The Marvell ESPRESSObin board, a successful Kickstarter campaign by Globalscale Technologies, is set to begin shipping at the beginning of January to all Kickstarter Early Bird pledgers. The Early Bird package features dual core ARMv8 ESPRESSObin base units from the 1st production run with a price of $39 plus shipping. All board packages will ship anywhere in the world to more than 500 project backers.
Regarding the shipping price, Globalscale Technologies managed to lower the shipping costs mid-project, bringing it down from $30 and $50 for international countries to a flat rate of $23 for shippings outside of USA. A higher price in shipping compared to similar projects is to be attributed to quality shipping services (FedEx & USPS) guaranteeing a lower package loss rate and tracking numbers. Early bird pledgers which have paid for shipping before it decreased have had the shipping difference refunded.
As mentioned, Early bird shipment will begin at January 2017, whereas all other packages will begin shipping at March 2017. As shipping the products often presents a problem for Kickstarter projects of such nature, a reliable, experienced vendor such as Globalscale with years of continuous deliveries and shipping bases in Shenzhen, China and Anaheim, CA should make the pledgers rest assured that the deliveries will be met on time.
Here are some pictures from the production and pre-shipping phases:
Find out more about the ESPRESSObin board here.
Read more about the Kickstarter campaign.
Pre-order the ESPRESSObin board here. Additional ESPRESSObin-related products (MiniPCIe WiFi card, power supply and preprogrammed uSD card) have to be ordered separately. Furthermore, pre-ordering on Globalscale lets you get an estimate on shipping and tax prices.