Hotrod dropped in price.

[SirPoonga]

http://www.hanaho.com/press/praug09-2003.html

Look at news on main page.  $100, not bad.

[SNAAAKE]

 
I wonder how they are makin ANY money.
I mean.... parts alone is like $50 then the box,encoder,labor.
They are making like $20 out of every sale...

[Howard_Casto]

For once I've gotta agree.  Sadly I would say this is a sign that they are losing business.  

People go buy one now.  You literally can't make them that cheap.   I hate hotrod, so if I tell you it's time to buy then it's a deal.  

[SirPoonga]

Hehe, SNAAAKE going to purchase several and add his CPOs to it?

[u_rebelscum]

I wonder if they're getting rid of stock.  Maybe to "make room for a new product" (about the right time to start reducing stock for a new product release for the holidays).  Or to get out of the business like Sega did with the Dreamcast.  Or just to get rid of an over-stock of products, with the economy and X-arcade and such reducing hanaho's projected sales per month.  Or they finally reached an "economies of scale" level for a price reduction.  *shrug*

What ever the real reason, $99.95 is below that "three digit psychological price barrier", and much closer to making the hotrod an "upgrade item" instead of a "luxury item".  

I'd buy one now, but I already got one before I learned about BYOAC (about 2.5 years ago).

[paigeoliver]

How much did they cost before?

Also, remember Hanaho is a big company. They probably pay half of what we do on things like joysticks and buttons. Those encoders probably only cost them a couple bucks each. If you had a simple encoder design, and were willing to order 10,000 of them then you could probably get them for a few bucks each as well. They are only expensive to us because we have few sources for them, and those sources are certainly having their actual fabrication done elsewhere, or at least I assume they are, my I-Pac doesn't look like something Andy soldered together in his basement.

Basically, I doubt they are selling these at any sort of loss.

[Magnet_Eye]

They used to be $149.95. So $50 discount is pretty sweet!

I almost want one, even though I don't need it.  

[Lilwolf]

They have sold them for 99 bucks before (for special promotions).

Remember..

They AREN'T Happs parts (1)
They DONT have a customizable encoder (ie, left is left, button a is 'ctrl'... can't change it... Make sure it's ok with all your games)

But it is a great deal!  To bad cabs with these mounted on it look like... well... if you can't say something nice... don't say anything... (but the "don't say anything" sentence)

[KevSteele]

I'm with the "closeout" theory -- notice how they refer to it as the "Original Hotrod Joystick" everywhere...

Also, the product list on their site refers to an "Arcade GTO" product as a "new product coming soon."

Who knows, though...

Kevin

[Tiger-Heli]

Remember..
They AREN'T Happs parts (1)

Errrm, yes they are, from www.hanaho.com's website FAQ's

"The Hotrod uses Happ(tm) 'super' 8 way joysticks and Happ(TM) buttons.  Hotrod is built solid using Melamine-laminated wood and many real arcade components for that realistic look and feel"

Maybe you're thinking of the X-arcade

[SNAAAKE]

Remember..

They AREN'T Happs parts (1)

OHHH...you lost me there..wtf ? ? ?  
x-arcade doesnt use happs part but hotrod does(last I knew)

[Howard_Casto]

Anything offered by happs uses real arcade parts because they build real arcade machines for gaming companies.  

Now the x-arcade is a different story.  They use cheap materials, but of course, up until now they were much cheaper in price too.  

[Tiger-Heli]

Anything offered by happs uses real arcade parts because they build real arcade machines for gaming companies.  

Now the x-arcade is a different story.  They use cheap materials, but of course, up until now they were much cheaper in price too.  

s/b Anything offerred by Hanaho. . .  I knew what HC meant, but not everyone will.

[Grasshopper]

It was stumbling across an ad for the Hotrod whilst searching for MAME related stuff on the internet that actually got me into this hobby. I've always really liked the design both from the aesthetic and the fuctional point of view. The Hotrods look much nicer than the X-Arcade control panels IMHO (why did X-Arcade add that pointless and ugly 8th button?).

Until recently they were outside my price range but $100 sounds like a pretty damn good deal to me. If they were available locally I'd snap one up tomorrow.

It occurs to me that perhaps Hanaho will be introducing a programmable version of the Hotrod and that they may be clearing out their remaining stock of non-programmable units. I could be wrong though.

As to whether or not they use genuine Happ parts, I suspect that they probably buy their parts from the same source as Happ (www.industrias-lorenzo.com) however I doubt whether they actually use Happ as an intermediary as it's always cheaper to cut out the middleman.

[u_rebelscum]

They used to be $149.95. So $50 discount is pretty sweet!

I almost want one, even though I don't need it.  

They started $200, sometimes on sale $150-175.  I got mine $175 two years ago.  I never saw them on sale for $100 before now, but mostly stopped looking once I got one.

It occurs to me that perhaps Hanaho will be introducing a programmable version of the Hotrod and that they may be clearing out their remaining stock of non-programmable units. I could be wrong though.

Ah, or a console/PC version like the X-arcade?

why did X-Arcade add that pointless and ugly 8th button?.

Console games.  The current console gamepads have (at least) 8 buttons, w/ four of them in a diamond.  That's my guess.

[Howard_Casto]

Console games.  The current console gamepads have (at least) 8 buttons, w/ four of them in a diamond.  That's my guess.

Yeah unfortunately they should have thought that through better.  Lets face it, on modern consoles, even with x-arcades "analog" mode, you can't play the 3d games with an arcade stick.  What you can play are the fighters and shooters, which use 6 buttons or less.   So they could justify the 8th button with your logic (and they probably do), but in actuality it really is just an ugly, useless, extra button.  

[Tiger-Heli]

They used to be $149.95. So $50 discount is pretty sweet!

I almost want one, even though I don't need it.  

They started $200, sometimes on sale $150-175.  I got mine $175 two years ago.  I never saw them on sale for $100 before now, but mostly stopped looking once I got one.

I don't think Hanaho ever sold them below $150.  They were on sale from some computer store in Dallas, TX for around $110 a few years ago, and often on Fleabay, new for significant discounts (around $110-130), same thing is true for X-arcade, BTW.