Price logic in evaluational boards? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: dzseki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2018, 01:54:57 pm
content: I was wondering for how the price of evaluation boards (eg. for ICs) are targeted? Where I work, we never buy evaluation boards, instead we design a prototype ourselves with new components rightaway, sometimes it works sometimes it isn’t, but it really does not take much resource (or cost) for the company, nor would be buying ready made evaluation boards. But for hobby use I would see more reason to use evalulation boards, because one may not design a PCB and order 10 of them what is thrown away if the expectations are not met. But rather sadly, I found evaluation boards are so damn expensive -at least the ones those are interesting for me. This is not what I would expect, because evaluation boards are usualy rather basic in construction, but they are still produced in mid scales so to say, all this at the price level of a „finished product”.One example is:AD8302 the chip itself cost 20€ but the EVAL-AD8302-ARDZ board is 330€ which is in fact not much more than a properly sized (mostly empty) board with two headers and two SMA connectors.On contrary for (a nice) example there is TI’s 16bit 1GSPS ADC: ADS54J60 (in which I don’t have much interest by the way), there, however the evaluation board is hardly more expensive (+90€) than the chip itself, and more engineering went to the board design itself for sure, yet the „board” is actualy cheaper than for the AD8302 chip...So what is the logic behind this?

author: capt bullshot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2018, 02:00:37 pm
content: Politics.Some companies want to spread their products as wide as possible, so they create cheap boards on a marketing budget.Other want to support customers that they think they're worth it, so they create boards and give them away to said customers of their choice, but sell them at prohibitive prices to all others.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2018, 02:10:38 pm
content: Two reasons1. The cost is high because the R&D and cost of developing that board when they will sell 100 per year is high. And if you were truthfully billing for your hours, at say 25EUR/hour, then ten hours to design a board, get it spun, and assembled, paying 330EUR for a completed board doesn't sound so bad...2. Almost nobody pays full price, just like almost nobody (except fools) buys a car for the list price.If you know the right people at the company you're very likely to be able to get the board free of charge or significantly discounted if you've expressed honest interest in the parts. This usually means having a meeting and sit down with sales guys, so it can be easier to just order the full price part!

author: dzseki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2018, 02:27:17 pm
content: Quote from: tom66 on December 04, 2018, 02:10:38 pmOk, the problem could be here, my salary here is not even 1/3 of that with 3+ years of experienceQuote from: tom66 on December 04, 2018, 02:10:38 pmUnles you run your own business then as an individual you don't have a chance to meet with a sales guy for a free sample. If you are a part of a big company, then yes, but at that point you don't even have to care about if it is free or full price...

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2018, 02:44:15 pm
content: Quote from: dzseki on December 04, 2018, 02:27:17 pmWell, exactly, you are a small fish and no one wants to bother with you - not enough money involved.So you might end up buying the board but giving you a discount and selling it below cost is not worth it to them, chances are they never make that back. What's the margin on a part? Maybe 2-3% so say 0.5EUR per AD8302 they would need to sell you hundreds of chips to break even.It's not fair, it's not nice, but it's the marketplace, unfortunately.

author: dzseki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2018, 02:59:51 pm
content: Quote from: capt bullshot on December 04, 2018, 02:00:37 pmIf you put it this way it gives even worse impression, like if the company don't take me seriously as an individual hobbist, then I have the choice to avoid their products as much as possible even in my professional environment, not that my impact is particularly significant, but the sword has two edges...

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2018, 03:28:52 pm
content: There aren't many companies who take hobbyists seriously, even when there's a decent crossover into professional fields there are just too many out there who suck the life out of the free sample and dev board offers just to make a bit of profit on eBay.If you really want to play with the AD8302 then there are ready built boards you could buy, this is one example:https://www.sv1afn.com/ad8302.html

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2018, 04:46:48 pm
content: Quote from: dzseki on December 04, 2018, 02:59:51 pmThe reality is that support costs money. And with very cheap boards, you get flooded by a lot of very basic questions that load the support personal, but don't generate money.Some products are targeted at certain markets. And the price of the kit is a direct indication of that targeting.It is up to you to not buy from a manufacturer based on the price of the kits or product marketing, of course, but it is not the best approach.

author: dzseki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2018, 09:39:15 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on December 04, 2018, 05:15:12 pmMaybe, but then why they did the AD8302 eval board as an Arduino shiledIt is exactly how high end big bucks products usualy start off

author: OwO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 05, 2018, 03:10:45 pm
content: Quote from: tom66 on December 04, 2018, 02:44:15 pmI think you are grossly underestimating the profit on a chip - seehttps://zeptobars.com/en/read/AD9361-SDR-Analog-Devices-DAC-ADC-65nm

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 06, 2018, 03:14:42 am
content: Company would rather you design your own board, for the complete circuit you are using, rather than buy some Eval board and mess with it to cut tracks or swap components.If you mess it up and need rev 2.0, then they get to sell you some more parts.I have some TI boards myself, though they are MCU related ones which are reasonable pricing.Other boards I would like were either several hundred dollars, or only available as design files.Suffice to say I'm designing my board.