Thanks for the good discussion on our Kickstarter campaign and the WaterStrider!
In our testing of the WaterStrider, we've found it to be really freeing and has helped us get footage we never would have considered before. It is also just tons of fun on and around water. We've done hundreds of water landings and never had any issues and have never gotten a camera or drone wet.
Regarding flight times, we see a roughly 30% reduction in a lab environment (side-by-side indoor hovering). In actual flight environments on-location, WaterStrider can actually make up for some of that reduction through improved operations. In side-by-side testing we're finding that the total flight time usable for filming ends up being very comparable. You can simply land almost anywhere without having to spend time returning to a perfect landing spot. This helps save some (or in some cases all) of that flight time reduction because you don’t spend time searching for someplace safe to land. And it’s quick and easy to install and remove so you don't have to leave it on all the time (although we now find ourselves leaving it on almost always). This combined with the peace of mind of the extra safety makes it a good choice in almost any scenario.
Regarding wind and handling, if you watch the Kickstarter video you can see that it remains quite nimble and fast. It's a tiny bit slower to accelerate, but it actually reaches nearly the same top speed. Rotations are virtually unaffected. We've flown in quite windy and gusty conditions as well and it doesn't result in instability. At worst it just slows down a small amount when penetrating directly into the wind.
Regarding price, please note that the $239 is just an *anticipated* MSRP, and may be reduced. As you might image, starting a small US-based manufacturing company is quite costly. Patents, tooling, many months of prototypes and testing, and equipment all add up. 3D printing of course makes sense for very small quantities, but it is not cost effective for volume production. In addition, it is nowhere near durable enough to remain lightweight and permit freedom to land anywhere without worry.
We’re proud of all the engineering and testing that went into this product, and we believe it is a great solution for many DJI Phantom owners. And from a relative pricing standpoint, we’re currently selling on Kickstarter at $179. This is a little bit over the price of an extra battery ($159-$169) and a little bit under the Microraptor case ($199) and both of those are mass produced.
Thanks again for the interest and discussion on our product. Cheers!