Feedback for anyone interested in these. There are a few things I wish I'd known before purchase: The side panels and lower front panel are all decals, both of the machines had air bubbles in the vinyl graphic on the vertical side that I had to work out and they all had some edge peeling up which I was able to get to lay flat with a little bit of warm air from a hair dryer and a credit card.
The picture shown above edited and they are FAR brighter than they appear in pictures -> Too bright. Just turning one on was too bright to enjoy looking at for more than a second or two. Having both side by side was like looking at a 150w lightbulb. Too much.
The brightness is NOT controllable. 50% of normal would have been ideal. I ordered a pack of 2 LED in-line dimmer's from another site for 8.99. They have twist dial knob on them so as to allow max control over power flow. I had low expectations but they do work!! I've been able to dim the overall light by I'd estimate 20% before the lights cut off completely. That may not sound like much, but it was enough to take the units from being insanely bright to fully enjoyable.
The USB hub functionality will not work if the unit is turned off, and the lighting is tied to the on/off button, so either you get blasted all the time with crazy bright light and you can power your 1/4 cabs, or you turn the vending machines off and don't get any value out of them apart from their display value with no lighting (which is a serious bummer). Upside, the switch is a flip toggle, so if you leave it on and plug them into a smart outlet, they will turn on/illuminate with your smart outlet.
Also, power cord included is very short, too short for being really useful.
The little cans that come with both machines are totally awesome, the smallest feature, and the neatest aspect of being able to "dispense" something. But that's a novelty feature. You cannot change the graphics in any of the non functioning buttons. It would have been far better if they said "Diet" or "Soda" or "Grape" or whatever else.
They look really good side by side in tandem with the 1/4 cabs, but without being turned on, it's a serious bummer for me personally. I've ordered a 12v inline dimmer switch to see if that will work but it probably also compromises the tandem usefulness of the built in USB ports...but in this case, it's worth the sacrifice to avoid a monolithic display.
I have a NewWaveToys Change Machine. Interestingly, it's got 7 rather than 5 USB ports and doesn't require a 12-volt power plug (included). I actually kind of like that better. It's useful and just makes more sense.
I'm happy...now. After getting all this sorted out. But I wish these common things would have been addressed before going to market.
