Quick Release Prop Guards

[Tolipa]

Currently mine are not sold on my website, AtlantaHobby, our distributor carries them as well as other dealers that could meet the dealer requirements like Red Rocket Hobbies and others.

I have to tell you that I went to the Atlanta Hobby website tonight to buy those quick disconnects. I have bought $3000 worth of equipment from that site, including two Phantoms and two gimbals, and FPV equipment etc - but I just could not bring myself to pull the trigger for $35 and then an additional $9 for UPS ground.

The reason I am here tonight is because I posted on Reddit asking if anyone knew of another source for something like this, and I was directed here. I am not happy paying $25 for those stupid pieces of plastic, but I will because I need them. What you didn't grasp was that when you inflated your pricing so high, YOU created another market - I am certain your product is better made and probably better looking, but honestly all I want is to take the guards on and off, and his product will do that. If you had priced your product at $14.99, I would have been all over it - and the freight - how about $3.00 for the post office - anywhere in America? So get ready, because someone else is going to be selling these things for $5.99, once the demand is there.
I encourage you to study the concept of diminishing returns. Yes some people will pay the inflated prices, but most won't - (it is just 4 pieces of plastic after all) - but if your price was reasonable, you would have sold many more, you would have discouraged those who are knocking off your design, and many people who were ambivalent about the whole thing would probably just go ahead and buy them because they were a good price. All you have done is create resentment, and another market for your design - your patent is pending, remember, and how will you enforce your patent when some slick engineer in China makes a design change and sells them on Ali Baba for $6.00? Good luck enforcing your patent over there.

Regards

Tolipa

 

[MapMaker53]

Having obtained two U.S. Patents, myself, I can tell you that the patent game is not as straight forward as one might think. The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (a.k.a. the U.S. Government) only issues patents, it does not enforce patents. A patent simply allows the patent owner to take an apparent infringer to court in an attempt to stop the infrining party from further manufacturing and selling the product and to recoup lost sales income. Lawyers then battle it out and drain both partys' wallets in hourly fees as one side produces a patent and the other side argues why the patent should never have been issued in the first place. Hopefully, this all takes place many years after sales have been going on because the amount of money recouped by the patent holder had better surpass the amount of money spent on lawyer and court fees -- or the entire process is a waste of time and a boat load of money. Unless one is willing to enforce their patent (once issued), having a patent is basically useless. But it is pretty cool to be able to say you have one.

I do agree that the price you are charging is not competitive and has encouraged others to jump into the market -- perfectly legally, as you do not have an issued patent as yet. I would suggest lowing your price to regain your lost market.

 

[MonsieurAnon]

Tolipa; thedjiguy was also inspired by a thread where I attempted a project like this. My design is quite different to the 2 discussed in this thread, but there are a few key differences between the products being discussed here.

First of all; thedjiguy contracted the design and based it off someone else's original idea. That means that he doesn't have the overheads of coming up with an original design to account for, nor the legwork of trying to register for a patent.

Second of all, the 3D printing process used by thedjiguy is much worse. I only sell certain, non-critical components, through private sales where I explain the risk, if I use that method. As you've seen in this thread, at least 1 customer got a product that didn't fit properly ... one of the regular problems that you run into with FDM printing. Being an amateur at this who is just ripping off someone else's design, thedjiguy is probably not even aware of this. The most telling part of that is the lines through the base. Anyone who has bought from Shapeways will back me up on this: Laser Sintered plastics are not made like that, but of course to get a stronger and more carefully manufactured product you have to pay more.

/edit

I forgot to mention that not only does thedjiguy make an effort to hijack other people's promotions of their products, but he moderates large facebook groups, uses that power to silence competitors and his name is a direct rip off of a popular youtube channel. Everything about this guy stinks, right down to the theft of intellectual property.

 

[thedjiguy]

Just so everyone is clear, the above post is from a competitor. Your product I'm sure has better quality, but yours cost $59 a PIECE. That's over $240 + shipping. That's just wrong. People will make their choices, I'm not going to keep repeating myself about our quality. Trying to bash the competitor just shows how insecure you are about your product, so I'll let your guys stick to that and let the reviews on our site speak for themselves:

Tom Deck:

"I was only using my prop guards because of the set of fireboltsI had purchased that let me slip them on right out of the case. Strong wind blew my phantom into a tree and caused a hard crash. I believe having the guards on prevented serious damage, and I thank FireBolts for the part theh played. Absoloutely a great product"
easy to use, works just fine

Alex Petkov on 25th Sep 2014

"it took just 7 working days to receive it in Sofia, Bulgaria. I was really surprised. very simple to install and I recommend it to every one who flies in the forest or close to buildings."

