, there pricing does seem a little bit low which makes me wonder if this qualifies as a "too good to be true deal". They have proven track record of delivering somebody else items but to my knowledge they have never made an asic completely from scratch. I guess that all we can do right now is gather more evidence and wait for testing, prototypes etc

[gamersglory]

Black Arrow is based in china and do all there assembly there in there own plant. Thay are legit as we the WPC have done face to face business with them. We should be receiving there Minion chips soon.  For our Minion Wasp Prototype  

[RomertL]

Want to buy the x-3. Lot's of cash to loose, even though I don't think they're a scam I which there was a way to find out for sure.

[TehoM]

Want to buy the x-3. Lot's of cash to loose, even though I don't think they're a scam I which there was a way to find out for sure.

That is some really poor English.
You can always wait it out and see if they're legit or not?

[Teka]

Want to buy the x-3. Lot's of cash to loose, even though I don't think they're a scam I which there was a way to find out for sure.

Always remember to only invest what you can afford to lose.

[elchorizo]

Black Arrow Software used to sell their equipment through the Card Reader Factory website. So the two companies were (and probably still are) essentially the same company.

I've purchased about 10 FPGA units from them in the past (as have many others) and everything was very smooth. I had a unit that eventually broke and they wanted me to send it back for a replacement. I never did because by that time the FPGA's were essentially useless for Bitcoin but they at least offered which is more then most companies now a days.

The new box may not be a reality ever, but at least based on their track history they are a legitimate company and not just scammers.

[RomertL]

Want to buy the x-3. Lot's of cash to loose, even though I don't think they're a scam I which there was a way to find out for sure.

Always remember to only invest what you can afford to lose.

True, but also: never support scammers. I actually plan to go to China in a couple of month maybe I'll can visit them.

[bittymymitty]

They also accept wire transfers for payment which makes them seem more legit.  Most scammers tend to only accept BTC since it's easier to disappear with the cash.  BA also allows customers to wire funds to their HSBC bank account in China.  There's still the possibility of them disappearing or going bankrupt, but having that bank account makes them more trackable.

[slicko]

from my experience on just-in-time delivered fpga´s (17x) back in may,  can say: they re legit and no scam !!! ofcourse, an asic rig with 2,5 TH is more difficult to be (developed&) built than a fpga unit with 398 MH, but also i know blackarrow is a skilled engineer and hes not alone to do the whole work. i strongly believe they can make it, even in time ... ordered 2 x-3´s from 1st batch and have absolutely no doubts about not getting them and get skinned.

this thread was absolutely not needed ! cheers

[elchorizo]

from my experience on just-in-time delivered fpga´s (17x) back in may,  can say: they re legit and no scam !!! ofcourse, an asic rig with 2,5 TH is more difficult to be (developed&) built than a fpga unit with 398 MH, but also i know blackarrow is a skilled engineer and hes not alone to do the whole work. i strongly believe they can make it, even in time ... ordered 2 x-3´s from 1st batch and have absolutely no doubts about not getting them and get skinned.

this thread was absolutely not needed ! cheers

Agreed. Its always a risk of some sort, even a KNC order at this point but I put my money where my mouth is and I also have an X3 (first batch) on order.

[jimmothy]

The way I see it is you can either pre-order and maybe get a really good deal or maybe a shitty deal with a ton of delays, or you can buy someones asic in hand for 3 times what they paid for it (also they probably used it to mine and the first week or two is the most profitable for any asic.

Risk vs reward.

[melmo]

The guys from BlackArrow and CardReaderFactory are probably not scammers, but I question their ethics, as CardReaderFactory sells the "world's smallest bluetooth magnetic stripe readers" - have a look at product MSRv008.  I'm not sure why else someone would drop $2000 on this device other than to build an ATM skimming device.

They may not be scammers, but they like to sell parts to the scammers 

[jimmothy]

The guys from BlackArrow and CardReaderFactory are probably not scammers, but I question their ethics, as CardReaderFactory sells the "world's smallest bluetooth magnetic stripe readers" - have a look at product MSRv008.  I'm not sure why else someone would drop $2000 on this device other than to build an ATM skimming device.

They may not be scammers, but they like to sell parts to the scammers  

Interesting. Is it possible that it could be used
 for some sort of mobile card reader?