Based on other pictures, I think that is an embarrassing error in the 3D renderOriginally Posted by ssb
Based on other pictures, I think that is an embarrassing error in the 3D render
It is quite clear RCS has invested heavily. However, that investment seems mostly to be in marketing.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
The $10 ticket to get in line to pre-order which doesn't even go towards the $200 price is certainly a bold strategy. As is requiring an e-mail address to merely learn about the objectively expensive product. Let's see if it pays off for them.
FWIW, I think most people here are intelligent enough to understand that there are costs involved in running a business even if they haven't personally owned or managed a business themselves...but just because a company invested capital in 3D printing machines, expended labor on R&D, and/or has whatever other overhead costs they have doesn't necessarily mean that there was a sound business case to do so. The consumer is looking for the value proposition of the product itself.
Their first big transition was from bending hot Kydex to injection molded plastic. This involved evolving from a labor intensive process with a low tooling cost to a process with a very high tooling cost but almost total elimination of labor content and lower material costs are a bonus. Molds cost tens/hundreds of thousands, but the plastic is cheap and the presses are widespread and common, and the cycle times are fairly quick, so the up front cost is high but the per part cost is cheap.
But now they want to use a prototype/first article process in production. This completely eliminates the mold cost, and has less labor content than bending Kydex, but the process is slow and there is nothing that can be done to speed it up, other than running a second machine.
This worked well for Elon Musk, not sure it is going to work the same here.
OTOH, maybe this is an innovative way of conducing a huge virtual focus group and testing their concept? If a bunch of people send them $10 then they know they have a winner and can plan accordingly, or not.
Ironically, this would be where printing production items might make sense, because it goes from data to product with no hard tooling costs that need to be recovered.
I really do not want to be some putz that craps on innovative things from the sidelines, but they are working with a slow process to build an expensive product at a high cost with a design that is, at least IMO, clunky.
But WTF do I know, millions in capital was generated by people sending in deposits on cars that took years to exist that never delivered with promised key features, but I was never one of those guys that sent in their money.
It goes in both ways. The mag facing backwards conceals better
From what I've seen the magazine can go in either way.
3/15/2016
It's this simple. The consumer side of this particular industry is not like that of .GOV contract suppliers. The infamous $500 toilet seat and such. True, there can be legitimate cases of that for specialty-made low-production items, and that can sometimes make sense.Manufacturing is only one component of a companies actual expenses. You literally have no idea how many man hours have been spent in bringing this to market or any other aspect of their business for that matter. Are you suggesting they simply sat down and drew a single CAD up and then hit 'Print' and called it a day? There are literally no other aspects to business that mean anything at all here to you?
The great thing about capitalism is that if you feel it's overpriced..... you simply don't buy it. I'm not buying it for this reason, capitalism will bring the price more in line with what people are willing to pay for it over time. There's only one place to go when selling anything.... DOWN. It's a smart move to start high and allow the market response to work down to where the pricing will be stable and support future demand, etc.
If you were looking for Ferrari performance would you jump on the nearest forum you can get to and feed them the same argument about how expensive it is? Are you that poor that $200 is so unbelievably offensive to you that you must blabber about it on the forum to others? I'm certain RCS when they set pricing and came up with a marketing scheme... was very concerned about how RevolverRob felt about this....
How much experience do you have running a business directly? I don't mean do you work for a business, have you ever OWNED a business and been the one responsible for every decision when it's all said and done? It's easy to armchair quarterback when you've never played the game...
However, we're talking largely about the consumer, civilian, gun industry. People complain about superficial features of a $30-50 holster. With additive manufacturing, they're going to expect this thing to be $20, not 10x the price. I'm not saying that's right, I'm simply saying that's the market and there's not really a way around that.
The average consumer will look at this compared to a $20 Blackhawk A.R.C., and wonder why they have to pay $180 to get the mag pouch for something that looks "basically the same". Again, not saying that's right, but it's easy to see how many might think that way.
This does have a few interesting characteristics I'm interested to see more about, and I hope it works out for them. In recent years, considering the state of society, I've tried to adopt a more optimistic attitude towards any company willing to try out new products in this particular industry. If it's only ever negativity from consumers, there's considerably less desire to try and innovate.
That said, personally, I have one of those big, surplus, Hardigg ~29x26x25 crates packed to the top with thousands of dollars in holsters I no longer use. I think many here have that or more. Kind of hard, at this point, to justify spending another $200 on something that's not yet a known quantity like an SME, various Sparks rigs, another 2-3 JMCK or DSG holsters, etc.
Administrator for PatRogers.org
I like the idea of this holster. If they make it for the G19 or a S&W M&P and the magazines do indeed go either way I may purchase one... BUT not for 2 hundo. I will get an SME for those clams.
#METOOThat said, personally, I have one of those big, surplus, Hardigg ~29x26x25 crates packed to the top with thousands of dollars in holsters I no longer use. I think many here have that or more. Kind of hard, at this point, to justify spending another $200 on something that's not yet a known quantity like an SME, various Sparks rigs, another 2-3 JMCK or DSG holsters, etc.
Yeah. Rob is not the only one to have gotten the above impression.
Don't get me wrong. I like RCS. I use one or two pocket shields on a daily basis. I have one of their pocket clips / finger rings on a Surefire 6P, which with a high-output lamp is my bump-in-the-night flashlight. I wish they still made the damn things....I'd buy a couple more. When I was Glock heavy, I got an early Vanguard 2, which worked well and is a great concept. A lot of their latest stuff just doesn't fulfill my current needs/wants.
But.....
This.
And this.
"It's surprising how often you start wondering just how featureless a desert some people's inner landscapes must be."
-Maple Syrup Actual
So I just ordered a Ronin Leather Aegis 1 basically built exactly how I want with great input from the owner (photo of similar holster attached). I also added grey Elephant trim and a leather AIWB mag pouch with DCC clip. On top of this, I just ordered a Mastermind Tactics Junk Carry Pillow that I might add to the holster if needed. Total cost for everything: $237.50 shipped. Roughly the same price overall as this holster after reservation, taxes, and shipping.
I知 not comparing the holsters at all, completely different animals obviously, but it just highlights how wild a $200 price and a $10 reservation fee is for a 3d printed sidecar. This thing better be damn good at that price.
Last edited by Kirk; 03-29-2024 at 09:34 AM.
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