[Rick TYler]

FTC IS expensive. We have two competitive robots (and another that is the equivalent of an FTC squarebot), and -- if we had spent $900 on the initial kit -- would have more than $1,200 into each of them. On average, we spend $500-600 per robot on competitive Vex robots.

The bane of my role as team purchaser are the gears (gulp!) and replacing defective 12-volt motors (gulp!gulp!). Our failure rate of 12-volt FTC motors is about 50% (half to broken power tabs, the rest to burning up under stall -- would a thermal shut off be that expensive?). I love FIRST, and some parts of the new FTC kit are really interesting, but these motors need to be made more robust and field-repairable. At least with the team discount, the motors are not too expensive (in robot terms). I do wonder, though, why the little FTC motor is the same price as an FRC CIM...