There are hundreds of new campaigns on Kickstarter but one of the most promising that we’ve seen was the Luci Lucid Dreaming headband, a device that promised to actually allow you to enter a lucid dreaming state. We covered the Luci earlier in the year (you can read the article here) but now most evidence seems to point out that the popular gadget is in fact a fraud. Despite this, the developers, GXP technologies claim that the headband is in fact real, and will still be hitting the market in February. The headband, which had raised $363,000 of a $40,000 goal (some 908% of the goal) was cancelled on November 11th. While the company claims to have cancelled the fundraiser themselves, rumors point ot the contrary. So, is the Luci a fake?
What is the Luci?
The Luci is a headband that utilizes REM sleep detection sensors and a headset to alert you as to when you are entering a rapid eye movement dream state. The voice is designed to allow you to continue sleeping so that you can realize you are in a dream and take control, which is the state of ‘lucid dreaming’. While not the only device to offer lucid dreaming, it is the only one that doesn’t use light patterns.
Doubts
In early November multiple people began to express doubts about the Luci actually being real. Complaints were made about GPX not updating or informing their backers enough, and there was not enough information available about the company itself. In addition, while multiple photos of the Luci are available, the video doesn’t actually show it in action, and most of the images are actually nothing more than mockups. Backers claimed that with a quickly approaching January shipping date, GPX Technologies should have more to show. With no real details on the product itself, and no real photos, a lot of backers began questioning the integrity of the company in the comments, and the project lost nearly $40,000 in backing the day before being cancelled.
What GPX Says
While most evidence points to the fact that Kickstarter may have cancelled the campaign for being fraudulent, GPX Technologies issued a claim on November 12th to notify their backers that they had cancelled the campaign after finding a ‘traditional’ backer. Their statement suggested that a single backer had offered the funding they needed, which was a more reliable option than ‘2,500 doubtfuls’. GPX also stated that anyone interested will be able to purchase the Luci in February for $229, although the original $150 and $175 Luci sales made on Kickstarter will be honored for those who ‘like’ their status update.
Unfortunately GPX Technologies has no other information on their new backer other than that they were a ‘generous Kickstarter user’, which isn’t quite proof enough for most of us.
What do you think? Is the Luci Lucid Dreaming Headband a fake? Or is GPX Technologies real? Most people seem to have presumed the latter but we will keep you updated if the Luci actually hits the market in February.
