I played around with it briefly at E3, but I saw so much stuff it's hard to
remember everything. I guess that means I wasn't too impressed with the
wheel, otherwise I would have taken note of it. It did look pretty funky
with all of those buttons on it, and wasn't all that comfortable to me.
Sorry I can't be of much more help then that...
--
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
I don't really follow what you mean here, no-one has called the "name
brand" into question. Just a concern that maybe $99 isn't enough beans
for ANY company to make a good product and a fair profit.
Name brand isn't really important but it can give you some pointers as
to what to expect.
Cheers!
John
% >>That's not to say it's BAD, but if someone like Eric, Marc or Michael
% >>on this group says something is good then I value that 1,000 times
% >>more highly than anything I read on a games site. The question then is
% >>- has anyone here used this ACT Labs wheel?
% >>
% >If it is good, who cares about the name brand.....
% I don't really follow what you mean here, no-one has called the "name
% brand" into question. Just a concern that maybe $99 isn't enough beans
% for ANY company to make a good product and a fair profit.
% Name brand isn't really important but it can give you some pointers as
% to what to expect.
John has an excellent point. Unless the parts are totally worthless
(which I am not implying) or the unit is made by children earning $0.06
an hour, I find it extremely hard to figure what the profit margin would
be for a $99 forcefeedback wheel. I can't imagine the margin being more
than 20 bucks if the parts are half way decent. How many units will
they have to seel to see a worthwhile return?
All I can say is more power to ACT Labs if they can produce a quality
product at that price. I mean take a look at Thrustmaster's none force
feedback products and try to figure out the math for one that requires
servo motors and circuits.
--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>% >>That's not to say it's BAD, but if someone like Eric, Marc or Michael
>% >>on this group says something is good then I value that 1,000 times
>% >>more highly than anything I read on a games site. The question then is
>% >>- has anyone here used this ACT Labs wheel?
>% >>
>% >If it is good, who cares about the name brand.....
>% I don't really follow what you mean here, no-one has called the "name
>% brand" into question. Just a concern that maybe $99 isn't enough beans
>% for ANY company to make a good product and a fair profit.
>% Name brand isn't really important but it can give you some pointers as
>% to what to expect.
>John has an excellent point. Unless the parts are totally worthless
>(which I am not implying) or the unit is made by children earning $0.06
>an hour, I find it extremely hard to figure what the profit margin would
>be for a $99 forcefeedback wheel. I can't imagine the margin being more
>than 20 bucks if the parts are half way decent. How many units will
>they have to seel to see a worthwhile return?
>All I can say is more power to ACT Labs if they can produce a quality
>product at that price. I mean take a look at Thrustmaster's none force
>feedback products and try to figure out the math for one that requires
>servo motors and circuits.
>--
>**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
> Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Yeah, but you still have to make a profit somehow (you'll not find too many
companies willing to lose money on a product just to attract customers).
It's hard enough to build a quality wheel for $100 and then you still have
to factor in the added cost of the motors and stuff. I sincerely hope I'm
wrong (I'd love to see a sub-$100 FF wheel as much as anyone), but I'm not
putting a lot of faith in it.
--
http://ebusch.akorn.net
You never know, maybe they are able to get a good deal with massive orders
>--
>http://ebusch.akorn.net
>>Sometimes you will need to lower the price in order to attract more
>>customers since many people like to buy things by names
How's the old joke go?
"Hey, we're losing money on thes things!"
"Yeah, but we'll make up for it in volume."
Joe
---Jim
>> Sometimes you will need to lower the price in order to attract more
>> customers since many people like to buy things by names
>Yup, the old, "We'll lose money on each wheel, but make it up in
>volume!" strategy.
>---Jim
> ---Jim
> >> Sometimes you will need to lower the price in order to attract more
> >> customers since many people like to buy things by names
> >Yup, the old, "We'll lose money on each wheel, but make it up in
> >volume!" strategy.
> >---Jim
> It doesn't cost 99 bucks to make a steering wheel
Don't believe me? Look at Thrustmaster; they build bazillions of T2
sets, so they get pretty good pricing on components. Their non-force
feedback wheels sell for >= $99, and are not of particularly high
quality. How are you going to add a servo motor and servo motor control
circuitry to a package that already sells for more than your target
price and still make the target price? It would be a rare supplier
indeed who would sell servos and controllers for a negative amount of
money. (If there are any, I'll take as many as you'll "sell" me... :-) )
The other alternative is to buy a bunch of crappy parts, slap them
together, and fob them off of the unwary for $99 per pile. You could
probably buy the mailing list of everyone who registered a WinModem and
WinPrinter to get a good response rate...
---Jim
>> >> Sometimes you will need to lower the price in order to attract more
>> >> customers since many people like to buy things by names
>> >Yup, the old, "We'll lose money on each wheel, but make it up in
>> >volume!" strategy.
>> >---Jim
>> It doesn't cost 99 bucks to make a steering wheel
>I'll estimate that it does cost more than 99 bucks (at the retail level)
>to make a quality force-feedback wheel. I looked into making a few
>one-offs of a really high quality force feedback wheel, and the
>components I'd select were well over $1000/unit. Now, those would
>obviously be in the TSW/ECCI realm of components, but based on my survey
>of available motors and controllers (even the very low powered ones), I
>doubt very seriously that a quality force feedback wheel can be built
>(even in quantity) for $50-60, which is where it would have to come in
>to sell at $99 retail.
>Don't believe me? Look at Thrustmaster; they build bazillions of T2
>sets, so they get pretty good pricing on components. Their non-force
>feedback wheels sell for >= $99, and are not of particularly high
>quality. How are you going to add a servo motor and servo motor control
>circuitry to a package that already sells for more than your target
>price and still make the target price? It would be a rare supplier
>indeed who would sell servos and controllers for a negative amount of
>money. (If there are any, I'll take as many as you'll "sell" me... :-) )
>The other alternative is to buy a bunch of crappy parts, slap them
>together, and fob them off of the unwary for $99 per pile. You could
>probably buy the mailing list of everyone who registered a WinModem and
>WinPrinter to get a good response rate...
>---Jim
<snip>
% The other alternative is to buy a bunch of crappy parts, slap them
% together, and fob them off of the unwary for $99 per pile. You could
% probably buy the mailing list of everyone who registered a WinModem and
% WinPrinter to get a good response rate...
LOL ;-)
--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
No one has ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American
public...
--
http://ebusch.akorn.net
That's not very nice! I actually have had good luck with my WinModem.
But I probably wouldn't do it again.
> LOL ;-)
> --
> **************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
> Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
