How much does it REALLY cost?

[Okanagan]

Am joining this thread late (or reviving it  ).  I'd forgotten about the electronic caller forum since I don't notice it tucked here out of sight from my main page.

I am aghast at the prices of e-callers but bought one finally, after building two of my own and researching them and watching the market for five years.    By then I knew exactly the features I wanted for what I do.  I begrudged the price a little but as a non-tech hunter without too many more years to hunt hard, I wanted a unit to use, now, without having to be an electronic engineer.  No regrets at all.  It has been a fun toy.  

A couple of comments about e-caller price.  An electronic engineer acquaintance once told me something to the effect that a new computer chip that had just come out would cost 5 million dollars to build the first one.  He said the second one would cost 25 cents.  To the extent that there is any real R&D going on in these e-caller companies, we are paying for it, rightfully so.  Having said that, it has appeared to me that the norm in this business is to rush new stuff to market and let the consumers pay to do the R&D.  Do you recall the endless posts about having to hold the remote just right to get it to work?  And the ever present praises like, "They have WONDERFUL customer service!  I've sent mine in five times and it still doesn't work but their customer service is WONDERFUL!" ?

Second, so far it has been a seller's market with rising demand sustaining high prices.  As others have said, it is also a small enough market that we do not get the economy of scale that millions of units would generate.  People making a living by making e-callers in a market this small probably have to charge a big mark-up to survive.  It is what it is and prices reflect what the market will bear (barely bear for some of us).  

My cynicism:  If not for the increased competition that has pushed new features and some price restraint, my guess is that the only choices on the market would be an FP516 for a thousand dollars and the bulky older WT with 15 sounds for $1500, or more likely $2000 by now.