I really appreciate how you were able to categorize information in your table, and I like that you seem to feel similarly to my more graphical representation. What exhausts me on these forums are the endless "fan-boy" battles between the families. Do you, CzTeacherMan, as a reasonable and sound individual (in my opinion, your friends/spouse may disagree), have any advice for AeroTech that would help them?
here is my short list- if others contribute, maybe we post this over on the AT Open Thread so it gets to Gary or whoever is in charge now.
1) "have a strategy. Stop creating single-point solutions (like FSD- make it work on all, or design so it's not required on any)".
2) "Commit to your design. Every design needs o-rings, we get it- it costs less if we install them than it does if you install them (price dif between CTI and AT); be consistent. Use the same type in the same spot every time."
3) "Future proof yourself. This is hard, but if you know you've engineered a solution to a specific and unique situation, take a step back, and ask how this can either improve every other configuration, or be evolved out by design change."
4) "Documentation is your friend. And your enemy. Right now guys on this thread are admitting to carrying around pages and therefore pounds (ok, ounces) of paper to make sure they follow the right process
when they launch a potentially lethal missile into the air. One mistake kills a cub scout, as someone thankfully (and regretfully!) shared! These aren't 1oz cardboard tubes...if you design a system that can be assembled incorrectly, and yet still expect the consumer to be at fault when that design is assembled incorrectly and causes bodily or property damage, you need a better lawyer...whoever is on your legal team and said this was a defensible strategy is off his or her rocker.
5) "Nothing is cheaper than a repeat consumer." I'm abso-LUTE-ly THRILLED that this thread has generated such constructive dialog- I almost abandoned it several times because I've seen how sour discussions can go when the question is, "Which one is better? CTI or AT?". Do your job well, do it with integrity and quality, and we will continue to be partners. AeroTech does a fantastic job with innovation, with quality, and with diversity, but by focusing on being "cheaper" than their competition (the wind-chime ad comes to mind), they're doing a huge disservice to themselves. McDonalds saved hundreds of thousands of dollars (the exact figure is very hard to find- if someone can, please post!) by off-loading the drink-filling operation to the consumer, instead of making the cashier fill the cup. "but now I can drink 10 gallons of coke, and surely that costs money!" you argue. Sure, you
can but you don't. That 15-20 second task repeated hundreds of times a day adds up to real savings. That's why CTI reloads cost more than AT...however, the sensitive bits that seem to catch people up (myself, specifically) are already performed by CTI, so I don't have to worry about it.
This is borne out in numbers, and as a notorious cheapskate, I'm perhaps hyper vigilant. My wife and I have fixed contributions to our hobby-accounts, which are held separately from our combined checking and saving. We are doing fine, but we recognized early on that fiscal exuberance is tough to stomach, so if a purchase that seems wildly extravagant to the other party (read: 98mm carbon fiber tomach for me, or...whatever...I don't know, eyelash transplants for her?) it can be executed without guilt or explanation. This means I need to make every penny count. I recently deduced that using my existing CTI hardware at 29mm (the most sensitive price point for CTI, since it is more expensive per Newton than AT at the smaller diameter), which includes a 3g tube, a 6g tube and two spacers (with an aft closure),I would need to fly 40 times to break even given a reasonably expensive source (generally above MSRP, but great service, and we all know which site I'm talking about). Although I'd LOVE to fly 40 times in a year, I am happy to shoot 3-5 times...so for me, I'll stick with CTI.