Let me try to enlighten the members here. It is a guesstimate on my part and maybe I am right but also I could be wrong. Take it with a pinch.........
There might be a reason why some equipment are cheap while the others are expensive. It could be from the exchange rate from one country to another or that a country charge taxes from sales of a certain kind of product. Also it doesn't help if the distributor or even the front line sale shop decide to markup the cost of a product. That's their business or it's their way of doing business.
But let's take a look at the product from ADA. This brand has been an issue here in this forum. Mostly it's about the cost of their product. To many, the price to own one of their product is in the premium range. This alone has put off many in this hobby to own one of their product. But it did not prevent the others from purchasing it. Why is that so? What do these people see in such expensive item?
One factor that has failed to be mentioned by anyone in this forum is R & D, the Research and Development stage. ADA didn't create all the product that came from the ADA brand in 1 day. How many version of the lily pipe have been created before the final product is being chosen to be put on sale? What type of glass did they choose? Why was the diameter in the final product to be a certain diameter, why couldn't it be larger or smaller? There might be quite a number of different version of lily pipe being made and tested to find which is best suited for a certain application.
All that question and more is just for the lily pipe alone. What about the ADA filter line? Why must ADA choose Iwaki pump over Eheim or even Aquabee? Why use metal for the canister filter instead of plastic like the other canister filter found in the world? Why the need to create a different filter media product than other brand?
To claim that a hobbyist is just paying for brand alone is absurb. We as the end user do not know how the final product that we see in the lfs actually come to be. How long does it takes from an idea to the actual piece of equipment we use now and how much does that cost the designer/creator/owner to make and perfected before selling it to the market? It is very easy for a person to give a negative comment for an expensive equipment but it is very hard for a person to make a similar product and perfected that item until it has no issue to crop up before selling it to the mass. The aquarium keeping industry is a niche market, it is for those who wants to have but not necessary to have. Any exotic stuff entering this niche market will of course command a premium price.
Another thing I see is the supporter thingy being mentioned. The term ADA supporter is being seen here and there in various thread. As far as I know, ADA is a business entity, not a political party. You are not an ADA supporter if you are using ADA product. You are just an end user to a product you want to use. Nothing more nothing less. You are not a chicken rice supporter if you decide to eat chicken rice right? If by eating chicken rice and in turn you became a chicken rice supporter, can you eat duck rice too? Wouldn't that made you a duck rice supporter then? How many things will you be a supporter in your whole life? This is also another absurb theory in the making. Do not create something which doesn't exist. It could divide the forum which we are adamant to prevent from happening.
Hope this helps!
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