New lower price for the 16gig CF cards

[Diego Velasco]

Did anybody else buy the 16gig CF cards at $550 a piece and then a couple of days later noticed that RED had dropped the price to $495???

I can't believe that I spent the money buying 6 cards and 4 days later realized I spent an extra $330 for nothing... Bad business if you ask me.

 

[Shawn Nelson]

Did anybody else buy the 16gig CF cards at $550 a piece and then a couple of days later noticed that RED had dropped the price to $495???

I can't believe that I spent the money buying 6 cards and 4 days later realized I spent an extra $330 for nothing... Bad business if you ask me.

High tech prices go down, it's the nature of things and has been for decades. Only buy memory when you need it then don't look back.

This is like complaining that London is foggy and Egypt is hot.

Unless a member of Red personally told you that CF prices were stable, you've got no complaint. I own 10 8gb cards and havent bought a single 16gb because I think that even $500 is too much. I think that 2x8gb in volume should *always* be less than 2x the 8gb in cost. If you think otherwise, don't complain about price drops. You got to use the cards.

 

[Stefan Scherperel]

So what happens if we have allready paid for the 16GB cards, but have not yet recieved them. I was told by my rep that they are still not caught up on shipping.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I have a couple on back-order and I was told I get the new price (and free RED Caps!). Technically I already paid for the cards, but used that balance toward RED-RAM. So they will have to bill me again when the cards are ready to ship. Should be like this week or early next week according to the last guesstimate that I heard.

As for Diego's complaint... All I can say is that this stuff happens. Prices drop. RED has to draw the line somewhere. If they announce a price cut, then everyone would stall their purchase until the price drops. Like Shawn said... it's like buying memory. You buy RAM or hard drives, same thing happens. I buy tons of computer components every year and it's not uncommon for me to buy a crate of hard drives, only to see a 20% price adjustment within the next 48 hours. I can't complain, I obviously thought the price was OK when I did buy. And Hitachi distribution isn't Wal-Mart or Burger King. And neither is RED. So that's that...

 

[Diego Velasco]

Hey guys

I understand that technology changes everyday, it's just frustating after going in person to the RED store and meeting face to face with my Bombsquad guy and buying not one but 2 cameras and the get kick in grind 4 days later. You think you build a relationship with somebody and then this happens... (come to think of it, maybe it's the story of my life)

Funny thing is that RED always compares it's self to apple and when Apple does something like this they usually give you credit towards another purchase.

Thanks

 

[Etienne Caron]

I have now the 16 GB cards and i'm trying to sell my 8 Red CF cards... No buyers at the horizon, even if i'm selling them at 50% off their value (i have them since 6 months).

Electronic device have a average lost of 20% of its value per year. But its not the case for all of electronic hardware i guess.

IM little worried... since i want to upgrade to EPIC and want to sell a lot of stuff from the Red, like the Red Dovetail that i've never use in my life...

Dont want to be stock with gear or have to give them for free, like the 8 GB cards that i have to sell right now...

 

[nick allsop]

is there any chance as a good will gesture that Red could ship out caps to those that have already purchased 16GB cards at $550

 

[Brent J. Craig]

Diego, have you asked Red nicely about this? If your order hasn't shipped I suspect they might do something for you.

 

[Sean Sweeney]

Etienne, what kindof deal are you offering? Just a straight 50% per card...any chance of a package deal for all of them? PM me if you'd prefer it to stay private.

 

[Darren Orange]

Just to note you should ask for a price match, they aren't best buy but I would think that that they would refund the money. Does RED have a policy on this? Like a 30 Day price match or something in case they do lower their prices?

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Funny thing is that RED always compares it's self to apple and when Apple does something like this they usually give you credit towards another purchase.

LOL!!! I bought Shake for $4200 and Apple dropped it to $1999 less than a week later. I bought a second copy several months down the road at $1999 and they dropped the price to $499 two weeks after that. True story. I called and complained, especially on the first price drop. No concessions, no apologies other than, "I'm sorry, sir...". Apple has a 15-day return period, but software that is open is not eligible.

Apple did however send out about 25,000 iTunes or Apple Store gift cards over the iPhone price shift.

Anyway, I know it's frustrating... Been there, had it happen to me with several other products.

I'm betting that your RED bomb squad rep didn't even know about the price change on CF cards until it happened. You should talk to your rep about this if you haven't. If they have not shipped your cards yet -- the cards are on back-order right now, then they should adjust the price for you.

 

[Andrew Martin]

Andi.

 

[Steve Sherrick]

High tech prices go down, it's the nature of things and has been for decades. Only buy memory when you need it then don't look back.

This is like complaining that London is foggy and Egypt is hot.

Unless a member of Red personally told you that CF prices were stable, you've got no complaint. I own 10 8gb cards and havent bought a single 16gb because I think that even $500 is too much. I think that 2x8gb in volume should *always* be less than 2x the 8gb in cost. If you think otherwise, don't complain about price drops. You got to use the cards.

I think that theory might not hold up in this case because Red had to develop their own 16gb card because no one else could make one fast enough. So, that R&D is passed on to the customer. I have not jumped at the 16GB cards yet, but I would like to move on from 8GB cards at some point. 64GB would be nice. That would be like having a betasp tape in terms of recording time.

 

[Shawn Nelson]

I think that theory might not hold up in this case because Red had to develop their own 16gb card because no one else could make one fast enough. So, that R&D is passed on to the customer. I have not jumped at the 16GB cards yet, but I would like to move on from 8GB cards at some point. 64GB would be nice. That would be like having a betasp tape in terms of recording time.

Being able to handle Red's speed is a fixed target (for the next year until Epic is released). So I fully expect the open market to give us a 16gb fast enough for $300 within 6 months (probably 3-4 months)

 

[Steve Sherrick]

Being able to handle Red's speed is a fixed target (for the next year until Epic is released). So I fully expect the open market to give us a 16gb fast enough for $300 within 6 months (probably 3-4 months)

As long as the QC on those cards is tight. I tried the Lexar UDMA 8GB route and it worked for the most part, but one of the cards bit me in the ass on a shoot. The RED 8GB cards have been flawless. So, whatever QC they are doing to ensure the cards are optimal seems to be working. Not to say there won't be a 16GB option that works and will be cheaper. If it comes about, and tests show they are solid, I will explore that option.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Yep, I've had some bad 8GB Lexars...

I've only ordered two 16GB RED cards. The 8GB cards actually work just fine for me most of the time, I've gotten so used to them. If I need longer record times I just use the drives and now RED-RAM. 'RAM is bad-ass. Way more peace of mind than shooting to the drives. With the drives, I found myself backing up every 20 to 30 minutes of footage shot, many people think I'm nuts. I swap out the drives and offload, but don't delete anything off a drive until I have multiple backups made after the shoot.

I agree with Shawn. There will be open market solution in the coming months. I think we can also count on RED's prices to continue to drop as well. In 6 months, I think a 16GB CF card will cost $300 or less, whether you buy it from RED, Lexar or somewhere else.