$300 is the new $200..
07-24-2014, 03:24 AM
#16
What I'm talking about has zero to do with what you mentioned*. There was a thread recently in which a guy asked about an engine(LRP Spec 2), and included a link to a shop selling it for $350. Another guy linked a different shop which had it for $250. The thread starter was basically like "oh, it must suck then.." And it didn't seem like he was being ironic..(internet though, so who knows..)
What I'm talking about is a mentality on the customer side which seems for some dumb incomprehensible reason to want to push prices up. This mentality just makes the hobby even more stupidly expensive and exclusionary than it already is. Not everybody needs a Speed - or some overpriced hand-tuned "Team" engine - and with half a clue you can have a great engine for 200 bucks - but this era of the 200-buck engine is in danger it seems to me. And for no good reason..
As for R&D etc, I don't buy it. There's no need to reinvent the wheel here. The companies are just capitalizing on the blind faith of customers that more expensive must mean better afaic.. $300 for a Clio is retarded.. So is the mentality that an Alpha or Argus must suck because a.) they're cheap and b.) they're from Taiwan.
*. Well, OK.. You can pay double what a basic Reds R5 costs for some super-duper hand tuned team engine or whatever. What that does NOT mean is that an engine at half the price is half as good.. Not even close. My guess is, given all the variables in nitro and racing generally, most people convinced they have to buy the super expensive engines see at most negligible benefits, if any, compared to some of the good $200 engines out there.
What I'm talking about is a mentality on the customer side which seems for some dumb incomprehensible reason to want to push prices up. This mentality just makes the hobby even more stupidly expensive and exclusionary than it already is. Not everybody needs a Speed - or some overpriced hand-tuned "Team" engine - and with half a clue you can have a great engine for 200 bucks - but this era of the 200-buck engine is in danger it seems to me. And for no good reason..
As for R&D etc, I don't buy it. There's no need to reinvent the wheel here. The companies are just capitalizing on the blind faith of customers that more expensive must mean better afaic.. $300 for a Clio is retarded.. So is the mentality that an Alpha or Argus must suck because a.) they're cheap and b.) they're from Taiwan.
*. Well, OK.. You can pay double what a basic Reds R5 costs for some super-duper hand tuned team engine or whatever. What that does NOT mean is that an engine at half the price is half as good.. Not even close. My guess is, given all the variables in nitro and racing generally, most people convinced they have to buy the super expensive engines see at most negligible benefits, if any, compared to some of the good $200 engines out there.
Last edited by Herrsavage; 07-24-2014 at 03:39 AM.
07-24-2014, 10:07 AM
#17
Hi Bess! It's been a while hope that you are doing well!
Herrsavage, for some reason it's always been peoples belief that if they are not spending a lot of money they are not getting a quality, high performing product. I've seen this with our B2 engine which streets for $169 which with the exchange rate and dollar tanking the last few years has been really hard for me to maintain pricing on but I have. Most people see the price and think that it's a cheap toy engine. Those that have bought one have found out really quickly that it's really a low cost high performance racing engine that will run with anything out there. Heck Kortz races with it quite often lol! The problem is that because of the low price which I did to try and gain market share people thing that we cut corners on build quality or something which is not the case. Figuring our how consumers will perceive things is a difficult thing to do and frankly follows no rime or reason.
Herrsavage, for some reason it's always been peoples belief that if they are not spending a lot of money they are not getting a quality, high performing product. I've seen this with our B2 engine which streets for $169 which with the exchange rate and dollar tanking the last few years has been really hard for me to maintain pricing on but I have. Most people see the price and think that it's a cheap toy engine. Those that have bought one have found out really quickly that it's really a low cost high performance racing engine that will run with anything out there. Heck Kortz races with it quite often lol! The problem is that because of the low price which I did to try and gain market share people thing that we cut corners on build quality or something which is not the case. Figuring our how consumers will perceive things is a difficult thing to do and frankly follows no rime or reason.
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