Price

[Bignose13]

Can't wait for the 500 to hit the shops, but was just wandering what the cost of the kit is likely to be?
I think they will have to be quite competative with the other 500 helis on the market at the moment for example you can pick up a HDX 500 from helidirect for a little over £200 and that is with all metal head ESC and motor, in Finless videos the head was plastic except grips and 1 or 2 other things so how could Align justify a price similar to the HDX with only a 1/4 of the metal head, of course i'm only speculating but it would be good to know what they plan on charging for these babys

[Bobbyk]

Whatever price point they go with, it will be justified by the goodies which will be included, look at the T600N Pro, when it was priced people complained but it has TT and FG canopy, those justify the price point.

I'm sure we will see what the package will come with...and at what price.

It has gone quite, does this means the elf's are busy making my T500?

Robert

[Azlum]

Quiet*

[Finless]

We have been told around $500 with ESC and motor. Unsure if that includes blades.

Bob

[ozace]

At $500 it makes the lepton very tempting with its uberbling parts. I would expect Align to be more reasonable The announced MSH machine is only going to be $300, as stated the HDX/3DX machines are only $200

[jlewis99]

who is MSH?

[ozace]

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=47383

[OICU812]

Originally Posted by jlewis99

who is MSH?

Corrado, aka maker of "HeliUp" upgrades made for Shogun, and some T-rex upgrades as well such as Gorilla Gear.

[rotary65]

Originally Posted by ozace

At $500 it makes the lepton very tempting with its uberbling parts. I would expect Align to be more reasonable The announced MSH machine is only going to be $300, as stated the HDX/3DX machines are only $200

It's difficult to directly compare these machines on cost.

With a price of nearly $600 US, the Lepton EX doesn't come with a motor, ESC or blades. It does have more metal than the Trex though. It has a CF frame.

The Trex will come with the motor, ESC and likely blades. It will have some plastic parts (tail case, flybar cage, etc.), but some CNC parts too (head, grips, swash (Composite?), etc.). It has a CF frame.

At $300, the MSH comes with CF (SAB!) blades,but no motor or ESC. It has a plastic frame, gorilla gear and belt drive.

Might as well throw in the 3DX500 into the comparison.The $199 plastic version is a barebones kit with no motor or ESC. It comes with a G10 frame and fiberglass baldes. The $425 Super Edition comes with a motor, ESC, all CNC, G10 frame, and FG blades. The super edition minus motor and ESC is $349.

Sorry if I got some of the details wrong. My point is just that they're not apples to apples. There all positioned slightly differently in terms of price point.

Performance wise, they're all over the map.

Take the motor, ESC and blades out of the Trex 500 and you would probably have a ~$300 kit (including CF frame). You still can't compare it directly to a Lepton because the Trex has more plastic, but it's a more direct comparison.

Furthermore, due to market confusion, some buyers may incorrectly compare these helis to much larger 500mm blade helis.

It comes down to who Align thinks is their competition and how they're going to position themselves in this market. How will they differentiate themselves from their competitors and dervive more market share.

I'm no expert, but there's much more to it than just price, although that's a big one. There's marketing and promotion, packaging (what's included), distribution (can't sell when there's no product - got to get the product into the hands of the buyer), timing, product quality (or perception of), parts availability and pricing, support (you can include response to issues), etc.