I could go on...

 

[MonsieurAnon]

I didn't post with details of my product here.

That is not the correct price.

I will not post further details of my product, because I am not doing this as part of a dirty tricks campaign, to advertise at the expense of others. I'm well known on this forum, because this is where I have developed my ideas. Nothing I said was untrue. I just think that you really ought to come clean on your behaviour, because it is not ethical or legal.

 

[asefsef]

Just read this and want to vent my mind in a moment of utter agreement! I agree with MonsieurAnon 100%. Djiguy blocks who ever had comments he didn't like (i always suddenly see people he doesn't like go silent), hijack and knock other people's sale posts, come up with false information on other people's products, usually in the template of: <<<competitor X sells (insert fake inflated price by DJIgUy) plus (insert Fake inflated shipping price by DJIGUY) then be my guest.>>>

MonsieurAnon, good on ya for not sinking to his levels and not knocking your competitor. >>>I'm SURE he's going to come up with some deceiving, high horse reply, to which I will NOT respond.

Oh and DJIguy, I hope you know who I am, When I enquired about your product and was concerned about the roughness of the firebolts from the photos you have, you told me it's not rough and you have the best printing. I'm not blind.

 

[thedjiguy]

No offense dude, but I hardly believe thats even a real account. Its your first post and you came straight here. I can create 10 accounts on here with 1 post and promote my product. Notice how he is so biased towards one poster. Thats just wrong.

However, if I am incorrect, feel free to email me at [email protected] and we can sort anything out.

 

[Gunner311]

thedjiguy, djmixtrix,
The prices of your quick release prop guards are way to high (4 pieces of plastic). If they were reasonably priced I would purchase. I will wait until you guys come down in price or until someone else offers at a reasonable price!

 

[walexx]

thedjiguy, djmixtrix,
The prices of your quick release prop guards are way to high (4 pieces of plastic). If they were reasonably priced I would purchase. I will wait until you guys come down in price or until someone else offers at a reasonable price!

Fusion Imaging are currently prototyping a totally new concept design, if successful it will be around half the price of the current connectors. Keep an eye out for it http://www.fusionimaging.com.au

 

[djiseller]

Are these PLA or ABS? Printing on fine quality?

 

[walexx]

Fusion Imaging uses SLS printing technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_laser_sintering which is very high quality.

We tried printed the prop guard connectors on a Makerbot 3D printer but to make our complex design print we had to print it in 2 parts and stick them together with super glue. The result was a very rough and ready connector, and we have found over time that the print has actually deteriorated just by general use of just touching it a lot. Not sure why that is though as it shouldn't do that ?.

We decided that was enough to make up our minds. We didn't want to use a dometic quality consumer grade 3D printer, we wanted the best quality we could get.

While it probably costs less than a dollar (based on the Makerbot print we did) to print from a consumer grade printer, our profit margin per connector is just over a $1 each so you can see the benefit of the cheaper printed product as you can make an absolute killing on selling them compared to the method we use.

I stress that this is our own experience and does not in any way mean its the experience of others out there who are doing a good job. Im not trying to put anyone down, Im just explaining our own experience with designing and making the Fusion Imaging Prop Guard Connector.

Fusion Imaging chose quality over profit but the result is an extremely high quality product that will last a lot longer, can be made lighter and stronger and has a much higher temperature rating of 80℃ / 176℉ degrees.

https://www.shapeways.com/model/2276697/4x-dji-phantom-prop-guard-connector-v3.html

 

[MonsieurAnon]

Since everyone is getting in on this thread, I may as well. What Walexx has said applies to all Shapeways printed products. Nylon prints are much higher quality than ABS or PLA. My version of the guards, which I originally developed in a thread on these forums is here

The design uses more plastic than others, so my markups are slimmer, but the guard is less likely to disconnect in an impact:

 

[walexx]

Welcome to the party MonsieurAnon, I saw your connector a few weeks ago. Its good to see a fellow shapeways seller out there and its great for the customer to have a good choice of designs, and materials to choose from.

