A magical glowing rock in your hand is awesome!
For those of you that have been following our journey for a while you will know that the road to creating the perfect pebble has been longer and more winding than we had hoped!
That is why we are so excited to announce that we have launched and that our early supporters and backers have their pebbles, and most importantly to us, they are well used and loved already.
Rather than hearing from us we wanted to share with you an unedited review by one of our early backers Sabina who has captured everything we set out to achieve so beautifully. Over to you Sabina…….
“My pebble arrived yesterday and I absolutely LOVE it. I had honestly basically given up hope of ever getting it and just wrote the whole thing off, but! I'm so happy you guys pushed through. My package arrived safely, in good condition.
At first glance, the finish on the pebble was much more shiny than expected, in that uncanny kind of kills your suspension of disbelief way. HOWEVER-once I took it out of the box, I discovered the feel in hand was PERFECT. It's not the too smooth, too slick feel of plastic, but a very pleasant kind of smooth. Given that this is a tactile sensory experience, the hand feel is absolutely essential. The more I held the pebble, the more I enjoyed it. I don't know if it's the oil from my skin after a day or handling or some kind of emotional optical illusion, but the finish seems slightly more matte now.
The charging stone is GREAT and exactly the kind of finish I initially expected from the pebble. It's pleasantly sturdy, heavier than anticipated (in a good way), and mine is beautifully unbranded and sleek. I love, love the shape and the aesthetics of the charging stone. The curves are perfect and gently rounded. The surface isn't flawlessly smooth, so it feels very organic. It's an absolute pleasure to look at, and, honestly, in terms of looks, I find the charging stone plus pebble on my nightstand charming.
Now! The function. It's SO bright. You guys. You are not prepared for how bright this is. It feels MAGICAL. I know this product got a lot of flack and people made fun of it for being an overpriced rock, but by god, if you have no romance in your soul and can't imagine why a MAGICAL GLOWING ROCK in your hand is awesome--get out of my face. This thing is GORGEOUS when it's all lit up. It's exactly what I pictured and wanted.
The sequence of brightness and darkness is soothing, as expected. I find it a little difficult to gauge when exactly the dimming starts, so my inhales are way longer than my exhales unless I time it. Nonetheless, I find this very comfortable, although I am also aware that my standards might be skewed from years of gym going/yoga/whatever.
So yes, it works. And aesthetically, it's a hit. My pebble has very, very little of the black/grey marble swirl, which makes it look very different from most product photos, and it does make me feel, like, yes, my pebble is special and unique, hahah.
Which brings me to the most important part of this experience: the psychological and emotional trickery we are deliberately engaging in for our own betterment. The way the pebble looks, how it feels, how it responds to our (highly specified tap three times) touch, how we sync ourselves to its rhythm--all these things work together to make us feel like something familiar and comforting is happening. There is, dare say, a certain emotional bond between the user and their special glowing rock. The accompanying booklet refers to the pebble as a "companion." This is, of course, absolutely ridiculous and in no way actually true--except for how it feels like it is exactly true.
Like, I'm not gonna lie. I'm already bonded to this fake rock. I'm all in on "this is MY magical glowing rock." I will be distressed whenever I first accidentally drop it. I kept it by my laptop as I worked. I've carried it around the house with me, 'cause it's not like I'm going anywhere right now. I have shown it to my dog, who does not remotely care about it but politely sniffed it because he knows I'm excited.
I'm a lifelong insomniac with an adulthood ADHD diagnosis, and I feel asleep with this thing clutched in my hand last night. Was it still 2 AM? Yeah, but that's a lot better than 4 AM, so it's a win.
This is a niche product and I know not everyone will appreciate it, but if you can't stand still without some outside input, AND your phone/tablet/laptop whatever is the worst thing for a mindful pause because there's always 329,842,984 things to do, and if each time you open a guided meditation tab the meditation does undone because you can't, you really, actually, factually just CANNOT make yourself sit still for the painfully long time it takes some youtube guru to finally talk at an excruciatingly slow pace, if you need to be exhausted by 90 minutes of hot yoga before you can meditate, if boredom causes you pain...then this might be the perfect product for you. There is nothing else out there like it. I know. I checked. The timeline was pushed back so many times that I had plenty of opportunities to buy light up alarms, vibration alarms, tons of apps, solar powered "rocks" meant for your garden...I tried all kinds of things and nothing comes anywhere close to understanding the factors I need to actually slow down for a moment and breathe.
In conclusion: I love it. Thanks for not giving up on the product, Pebble Team. I hope the other backers get theirs soon, and everybody loves it as much as I do.”
Thank you Sabina!