Well, my experience with Slaesh is the same (and maybe worse than the OP).
I paid for my stick on February 27, 2021 and today is May 9, 2021!
Since then, I have sent Slaesh more than 30 emails (really) and 10 Telegram messages but he hasn’t responded to any of them. Not a single one!
The guy is so unprofessional and his venture has real communication issues. I know he is not a professional seller or a factory but when you are charging someone for a product you should support it too, in the best of your capacity. At least reply to one, just one, of the emails someone sents you.
Overall, a really disappointing situation with Slaesh.
Hang in there! I don’t think the seller has bad motivation.
The stick is FANTASTIC. I was using Conbee 2 / deconz before. I’m now on this new stick with zigbee2mqtt and my setup is now very stable. All my devices compatible. Note to anyone ordering, get the largest antenna with it.
As this is the only thread I could find for Slaesh’s Zigbee-stick, I’m just posting it here.
I just stumbled upon a discount code, if anyone wants to buy Slaesh’s Zigbee-stick, here you go: https://slae.sh/projects/cc2652/
Discount code (gives you 10% off before shipping): HAPPILYBACKAGAIN2021
This has been mentioned and linked before, but FYI reminder that there is a longer discussion of the same topic over at Zigbee2mqtt where @slaesh replied and explained his situation + more. See here:
One can always buy the LPSTK CC1352R https://www.ti.com/tool/LPSTK-CC1352R Given that it is not a stick but paired with FTDI, it works well.
However, you should either have a debugger or have a friend with CC1352P2 board who can help flash for you
TI’s LAUNCHXL-CC26xR1 or LAUNCHXL-CC1352P-2 Launchpad Kits are more popular if want to get hardware directly from Texas Instruments, however there are many TI options availabale today. See:
Ordered my stick from Slaesh and it arrived, works just fine. This is crazy to blow him up just because you didn’t hear back. He’s prob busy filling the orders.
Add 10 more until I wrote this and 5 more PayPal messages and you get the picture.
When I opened the case on PayPal, he did respond and he said that my order was somehow marked as “completed”.
Anyway he wrote to me that he could finally send it or refund the money. I told him to send the stick. After that, nada. Nothing. Again! The guy vanished, never sent it or replied back and again is like he doesn’t exist.
So, yes, if you are lucky enough to receive the stick I bet it is worth it. What was not worth it, was the time I spent messaging the guy and not getting a single reply back. So disappointing.
What a shame about the customer service skills. I did recive my stick and my zigbee network has never been more stable. I am sorry to hear about all the trouble people are having. How much time could it take to communicate with the customers???
I’m interested in this, but I’m new to Zigbee and don’t solder so I have a few questions.
On the website when you go to checkout it asks OPTIONAL: pin-headers (not pre-soldered) where you can select no or yes. I’m not quite clear which I select if I just want this to show up fully intact and don’t have to solder. If I want just plug and play do I select no?
Also, which of the 4 antennas he has would be best for a 2 story house with 2270 sq ft and maybe 30 devices sometime in the future?
I did not know what the pin headers were really for so I ordered them anyway. Not a great cost. You don’t need them to use the stick. The stick is fully flashed and useable. I since found out that the pin headers can be attached to the stick to provide pin outs to be used for zigbee troubleshooting. Don’t really need that as the stick is so stable.
I can’t remember which antenna I got but I remember at the time I got the longest one.
Good luck with the order. My advice would be to put in the order then forget about it. You can get excited once you get the shipping notice. That avoids all the drama others have experienced trying to get updates from the seller. Not great, I know.
If you plan to just plug the stick into an USB-extension and the extension into your HA’s USB you don’t need pre-soldered pin headers. Even if you want to update or change the pre-installed firmware those pin headers are not needed. There will be no need for you to solder anything. They are useful for developers though or if you brick the stick and have to start all over by installing a compatible firmware.
As for the antennas I chose Antenna Type 2 (3 dbi). This is the highest gain you can get with the CC2652RB anyway. As for Type 4, well if you prefer it big …
I am living in a 6000 sq ft 2 storey concrete house and have added 5 ac-plugs with integrated Zigbee routers/repeaters to the mesh and am getting not less than >65 LQI all over the place. Very satisfying.
