I certainly hope that all off those who feel the drives are great bargains at $61 each are going to wait to purchase until they can pay that amount. That will leave a few more for those who've held off purchasing other products so they could buy a $29-31 Gecko.
As for myself, I too felt a bit shocked at the recently revealed pricing structure. The original goal was stated as $29 single quantity(see link 1 below). The goal was subsequently bumped to $30(2) then $33(3) due to component costs. Then down to $30 with added features and hardware.(4) Then there's some question as to cost at it becomes $30-36.(5) In March we find "About $45 for the 'Cheap' version, about $35 for the 'Dirt-Cheap' version"(6) Also in March we get the new differentiated Model Numbers "I thought I would fill everyone in on the current status of the G251 (G250 is the 'dirt-cheap' version, G251 is the 'cheap' version with mounting plate and screw-terminal connector block)." (7)
Whoops! Come end of April and instead of shipping drives(8) we get "$29 for the G250 in
large quantities, a little more for the G251."(9) Then there is this statement "Bringing the drive budget (cost of manufacture) back into line means we will be able to meet the
promised end-user price. This was very difficult to do and I'm proud of the accomplishment."(10) (Added color not in original post)
And finally (as of this post anyway) "We said the G250 will be $29 drive. The G250s will be $29 drives for two weeks as an introductory price. This will happen sometime next week or at the worst, the week after should we run into unexpected problems." and "Qty 1 G250, $61 Qty 12 G250, $51 Qty 96 G250, $41 Qty 1008 G250, $31"(11) Plus "The 2-week intro price will be $29 for the G250, $39 for the G251 in any quantity. Buy one or buy a bazillion."(12)
I respectfully question the availabilty of a "bazillion" drives during the 2 week intro since Marcus Freimanis stated in post 580 "We do not take preorders because the chances of losing the order that is already paid for is too high. We only take orders when we have product to ship." and reiterated this in post 583.
Mariss stated "If I could design a drive with $0.20 worth of parts we would sell it for $1. Any price not tied to the cost of production is based on perceived value and that's greedy."(2)
What's the point of this little exercise? I'm just showing how Geckodrive has "managed customer expectations" in perhaps a disadvantageous manner. True, it does look as if they are going to honor the original intent for a short period. And it will apparently cost them for small orders during this 2 week period. But it is further true that there has been a sense of, at minimum, disappointment felt by many hobbyists. Probably far more than will ever bother to comment. Good will is damaged when a person feels they have been "strung along". Need I mention CNCBridges (well over 100,000 views in various threads) or the Xaser (over 11,000 views)?
I agree with PoolQ in post 958 that a handling charge would be a much more palatable arrangement.
And remember folks, the G250 has neither a terminal strip nor a mounting plate! There is going to be added cost on your part to interface with the drive. (BTW, the G250 Rev 5 manual still mentions a case and bottom plate under heatsinking.)
While I can't fault Geckodrive with the pricing structure, (it's their product after all), I can feel as if I've been following a yellow brick road. I respect Mariss a great deal, but I'm also amazed at his near god-like stature among some people on this forum. Hopefully he won't start selling grape kool-aid any time soon.
Sincerely,
Mike Nash
who still doesn't own a Geckodrive (yet.) But who has bought a $0.99 (Buy it now) item off ebay shipped from Hong Kong for $3.38 and would do it again.
References:
(1)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...13&postcount=1
(2)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...3&postcount=24
(3)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...0&postcount=82
(4)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=137
(5)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=241
(6)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=363
(7)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=471
(8)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=334
(9)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=562
(10)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=570
(11)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=915
(12)
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=937