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Flash Equipment > Why I hate NeoFlash...

#139329 - Creebo - Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:44 pm

I hate NeoFlash. Why? Because I pay good money for their MK5 (NCard clone) and I have no support at all and charge ridiculous prices for something that should only cost $10. I recently lost my slot-2 linker and accidentally filled my card to the max by using DSFile. I go to the NeoFlash store and find that the linker alone is $29. Oh wait whats this? Thats apparently giving me a deal from the $49 retail price tag and saving 41%! Pardon my French but, fucking bullshit. If you have ever opened one you shall see the following on the PCB:

- A Programmable Integrated Circuit (PIC)
- Various SMD resistors
- A couple of coils
- USB Port
- A Capacitor

Now, I would say that a HUGE order of those parts (Probably Pre-Assembled including plastic casing and PCB) should come out to a whopping $1.50 ea maximum. If you aren't so swell in mathematics thats a $27.50 profit ($47.50 profit for retail price mind you). Lets say they sell 200 in a year, thats EXACTLY $5,500 in profit for ONE product.

Now, I bought the 16Gbit/2GByte version for $60 hoping I would get my moneys worth. So I guess in the end judging by the linker's price, the MK5 itself is only $30. I say either cut the price to $10 or give me a $30 @GB Flash card.

Oh by the way I found this outrageously hysterical.

[retailer link removed by MOD]

#139332 - tepples - Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:00 pm

Creebo wrote:
So I guess in the end judging by the linker's price, the MK5 itself is only $30. I say either cut the price to $10 or give me a $30 @GB Flash card.

If by @GB you meant 2 GB, then 30 USD is about how much a 2 GB SD card costs at retail. And we see one reason why many of us prefer adapters that take camera memory, as I can get a USB linker for those in any local retail store or on any online auction site.

Quote:
Oh by the way I found this outrageously hysterical.

You mean getting 10 for the price of 2?
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#139334 - Creebo - Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:18 pm

I meant 2 yes.

And I was talking about $30 for a tf reader.

#139367 - Diddl - Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:22 am

But this MK5 is a very good card! I'm very happy with this device. I'm only missing a really working DLDI (without align4 problem).

#143006 - spinal_cord - Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:16 am

The only problem I had with mine was the linker broke, before that I was quite happy with it.
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#143027 - Lynx - Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:56 am

Quote:
should come out to a whopping $1.50 ea maximum


Not that I'm taking Neo Flashes side, because they are extortion artists...

But, to say all the parts + pre-assembled + case, etc = $1.50 is just ridiculous. And don't forget, unless you are stealing the design, you have to pay for development. It's not like the designers are doing it for free because they love designing hardware. Or the assemblers are doing it for free because they love assembling hardware. Plus, besides their huge markup, they need to include room for their resellers to have a huge markup. And just because you buy it direct (if that's what you did) they can't screw their reseller by selling it at 200% markup instead of 400% (their 200% + resellers 200%).

And, if you are in the USA, you get screwed by shipping and customs. That could be as much as 33% (or more) of the unit price. When I imported the GBCs for building PassMes, I paid over $400 for shipping and customs fees. That's almost 25% of the total value for the order.

So, even though you are pissed about being screwed (as many Neo Flash customers are), it's just as much your fault as theirs. A little bit of research will tell you that they have a 200% markup and don't support their products. Much of them never have close to the features they advertise, even many months after release.
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