ORIGINAL: 378
ORIGINAL: BuschBarber
It already is offered at a reasonable price. Take the Hitec Aurora 9 for example. I am sure that Futaba will follow.
The Aurora 9 is reasonably priced? It costs more than my F150 did! In all actual seriousness, it is quite reasonably priced considering it's nine channels, 2.4ghz, and has telemetry. And my truck is really really cheap.
What I would love to see is a pretty inexpensive, modular telemetry set that's independent of your radio. The readout is placed on some sunglasses as a Head's Up Display. That way you get to see your desired vital signs, the sun doesn't blind you, and you don't have to take your eyes off your plane! Or car. Or boat. Or whatever the hell you have it mounted on. I would, for my cars, have fuel, engine temp, engine RPM, speed in MPH, and where applicable whether it's in Forward or Reverse. My touring car would have a G-meter here, since it lacks a reverse capable gearbox. For planes, I would change the Forward/Reverse monitor into a G-meter and add an Rx batt monitor as well.
None of that makes any sense. I do not have an Aurora 9, but for $350 and discounts on additional receivers, the A9 is very affordable even with the built in Telemetry. The A9 and the DX8 are selling well. I have heard many prospective buyers in my club indicate it is a worthwhile additional consideration.
It is not being forced down your throat. If you don't like it, don't buy it.
If I had to pay up the nose for a radio that came with Telemetry, I would not be so anxious to buy it. I am sure that the Eagle Tree System works very well but I am not interested enough to spend the extra dollars for it, just to have Telemetry.