Innovation First- What gives?

[Adam Richards]

Originally Posted by Blair Frank

After looking at some replacements/ bonuses for stuff that came in this year's KOP. Eventually, that led me to Innovation First. And then, I started screaming. They charge $7.49 for a replacement antenna for the OI! How is it fair for IFI to charge exorbitant prices when it has a monopoly on all of the business for KOP replacements? The "Chicklet" costs 129.99. How can an up-and-coming rookie team pay for something like that. Or worse, the easy to lose power supply costs 19.99. How is it fair to make someone spend their (not unlimited) money on an "official" power supply? IFI already has all the business, so why do they need to charge so much? It seems as though they aren't showing much gracious professionalism by charging 7.49 for a part that seems like it should cost less. I would like to know the community reaction, and also, what you think should be done.

-Blair

You probably aren't aware, but IFI barely breaks even on its FIRST parts, and it isn't unheard of that division of the company to go into the red once and awhile. It makes most of its money on its RackSolutions parts. The Chicklet, developed by Cross the Road Electronics (correct the name if I'm wrong), costs at least $100 in parts to manufacture. Labor to make it and also charging a little bit more to cover R&D bring the price to $130 as we know it. You don't need the Chicklet. Go on eBay and buy analog joysticks for $10-30 a pop. You don't gain extra buttons from the chicklet, as you're still limited to the number of available buttons on a regular joystick.

Nothing needs to be done, the prices are fair, and while they seem high to people usually unfamiliar to robotics, they aren't excessive one bit.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Agree with Adam. Welcome to the world of boutique dealers. You say IFI has a monopoly on the FIRST market. I say IFI is locked into a really pretty small market. 1500 customers is just not enough for the economies of scale to start working on these kinds of parts.

[Blair Frank]

Allow me to rephrase. I'm not so much frustrated by the price of the "luxury" items, but rather the cost of the little things. 8 dollars for an antenna seems a bit excessive, as does 20 for the OI power supply. They've been known to go into the red, yes, but when you have a monopoly on the only legal parts, you should make some sort of effort to make them affordable, especially for the little, seemingly cheap things. My beef is not so much about the high-end items, but rather the lower-end items.

[Mike Copioli]

Originally Posted by Adam Richards

You don't gain extra buttons from the chicklet, as you're still limited to the number of available buttons on a regular joystick.

This is not true. In mode 1(y,y) you get 12 digital buttons supported including the POV. Not to mention, you can configure them ANY way you like.

Please read the user manual.


http://www.crosstheroadelectronics.c...anual_rev1.pdf