----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob Studdert" Subject: Re: *istD current best price $1349 US?
> On 6 Feb 2004 at 8:54, William Robb wrote: > > > Local retailers can deliver a Chinese made mains power drill for AU$19 (under > US$15) and make profit for the manufacturer, shipping firm, importer/customs > clearance firm, distributors and themselves. The *ist D is made in the > Philippines (as cheap as China) and you don't think they'd still be covering > all their manufacturing and development costs and making a killing selling it > for less than US$1000? I had one of those Chinese made drills, though I paid about C$25.00 for it back in July. I was going to use it for screwing the 3/4 inch OSB down to my floor joists, and by then I expected it would be dead, but I wasn't going to use my 100 dollar drill for this. I got less than half way into the job and the device literally caught fire in my hands. I won't ever buy another 25 dollar drill. Apparently, from what it says on the bottom of my istD, the product is assembled in the Phillipines, which is not exactly the same as saying it was made there. Assembled there imlies that the parts came from elsewhere, perhaps Japan, which is not so cheap. I read on the list a while back that the istD sensor costs Pentax about 700 dollars per unit. I was surprised to read that it was that expensive, but since no one contradicted the number, I will accept that the little bugger is expensive. So, it the istD sells for less than a thousand US, I expect that no, Pentax won't makhe their R&D back, and probably there won't be enough profit in the supply chain to make it worth selling. William Robb
