hey Petter, are you happy with the mass produced version of your invention?

[victory7]

:) :)

I invented something years ago and then went on to manufacture it myself with a small cnc table. i did all my own programming for the cutting paths etc. I was very perfectionistic about the end quality. too much so.

with this heli, it seems to be a weight vs durability issue along with cost of manufacture.

if you could have anything in the end product different, what would you change?

and how much would you personally be willing to see the price increase to?
i assume you want a lower cost to see your invention enjoyed by more people, but you also want the highest quality for best performance and durability.

also, do you have any other inventions destined for the mass market? or anything from the past?

best wishes!

[Fotta]

Interesting question. There is of course a trade off between performance and cost. The BR is meant to be a toy and to fill the niche for an inexpensive indoor heli and IMO it does that rather well. It is *not* meant to compete with Hummingbirds, Hornets, Piccolos or hobby-level helis of that genre. But of course *they* are not in the same category when it comes to cost and perhaps more importantly in ease of operation.

[pgoelz]

As it is, the Bladerunner is a brilliant design and under the right conditions it flies remarkably well.... often right out of the box. Quite a feat for a $70 helicopter.

But the Achilles heel in the BR from what I can see is that it is marketed as a toy and sold to people with zero RC and/or modelling experience. In my opinion it is nowhere near robust enough to hold up under the conditions it will likely find in the target market. It also has a couple extremely life-limited components. If I had a Bladerunner when I was a kid, I would spend hours and hours playing with it. And that is hours and hours more life than the motors seem to have in them. My fear is that the retailers will see massive returns and complaints after Christmas when the kiddies destroy their Bladerunners en-masse.

I really hope that the Bladerunner is a huge success. But I fear it is too small and fragile to be sold as a toy.

Paul
www.pgoelz.com (Bladerunner spare parts)

[LTChip]

I think you are right on there. I know that for instance - I loved the little AirHogs differential thrust plane - thought it flew well and was quite durable but they do get massive returns from disappointed parents who think that if they buy their kid a "toy" with their hard earned dough - then it should be indestructable and the motors and batteries should last forever and it should fly itself - while avoiding houses, trees, etc and it should handle normal wind conditions etc etc etc.

"Toys " are held to a much higher quality (and lower user-skill requirements) standard. than are hobby items.

To market this as a "toy" is a misnomer -it should be marketed as a hobby item.

[Freakazoid]

And exactly howmuch skill does it require? I agree it shoulnd be marketed as a kids toy, but what about an adult? :o

Ive never flown a heli before, will it be impossible for me to fly this? I did some considderable hours on the sim with my TX hookup though, but does that really matter when it comes to actually flying something like this? I know a kids sence of direction and hand-eye skills are somewhat limited, wich may cause some roughhousing with this fragile little gismo, but can it stand up to the odd bump by an adult person with a fair sence of control? Ive been flying airplanes for 2 years, if that helps any.. :rolleyes:

I was very keen on getting a BR to enjoy myself during wintertime, up untill this thread stating its in fact not as easy as it looks. Im a little unsure of what to do now.

[victory7]

this thing is so light that there is no crash momentum. i've crashed it everywhere and just keep scotch taping the blades. absolutely nothing else has broken. i can't see the motors burning out because the short flight and long recharge times limit that.

and that would be the biggest complaint by kids, the short flight time.

y'all are right about hobbyists having the respect for the techno-amazingness and willing to take more time and effort, and accept limitations.

IDEA TO REDUCE RETURNS
right on the box, put a www link to this user group. any kid with internet can learn to appreciate what he's got. anyone here is glad to help. (and we even have the inventor himself which is insanely great! thanks petter!)

p.s. buy a set of spare blades and kokam340 battery and charger from the gitgo, and do the catkiller mod and you'll be plenty happy!

[Freakazoid]

If it has no crash momentum, how do you manage to crack the blades while theire completly surrounded by some kind of ring?

Buying extra blades would be nice, but sofar I didnt find any decent dealer for the BR. Ill be having a hard time getting a BR to holland for a decent price.. with the possability of "never gonna happen".. :(

I allready have a lipo charger, and lipo itself is getting nice and cheap these days, so sure, why not. :p

I also agree about putting some kind of web support link up on the manual or something.