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Opinions on costs.
severdhed:
i just priced out some hardware for a friend of a friend today, to do a 4 player panel, six buttons for players 1 and 2, four buttons for players 3 and 4, four 8way joysticks, dedicated 4 way stick, 3" trackball, spinner, control interfaces, and a few extra buttons for coin/start/exit/pause and a few for near the 4way stick,...once you counted in shipping, the total came to around $380. that is just for the controls, (basic controls, no light up fancy stuff)when you factor in the wire, crimp on connectors, wood, tmolding, artwork, plexiglass...and the time it takes to fabricate something like this, $770 seems pretty reasonable to me.
personally, i say build your own, but if you are going to buy, those prices seem reasonable....i would however avoid the lighting upgrades...just a waste of time. you can always add that stuff later down the road if you decide you want to spend a bunch of money again
Gatt:
--- Quote from: Rabidfool on May 03, 2010, 05:47:50 pm ---UAII cabinet kit (shipped unassembled) = 495
Quad controller = 770
Signature series illumination upgrade = 1,019
Shipping and handling = 114.29
The cabinet price seems very good, however, the $770 for a control panel and $1789 for one with led's seems painfully high. Are these prices worth it and what are my alternatives?
Thank you in advance!
--- End quote ---
I'd email them and ask for clarification, I'm not sure that it's 770 + 1,019, it may be 770 or 1,019. I think maybe the email was being accidently vague. $1019 is what I'd expect an illuminated panel to go for.
RayB:
It's a box with a few controls, wiring and a keyboard encoder? Is there a PC inside it?? The price seems insane, but so many people are calling it fair that it's got me wondering what features I missed?!?!? Are the buttons gold-plated?!
Rabidfool:
--- Quote from: Gatt on May 04, 2010, 12:33:10 am ---
I'd email them and ask for clarification, I'm not sure that it's 770 + 1,019, it may be 770 or 1,019. I think maybe the email was being accidently vague. $1019 is what I'd expect an illuminated panel to go for.
--- End quote ---
I did, and its 770 for the 4 player panal and an additional 1,019 for illumination.
Turnarcades:
Everyone will agree their stuff is great and when it comes to the cost, as a vendor I can understand the price they are charging too. Other's estimates here of parts alone are fairly accurate and it is the labour you will largely be paying for, but you will also find after doing some research that a large chunk of a cabinet build cost goes into the control panel, as quality parts are not cheap and ultimately the controls and the way it plays are what will make or break a good machine.
It's not necessarily what you see in a picture that forms the cost; it's what you can't see. a single-joystick, 6-button layout is not relative in cost to an console joypad for example as many novices expect. Speaking from this side of the pond, joysticks run from £10 each to £40 each for the top-end sticks, with buttons around £2 a piece and analog controls can run close to three figures each, then you've got multiple interfaces, wiring and crimp jobs, testing etc. Once you throw in the lighting (which if done properly will use multiple encoder boards too) and ensuring the electronics are balanced to avoid power issues etc. it very soon adds up. In a fully-loaded panel you're talking several hundred pounds worth of parts alone, plus the labour and then of course a profit cut.
If it were really as simple as it appears, or you were really into saving money, you would be doing it yourself as most members of this site do. As I find myself doing on a daily basis, you have to remind people that if you're paying someone else to do it you're going to pay the premium for it. This is why your choice of other pre-fab units or custom panel builders is limited, as it's hard as a vendor to offer them at a price people want to pay once all costs are taken into account.
As a vendor, I defend NCC's prices. As a hobbyist, I always say look into doing stuff yourself first as you will be surprised how simple it is and how much you can save doing it yourself. If you still aren't willing to have a go after doing a bit of research, then you're going to have to (rightly so) stump up the premium for someone else to do a quality build for you.