My two-penneth around transparency, and a decision whether to stay with existing
EVO II Pro or to upgrade - at what cost!
What seemed like several decades ago now, I put down my pre-order deposit for the must lauded Smart Controller - for which the waters around delivery have become very muddied on an almost daily basis since.
I don't feel I want to put any blame on my supplier, who originally assured my of a 2nd shipment delivery time in late May, early June; but as time went by with only assurances the SC was shipping anytime soon, a degree of skepticism began to creep in whether CEO Warnas' talk was just that - so much hot air passing across his lips; being long on words and short on substance.
The latest intel' from my local supplier was the original 500 units of V1 configuration had all gone to the US - with supplies to the rest of the world all being sucked into that vortex, to help fulfil an order sheet demand way beyond any ability to supply.
Out of some degree of exasperation, I contacted a supplier I deal with in Shenzhen for a lot of my UAV/ROV equipment to see if there were any V1 SC in that neighbourhood!
Nothing doing there either. For the moment it seems, Autel in China is only manufacturing the V2 SC. When that current production run is completed then some V1 will be produced - subject to chip availability.
I guess my issue around transparency is somewhat biased by the fact that my current
EVO II has barely logged 100 hours of flight time - which I believe to be well within a well maintained operational and depreciated life-span. That said, my questions are:
Do I wait longer in the hope my pre-order deposit might yet guarantee me being able to obtain a V1 SC, so that I can continue to offer a (commercial) service using the equipment I have - but knowing there will literally be no residual value in either the aircraft or SC from day one,
or
Do I suck up the fact the
EVO II I have, has already depreciated down to nothing, because decisions made by others, and well outside my pay-grade, have literally written off a piece of flying kit that I should in the normal course of business have been able to expect at least another 2 - 3 years of use, and just buy a later model
EVO II with the V2 SC?
I appreciate depreciation and assessed equipment failure over time can produce two quite different outcomes, but from my current perspective, using the
EVO II Pro I have as a trade-in to help offset the cost of an almost compulsory upgrade to a
EVO II that is compatible with the V2 SC is not going to work from a monetary perspective. CEO Warnas might have some conundrums of his own to deal with, but so too do the very people who have put their trust, and their hard earned money, into buying expensive equipment from a company where transparency, or lack thereof, is impacting on the livelihood and bottom line of the very people who deserve a much higher level of transparency and surety of product compatibility which does not seem to be getting offered at present.
Autel needs to consider offering V1 SC at a very heavily discounted rate to those who had the compatible
EVO II, perhaps purchased before the end of 2020, or to offer a 'buy-back' of that version of the
EVO II Pro at a guaranteed rate which makes purchasing the upgraded
EVO II and V2 SC less like pouring money into a deep and dark hole - from which Autel would ultimately benefit anyway!
Happy and safe flying ??