This is a very cool product, but that price tag is extraordinary. I would struggle to find a customer for it unless I was offering it as a rental unit which is where I see this being the most practical.
What puzzles me the most is why there isn't a solar cell included to keep the unit going. Swapping battery packs is wholly impractical in many circumstances and even a small cell ought to be enough to fully power the unit if not at least extend the batteries beyond a few days worth of runtime. And honestly, $1,300+ for the SMALL battery is just crazy. Are they wired with gold and platinum cabling?
Overall I like the concept but the execution with the power leaves a bit to be desired, and the cost firmly places this beyond the reach of any of my verticals.
Thanks for this useful feedback! I'm happy to clarify.
Solar Panel
We get this question a lot, so we are looking into this and testing with a couple of solar panels. Preliminary conclusions:
- If you want a solar panel that provides enough energy for continuous availability you need quite a large one. Adding a large solar panel to the setup removed one of the most important USP's: You can install Mobiqam with 1 person in 15 minutes...
- For countries that don't have constant sunny weather a solar power source adds an extra liability which in our experience can create more problems then it solves. I mean: when you know the battery runs for one week, you know when you have to swap it. When it's solar powered but you have a week with little sun, you will have to monitor it regularly. This is also effort and in our experience results in more unexpected downtime then simply running on battery.
Adding an extra power outlet to the lighting grid or even temporary power cabling from a nearby source are viable alternatives that are very cost-effective.
So while we are investigating the solar option in our R&D department, until today the results aren't very exciting but we'll continue this and keep you posted!
Pricing
I can understand the MSRP might appear steep. Of course the Mobiqam is a fully customized product with a very intensive R&D history, resulting in a very smart design, an extremely performant battery, flexible networking options, USB recording and clever firm- and software to accompany that.
As said, we are aiming for a model with distributors and integrators and of course they require some margin. Also in our experience our pricing is the lowest on the market when looking at systems with more or less comparable functionality. So i'm afraid I must disagree it's too costly. When looking at alternatives, it's very affordable.
In our experience for many use cases Mobiqam is the most cost effective solution. When looking from an integrator standpoint, it allows you to provide more services (= more revenue) or provide it as a rental solution (very nice ROI scenario).
Thanks again for the feedback! Looking forward to discuss more!
What about having a solar panel as an option? Also is there no way to monitor the battery strength already? If not that is something you absolutely need to add. I would expect to be able to at least get a percentage of battery left when I connected or logged in.
Right, I read that but you mentioned "solar powered but you have a week with little sun, you will have to monitor it regularly." If you have a solar panel as an option to at least trickle charge or provide some power it could be a selling point for the sunny areas. If people can actively monitor the battery I would MUCH rather have to change it every 9 or 10 days instead fo every 7 in spots I can't plug in. Is there an alert when the battery is running low?
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Comments (6)
Undisclosed Integrator #1
This is a very cool product, but that price tag is extraordinary. I would struggle to find a customer for it unless I was offering it as a rental unit which is where I see this being the most practical.
What puzzles me the most is why there isn't a solar cell included to keep the unit going. Swapping battery packs is wholly impractical in many circumstances and even a small cell ought to be enough to fully power the unit if not at least extend the batteries beyond a few days worth of runtime. And honestly, $1,300+ for the SMALL battery is just crazy. Are they wired with gold and platinum cabling?
Overall I like the concept but the execution with the power leaves a bit to be desired, and the cost firmly places this beyond the reach of any of my verticals.
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Ross Vander Klok
What about having a solar panel as an option? Also is there no way to monitor the battery strength already? If not that is something you absolutely need to add. I would expect to be able to at least get a percentage of battery left when I connected or logged in.
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Ilja Theuwissen
Hi Ross,
In my previous reply I already elaborated on the solar panel.
The battery status can be monitored perfectly on the portal. The portal can also send alerts if you wish.
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