Light and Sound Kit for the 2020 Creator Expert Ecto-1 (#10274)
Well, what an amazing model! Six years after the release of the LEGO Ideas Ecto-1-- in our humble opinion, one of the best vehicle sets ever released by LEGO-- the company has taken aim squarely at our pocketbooks with a huge new set: the Creator Expert Ecto-1 (item #10274). You can see the set here:
Our light and sound kit for the Ideas Ecto-1 from 2014 has consistently been one of our best-selling kits, and it has more features than any other kit available. It's really one of the kits I'm most proud of designing, so when we learned of an even bigger, cooler Ecto-1 headed our way, we knew we had to up our game and rise to the challenge.
We're currently testing designs for the huge rooftop lightbars and large spotlights-- stay tuned for more details.
Since we already have the base control circuitry and sound for the Ecto-1, it should be relatively easy to expand the kit to cover this new model. If all goes well, I'm hoping to have pre-orders up on the site before Christmas, with delivery likely beginning in March 2021.
So.....what features (beyond the obvious!) would you like to see in a light and sound kit for this amazing model? Let us know in the comments below, and thank you!
-
Kenneth Higgins Thanks for the heads-up about the product guide. Try it again. We had some issues and I needed to re-do the second half of the guide-- I'm still working on that this morning, so hopefully I'll move faster than you can install. :-) If you reach the end of where I am, check back later in the day-- I plan to have it finished by tonight.
As for the lightbars, wait and see how things work. That looks like the wire was pulled harder than it should have been. It also looks like you put that transparent dark blue slope on the top, which you should not have done. That's not where it goes, and you really need to wait until the instructions tell you about how to finish the lightbars because they are very fragile, and now it looks like you may have tried putting another slope on top of that wire part, and damaged it.
Just saying, that's what it looks like. PLEASE do not do anything until you follow the instructions. I've spent close to 40 hours taking over 400 photos and writing tens of thousands of words to help avoid situations like you seem to be encountering.
Follow the steps please.
-
Kenneth Higgins Everything is operational, everything is online, everything is complete. Honestly I do not know what you are seeing on your end. Your tone on these posts, and your accusatory approach, is disappointing, especially considering that we have always gone above and beyond for you. Just so everyone else reading this knows how far we go for our customers, with the last (smaller) Ecto-1 you bought last year, here is what we did:
- We shipped your kit. You claimed it was broken when you received it. Of all of these kits that were made and shipped, you are the only person to have reported anything like this.
- We sent you replacement parts, for free. You claimed they were broken when they arrived.
- We sent you more replacement parts, again for free. Again, you claimed these were broken when they arrived.
- We said, send your entire Ecto-1 to us, and our CEO will install the light kit for you, FOR FREE. You did this, and we fixed it and sent back to you. You were very satisfied with the end result.
I challenge you to find another company that would have done even half of these things for you, given the circumstances.
Let's fast-forward to the process with this (larger) Ecto-1 kit:
- You pre-ordered it and immediately complained that we had not told you that the USB connector on the LiPo battery charger you ordered from Adafruit was a USB-mini, not USB-micro. You said you did not have a USB-mini cable.
- Don't worry, we said, we will send you a USB-mini cable FOR FREE along with your Ecto-1.
- You posed several times on social media saying you were disappointed that your kit was late, despite us sharing in several e-mail newsletters that the delay was caused by a global semiconductor shortage, something that is hurting the smallest to the largest companies and something that was completely beyond our control.
- Last week, yours was the first kit we sent out in the entire batch. Even though you were by no means the first customer to have placed an order. I made this decision because you said it was your birthday last week.
- By 6:30am on the day you received your kit, you had already complained that the instructions were not available (something we fixed by 7am that same morning), and you posted a photo showing that you had clearly already jumped the gun, opened boxes and bags, and had already damaged your lightbars by assembling them incorrectly. Despite what you say above, I do not think it is our responsibility to tell customers NOT to begin installing a kit they don't know how to install without first reading the instructions. If you look at the instructions, you will clearly see that there are MULTIPLE warnings to be careful with the electronic components, especially regarding the lightbars.
In short, I like to think we bend over backward for our customers. Anyone reading the history above will, I hope, agree. I simply cannot understand why you are literally the only customer of ours in the entire world to encounter problems like this time and time again.
What I do know is that this is a pattern: you always blaming us, trying to malign the company I've poured my blood, sweat, tears, and personal savings into for 10 years, over something that is clearly not our fault.
You can return the lightbars to us, but we will not send you a free replacement. We are done sending you anything for free. You can purchase replacements-- and pay for shipping-- for any parts in your kit that you have damaged. We are more than happy to help with this, and to do what we can to get you up and running, but I simply will not stand for any more of this anger and misinformation being posted publicly.
-
I can only confirm from my side that the service from Brickstuff is excellent even around half the globe. I already had some special problems, which was partly due to my constructions and we always solved them together, even over the distance to Germany. I don't know any other company that offers so much service and support.
-
Rob Klingberg first I'm not blaming you for my wanting to get this set together, it's just you have no instructions that worked on the day I was able to put the item together. Today I still cant get your instructions on either the Website or the Dozuki app. I work as a Law Enforcement Officer and my hours are crazy, so when I have time to finally get this item together I expect there will be instructions to which you said back in April /May it's all done on how to put it together. We waited an extra almost 2 months for this item.
-
Kenneth Higgins As I mentioned earlier, the guide was available less than 60 minutes after you first notified us about it. The instructions were definitely working on Saturday.
If you are using an Android device, then there can be issues with the native app and accessing guides-- this is something I've been trying to get Dozuki to fix for months, but it's out of my control. You can always access the full guide and attachments via a web browser, via the link provided in your welcome letter (https://bit.ly/kit34-v1).
-
I have to say too that Brickstuff has excellent customer service, from the times I have had to use them. I have to say too that I just finished installing the Ecto-1 Light Kit and I"m as excited as an eight year-old school boy going to see Ghostbusters for the first time!!!! There were some challenging spots, but it wasn't because of the instructions, more of how you had to route the wires, but LOVE the kit and can't wait to show friends and family and just turn the siren and lights on and the engine and enjoy!! oh btw, when I first powered everything up, the door features was the feature I was messing with the most, lol. You guys did AWESOME!
-
Kenneth Higgins OK, I'm going to work on a guide that will walk through these types of troubleshooting issues. Hoping to have it done by the end of this week. RE: the doors, if the sounds aren't working, make sure the "DOOR" switch is UP and the little green light above the switch is on-- otherwise the doors will be disabled. Also, when the doors are enabled, the interior lights don't work with the remote, only with the doors. Maybe this helps.
-
As already announced, I have finally managed to motorize the Ecto-1 and for this I used a BuWizz, among other things.
I had to go to PowerFunctions again on the engine because the PowerdUP was too weak.
It looks like it is now getting pretty tight for the lighting kit. But I will still face this challenge. -
Freakmaster Ah this is the challenge I knew you would face when trying to mount with the motor there. One thing to consider: when making the directions, I moved the TRUNK09X adapter from under the roof to the back section of the roof. *Maybe* there is room under the main roof to place the controller and other parts? I was not brave enough to attempt this, but if anyone is, you are!