[Thumbs Up - CONSUMER] Reputable companies that you can expect delivery on time and to spec and will, when they are in error, provide a reasonable and equitable relief to the customers satisfaction. In no particular order of importance.
Bitmaintech Spondoolies Tech Lee Group S5 Antiminer Sales[Thumbs Up - B2B] Bitfury Bitmaintech Spondoolies Tech[Thumbs Up - RETIRED & OTHERS] Twinfury USB miner Project Closed / Retired.
One String Miner Some activity on inventory sales but closed or retired. Production of this miner was halted in 2014.
Nano Fury Project USB miner Closed / Retired Project.
BTCGarden Suspected it has closed as they do not have chips to fabricate new miners. No news on anything new being fabricated. Watching for news.
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[Thumbs Down - CONSUMER] Disreputable companies that have provided late delivery or not to spec and will not or have yet to provided adequate relief to customers when the company is in error. In no particular order of importance. If the company name has a line through it means it has closed, gone bankrupt or otherwise restricted in doing any business due to financial or legal issues or are most likely a straight up scam.
Technobit Ignoring Emails and Customer Complaints. Some customers have started legal action against technobit.
ASICMiner Fraud issues. Friedcat gone missing.
Rockminer Substantial issue with fraud could be caught up in the Asicminer Friedcat problems.
[Thumbs Down - B2B] NONE[Thumbs Down - RETIRED & OTHERS] KNC Horrible shipping issue and compensation is slow or non-existent. Moving to self mining model non-consumer or B2B
CoinTerra Bankrupt
Bitmine Being Sued.
Black Arrow Hong Kong Police Investigating them for Fraud.
AMT- No Longer Shipping Units. See Link
VMC - No Longer in Business. Not shipping units.
Minersource Suspected of major fraud. Website down. No longer responding to emails. Looks they have run off with customer funds and are no longer refunding or shipping units.
nTek - No Longer Shipping Units. See Link
Butterfly Labs - FTC limited them to NO pre-sales. Court date pending
HashFast - Forced Bankruptcy! See Link
Avalon - Avalon chip fraud cost the community millions of dollars in lost development. Do not trust this company, they have changed names and are still overpricing inefficient units and chips.
* If you would like to COMPLAIN ANONYMOUSLY about a company feel free to PM me about that company so that your order from that company will not be put in jeopardy. As much as possible we will use posts made by customers with valid complaints posted directly in the hardware and group buy threads.
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[REASONING] Here is my biased and opinionated guide on purchasing hardware. I am only taking into account which companies have, in my
personal assessment, a reputation for delivering on time and to spec without any significant or outstanding customer service issues. This is not a comparative chart it is merely a suggestion for consumers looking for a starting point rather than having to read through all the forums and other media.
As the OP I am willing to move companies in or out of either area given sufficient complaints from customers or sufficient rectification of past indiscretions based sufficient CUSTOMER feedback from those who were injured initially. Feel free to discuss my biased and opinionated ratings in this a new moderated thread. I value the opinions of actual customers over the fabricator in every case. If you are here to troll me I will simply ignore you and delete your bs and move on to the topic at hand. This is a BIASED and OPINIONATED review of the companies still shipping units. If a company remains in the Thumbs Up or Down section I will review customer posts over the week and take a snap shot on the weekend and post their opinions with my editorial comments. This snapshot will look for negative posts for those in the Thumbs Down and positive in the Thumbs Up. Should there be significant changes to the company in how they resolve or fail to resolve issues then moving them from their current category could be warranted.
Please note there are only two categories so you will need to weigh the merits on your own and determine whether or not you would recommend someone trust a company to deliver on time and to specification and will if in error resolve any and all disputes with their customer base. Let me know if I am missing any fabricators far or wide inside or outside bitcointalk remember NO SCRYPT or ALTCOIN. ONLY SHA256 box makers please. Obviously we will just avoid the outright scams that never shipped a unit right? And please make sure to debate vigorously if you feel I am wrong in my opinion. I will change it based on evidence of customer support for the company is fairly universal.
Remember this guide is just the starting point. You can scan the list and agree or disagree and do your own research. I am giving you my best appraisal based on the reading of the bitcointalk forums and other sources. It is not a comparison of companies. It is just meant to give you a starting point especially for new members to source miners. And as always... read the
Caveat Emptor by Gmaxwell and learn any purchase of mining equipment is a crapshoot at best. Good Luck hope it helps you avoid the pitfalls when buying miners.
Oh here is a great rant about ROI.
Some rants about Financial ROI by TheRealSteve. Although this Rant relates to stick or usb miners it almost seems to mirror the current situation for the home miner attempting to buy now.
Further to mining there are questions regarding cloud or derivative mining contracts. Please review the thread by DrG here:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.8355686-------------------------------------------