Quick story about the new remote:
One of the things I'm doing this year is going through the products and making little tweaks, based on what we've learned by making several thousands of them. Most of these tweaks are relatively invisible, and are things like the Magni 3's stamped chassis. Some are more visible, like the Modi 2's aluminum top. Most are related to quality. This is no different than what any other smart manufacturer does over time, making changes to improve the product or the way it's made.
During the course of this process, one product stood out: the Saga/Freya remote. Sure, it was serviceable. Sure, it was reliable. Sure, it was made for us (overseas) by a reliable remote supplier (based in the USA). But it was a bit ass-y. As in, it looked and felt like ass.
So, I began wondering: what if we made our own remote? As in, what if we went ahead, tooled up, and did a real die-cast remote. I mean, after the tooling costs, we couldn't be looking at an absolute fortune, right?
In short, no. But the cost of tooling was such that we'd need to make ten thousand or so remotes in order to make the pain go away. Which, in the long run, was still fine.
But...
...but, in the process of looking into the die casting process, I found a reputable company already making aluminum remotes for audio gear...remotes that looked pretty good. They even had a neat magnetic-assembly trick for getting to the battery. So I figured, might as well contact them and get a quote. I drew up a quick sketch of our remote, based on their form factor, and asked if they could customize their product to fit our needs, and what the cost would be.
Long story short, they got back to me quickly, with a quote that was no more than the ass-y plastic remote we were already using!
Yes, that's right. No more money. Much better remote. No tooling cost.
Huh?
What was the catch? I decided to place an order and see if there was some kind of gotcha. The company sent along a sample for approval, which worked fine, and we received the first shipment in exactly the time they quoted, and they worked fine, too. So now we have new remotes...better remotes...for the same price as the old ones. Still made overseas, yep, but that's no different than the plastic ones. And I bet everyone likes the new aluminum ones better!
