I haven’t used FW3 for long with funscripts so I don’t really have the comparison. I enjoy the fast script loading and don’t have the comparison or am used to a specific behavior so I personally like the FW4.
That said I do use the staging version with the different motor driver. But I’m not one of the users who can give feedback if it’s more like FW3 now.
I never had any problems with playing scripts on FapTap or ScriptPlayer, except for occasional disconnects, which just results in the handy continuing the script that it loaded regardless of me pausing the video or skipping somewhere else. But the workaround is just to reconnect and if I remember correctly the reconnect issues shall be fixed in the next version of ScriptPlayer.
I had no,problems with FW4 with Stash and Faptap until Christmas. Since then it is not working, some others users reported this issue in the chat or here.
One told it was a server issue, since it return a 500 Internal Server Error.
The handy app was turned off yesterday. Will we be getting another app interface? Using a web browser seems like it could cause issues for those who don’t always have a network connect when using it.
Is there any way to undo the new slamming noise at the top end of the motor? Ever since it happened with fw4, it seems to be doing it with older scripts it didn’t have issues with… I’ve limited the max of the range and that seems to stop the slamming for now.
Personally hate the new FW4 update. Feel like it takes a lot of the expression some of my old scripts had. It’s almost like everything has had some kind of horrible smoothing/interpolation applied over everything. Not to mention constant disconnects.
Now to their credit, it is a nice feature that it kind of repeats a stroke pattern until it reconnects, dunno if that’s new, but it doesn’t matter when it’s happening every 30 seconds.
Will be downgrading until there is some kind of… Sport mode or something. I’m fine with the smoothing being default, but please let me play scripts ‘raw’.
I will buy another Handy if it breaks. I simply do not care.
While I am holding out hope for a Handy 2 with longer and faster strokes, I am generally pretty happy with mine. The FW4 issues with movement some have noticed are apparent to me at times. The connectivity being so much faster is a huge improvement though - until it started flaking out in the last week or so.
All of that said - the question of smoothed (FW3) versus exact (FW4) movement seems easily solved to me. Handy should make the default behavior the same as FW3. If a script has a “smoothing:0” tag included, then the Handy should use the new FW4 behavior.
This way existing scripts will continue to work as expected, while the more precise movement is available for newer scripts.
Thank you all for your feedback. We are a small team of 2 SW + 2 HW engineers and have a lot on our plate, but we are creating FW4 to make things better, not worse, so bear with us and give us some time to perfect. FW3 will be supported for many more years and remain the primary FW until we get FW4 right. Even after we all go into FW4, it will be possible to roll back to FW3.
We plan to have many configuration options on FW4, so you can tweak things to find your preference, including the motor driver.
Thank you to those who took the time to write the positive things as well. This feedback is as valuable as the others and makes it more fun to work on this
i could not make any script work at all for my part, handy was connected correctly but i always had server connection issues and when tried to use the remote/manual mode did not work as well , tried to make it work for 2h + and nothing would work so i rolled back to FW3 , pretty much the only thing that worked was that is said my handy was connected …
I usually have my handy on 0-100 and I have noticed that it will randomly restrict movement to say 10-70, at first I thought I was going crazy but a quick shutdown and reset fixes it. Still very annoying at times when I’m trying to review my scripts.
Also had the opportunity to test out FW4 this weekend.
The connection and especially script download speeds are impressive, and switching between videos is a breeze on how it picks up the exact point.
But yeah, once you get to the really intense sections all of the times my Handy went in to a complete stop, and wouldn’t continue unless restarted. Starting from the fast part of the section immediately made it go for a bit, but I felt as it was being bottlenecked, artificially limited, and then brought to a complete stop again, so it’s a no go. It’s back to FW3 for me.
I second the opinion that the Handy team should focus on building a more robust motor, along with the components that hold it, maybe for a reasonable price increase and still being able to compete with it’s alternatives, while keeping the same speeds and stroke lengths we are able to enjoy with FW3, and maybe even increasing them!
I love my handy device and it’s been a real performer for 2 years+. The simplicity of it’s connection procedure, as well as ease of use is why I’m not looking at any alternatives. I look forward to them implementing on the tech and build quality and open source code so that we can continue growing as a community.
Firmware Update 4.0.13: Improved Stroke Length & Motor Driver Performance
Firmware version 4.0.13 is now available, bringing updates to the motor driver and stroke performance. These changes aim to address some of the feedback I’ve received about motor behavior, while setting a foundation for further improvements in the future.
Key Updates
Motor Driver Improvements:
• Enhanced endpoint crash prevention to reduce mechanical issues at the limits of the motor’s range.
• Improved task prioritization to minimize interruptions and crashes during operation.
• Automatic recalibration of the Hall sensor when major errors are detected, allowing the device to recover more effectively.
Increased Stroke Length:
• The stroke length has been extended by 6mm, providing a wider range of motion for more versatility.
Hall Sensor Enhancements:
• Faster error handling and prevention logic, reducing the likelihood of certain issues.
• Added an error notification system that triggers recalibration when needed.
How to Access
This update is available for early access via the Staging feature flag branch on https://new.handyfeeling.com/#/ota-optin. If you want to try these changes, you can opt-in there and test the improvements.
Looking Ahead
While there’s still work to be done, I hope this update addresses some of the concerns and offers a better experience. Feedback is always appreciated and will help guide future improvements. Let me know your thoughts after trying it out.
I tryed out 4.0.13 Yesterday and i realy liked it so far.
cant compare it to the direct previous version, I skipped some versions of FW4 after downgrading back to FW3 a few monts ago.
It mostly feels like FW3 but more precise to details and smaller movements.
I think i will stick with this version for a while.
Yeah, I really like this version.
The only issue I run into with this one is that I have to sometimes reconnect when I go to a new video. Not every time, maybe every 4 or 5 times. I’m not sure if this is an API/firmware issue, or if it’s an issue with Heresphere.
But the reload is so fast, it’s barely an issue. (I should mention this issue also happened on 4.0.12 for me, so it’s not something that was introduced in this version.)
Keep up the good work, I love the snappy loading speed and how fast I can move through videos and have the script kick in instantly!
Using HereSphere I’ve been seeing a problem for the last few weeks with scripts failing to load. Reloading usually fixes it, although it takes a few tries sometimes.
Hmm that sounds interesting and I could test it perfectly myself because I always make sure to never be over 500mm/s to not have any issues. In a way that should make sure that my scripts should feel about the same with both FWs cause there shouldnt be any points where FW4 would skip a point at all. I am just too lazy to give it a go though, but thanks for the testing.
If this is true (I’m not questioning the analysis, but I haven’t tried FW4 myself), it’s really bad. All my scripts relies on that the firmware shortens too fast strokes. I don’t do anything crazy, but I try to find a middle ground by exceeding TheHandy speed limit a bit so that faster devices like the OSR2 can take advantage of having better specs. If TheHandy start to skip strokes then you have to script explicitly for TheHandy specs and do a second script if you want to match specs of devices that can handle faster moves.
I finally bit the bullet and downgraded to FW3. The upload issues with FW4 meant I was spending more time trying to get the funscript to “take” than I was watching content.
Hopefully Handy will get their server issues sorted out soon. The “quick start” performance of FW4’s wifi was fantastic when it worked.
