4 ms·

As the parent comment suggests, information and education have real value in this space. At NerdKits (http://www.nerdkits.com/ http://www.nerdkits.com/), we sp

As the parent comment suggests, information and education have real value in this space. At NerdKits (http://www.nerdkits.com/ http://www.nerdkits.com/), we spend our time empowering our customers through the kinds of hands-on electronics & microcontroller learning experiences that you aren't likely to get with a pre-made PCB and a stack of libraries. Hackers, even the "newbies," shouldn't be scared of interrupts, registers, transistors, or even Makefiles, and you can see that we try to bring that out in many of our video tutorials: http://www.nerdkits.com/videos/ http://www.nerdkits.com/videos/

ygd 16y ago
Why is your kit $80 when the individual components can be bought for less than <$40 and even less in bulk? Maybe $50 or $60 would be a reasonable price, but $80 is pushing it.
- noonespecial 16y ago
  $40 for parts, $40 to support their customers in a satisfactory manner. Charge what its worth to your customers, not what it costs to make it. Add $40 in value and you'll have plenty of takers.
  - compumike 16y ago
    Yup... we've helped a lot of people get started with electronics and programming, and had a lot of fun doing it! We don't make money on parts. We see it as a combination of content (our non-free PDF guide, and our free video tutorials) and support (via e-mail and our forums (http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/) http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/)). We wrote the book, which took a lot of time and continues to evolve. And we have to deal with a dozen suppliers, testing the incoming microcontrollers, LCDs, USB cables, etc., picking dozens of different little resistors and LEDs and such into a bag, and assembling the kits and taking them to the post office. Then handle support questions, marketing, and hope to have a little time left in the day to make some progress toward a new video tutorial and/or kit! And last but not least, I'd like to be able to pay my rent and eat lunch. I think that the HN community understands that profit is not a dirty word, and information is valuable. More generally, as a business lesson: for a business selling physical goods, even when zero to minimal post-sale support is needed, I believe it's fairly well known that the business must set the retail price at typically 3 to 5 times the cost of the raw materials. This can vary a bit depending on the level of manufacturing/assembly/post-sale action/non-physical value-add needed, but it usually isn't too far from the 3-5x multiplier on either end. Too low and you can't cover costs (labor, marketing, etc), and too high and a competitor is likely to try to eat your lunch.
    - jfoutz 16y ago
      Sold. I hope my kit helps a bit with your rent.
  - mike_h 16y ago
    Speaking as a customer: it's a very nice deal. "$40" to have these guys gather and package all that equipment for you is a deal in itself, but the real value is in the awesome tutorials they've written and filmed that go hand-in-hand with the hardware package, the responsive support, and the vibrant community. To get back to chime's original question: I'd certainly recommend the NerdKit as an efficient, hands-on crash course in electronics. Fun too.
  - ambiate 16y ago
    Out of the norm customer support is well worth the extra $40. I posted a small issue I was having with my nerdkit in reply to an arduino thread (when spark fun had its free day). That same day: I received a reply on HN and my email resolving the issue. There's a decent community. There's a pdf that goes through the basics of electronics, but also has hands on exercises. I can buy a washing machine for $400, but why not toss in the extra $90 for the warranty/support for the years to come? I found EE to be too expensive for my tastes. I was working on an idea with the WiiMote presentation fundamentals as my core. Few hundred infrared leds + UV detectors + computer = awesome pc game!

ygd 16y ago

Why is your kit $80 when the individual components can be bought for less than <$40 and even less in bulk? Maybe $50 or $60 would be a reasonable price, but $80 is pushing it.

noonespecial 16y ago
$40 for parts, $40 to support their customers in a satisfactory manner. Charge what its worth to your customers, not what it costs to make it. Add $40 in value and you'll have plenty of takers.
- compumike 16y ago
  Yup... we've helped a lot of people get started with electronics and programming, and had a lot of fun doing it! We don't make money on parts. We see it as a combination of content (our non-free PDF guide, and our free video tutorials) and support (via e-mail and our forums (http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/) http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/)). We wrote the book, which took a lot of time and continues to evolve. And we have to deal with a dozen suppliers, testing the incoming microcontrollers, LCDs, USB cables, etc., picking dozens of different little resistors and LEDs and such into a bag, and assembling the kits and taking them to the post office. Then handle support questions, marketing, and hope to have a little time left in the day to make some progress toward a new video tutorial and/or kit! And last but not least, I'd like to be able to pay my rent and eat lunch. I think that the HN community understands that profit is not a dirty word, and information is valuable. More generally, as a business lesson: for a business selling physical goods, even when zero to minimal post-sale support is needed, I believe it's fairly well known that the business must set the retail price at typically 3 to 5 times the cost of the raw materials. This can vary a bit depending on the level of manufacturing/assembly/post-sale action/non-physical value-add needed, but it usually isn't too far from the 3-5x multiplier on either end. Too low and you can't cover costs (labor, marketing, etc), and too high and a competitor is likely to try to eat your lunch.
  - jfoutz 16y ago
    Sold. I hope my kit helps a bit with your rent.
- mike_h 16y ago
  Speaking as a customer: it's a very nice deal. "$40" to have these guys gather and package all that equipment for you is a deal in itself, but the real value is in the awesome tutorials they've written and filmed that go hand-in-hand with the hardware package, the responsive support, and the vibrant community. To get back to chime's original question: I'd certainly recommend the NerdKit as an efficient, hands-on crash course in electronics. Fun too.
- ambiate 16y ago
  Out of the norm customer support is well worth the extra $40. I posted a small issue I was having with my nerdkit in reply to an arduino thread (when spark fun had its free day). That same day: I received a reply on HN and my email resolving the issue. There's a decent community. There's a pdf that goes through the basics of electronics, but also has hands on exercises. I can buy a washing machine for $400, but why not toss in the extra $90 for the warranty/support for the years to come? I found EE to be too expensive for my tastes. I was working on an idea with the WiiMote presentation fundamentals as my core. Few hundred infrared leds + UV detectors + computer = awesome pc game!