Believe it or not, crusty old Joaquin wants to speak in Bill Swails defense!
I've had just a very few dealing with Bill and I'll tell you one thing...
He is not a dumb man!
Sooooo....
Rather than be critical, I say...
#1. He and his crew developed the concept, designed it, built the prototype, & now are proudly showing it in Moad! That alone is a monumental feat!
#2. The prevailing ********** I've read is its SOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXPENSIVE! OK sure. AND tell me of anything of quality that isn't. Again in his defense...Why would anybody want to make anything if they didn't make money at it??? Sadly prestige does not pay the morgage! I'm sure Thomas Ritter (Unicat) could write volumes on this.
I've been in the position of have to tell the media (the whole fricken world) what an estimated price was going to be on a new product I'm going to release, so I know the quanrty Bill is in.
Goes like this...
If I say the price is too little when I take it to market, then have to raise the cost JUST TO SERVIVE (not profit)....I get called a shister and accused of gouging my "loyal" customers.
If I say the price is a little high when I take it to market, then I have to listen to people shrike about the price and how proud I am of my "Gizmo". But...When I get control of my manufacturing process, I'm able to lower the cost (and still profit) AND the world thinks I'm an OK guy afterall.
So I say Give Earthroamer time. Let them work the bugs out of their new product AND be grateful that there are people like Bill (EarthRoamer), Avi (US Unicat, & Daren (Ruf) that have the gut to put "their money where their mouth is", come out with such an esoteric product.
My hat is off to them! They have more guts than I do