[hpsdr] [Flexradio] SDR-5000 Pricing

[Philip Covington]

On 10/1/07, Jim Lux <James.P.Lux at jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
> At 03:36 AM 10/1/2007, Philip Covington wrote:

> >Now if the 5000c was the price of the 5000a, I'd say the price is
> >about right.  But for a radio that still must be tethered to a PC like
> >the 5000a, I don't think the price is justified for the majority of
> >potential customers.  There are a lot less hardware in the 5000a than
> >even the cheapest of offerings (~$700-$800) from the big three.
>
> But the big three have substantially greater
> economies of scale, particularly in terms of
> support and amortization of R&D costs, as well as
> in manufacturing and distribution.
>
> As to whether the price is justified for the
> majority of consumers, it really doesn't
> matter.  It's not a mass market product, but
> appeals to a niche market, and judging from the
> delivery times, more people want it *at the
> current price* than they can make, so it's
> clearly priced acceptably for that subset.
>
> Jim, W6RMK

Well, that is certainly true.  You can't blame a company for charging
what the market will bear.  I just hope that after they hype/newness
wears off and reality sinks in, that the customers still see it as a
good deal.

My comparison to the cheapest offers from the other manufactures was
aimed more at the question of whether the large difference in price
(more than double) justifies the maybe 50% increase in performance
that only the most extreme "engineering trophy" lovers really need :-)

Phil N8VB