allinat420,
I'll break my response into two parts, because it seems that (a) you have legitimate questions/criticisms regarding the design of rotary trimmers themselves, and (b) you've purchased a Twister and are unhappy with the product/service you have received. I'll respond to the latter first:
We manufacture the Twister and distribute it to retail hydroponic shops across North America. We do not sell to the end-user; never have, never will. So I can only assume that you bought your Twister from one of the four retailers listed on our web site (http://www.thetwistermachine.com/wheretobuy). Seeing as though you tried to contact us for information before/after your purchase, it would appear that the retailer was not very helpful in providing you with information during your purchase. That is unfortunate, as we provide all our retailers with full instruction and information regarding the Twister's operation. Did you contact the retailer after your purchase to voice your concern? Did the store offer you any help? If not, we would appreciate it if you could PM (or email) the retailer's name (or the machine's serial number) so that we can ensure future customers have a better experience.
Speaking of customer experience/service, as stated, we don't sell to the end-user and so typically our retailers handle all customer inquiries. When an end-user does contact us, we determine which retailer is best able to help that customer and then send him there. As we have a fully staffed office, while not impossible, it is unusual that we missed your four phone calls and one email. If this is indeed the case, we apologize for the lapse in service and, once again, we invite you to call or email so that we may try to rectify the situation as best we can.
Regarding forums and where our business comes from: we do not sell to the end-user and thus do not spend much time on forums (As an aside: The vast majority of people who purchase and use the Twister are medium to large scale growers who do not frequent forums either - possibly due to paranoia or the fact that they have their system dialed in and do not need forum advice. The majority of people who need or use our trimmer will not advertise such. Yet I can tell you that we are seeing a trend in repeat customers who are buying additional machines without ever seeing our website.). The majority of our business currently comes from offline marketing strategies (I don't know of too many hydroponics store owners who have the time or desire to hang out in forums). With that being said, it would be foolish of us to neglect entirely the discussions going on about trimmers in general, and the Twister in particular. As stated previously, we feel we have a quality product that we believe in 100% - and so when someone such as yourself voices a concern, we want to address it as best we can (If the manufacturer of a product I was unhappy with chimed in and offered to help every time I made a forum post, I'd be thrilled :) ).
Lastly, were you able to sell your machine? If you're not interested in getting further advice from us or your retailer, then we'd certainly be interested in buying the machine back. You said it's only been used a couple times? I assume then that it's still in near perfect condition? Some of our retailers have orders that they're currently having a hard time filling and so I'm sure we can find a good home for your trimmer. Once again, I invite you to email/call/PM us, and we can work out a deal to take it off your hands.
Now, hopefully I can address some of your concerns.
You sound like you are the first person you know to acquire this style of trimmer. That can make it hard to overcome all the new techniques you have to learn. Especially, when you don't have the support of friends with similar trimmers or access to vast amounts of online content (This is, in part, why we try to equip our retailers with as much knowledge as possible). It can take a few runs to get your system worked out and to get a feel for how to best operate it. There are many variables such as strain, indoor or outdoor, size of plant, health of plant, location and temperature of job site, experience of trimmers/buckers etc. It makes it difficult to provide a user's guide for all these conditions (all of which have a solution). But forums like this are a great place for people to share these experiences and tips.
The ideal amount of people for maximum speed and quality is 6. However, the entire process can be done with one person and often is by some of our customers. You can buck and drop it straight into the hopper doing the whole process yourself. The reason 6 people is ideal is because 4 good quality buckers are needed to keep pace with the machine. Less than that and the machine is not going to be at maximum output. This is ideal for people with very large jobs. For smaller jobs, less people is perfectly fine. You can reduce this number to 4 if you buck directly into the machine and do not have a person on the output doing quality control.
As for the blade, you are correct in stating that our blade is similar to a high end lawnmower blade as you can see on the pictures from our website. However, our blade is neither a Toro blade nor a blade used in any lawnmowers (No offense to Toro, because they do make some great high end products). Our blades were designed for the Twister to give the closest cut possible while ensuring long life and sharpness.
In regards to your concerns that the machine shaves a lot of bud off, well, this is the first time we have had this complaint - and frankly we're almost pleasantly surprised to hear it. In the beginning, the complaint was always that power trimmers did not cut close enough. We have worked very hard getting the Twister tolerances as precise as possible, allowing for the closest cut possible. This close shave can be lengthened by an adjustment at either end of the tumbler. In regards to you seeing bud pieces in the vacuum bag, we must say, this sounds very odd and is also a complaint that we've never had before. These pieces must be are very, very small. We are going to assume you must have a strain with very long nodes smaller in width than 1/4 inch (tumbler opening size). We can see this being a possible problem and we believe we have a solution if you would like to discuss it through private email (
[email protected]). We are aware that our machine has not been tested with every possible strain on the market but many, many have been tested. Certain growing conditions can also have an effect on producing long nodes.
We will post a link at the bottom of this message to a you tube video showing the small size of bud the Twister will trim (these are dried). As you will see they are much smaller than a penny. This is one of the many benefits our customers rave about. These are typically buds that are low on the plant or receive small amounts of light and can be somewhat airy. These tiny buds are very often overlooked or not trimmed by hand because of the time involved. The Twister will plow through these in seconds. These tiny buds quickly add up and help to recover the cost of the machine by themselves.
You mentioned before that the machine is loud and you tube videos you saw had music playing to cover up the sound. As you know, the machine itself is actually very quiet but we have no intention of trying to hide the fact the vacuum is loud. Regardless, we did not create those videos, so we can't speak to them. However, there are many clever ways our customers who are concerned with noise from the vacuum have covered it up. We can offer ideas for this too if you like.
As for the stems, this is another area we wish we had the opportunity to give you some advice. It takes a few runs but you will discover what size stems the machine will trim and won't. Typically large top flowers will not have their stems trimmed properly by the machine because they tend to roll lengthwise down the tumbler. That is why many end users cut those flowers from the stem with scissors instead of bucking them by hand and then feeding them into the machine. Some of our customers do all the bucking with scissors to ensure they have very short perfect stems. This is not typically necessary but many people have the experience with scissors that is easily transferable. If it took you 45 snips of scissors to trim an average flower (just a example) and only one snip with scissors to cut the flower off the stem and drop it in the machine, it is still 44 snips quicker if you choose to use scissors while bucking. And 44 snips less than it would take by hand. Multiply this by a few thousand and it quickly adds up.
We can assure you that the Twister was not built out of a garage (although we agree that there are some trimmers available that look like they were). In the end, each consumer has the option of buying what they feel matches them the best. You happened to pick the Bentley of trimmers and good on you. We are disappointed you had a less than perfect experience and hope that one day you give it a second chance.
Like I said above, feel free to email us and we would be more than happy to get you on the path to efficient quality trimming.
YouTube - Tiny medical marijuana buds (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frEJDiM_OqQ)
We have some videos planned that also may give you some insight. I will see if they can film the whole process including a shot of inside the collection bag in one take.