Quote:
Originally Posted by Avast Marine
Well there is nothing more subjective than cost 
I will give you some insight into what we are building and the general way we approach product development though.
It all starts with a problem and coming up with a elegant solution to solve that problem. We usually setup design goals for ourselves and they almost always follow this pattern:
1. Does it solve the problem?
2. Is it reliable?
3. Is it easy to use?
4. Does it look good?
5. How much is it going to cost?
6. Is there a market for it?
7. How much investment does it require to bring to market?
The feeder we have been working on for quite a number of years actually. We have developed several working versions of the concept but they have all been scrapped for one reason or another simply because it didn't meet all or most of the design goals. Notice how far down on the list cost is for us? We feel pretty strongly about never cheapening a product to lower the cost. If we can lower the cost through other means we always try to do this but we are not going to put our name and reputation behind a cheaply made product just to move a few more units.
So lets look at the feeder and some of the components that make up the "system". It is a freezer. It is a precision dosing unit. It is a mixer. It has either a stand alone controller or an interface to connect to a variety of reef controllers already on the market. All of these things are fairly expensive on their own so that will give you a basic idea of the "cost" here.
Will there be a market for something that has the above cost associated with it? We don't really know but, the target audience is going to be an enthusiast with a tank filled with expensive and finicky fish. Are there enough of them to justify us tooling up and starting a new production line? No idea.
The last item on the list is investment capital and it is going to be a lot. We are actually in the middle of construction of our new facility right now and we have pretty much everything tied up there. Someone on another forum mentioned crowd-funding this project and it is something we will give serious consideration to over the next few months. It could be a great solution for items #6 and #7 on the list.
Right now we are on #3 though so we have a bit of time.  |
Thank you for the information. I do understand the hardships, and understand that they need to be overcome. I think something that may be of value though that is much less expensive is if you were to sell a retrofit kit and indicate the type/size of freezer to use in the project. It would make the item much less expensive and easier to ship. Many people already have mini-freezers near their tank so it would actually be to their benefit not to have to spend extra money to use the product.
In terms of it having a controller or connecting to a controller from a 3rd party, i have enjoyed the idea behind your ATO that has the option on purchase to choose which one you want. I would be very open to this idea as it gives the most amount of options to users.
What type of information would this controller really need? I am curious how you really would be able to integrate to the controllers out there, I use a Reefkeeper elite, so I would like something controller connected, to allow me the ultimate control.
Also, as to reinforce the idea about doing a DIY kit for this product, if you sell a freezer with the unit built into it, then you limit the people that would be able to use it as the size might not be right for the space they have for this item. If it's a kit, people will be able to purchase it without that fear and get the most out of their purchases.