EEVblog #751 - How To Debunk A Product (The Batteriser)

[quad]

As others have pointed out, the sleeves could easily be empty (no PCB).  A simple trick, and if this guy is a reseller or partner (which is very likely, smartandnew.com sell gadgets and this is right in their wheelhouse) the motivation is there to "maintain confidence" and "produce buzz"... he'd have been told "they're very close" but people are "getting inpatient" and need "reassuring".

[Fungus]

As others have pointed out, the sleeves could easily be empty (no PCB). 

Not to mention the weird red tab at the top:

[LabSpokane]

OK, Bob,

Now....try taking a photo of your product in your car with today's Greek newspaper in the background with the date visible. 

Do they have those in California...?

 

[f4eru]

This scam story will never end !!

[firewalker]

When I asked him for another photo, I mentioned the top side with the PCB.

Alexander.

[onlooker]

With the viewing angle, what behind the "+" hole should be the PCB. They must have painted it in milky white.

[sleemanj]

Maybe we have some Greecian EEVBlog members who could try and contact this individual and see if he is willing to meet them and take some photos, or... offer him money for this exceptionally rare beast.

[drussell]

Didn't they lose the right to say Batteriser?

Maybe they shipped the "Batteriser" branded ones to countries where copyright laws are hard to enforce.

This has not got, and has never had, anything to do with copyright law.

As I stated several times before, I wouldn't be surprised if their deal with Energizer Holdings to drop the lawsuit and the situation surrounding Batteroo's abandonment of their application for the Batteriser trademark explicitly allowed them to ship units made from the stock they had already produced of the sleeves and packaging, even in the US.

Barring that, then, yes, the logical course of action would probably be to send those early production ones to places beyond the reach of the USPTO's juristiction...

It looks like the PCB's are missing in this sleves.
I'd say this is another trick to get more time.
But I don't knew why they need more time because it looks like they didnt want to deliver at all.

etc. etc.

I can't believe how many people here are unwilling to believe that these things might actually exist. 

It is not like it is actually some kind of new technology or something. 

There is absolutely no reason why they could not have finally managed to actually ship some units.  It IS very surprising, of course, that they have done such a horrible job of keeping their IGG backers informed; the complete lack of pictures, etc. but it isn't like the product itself is an impossibility.  They won't have shipped them without PCBs or that kind of nonsense....

It will be very interesting to finally get to see some actual performance data once we get our hands on them considering there has been a complete and utter lack of any actual data this whole bloody time!  (The hallmark of bogus products everywhere...)

[Macbeth]

IIRC The Energizer/Batteriser trademark case did allow them to sell off any existing "Batteriser" marked stock, but all future rubbish has to be another name, ie. "Batteroo"

I imagine this single mockup package *is* the existing "Batteriser" stock.

[samgab]

When I asked him for another photo, I mention the top side with the PCB.

Alexander.

Wow, do you actually have an interchange of communication with this guy? If so, maybe you could ask him to put a little video up on youtube, of him trying them out, showing all angles of the product, showing it working, etc. That would be a start (although still not proving that the product is worth buying or using, which I'm certain it isn't).

[timb]

IIRC The Energizer/Batteriser trademark case did allow them to sell off any existing "Batteriser" marked stock, but all future rubbish has to be another name, ie. "Batteroo"

I imagine this single mockup package *is* the existing "Batteriser" stock.

Exactly. As I stated before, they knew about the Energizer trademark issue well before anything went into production. It's not like they had thousands of these rolling off the lines, only to suddenly find out they can't use the Batteriser name.

In fact, their lawyers would have told them early on that Energizer had a good case and they would be steamrolled if they didn't acquiesce. At which point, they would have either:

A) Changed the design of the sleeve to eliminate the die stamped name entirely, allowing them to silkscreen it after cutting *or* apply a label. This way they could get the sleeve dies made and start production.

*or*

B) Preemptively change the sleeve stamping to say Batteroo to avoid the above issue.

Even if they *did* somehow have thousands of "Batteriser" branded sleeves sitting around before the PCBs went into production, there's no way they had the retail packaging complete at that point. They may have had artwork ready to go, but there's no way it was printed and waiting...

All they'd have to do is change "Batteriser" to "Batteroo" in the artwork and send the change the packaging company...

There's no way they'd print all the packaging with the old name; the sleeves, *maybe* (still doubtful) but absolutely not the packaging... It just wouldn't make sense!

[firewalker]

No actual communication. I left a comment asking for more photos. Specially from the top with the pcb. He posted the one above.

Alexander.

