[lornecherry]

...good points all around ...I want to emphasize to the naysayers that there is a significant difference between the dNano and the Mini-Z. Try as one might with a Z, you needed to take apart half your living room to set up a decent track. Apartment dwellers? They are really shut out, as a Z on a 10-foot track, no matter what the quality of that track, is not very fun.

I read so many threads from Mini-Z owners who never experienced the ‘miniature race car potential’ in the pre RCP days, because little thought was given to the overall racing experience at the Z’s introduction time. For that (and even though I made/sold tracks for a while), we need to thank RCP. In fact, I know I spent much more time on trying to improve the racing experience than modding the car itself. Those of us that endlessly dabbled in lap counters and tracks can sympathize with the frustration - like driving a Ferrari in 30 MPG zone.

Truth was, the Z was ahead of its time from an engineering perspective, and despite many cloning attempts, it has become the Toyota Camry of 1/24th scale.

The problem with the Z’s a launch was never the concept, quality or even the price, it was where, how and with whom. My biggest problem was WAF (wife acceptance factor), when 30 feet of track replaced our living room furniture on a weekly basis. RC is fun but expensive, divorce is only the later. My point? …if a car and track cost $500, it is not a toy, it’s a hobby and it has to fit into lifestyle of the target market.

Slot cars succeeded because of the easy form factor: set 'em up and race anywhere. Sure there were the die-hards with 200 feet of meandering track alongside a 1/64th scale city that took three months to build … but many parents put a smile on their kids face with a full race setup in the bedroom.

So what does this all have to do with the dNano? In short, the dNano represents the first hobby-class car that can be raced indoors in your own home, in almost space, with lap timing and tunable performance.

Kyosho is fortunate that the dNano concept is capable of outliving teething problems with respect to distribution, provided they do open sales up. (I should not have had to go to Japan to get my lap timer, after posting and asking for a month on the boards …not when the cars have been in the market for 4 months in NA. In this economy, there should have been a dozen dealers clamoring for that $350).

Forbidding authorized Internet sales cost Sony and other high end electronics manufactures huge market share earlier this decade; Kyosho should not make that well-documented mistake. If they authorize Internet dealers, it will not only satisfy customer demand, but gain much-needed advertising and PR, all while protecting the consumer from unauthorized grey marketers.

There are indeed caution flags with respect to giving the Internet-based lap timing to any hobby shop that wants it. Collaborative racing needs to be authorized and centrally controlled, while at the same time it is opened up … RCP has hinted in some threads that he has something in the works along those lines, and that is a good thing.

As for the argument the cars have been on the market for only for 4 months; if there is no strong availability up and running for the Xmas holiday buying systems, the cloners will eat the market share gap faster than you can say iDnano, or whatever name the cloners pick. Rest assured there is someone, somewhere reverse engineering all of Kyosho’s hard work as you read this.

Kyosho needs to understand that they can’t do this alone; and I want to be cautiously optimistic they do understand, given that they appear at least sporadically on these forums and are bringing in partners to make the dNano a racing experience and not just the world’s smallest hobby-class R/C car.

Things should improve, especially when the economy perks up …it’s hard to buy one of these for you or your child, when you see the company that makes your full-scale car parked outside is in Chapter 11. Not to mention that from a corporate perspective, marketing dollars are as hard to come by as a Paris Hilton weight gain.

The driving force behind the launching of the dNano must viewed from an overall market perspective, as a disruptive technology that may eventually replace slot cars altogether. And from that perspective, I kind’a smile every time I think about these little things. Even my wife approves.