The shapeways product in my opinion is far superior to other products out there by way of the materials and techniques used in their 3D manufacturing process. Like MonsieurAnon, we take pride in our product and knowing what the Fusion Imaging cost price is Id say it would be very similar to MonsieurAnon so I know there is very little money being made by either of us.

The other guys out there using far less superior materials are laughing all the way to the bank compared to us, so while I don't exactly welcome competition to take business away form us , it is good to know that the customer has a choice of good quality products out there that MonsieurAnon and Fusion Imaging are designing and offering .

Heres a quick look at the latest product 'Sputnik' a prop guard connector with leg extender in one lol.

Note: Although pictured using a P2V+ because of the off centre camera on the P2V+ we discovered that Sputnik is best suited for a Phantom 2 Vision (camera in centre) so that the legs don't get in the way of the video footage.

https://www.shapeways.com/model/2533428/4x-sputnik-v3-prop-guard-connector-leg-extender.html

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW7m5P-1rJw[/youtube]

 

[MonsieurAnon]

Have you thought about adjusting your design so that the front legs splay on a more extreme angle?

Also, in case you're not aware, there are compass and antenna holder kits on a few sites ... they might be a good option for people who want to completely do away with the stock landing gear.

 

[walexx]

Have you thought about adjusting your design so that the front legs splay on a more extreme angle?

Also, in case you're not aware, there are compass and antenna holder kits on a few sites ... they might be a good option for people who want to completely do away with the stock landing gear.

Hi the problem with making the legs angle out more is it puts additional pressure on the connectors and could force them to come off during a heavy landing. There are 'side' leg extenders coming out soon, just waiting on the prototype to confirm its all ok.

 

[S4boost]

Sorry to bring this back up. I'm new to the community. Hello everyone! And I just got my prop guards today. Noticing the difference in flight with the prop guards on makes me want one of these quick release contraptions pretty badly. But for 35$ plus shipping...? That's absurd. I will get arthritis before I pay someone that much. A reasonable price is 15-20$. That's near the price of the firebolt which im seriously considering buying.

A couple things, I have no idea how much it costs to manufacture these pieces but it seems wildly profitable for the ones doing it. They're very small pieces... Of plastic.

Secondly, to get upset that competition has entered the marketplace is kind of wonky. Competition is good for all markets. And if you produce a good product, you should welcome the competition. What you will find is that with competition, the prices will come down, and get more competitive. More people will then enter the marketplace and make a purchase. Which means more money in your pockets... As the suppliers.

Now Ill allow you all to redeem yourself by providing me with a 10$ of coupon. So that I can make sense of this purchase.

 

[walexx]

Sorry to bring this back up. I'm new to the community. Hello everyone! And I just got my prop guards today. Noticing the difference in flight with the prop guards on makes me want one of these quick release contraptions pretty badly. But for 35$ plus shipping...? That's absurd. I will get arthritis before I pay someone that much. A reasonable price is 15-20$. That's near the price of the firebolt which im seriously considering buying.

A couple things, I have no idea how much it costs to manufacture these pieces but it seems wildly profitable for the ones doing it. They're very small pieces... Of plastic.

Secondly, to get upset that competition has entered the marketplace is kind of wonky. Competition is good for all markets. And if you produce a good product, you should welcome the competition. What you will find is that with competition, the prices will come down, and get more competitive. More people will then enter the marketplace and make a purchase. Which means more money in your pockets... As the suppliers.

Now Ill allow you all to redeem yourself by providing me with a 10$ of coupon. So that I can make sense of this purchase.

HI S4boost I can tell you right up that in the case of the Fusion Imaging Prop Guard Connectors our profit is around $1 per connector. If we had a domestic consumer grade printer it would cost us less than a $1 to make each connector. Our costs are in the fact that we use shapeways and they are made using industrial printers and using a techniuque called SLS which is a much higher quality 3D print as well as a more durable and flexible product with higher heat resistance than consumer grade 3D printers. Im not going to put the competition down as everyone has their merits, but if its about cost, then I can assure you ours are priced with very little profit.

