Hacker News Reader

Comment by batou | Hacker News Reader

The only killer value here is the material and there's little of that on display at the moment. What appears to be there is stuff you can find for nothing on the web with a little googling ( http://allaboutcircuits.com/ http://electronicsclub.info/ for example)

The parts are worth little to nothing; less than $30. You can get bagged kits from bitsbox.co.uk with everything you need for $24.

I can't see the value proposition and it seems to be an attempt at monetizing something.

I get that you've got to eat, but you'll only manage that if you keep that material flowing.

View on HN

What you get is basic knowledge about electronics using concrete circuits, and the parts to experiment yourself.

I don't think the main value proposition are the parts: if you know where to look, parts are very cheap. It's more about learning in an easy way.

You might say there are already tons of resources on the Net. The problem is that those resources don't come with parts, which might be problematic to choose when you are a beginner, and you might not know where to order.

Exactly, the value is in the fact that it's bundled: instructions and everything you need to make the circuit, exactly the same components used in the manual.

As for getting assorted components to complement these bundles or other projects: SparkFun makes it easy for the US.

But being in the EU (and caring about ROHS and CE) I use these to fill the gap:

http://www.exp-tech.de/

https://www.tinkersoup.de/en/

http://www.watterott.com/

I'll second this. In theory, I can get any part I need from DigiKey or similar, in practice, navigating their site and finding just the right part is very challenging. Sparkfun and Adafruit are better in this regard, but that comes with a higher cost and spotty availability.

Given the price of the parts I'd strongly consider offering the first month free, or at most for the cost of shipping. I just don't see too many people parting with $20 based on a landing page + no social proof.

I could be wrong though...

Same here.

Especially as it seems to be aimed at novices like myself I'd like to see something a bit more tangible that I'm signing up for.

Almost pulled the trigger and then decided it was simply too vague a proposition to impulse buy a monthly returning cost for.

I agree - I kept looking around the page for more details. The landing page seems too basic to sell me on a subscription.

I think it would be a very good idea for them to get some prominent bloggers to do a review of the first kit.

Dave Jones.

Yep!

> Given the price of the parts I'd strongly consider offering the first month free, or at most for the cost of shipping.

They are offering 60 days money back guarantee, so isn't that pretty much equivalent to first month free?

I spend a fair amount of time offering electronics/firmware assistance online on various forums. You'd be amazed at how many people have problems just doing this. Seeing a circuit, collecting the parts from a variety of sources, and putting it together is trivial for those of us who have been doing it since we were teenagers. For those completely new to electronics, there are many little hurdles among the way that can eventually cause them to just give up.

Yes, these guys are monetizing a simple concept, but they are providing value. Value is worth paying for.

There are a number of companies that shift a good selection of parts in kit form to start with. This is the one I tend to recommend:

http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cP...

That plus side cutters, pliers and a multimeter.

By that rationale you could wonder why anyone eats at a restaurant when the components are so much cheaper if you buy them yourself. Not a perfect analogy but the value add is they are packaging up what you need, giving you instructions, etc. People are lazy/busy/overwhelmed with coice and are thus willing to pay for someone to package things together for them to reduce the friction of a new experience.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com