by kevin_t » Fri Jan 01, 2016 2:54 pm
A lot of good points here and a great discussion. I like discussion like this as it helps us be a better company.
We try to provide the best products we can , at a fair price. While we have had a couple retail locations, I personally think the direct model works well for us and helps us create better products because of the direct feedback from our customers, as we as questions about what our customers are trying to do , which in turn give us use cases , which often turn in products (for instance Peregrine). Face it, we know our products better than even the best retailer does, and when you talk to us .. we can direct that feedback into improvements or products. Our design team , actually does a lot of phone and email answering for those very reasons. We feel that customer to design team connection makes better products.
We also try to protect our customers investment as much as we can, but that is secondary to creating better products. We started the Revolution as a bit of a revamp of the Evolution. As we got further into it, it deviated more from the Evolution and ended up with a new name , however there is a lot of backward compatibility and we will give the best advise we can.
First off, the framing and hipbelt are the same , with the exception of frame color. The harness , is the same harness we have been producing for several months, just with some improvements we have been integrating over time (Daisy Chain) , some metal hardware in high stress locations. The pack bags differ a little. I know Evolution bags work well on the Revolution .. just as well as they did on the Evo, but Revo bags on the Revo work better than Evo bags do on the Evo (but the improvement is modest). What I do not know is if Revo bags work well on the Evo, which we will try, but I suspect they will work ok, but possibly not at all frame heights / locations. The harness update, is a positive one, and not everyone will need a new harness, but if it is feasible I would personally get one. The lids / Talons etc all work on both platforms fine.
We will sell the Revo Frame Sheet separately as well, for a lot of reasons. First, to help Evo customers, and second I suspect a fair amount of people will want something like a Divide 4500 for backpacking and a Revo + Talon or something for other use as a hauler for rafting or whatever. We actually sold a fair amount of Evolutions for packing larger rafts (60 lb plus) for whitewater usage on more remote rivers. The other thing we will do , is provide a discounted Evo - > Revo setup which will be the Revo sheet and a harness. What the price is , I am not sure, but we will get that available and it will be discounted and available to previous Evo customers ). There are a couple / cheap easy work arounds for some of these as well, which we will probably list out next week, for harness or pack bags.