Usetrmnl Reviews 2

I've recently bought my TRMNL and I'm very satisfied with the product. The plugins ecosystem is great and their UX is great too.
My case came warped but they were so kind to sent me a case replacement completely for free and they put a lot of effort in giving a hassle-free experience.

After spending several hours with the TRMNL device, I wanted to like it (but didn't). The concept is appealing: a quiet, passive display inspired by the slow-internet movement. In practice, though, it feels unfinished. Immature, not suitable for the market yet.

The limitations show up quickly. For instance, the official stocks plugin only supports U.S. stock tickers; European companies and ETFs simply don’t work. The customer support person explained this is due to their data provider, but it immediately narrows the usefulness of the device.

A bigger issue is the refresh rate. Many community plugins exist for clocks or “live” public transport, yet the device updates information only every 15 minutes at max. A clock that’s behind most (all) of the time isn’t very helpful, and a train board that refreshes four times an hour isn’t “live” by any definition. What makes this harder to accept is that you’re asked to pay five dollars a month to speed up these refresh intervals. If faster updates are something many users want, calling the 'slowness' a feature feels like a stretch. I now have a few news plugins and a recipe plugin installed, but nothing useful is available for me.

When I asked in the chat, customer support did respond quickly, but the tone of the conversation soon grew surprisingly defensive. My feedback was framed as “misrepresenting their mission,” even though I was simply describing my experience as a customer. At a certain point, the exchange stopped feeling like a discussion and started feeling like being talked down to. That alone was more than disappointing. This is not the way to talk to customers who have paid a considerable amount for the device and are not satisfied.

The company’s vision is the company’s vision; that’s fine. But the device is being used in ways the company doesn’t seem prepared to support, and instead of acknowledging the gap between intention and reality, the responsibility is shifted back to the user. Instead of being helpful and appreciative of any feedback, the customer service person more or less called me 'unfair'.

As a European customer, I paid substantial shipping, customs, and handling fees on top of the purchase price. For what the device currently delivers, something around twenty or thirty euros would have felt fair. A small, plastic, non-interactive e-ink screen with slow update rates, nothing more. At the current price point, plus the import costs, the value simply isn’t there. The answer of customer support in this regard: "As a European (who also paid a big sum for importing the device), I'm glad for all the new EU users who are now getting their devices with free shipping and without custom fees from our Berlin warehouse." Well, that doesn't help me at all; I bought it for the full price + customs + shipping, and this comment just felt like a sneer to me. And knowing somebody else paid just as much, doesn't help me either.

TRMNL might become something interesting in a few years. I really, really hope so, as that might make my device more useful as well. But right now, it feels early, limited, and backed by a team that isn’t particularly open to any critical feedback. Not a great combination.