HID: A Perk Or Are Your Web People Lazy? Flashdrive In Box

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Brian Rhodes
Jun 01, 2017
IPVMU Certified

We are testing the HID Edge EVO and I was surprised to find this jumpdrive buried in the box:

The drive includes HID's network discovery tool, the product manuals, warranty info, and so on.

Most product manufacturers put all that stuff on the webpage, which HID has done in the past.  But HID's product webpage is hard to navigate, and finding the right file to download can be a chore and difficult to locate.  

HID apparently decided to simplify things by loading everything on a USB drive and shipping it.  In the past, they might have included it on a CD, but credit to HID for recognizing that many laptops no longer come with a CD drive.

But I can't shake the idea this flashdrive isn't cheap, and if the website was better organized it might not be necessary and the product price might be lower if the BOM did not include this.

So, is this flashdrive a perk?  Do you see it as a positive, or as an avoidable cost-add?

UE
Undisclosed End User #1
Jun 01, 2017

They are a dime a dozen more or less but also a HUGE security risk.  Good concept but when data is out dated you still go to the web to get the latest and greatest docs and tools right? 

Don't plug that into anything that connects to my network, who knows where that has been :-(

MM
Michael Miller
Jun 01, 2017

Download from the website as I could imagine that the info on the jump drive is outdated after sitting on the shelf for months before it is sold. 

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Josh Hendricks
Jun 01, 2017
Milestone Systems

These things are super cheap, so the cost of including them should be negligible. There are still security issues with using flash drives but the security conscious will likely not use it and will be prepared with the necessary tools and documentation already. The less security conscious are already doing much more dangerous things like disabling UAC.

The information on the flash drive will be outdated immediately, but it can still be helpful when internet access is unavailable. If done right, the flash drive would have software onboard which would update the contents if internet access were available.

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UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Jun 02, 2017

Currently, usb flash dives of 1 Gb of capacity, when purchased in batches of 10,000 pcs at a time from China and including a printed logo like the HID one, cost about $2.00 before shipping/handling/customs/duties. So maybe $2.20 landed.

We inquired about batches of 50,000 pcs at a time and the price would not go below $1.90 each. 

To get to the point- they are not a dime a dozen. It is suprising that they would add this to a proximity reader whose production cost is probably not much more than $25. That's almost 10% in added cost!

this must save HID in printing of quick start guides plus reduces tech support calls drastically or the financials don't make sense. They have to somehow save $2 in costs by adding this for this to make sense

(Or adding $5 to the selling price (cost of usb drive +50% margin) has no incidence to their sales volume)

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