Castle - Make A Special Edition Monster

[pb4ugo]

Originally Posted by Pdelcast

Well, the design I'm working on now should handle any of those motors with ease. Versions with 60 and 120 FETs will be first.

It won't be "moderately priced" like the MMM.

I'd buy a couple. I agree $300 is a good target, but I think they'd sell at a price higher than that.

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by pb4ugo

...but I think they'd sell at a price higher than that.

Yeah, just look at Schulze's. Talk about expensive! $300-$400 for a "proper" 200A 12s ESC is more than fair IMO. Heck most of us were paying at least $200 for a 100A 4s ESC before the MM came out!

[lutach]

Originally Posted by BrianG

Yeah, just look at Schulze's. Talk about expensive! $300-$400 for a "proper" 200A 12s ESC is more than fair IMO. Heck most of us were paying at least $200 for a 100A 4s ESC before the MM came out!

Schulze price is not realistic. How can they have a price of $600+ for the 40.160 less then a year ago and now the thing is $700+. Maybe they think they have a super controller, but I just can't see how it cost that much. If anyone can come up with an answer of where they get that price from please let me know.

[VintageMA]

My thought is to look at the best competitor in that HV ESC range - the strongest competition is the MGM 9032 and 12032 coming in at $400 and $450 respectively. Their hardware is solid, their software is horrible.

An ESC that could handle 10-12S, w/ or w/o BEC (I don't care really, but maybe better without - just another piece to break), with a built-in USB port (I think that is one of the best components of the MM compared to the MMM - very convenient to program not having to wear out the 3-pin connector removing and re-inserting it into receiver all the time - and about 5 times faster reading/writing settings than the Castle-Link), and with Castles ease of software programmability.

I would pay the comparable of an MGM controller for that!

[lutach]

I think the Europeans tend to over price their products. Might be that the workers over there are getting paid way more then the workers here (Engineers) so they have to price the product to keep them happy. If anyone here knew the total $$$ amount for the components (Not Digi Key, Mouser or Newark's price), you would be surprised at the cost. I don't know how much they pay for the PCBs, but still it would not be $400+. A $300 HV controller would see a lot of buyers not only us car guys, but the boat guys as well. Some of the boat guys prefer heat sink/fan cooling rather then water cooling.

Here is something Castle can do (I've had this in my head for a few years now). Make a "program box" and that would allows us to keep the laptop home, but make it in a way if there's any new updates you can add it to the program box and later to the controllers via a usb or some other connector that wouldn't require the user to remove the connector from the Rx.

[Pdelcast]

Originally Posted by lutach

If anyone here knew the total $$$ amount for the components (Not Digi Key, Mouser or Newark's price), you would be surprised at the cost.

I know the total $$$ amount, and I'd bet you would be surprised at how high it is -- especially when you consider that we get less than half the normal selling price when we sell through distribution (about 95% of our sales are through distribution.) The distributor and hobby shop make more money than we do when they sell a Castle product.

[lutach]

Originally Posted by Pdelcast

I know the total $$$ amount, and I'd bet you would be surprised at how high it is -- especially when you consider that we get less than half the normal selling price when we sell through distribution (about 95% of our sales are through distribution.) The distributor and hobby shop make more money than we do when they sell a Castle product.

I'm going by what the Schulze 40.160 cost. I did a simple calculation even going by what the Authorized Distributors web pricing and I couldn't come up with why Schulze is charging so much. Now my prices on most of the components based on online pricings are 60-85% less and some times higher depending on the component.

Now a simple concept would be what most of us Independent Distributors (Or Brokers) use. Sell higher quantities at a reasonable price and make more profit. Make 1000 units at $150 profit and you have $150,000, now make 10000 units and make $50 profit and that gives you $500,000. A lot of retail and online places complain that Hobby city sells really low and the main reason is they know how to sell (Also, they are there in Asia and don't have to pay for high shipping ).

[Pdelcast]

Originally Posted by lutach

Here is something Castle can do (I've had this in my head for a few years now). Make a "program box" and that would allows us to keep the laptop home, but make it in a way if there's any new updates you can add it to the program box and later to the controllers via a usb or some other connector that wouldn't require the user to remove the connector from the Rx.

In the works. It's a simple card programmer, but it gives the ability to change simple settings in the field.