ORIGINAL: yl5295
BillS,
If $99 is too expensive for a true sync unit with the added fail safe of idling an engine if one quits (it saved my P-38 last weekend) -what do you think the price should be? I would really like your feedback because I would like to get the Twinsync to "high volume" production. It is kind of a chicken and an egg problem though - if I built 10,000 of them they would be really cheap but no one (including myself) would spend that kind of money to get the price to $10-30 range. However, I think if it were "cheap enough" a lot more people would fly twins. If I have a few built at a time they cost more to make than what they sell for. So what is the right MSRP for a sync unit. <$100 was my goal. Should it be lower?
I always flew my twins with "Y- Cables" until now?
Bill
Bill,
What should the price point be? You have asked the absolute hardest marketing question imaginable. After 30 years in business I still get the answer wrong more often than not. By comparison the engineering decisions are simple.
Marketing:
You must make a profit. A company’s first products however are unlikely to be home runs. There are likely to be 140,000 or so modelers in the US. A very small percentage fly twins and an even smaller percentage will appreciate the need for engine out protection. A thousand unit sales might be considered highly successful. Inevitable product changes due to design or cost or production changes will disallow building in volume.
Business and the IRS:
You will probably find that for business purposes you only need to prove that you intend to make a profit. Along the way you will meet a lot of interesting people, discover many new ideas and hopefully have a lot of fun and pay for your modeling habit. Although the comments may at first blush sound a bit negative I highly encourage you to move forward.
The current crop of P 38’s have a wing loading above 40oz per sq ft in addition to widely spaced engines. The new Cessna 310 ARF has a wing loading of 50 and a dangerously narrow flight envelope. However the modeler’s ability to rationalize away the laws of physics, convince himself that engines will be reliable, and believe that he can learn engine out flying under emergency conditions is amazing. My good friends are included. On any Sunday at the flight field one can observe several single engine dead sticks by knowledgeable flyers. There is no legitimate reason to believe twin engines will inherently have significantly less engine shutdowns.
You do need to make a profit. My suggestion would be to price reasonably while feeling out the market, educating the user about engine out alert, and building a customer base. The customers will attempt to educate other customers but the battle will likely be uphill. Initially the margins are likely to be small but production efficiencies over time improve the margins on most all products.
More after a few days thought.
Bill