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AttoPilot 3.3 price increases from $3,000 to $4,200

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 27, 2010 at 8:30am


When the IMU version of AttoPilot (version 3.3) was first announced, the price was given as $3,000. Now I see it's $4,200. The IMU by itself is $1,500. I was kinda hoping the price movement would go the other way, but I know it's a quality product and Dean has to make a living...


The site is here, but because it's Flash I can't link to any pages. Just navigate to the store/shopping cart.

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Comments

  • Admin
    Morli March 2, 2010 at 8:00am
    What happens in paparazzi world?
  • CheBuzz March 2, 2010 at 7:44am
    "You speak like you expect someone to serve up the perfect product and then deliver it to you for free."

    We all know that only happens in the Paparazzi world.
  • Admin
    Morli March 1, 2010 at 5:29am
    @Kevin,
    copied, understood and thanks for clarification. BTW I think there are 1 or 2 gr8 "other AP" here @<1.5K$ price point that I can't afford either, So "Dissapointed " I am not as a hobbiest. I will stick with APM and UDB as long as it is there.
  • Kevin Hashawan March 1, 2010 at 1:24am
    Well I thought Dean was all about bringing an autopilot to the masses of hobbyists, which I will acknowledge he has done wonderfully with Attopilot. I was just a little confused from reading the large number of his posts on this site and other forums such as rcgroups where he seemed to be wanting the IMU to achieve the perfect price point the Attopilot has. I guess I am just a little dissapointed that I will probably never be able to own one of these units, although I can see the argument behind the costs due to the fact that even if Dean has put half the effort he has posted about on the forums, it would be worth double.
  • Admin
    Morli February 28, 2010 at 5:19pm
    @ kevin
    you said " Hell no"
    That’s what I thought :))
    BTW , is this some sort of marketing strategy for your future UAV product( hopefully for cheaper AP)? If no ,
    then I still didn't understand your beef if your neither a competitor nor a client or a neighbor !!! , so what is your beef really about? Just trying to understand different perspectives .....
  • Curt Olson February 28, 2010 at 1:21pm
    Here's another way to think about cost. How much is your time worth. My time is of course worth several hundred $$$ per hour (HAH!) but you might cost yourself at something lower. Let's say $20 just to have a number to work with. $4200 / 20 == 210 hours. So figure 200 hours of work + 10 hours of solitaire just to make the number even. Ok, so 200 hours ... could you build an IMU based autopilot that is tuned and tweaked and ready to roll? Who works 40 hours a week? Let's say we are really ambitious and put in 60 hours a week on this. That's about 3 and a 1/2 weeks.

    So could you build an IMU based autopilot in 3 1/2 weeks of concentrated effort? If the answer is yes, then maybe Dean's price is a little high. If the answer is no (or maybe you value your time higher than $20/hr) then perhaps Deans price isn't all that unreasonable after all. Or maybe after all this talk work and time, you decide you don't need an IMU based autopilot all that desperately.

    I know this is an over simplification of life, but think about how much time and money it's going to require to build an IMU based autopiliot *yourself* from scratch or available components, and then weigh that against the cost of the available commercial options and your own desire to learn and DIY.

    This is DIYdrones so I really hope the answer for a lot of people is to continue forging ahead with your own projects.

    Pain happens when reality encroaches on your perception of reality. :-)
  • Developer
    Mark Colwell February 28, 2010 at 12:07pm
    I think $4200 for a user friendly, off the shelf RTF civilian vehicle with some training is appropriate for todays market and may cause other commercial systems to compete by lowering their prices or including more services or options. Dean let us know when the 100th unit is ordered. I wish you great success.
  • jonny February 28, 2010 at 11:41am
    Kevin
    $4k only sounds expensive if you say it too slowly, its pin money believe me, suggestion, buy a 3500 from U-nav for similar money and then you can begin to understand just how cheap even a Picolo 2 @ $5000 is!

    I wish Dean+co every success with their new autopilot, I think it goes without saying that all involved have ploughed thousands of man hours into this and deserve to make s***t loads of money and I bet it is a first class product to boot
  • Chris McNair February 28, 2010 at 9:35am
    Good stuff!
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson February 28, 2010 at 8:52am
    Kevin, I appreciate your passion, but please tone down the comments. We will delete any further personal attacks .
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