As a beekeeper with 40 hives in operation and an avid follower of the organic beekeeper movement, as outlined by the Barefoot Beekeeper (book), and Dee Lusby's organic treatment free beekeeping group (Organic Beekeepers Yahoo group), and a host of associated beekeepers and writers, I'll give you my simple take: this is a gimmick.

The target audience of this device is the amateur, backyard keeper, aspiring, or with little beekeeping experience. To them, the appeal of this device is immediate: honey without work.

Likely, it will cause more work.

All these little funnels and plastic parts aren't going to stay clear. Most honeys crystallize over time. Some varieties do so in days. If any crystallization happens at all, the machinery will be useless. You'd have to remove the whole thing and maybe boil it, or something like that. And crystallization inside the thing is inevitable.

In fact, I'd bet that there is no regular use of this machine that will prevent crystallization from gumming it up. Once it has been used once, there is going to be a steady flow of honey into your bottles, as the bees go about repairing and refilling their honey stores. At that point, it will be uncured honey, which can go bad. You could close the tap, to prevent seepage, but My guess is that the whole contraption will have to be removed and cleaned at least yearly, on top of the regular visits required to keep clearing honey out of it.

Meanwhile, I collect my honey once per year, by removing combs and crushing and straining honey in a press. It's not that hard! And, I don't really have to worry about honey until the end of the season at harvest time. Until then, no worries! The bees look after it. I don't know why I'd want to introduce my own complex system into such a simple one.

Bees don't tend to follow any rules except their own, so mostly beekeeping is a practice of understanding of what bees want to do, and planning in advance so they do it in a way that makes sense for you both. Simplicity is a beekeeper's best friend - the bees handle the complexity, and a good beekeeper understands not to add more.

Bees appreciate that. They are very sensitive to things going on in their nest and stores. They often abscond (completely leave) if they don't like what is going on. Plastic is an alien material in a hive. Comb on the other hand, is an epidermis for bees. It has it's own biota, a bacterial/fungal/viral ecosystem that provides a living layer on which the bees work and live. When given plastic, bees will cover it in comb and propolis like they will with wood or rock. They never put their honey in anything but comb. The Flow device replaces much of the natural foundation of a bees honey store system, with more plastic. I don't think that's a good idea.

For the backyard, keeper, probably the best comparison I can make with the Flow product is to someone who wants to get in shape buying exercise equipment off the TV. What's really for sale is the illusion of reward without having to work. Fancy contraptions won't make beekeeping easier any more than they make exercise easier, when you're used to sitting on your duff. For most enthusiastic adopters, this product will probably end up in the garage, or a land fill.

So I'll say the Flow machine is a fad that will have the end result of producing more plastic junk. It does make a good gimmick, but I can't wish the creators luck, as I believe their talents are best spent elsewhere.