3 ms·

I understand the rationale, but it looks like they decided to go the Sisyphean route on this. ESP32-C5 ~$10 ESP32-P4 ~$5 Display ~$10 Case is maybe 90 cents

by hxii 3mo ago

I understand the rationale, but it looks like they decided to go the Sisyphean route on this. ESP32-C5 ~$10 ESP32-P4 ~$5 Display ~$10 Case is maybe 90 cents (let's round to $1) if you print out of ABS. The rest of the components? Let's say another $15 worst case. ~$41 or around that much? Sure, but definitely not ~$193.

notarobot123 3mo ago
What about design, build, marketing etc.? I don't get why the maker market complains so much about the idea of businesses selling products at a healthy markup. Just because you know how the sausage was made doesn't mean that the logic of operating a business is any different to how it works in the consumer world. If you're skilled and motivated enough to make it yourself, you might save some money. You'd loose a lot of time though and that's worth something too (perhaps a lot more).
- hxii 3mo ago
  The cost of design, build and marketing do not triple the final price by themselves. The kickstarter was successfully funded, yielding in over $3.3M. The device back then was $149 at 20% off, with $169 being the full price. That's still not $193. Again, this is just my personal opinion, but even taking everything into account and factoring in a nice profit margin, being OVER $100 is very, very hard to justify.
- mghackerlady 3mo ago
  Roughly $200 is simply far too expensive though. If it were $100-$150, then I could wince at the price that ultimately is necessary for the product to exist. But $200? I just feel like I'm being ripped off. For that price, I'd recommend people buy a raspberry pi and some parts from adafruit and make their own ultimately better version
ninalanyon 3mo ago
Surely an Android or other mobile and a USB GPIO device can do much the same. For most the outlay is then just the USB to GPIO. 15 USD from Adafruit: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2264 https://www.adafruit.com/product/2264

by hxii 3mo ago

notarobot123 3mo ago

What about design, build, marketing etc.? I don't get why the maker market complains so much about the idea of businesses selling products at a healthy markup. Just because you know how the sausage was made doesn't mean that the logic of operating a business is any different to how it works in the consumer world. If you're skilled and motivated enough to make it yourself, you might save some money. You'd loose a lot of time though and that's worth something too (perhaps a lot more).

hxii 3mo ago
The cost of design, build and marketing do not triple the final price by themselves. The kickstarter was successfully funded, yielding in over $3.3M. The device back then was $149 at 20% off, with $169 being the full price. That's still not $193. Again, this is just my personal opinion, but even taking everything into account and factoring in a nice profit margin, being OVER $100 is very, very hard to justify.
mghackerlady 3mo ago
Roughly $200 is simply far too expensive though. If it were $100-$150, then I could wince at the price that ultimately is necessary for the product to exist. But $200? I just feel like I'm being ripped off. For that price, I'd recommend people buy a raspberry pi and some parts from adafruit and make their own ultimately better version

ninalanyon 3mo ago

Surely an Android or other mobile and a USB GPIO device can do much the same. For most the outlay is then just the USB to GPIO. 15 USD from Adafruit: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2264 https://www.adafruit.com/product/2264