Originally Posted by
lshaped
i've read alot about the magicshine-the price is great but i'm concerned about quality. i can't help but think why would the ms be $90 when similar lights are 5 times the price.
I think it's simply that the big names CAN charge that much, because there are so many people thinking as you are, that there must be something wrong with the MS.
Take a look at the Lupine Tesla 4. It uses the same LED as the MS, and looks almost identical, but costs 6x more. There's simply nothing that can possibly justify nearly $500 for a P7 driver (which cost about $20 even in single quantities), a driver circuit (most cost about $5, so even if you figure that they're buying REALLY GOOD ones, say $15), a set of LiIon 18650 cells (even if they're buying Japanese cells, they're still like $10 each, so figure $40) and a charger (maybe $20 if they go all-out). Be generous and allot them another $40 for small-run CNC machining on the case, and a hand-stitched snakeskin battery holder. What are you up to, $95? And that's what it would cost ME to buy high-end components in SINGLE QUANTITY and pay for some assembly time. Honestly I'd be surprised if the Lupine costs them more than about $60 to build, no matter how good components they're buying.
They're charging $480 because PEOPLE WILL PAY IT, not because they simply can't make a quality product any cheaper. If they were building MP3 players, an iPod would cost $2000.
It's not hard to believe that a Chinese manufacturer, which is right at the source for all this stuff and has cheap labor for machining and assembly, can put this together for maybe $35, sell it to distribution for $50 or so, and it can be retailed for $85 or so.