
Anker launches sister brand for home automation - Sempiternum
https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/14/eufy/
======
AceJohnny2
_> Anker’s products haven’t always proved completely reliable, but it has made
up for any foibles with excellent, no-questions-asked customer service._

I have a bunch of Anker products because they have been, in my experience, the
best quality and most reliable at good prices. I have a 5-port charger with
"PowerIQ" that was the first for me that could fast-charge both Android and
iOS devices (that for a while followed different charger standards, haven't
checked recently) and not just on one port. My team also bought a box of some
of their USB3 hubs/chargers because they worked well with some of our finicky
pre-production hardware.

In summary: Anker provided what I wanted from a "brand" in a field flooded
with dubious no-name products: quality I can trust.

~~~
bearcobra
I too have always found their products to be very high quality for the price
point. I trust them more than a brand like Belkin. I once heard that Anker was
started by a bunch of ex-Googlers, does anyone know if that's true??

~~~
mmastrac
I didn't know this either, but it's true...

[https://www.anker.com/about](https://www.anker.com/about)

"Anker was founded in 2009, the brainchild of a group of friends working at
Google. Fast forward a few years and we’re now the industry leader in mobile
power."

~~~
ocdtrekkie
It's a surprise their customer service is as good as people are saying it is,
considering that.

~~~
hrrsn
Google's customer service is excellent, if you're a paying customer.

------
notatoad
I'm curious why they chose to launch as a separate brand rather than
continuing to use the Anker name for these products. From what i can tell,
they have an exceptional reputation for making quality products, it seems
weird to throw that away just to enter a new market.

~~~
r00fus
Agreed - they've gained a bunch of brand capital, wonder why they're starting
fresh.

~~~
yellow_postit
My guess is they feel the brand capital is too invested in "battery chargers"
and believe it will be easier to rerun their playbook for building cachet with
the new brand rather than risk their current single category focused brand.

------
djrogers
Interesting, however none of the products mentioned are related to home
automation - well maybe the roomba clone. A desk lamp, a humidifier and a
couple of desk lamps? None of these are automated, connected, 'smart', or in
any other way automated... Odd choice for a headline.

------
gcb0
They make cables. Of course having a roomba-clone on every home will double
their sales! those things eat cables like there's no tomorrow.

------
guscost
If you haven't already tried out a vertical mouse, Anker makes one for about
$20 that works great. I use it at work and would never want to go back. If you
have any symptoms of RSI or wrist pain do consider getting one.

Their power packs are great, too.

~~~
joshschreuder
I bought the first gen one a few weeks ago. The scroll wheel failed within the
first week (middle click still worked).

I just bought the second gen one, and it seems to be going alright so far.

As an aside regarding Anker, I left a review on the original mouse on Amazon
saying how the scroll wheel wasn't working and got an email with a day from
Anker confirming my address to send out a new one.

It hasn't arrived yet, but I was pleased with their customer service in that
regard (I didn't expect it, hence ordering a new one!)

------
Fej
Wow. First time I bought a product from them, it had a typo on it - "AC
Adater". They've proven that there's still a market for quality products, not
just for race-to-the-bottom goods.

------
OJFord

        > humidifiers ($60)
    

Woah, what? People buy _hu_ midifiers? I've only ever known (here in the UK)
people buying _de_ humidifiers!

~~~
vaishaksuresh
There are people in places that are not as humid. Why does that surprise you
so much?

~~~
hrrsn
Living in a climate that's humid year-round will do it. I've seen plenty of
dehumidifiers, but no humidifiers.

~~~
Hydraulix989
Yes, my SF apartment gets moldy and musty smelling if I don't run my
dehumidifier all the time. I think I have some kind of allergy. Does wonders
for my PG&E bill.

------
pingec
I would like to mention Blitzwolf as some of their products overlap with
Anker. I have recently discovered their products when ordering from a chinese
website. For the price (cheaper), the build quality seems excellent. I am very
happy with their quickcharge wall charger and the reversible micro-usb cable.

------
BadassFractal
Big fan of Anker products, almost every cable and charger I ever buy nowadays
is from them.

------
dawnerd
This is awesome. I absolutely love their power banks. They're the only ones
that make an affordable usb-c charger that can actually charge my macbook.

------
gcb0
Why are we upvoting a press-release shown on techcrunch probably as paid
advertising, for products that sell since two months ago on amazon already?

~~~
mmanfrin
Well, I personally upvoted this because I have used Anker stuff before, and
they usually pop up in verticals dominated by no-name things banking on
taglines/designs for sales (e.g., cables, battery packs, etc). They managed to
distinguish themselves by providing a generally consistent line of quality in
this crowded and loud market. I think it's neat they're now expanding in to
more product-ey products.

I don't get why they're making a new brand, though.

~~~
gcb0
i bought their USB cables off amazon. they are like $18 when competition are
$7 for 3.

after 6 months they got loose. I can only charge my devices if i wrap it under
the phone. and even then it is not guaranteed to work.

I wrote a 2 star review, since it was 7x the price and failed within a year.

They contacted me in less than a week, send me replacement cables of much
better quality (they even had a cloth pouch!) and then kept spamming me to
give them more stars at amazon. Which i did. One. And waited another 6months
to see if the same happened. It did. So while i guess they do hit hard on
support, i don't think they want to improve their products.

