All of this is very interesting rationale about making a commercial decision on introducing a product and a price point. Given some of the stuff advanced in these threads, it is easy to see how 85% of startup businesses fail. People who underprice go out of business. People who run on low margins go out of business unless they are very, very good at what they do, and one of the things they WILL have to do is cleverly cut engineering corners. On the far side of that, people who try to design to everything usually wind up alienating more customers than they serve. The K3 and it's constantly upgrading firmware is a remarkable exception to this rule.
Elecraft is still with us, even in the worst recession since the great depression (as is MFJ) and arguably making the best ham transceiver in the world. They're selling P3's as fast as they can make them. They are STILL selling a ten year old K2 kit rig that will be one of the all time classic rigs ever, if for nothing else than length of offer. Even at this point K2's are relatively rare on the swap/bid channels. If anything the sales of K2's have picked up since the introduction of the K3. I'd say based on past performance, betting against Elecraft is a bit risky bet. What a K3/P3/KPA500 will be is tightly integrated, with open-ended features, in a small package footprint. In many ways like the Collins KWM2/312B4/30L1, but more compact and a far better performer with features, modes and flexibility only dreamed of in those days. Further, adjusting for inflation, it will cost less than the Collins combo. You betting on MFJ to do better? I'd like to know why I see so many ALS-600's on the used market, and particularly ALS-1300's for such a short time on market. Those amps certainly don't have the apparent retention/popularity of their AL-82/1200/1500 series (I own an AL1200 and some number of MFJ gizmo's). MFJ does what they do, but they are not Elecraft. 73, Guy ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
