Just purchased my DroneTag...
 

Bought my drone tag moments ago, for the intro price (today, 22 May only). $94.01 for the unit, the micro bluetooth antenna, the micro GNSS antenna, and UPS shipping. Of note, the shipping is most expensive part other than the unit itself.

For me, it's all about rational economic decisions. If I want to fly recreational sUAS, I have three options: fly only things <250g, fly things >250g at FRIAs, or fly things >250g using a remoteID device. Flying at the FRIA near me will cost $85 for AMA plus $100 for the club dues ... and that's each and every year. For one time cost of just over half that, I can get the drone tag and move it from plane to plane.

To me, it's an easy choice.

https://shop.dronetag.cz/products/41-dronetag-bs.html

Reasonable price. With antennas and shipping probably $120.00 max.

This is likely the reason radio manufacturers are non-committal. Additional after market suppliers will compete and prices will decrease.
Ideally, radio mfg'ers will introduce new receivers with it built in. Either way they will be readily available.

i got the combination BT/GNSS antenna.

total with shipping 85 euros. 30 euros just for the shipping.

Actually, it was $94.01 all in. Device, Bluetooth antenna, GPS antenna, and shipping!

My estimate was paying regular price. Still good overall.

i got a good day for the exchange rate, went through for 93.04usd.

just got shipping notification,

so i guess it has shipped

Same ... including an update that they're throwing in a free enclosure.

drone tag has arrived, with the antenna set i ordered as well as the free tape in place set they included, and the enclosure for the main unit.
now to make up a power connector cord.

got pix, but the pc and the camera are not playing nice right now.

forgot.

smallest shipping package i ever saw, for all i know it has been hiding on my front porch for days, unseen.

approximately 6 1/2 inch by 5 inch, white, padded

It's now $130 US not including the enclosure. The list of modules from BarracudaHockey shows chips for Bluetooth as low as $2.10 and $2.57 for GPS, less than $5 for both, and maybe another $5 to manufacture the board. The rest is engineering, overheard and profit.

Flight Test has missed an opportunity with their for-profit $109 + shipping RID module with closed source software. Flight Test could have sponsored an open source RID project (it's all open source), and with their over 2,000,000 subscribers they would have hag plenty of volunteers with backgrounds in EE and programming to help design a board and software to offer a module at a fraction of the price. As it is Flight Test's FT EZ ID module is over 3 times the the average price of most of the model planes they sell.

In their FAQ is the question that the price seems high. Flight Test says it does not cover "... recoverable expense to design, prototype and develop software as well as the rapidly rising cost of electronic components." What they're saying is the margins are like any other product they sell, like the markup on their small foam and cardboard planes that sell for $30.

power cord made up.

now, i guess,

the next step would be to find and install a copy of the rid ap on a phone,
but that, would require me caring weather or not the unit actually works.

went ahead and ordered a second unit, mainly because payong 30 dollars for shipping on
a 10 dollar battery and a 10 dollar charger dongle did not make sense.
current pricing below.
USB-C charger for Li-Po battery with JST SH-3 pin connector 1 $9.90 $9.90 Small Li-Po battery with JST SH-3 pin connector 1 $9.90 $9.90 Dronetag BS 1 $89.00 $89.00 Subtotal $108.80 Shipping and handling $30.00 Tax $0.00 Total $138.80

the dronetag now comes with the 2 antennas, small individual, for the 89.00 usd.

So with two modules your investment is $277.60. That figure represents AMA membership for a year and two years club dues ( on average ) for an adult and 3 years AMA and club dues for a minor.

What I see at this point now that we are getting close to 9/16. I currently have membership in 4 clubs with a total of 415 members. I have asked on each clubs media site who at this point have ordered a module. To date 3 out of the 415. The main concern is availability with cost being the second.

FAA has committed to getting through all FRIA applications by the deadline of 9/16. With that in mind it appears with the lack of availability this close to the deadline the options are to order a module ( or two-three) and stay grounded until your modules show up or join AMA and a club and fly at a FRIA.

Looks to me that FAA just might be AMA’s salesman of the year.

doubt it

most i am talking to, say, they will worry about the module or fria status, when, and IF they ever get challenged by some law enforcement type.

in other words, they really do not care.

You may be right. All any of us can do is use our local environment as example. That said, one of my clubs have stated that if their FRIA status is not in place by 9/16 no module no fly. Of course the landscape of this forum is “ you must comply with the law”.

just another example of just how far out of touch most forums are to the stark realities of life in the world.

as long a ya know and understand that, you can do fine in both spheres...

Agreed. While on the subject. Two of my clubs just announced ( within 10 minutes of one another ) that our FRIA applications have been approved. So at this point a non issue for me.

If Remote ID depends on responsible adults it will be a total failure. We put up with being tracked though our phones because it costs nothing. If phones didn't have that capability and a law was passed mandating that everyone had to pay $100 for an app to be tracked, my guess is very few people would comply, especially if it was nearly impossible to get caught.

I can recall much of the same resistance and claims that the sky was falling when we had to go to narrow band 72 mhz. I remember many stating they were going to quit the hobby and that the band separation wasn’t enough and airplanes would be crashing left and right. Of course none of this happened.

Just ordered one of these.
https://www.towerhobbies.com/product...3_skyidrelease

That was pre-drone. AMA now is a small fraction of the hobby and not representative, particularly in age and disposable income. RID is not just a change it's a big additional cost.

Flight Test missed an opportunity but not sponsoring an open source module. A lot more of their 2,000,00+ followers would be inclined to comply if it was $30 instead of 4 times that. That's what Flight Test should be promoting, so those people keep flying, instead of staking their future on fixed fields. Flight test is not giving out information on the status of their FRIA applications, but there was a comment in one of their YouTube videos by someone who said their FRIA was rejected last June.

Read the reviews (of people who will never by one) 1 1/2 stars.

"Bad Mojo
Review by Patrick C. on 25 Aug 2023review stating Bad Mojo
So a kid scraping together the money to buy a decent first RC plane, xmitter, receiver, etc now has to spend an extra $100 (after the initial $70 price goes away). He’s just trying to get into the hobby, so the fact that it can be switched between planes means nothing to him, he doesn’t even have one plane yet. You guys would seem to have a rather large incentive to include these modules as part of a beginner package, with little if any profit off the RID unit itself. I know it’s the Fed’s !!X*#! overreach, but given the situation, companies like yours should do whatever they can to mitigate the effect, particularly for newbies.

Or that kid can join a club for $50 or less and get instruction in both piloting and setup.

That will be great when you have a 14 year old kid who cannot drive and the closest field is 70 miles away.

That kid just starting out is Flight Test's demographic and most likely would not want to join an AMA club full of 60 year-olds (or any club).

There's $5 shipping so $75 even at the introductory price. I ordered one since waiting for something cheaper isn't an option at this point. It doesn't include double sided tape, so add another $5 (for 2" of it) for that kid just starting out if he doesn't have any, or $80 total.

The reality is that kid gets interested because a neighbor or a friend is already flying. We have several in a couple of my clubs that members will pick up and transport to the field for a morning of flying. The last couple of excuses are easily solved.