[digsys]

  This scam story will never end !! 

Unfortunately, unless sites like this keep up the pressure / activity, they'll get away with it, and worse - others will follow in greater numbers, knowing that eventually
"we'll" give up

[EEVblog]

Well, the guy took another picture with the box opened. Looks legit...

As others have pointed out, if there actually a PCB on these?

[Muttley Snickers]

I strongly suspect they are getting some type of disturbed kick out of all this attention, somethings not quite right with these people in my view and all I see are more sleight of hand tactics and cheap card tricks.

[amspire]

As others have pointed out, if there actually a PCB on these?

They work better without the PCB anyway.

[EEVblog]

Facebook comments in case they delete them:

[Fungus]

Maybe they shipped the "Batteriser" branded ones to countries where copyright laws are hard to enforce.

This has not got, and has never had, anything to do with copyright law.

Sorry, I meant 'trademark'.   

I can't believe how many people here are unwilling to believe that these things might actually exist. 

It is not like it is actually some kind of new technology or something. 

It's not a question of technology!

Batteriser shipment depends 100% on whether Bob will have more money in his account if:
a) He manufactures something
or
b) He doesn't

If Bob's even pretending to ship something then part of the VC money must be dependent on shipment of 'final product'. Why would he bother otherwise? Because he wants to "do the right thing"?  Remember: We know for a fact that he's a lying fraudster.

Nope. The best option for Bob is obviously (b). He needs to make people believe he's shipping using just a few old prototype sleeves and a huge helping of bullshit.

Option (a) will only happen if the smoke and mirrors fail and if the amount of outstanding VC money is more than the cost of making a batch of Batterisers (nb. This might be the case, it's just not very convincing so far)

[EEVblog]

If Bob's even pretending to ship something then part of the VC money must be dependent on shipment of 'final product'. Why would he bother otherwise? Because he wants to "do the right thing"?  Remember: We know for a fact that he's a lying fraudster.
Nope. The best option for Bob is obviously (b). He needs to make people believe he's shipping using just a few old prototype sleeves and a huge helping of bullshit.
Option (a) will only happen if the smoke and mirrors fail and if the amount of outstanding VC money is more than the cost of making a batch of Batterisers (nb. This might be the case, it's just not very convincing so far)

The problem with this hypothesis is how on earth you could get away with something like that? (i.e. lying to VC about something as fundamental as shipping)
Surely you are guaranteed to be caught out?
If anything Batteriser is continuing to live up to it's long earned reputation as the most bizarre campaign going around 
Which is of course why this thread is so massively popular! 

[EEVblog]

I think these dark spots on the photo are the PCB.
The rest of the board is hidden behind the internal plastic retainer wall

[Fungus]

I think these dark spots on the photo are the PCB.

Disagree.

Nope. The best option for Bob is obviously (b). He needs to make people believe he's shipping using just a few old prototype sleeves and a huge helping of bullshit.

The problem with this hypothesis is how on earth you could get away with something like that? (i.e. lying to VC about something as fundamental as shipping) Surely you are guaranteed to be caught out?

Yeah, but... maybe there's $250,000 calling out to him. What would you do in the circumstances? 

[rrinker]

More interesting would be the tachometer. (mph / kph)

 Even better would be if the second pic showed the side mirror, since it is quite visible in the first pic. Looks like he is sitting stopped on the right side of the road in the first pick, and there is a car going past. In the second pic it should be gone.

[sleemanj]

I can't believe how many people here are unwilling to believe that these things might actually exist. 

The evidence we have so far that they exist, is as far as I recall, a couple of people who are known to be acquaintances (accomplices one might say) of Bob who say "we got ours". 

One guy in Greece who has posted a couple of inconclusive pictures.

I think being sceptical is completely justified at the moment, there is perhaps more credible evidence for the existence of bigfoot.

[amspire]

Correct me if I am wrong, but ever since they got their "production" under-way, there has not been a single clear picture of the circuit board. Perhaps they didn't want to give away their "harder then iphone" manufacturing secrets several months ago, but there is no reason not to show off their technology now.

And with Christmas coming, wouldn't you want to have an Amazon store up and running? With all the free publicity they got, they could still make a killing.

You can actually buy a Batteroo on Amazon, but it is a musical track by The Planet Rockers from almost a decade ago.

No-one has written a song called Batteriser yet. Probably would be a real tear-jerker.

[rrinker]

As others have pointed out, if there actually a PCB on these?

They work better without the PCB anyway.

Perhaps they work better extracting all the remaining energy by providing a direct short across the battery.

 800% faster draining of the battery.