Aleph Mule Pricing

I was just looking at the new Aleph Mules on the Sandwich Shoppe website and noticed that if you were to buy a complete 1x123 Mule it would cost $219. But if you bought the complete head separately it would cost $119. Then if you bought a 1x123 Aleph power pack for $22 and a McTC tailcap for $35 you would only be paying $176 for a complete light.
That's a $43 difference between buying a complete light over buying the different components and putting it together yourself. That seems like a big difference in price to me. I would think if anything that a complete light would cost a little less than the components or am I missing something here. Just wondering is all.

I believe you have to factor in that the $219 pre-built light has a Dual stage tailcap, not a single as in your example for $176. There may be other differences but that is the most obvious to me.

Aha! I did not think of that. So that would be about $20 more for the two stage tailcap, so that leaves just a $23 discrepency.

The $35 you quote for the tailcap is just for the switch, I believe you need to order the Tailcap, the two stage switch AND the rubber boot, ($5) for the boot alone, that is about $60 or $65 for the assembled twostage tailcap with boot.

Actually, if you were to build "my" switch, it would be $20 for the tailcap, $2 for the rubber boot and $7.50 for the McClicky switch for a total of $29.50. The Shoppe sells them complete for $35.
The two stage is a whole different story. But it looks like the complete two stage switch sells for $55. I can't imagine a complete switch would not come with a boot.

I think the complete lights cost more since there is some time invested in assembly and testing of the lights.

Also, not all parts for an identical light are in stock at one time, so buying the complete light makes it convenient.

But if you order the parts and assemble it yourself, you will save the labor cost which can be well worth it.

The Aleph Mule heads are also a great value by themselves. You get the entire head for about the price of an Aleph LE alone. They are a perfect addition to an Aleph Lego set.

Yep, it's definitely a bonus to be able to buy just the head. Most of us around here have E series or Aleph parts to put it on.