Better hope this doesn't start bricking switches out there.
Indeed...
There have been no bricks yet, if you read the Indiegogo or Kickstarter page they did plenty of testing to make sure it wouldn't cause any bricks, they also tested some docks known to cause bricks and according to them they have confirmed that it was due to the docks not conforming to the USB-C spec.
Neither does the Switch as you may already be aware, but people in that business who have done in-depth testing and measuring of the Switch in docked and undocked mode have said that it
should be safe to use with devices that conform to USB-C spec. Problems seem to arise when the dock/charger does not conform to Nintendo's "spec" (in quotes because they have not really published a spec, and I think for most companies, getting officially verified as Switch compatible is not really viable unless they want to design something specifically for the Switch and have the money to pay Nintendo to get it licensed)
nor USB-C spec, the Switch does weird things when it comes to requesting power for example, and the Switch not getting the correct power it's expecting seems to be a big cause of bricks. but when it doesn't request it correctly in the first place, unpredictable things can happen with badly designed hardware...
Anyway it is firmware upgradable if issues arise (of course that's not gonna magically fix bricks though), and they have promised to pay for a new Switch if anyone gets bricked from using their dock. So let's hope they follow through on that.
I will say I trust these guys more than other manufacturers making docks, but I still have some skepticism. Even though their previous products were good, it's their first time making a device like this, and even if they've tried to learn from the mistakes made by other manufacturers, that's no guarantee they won't make their own mistakes, so I can't be 100% sure issues won't arise in the future.
One of the USB ports on my unit doesn't work. Won't charge my controllers. That shouldn't affect the safety of using the dock, but it doesn't exactly bode well for their QA. But that's just what it's like being an early adopter I guess, even big companies like Nintendo make mistakes that have to be fixed later on, there will always be occasional issues that aren't caught in QA. And they have probably been in a rush being a small company on a deadline trying to get every unit out to backers as soon as possible. I've seen people with various other defects posting comments as well. As long as they sort it out by getting (fully working) replacements out to those that are having defects, I can't complain too much.
