Timothybil
Flashlight Enthusiast
The first question you have to answer is 'Is this meeting a demand? Are we meeting our sales expectations with what we have already released?' If that is the case, then think very carefully before changing anything. I know a lot of people were blue-skying at the beginning of this thread about things that would be nice to have. But nice to have and commercially viable are two very separate animals. I have had some training in Product Design and Product Development, and know a lot of what kinds of decisions have to be made. I believe you said you tried a lot of different designs to reach where you are right now. Maybe if you have some of those prototypes still around you could offer them on EBay or wherever to see how much interest there would be in each iteration. If there is enough interest you might want to do some follow-up with the purchasers and bidders to see how valid and wide-spread their interest is. Since you are already making an M-thread head, take a couple of them and mill the threads for a C body instead. It may not look as elegant, but it would not take a big investment on your part and you could see what the demand might be. Gray anodize a few of each and offer them for sale as a limited availability item. If someone wants one that bad, maybe they would be willing to pay a little extra for it. I can see several branches from what you already have that would not be that expensive for you to do and that would probably sell as 'limited availability' items. I personally would like to see an 80 mm head so I could play mini Carbon-arc with my Seraph. It would not be practical, and would be extremely unbalanced, but I think it would be fun! (Don't do it for me, I can't afford it right now!) Be creative! Have fun with it! Think of it as something you can use to fill in with for those times when demand slows down a little. I know everyone has periods like that. If there is enough demand for something, then you have found another product for your main line sales.
What ever you decide to do, thanks for thinking enough of your customers to even try to meet some of our dreams. We know how rare that is and we thank you for it.
May fortune smile on you and your house.
Tim
What ever you decide to do, thanks for thinking enough of your customers to even try to meet some of our dreams. We know how rare that is and we thank you for it.
May fortune smile on you and your house.
Tim