Having said that though we are working on a totally new design that will make the connectors around $17.49 to sell so that will hopefully address the issue of price. We will be getting our prototype any day now and if it works, Ill post some details here.

The current ones work perfectly as they are designed to slide onto the curvature of the Phantom arm and they grip very tightly so they are a known quantity as we have sold to around 35 countries world wide so far. The new ones take a totally different approach but we think it will be a winner if get it right.

Thanks for your interest though. Fusion's philosophy is quality first. We figure if we can make a good quality product then the rest will take care of itself. So far thats worked really well for us .

 

[S4boost]

Sorry to bring this back up. I'm new to the community. Hello everyone! And I just got my prop guards today. Noticing the difference in flight with the prop guards on makes me want one of these quick release contraptions pretty badly. But for 35$ plus shipping...? That's absurd. I will get arthritis before I pay someone that much. A reasonable price is 15-20$. That's near the price of the firebolt which im seriously considering buying.

A couple things, I have no idea how much it costs to manufacture these pieces but it seems wildly profitable for the ones doing it. They're very small pieces... Of plastic.

Secondly, to get upset that competition has entered the marketplace is kind of wonky. Competition is good for all markets. And if you produce a good product, you should welcome the competition. What you will find is that with competition, the prices will come down, and get more competitive. More people will then enter the marketplace and make a purchase. Which means more money in your pockets... As the suppliers.

Now Ill allow you all to redeem yourself by providing me with a 10$ of coupon. So that I can make sense of this purchase.

HI S4boost I can tell you right up that in the case of the Fusion Imaging Prop Guard Connectors our profit is around $1 per connector. If we had a domestic consumer grade printer it would cost us less than a $1 to make each connector. Our costs are in the fact that we use shapeways and they are made using industrial printers and using a techniuque called SLS which is a much higher quality 3D print as well as a more durable and flexible product with higher heat resistance than consumer grade 3D printers. Im not going to put the competition down as everyone has their merits, but if its about cost, then I can assure you ours are priced with very little profit.

Having said that though we are working on a totally new design that will make the connectors around $17.49 to sell so that will hopefully address the issue of price. We will be getting our prototype any day now and if it works, Ill post some details here.

The current ones work perfectly as they are designed to slide onto the curvature of the Phantom arm and they grip very tightly so they are a known quantity as we have sold to around 35 countries world wide so far. The new ones take a totally different approach but we think it will be a winner if get it right.

Thanks for your interest though. Fusion's philosophy is quality first. We figure if we can make a good quality product then the rest will take care of itself. So far thats worked really well for us .

Thank you for the through response. I'll be waiting patiently for the response. I'll beta test them for you ;-)

 

[thedjiguy]

Sorry to bring this back up. I'm new to the community. Hello everyone! And I just got my prop guards today. Noticing the difference in flight with the prop guards on makes me want one of these quick release contraptions pretty badly. But for 35$ plus shipping...? That's absurd. I will get arthritis before I pay someone that much. A reasonable price is 15-20$. That's near the price of the firebolt which im seriously considering buying.

A couple things, I have no idea how much it costs to manufacture these pieces but it seems wildly profitable for the ones doing it. They're very small pieces... Of plastic.

Secondly, to get upset that competition has entered the marketplace is kind of wonky. Competition is good for all markets. And if you produce a good product, you should welcome the competition. What you will find is that with competition, the prices will come down, and get more competitive. More people will then enter the marketplace and make a purchase. Which means more money in your pockets... As the suppliers.

Now Ill allow you all to redeem yourself by providing me with a 10$ of coupon. So that I can make sense of this purchase.

We are right in your price range, especially considering we offer free 2 day shipping to the USA and I see you are in Tennessee. Feel free to order on our website to reserve your place in line, however, in the interest of business ethics I must warn you that orders are taking 1-2 weeks to be shipped right now as we are working to be at full production speed.

There are pros and cons to every situation as with this one. I will be the first to admit that our quality is not quite as high as a $100,000 laser printer is, but I can say it does the job well. We hope to do business with you.

Jacob

 

[beegee]

After seeing the YouTube comparison between the fire bolts and the after dark quick release disconnects, I went with the Shapeways product listed further up this thread. Man, they're not cheap!