First Kickstarter. I want December, the data says March. What did launch timing actually do for your campaign?

First Kickstarter, hardware: a small companion robot for your desk. Small team in the Netherlands. Prototype works, engineering-for-manufacturing partner is on board, prelaunch site is up (Gethermy.com). The one big open question left is when.

My gut says December. Honest reason: momentum is there right now, and every month of waiting is a month of burn without revenue. The data says otherwise. Every analysis I've read has December as the worst month by a wide margin (holiday spending, ad costs at their peak, press busy with gift guides) and points to Q1, with March as the most popular launch month.

What I can't get out of the data:

1. Is the December penalty really about December, or about launching with a small list? If your list is ready, does the month still matter that much?
2. For those who launched Jan to March: was late January noticeably different from March, or is that noise compared to list size and launch-day push?
3. Hardware people who launched in December on purpose: how did it go? I'd like to hear the counter-case before I rule it out.

Delivery is months after the campaign either way, so this isn't a Christmas-gift play. It's purely about when backers are in buying mode.