You say that, but Fenix has set your expectations extremely high for value and low pricing with the E01. They have the advantage of being able to crank out hundreds, probably thousands and perhaps even TENS of thousands of these and have no problem selling them due to their enormous distribution network. Mass production is and probably always will be the solution to making cheaper goods, and the Chinese have taken very well to mass production of goods of any quality you are willing to pay for.
Like I said in an earlier post, a machinist doing a custom job for us would not be able to match the kinds of prices that Fenix can, at all. To top it off, Fenix is constantly changing and updating their models. Arc is a safe bet to make a decent sized run for because they have been making lights for nearly a decade now (~2001?) and the parts are all compatible with each other.
You yourself are an example of the type of customer that said machinist might target and you already have a preconceived notion of how much it should cost ($10) which is pretty much impossible done at USA wages. I don't want to rain on your parade but reality is what it is.
As noted, the Valiant Concepts Arc-AAA AA body is essentially what you are looking for and it costs $35. Knowing both Jon (the vendor) and Rothrandir (the machinist) I am pretty certain you are looking at a very low profit margin. At $35 Roth is also severely undervaluing the cost of his own labour.
IMHO if you are willing to pay "whatever it takes" anything can be possible but if you are not, then you must rely on convincing Fenix to make it for us.
Sorry, Carrot, I didn't say I'd pay "whatever it takes". Or that a US machinist could make us some for $10 each.
I said I'd like a machinist to tell us "what it takes" to make a bare bones version.
I figured if I had the mat'l$ and labor hrs (or $) I could figure what Fenix could make it for in China.
You've pretty much answered the question of what a "Made in USA" version would cost...ie,~$35. And that's reasonable, I guess, for low-volume machined products...just way too much to screw onto a $15 E01.
🙂
In the 1st post, Southernlight wanted an AA E01, with emphasis on "
inexpensive".
That's why I presumed that $35 was too high and $10 seemed reasonable...and I still hold to that SWAG number.
If Fenix can make and sell a whole E01 ( body, pcb/booster/regulator, head/reflector/LED, O-rings, spring, knurling, anodize, etc) all for $15...I'm willing to bet they could make the AA body ( tube, spring, support disc, O-ring, anodize, knurling) all for ~$10...
if they could get the
market volume they need. I don't know what the market for an AA body would be. Maybe not high enough, and then we would be back where you said...with a custom/semi-custom/low-volume/expensive adapter.
In that case Fenix might be better off just repackaging and E01 as an AA, new body, head, etc. I'd still probably buy one for $25 if it could do 10 lumens for ~40hrs on a lithium primary AA.
