But the Dave the cost to manufacture a product depends upon the size of the production run. There are raw material costs; setup, machining, assembly and inspection costs in volved in completing a production run of engines. Maybe Norvel couldn't get raw material at pricing they did three years ago. Maybe market has dropped significantly since the electric revolution, the sales volume would have to reflect an increase in price due to a smaller market share.
I would like to see some plugs to from Norvel. I've bought two adapters because I only have "one" real norvel plug. I haven't even run my engine because it's been sitting around waiting for extra plugs to come to the LHS. Not going to see that to soon.
Jim
ORIGINAL: rainedave
ORIGINAL: eniac
...I'll pay 100 bucks, 120 bucks for a quality engine, size of the engines should not be involved in the price. My engines seem to last a long time (I've been flying RC for only about 3 years, still have all my engines, they work fine, even with a little bump or two), and I'm willing to blow a little cash on a good one. Airframes come and go, but engines (pending you don't junk them into the ground regularly) stick around...
eniac
Excellent point. The fact that a .25 costs more than a .15 and a .40 costs more than a .25 is totally artificial and solely due to marketing strategies. Studies have proven, too, that many consumers sense they are being cheated if smaller products don't cost less, or visa versa, even though they cost almost the same to manufacture. It has become a psychologically ingrained characteristic of our buying habits. Stepped pricing is even worse with things like ESCs where a 25 amp example costs more than the 15 amp model. As eniac stated, just be cause it's an .074 doesn't mean it's not worth the cost of a quality .46. It is use value and quality, not artificial price stepping and marketing strategies that really matter when it comes to things like our engines.