Need your opinion on this please! New opportunity

[Vanselena]

I have been just offered to become the first Aftermarket Transducer Company, which will sell transducers for every type of fishfinder, iceducers included.

 

How many people think this would be a good opportunity?

 

Thanks for your opinions.

[huntervasili]

Not to shoot down your hopes or anything but when I get myself a new Fishfinder I plan on getting it with basically everything ready to go in the box. I will choose one with the right features including transducer, so I wont have to mess around with it after. The only way I could possibly see this working is if you offered some sort of new technology unavailable in the box.

[Bernie]

It would take a lot more information than one line to form an opinion Vanselena. Are you going to get any manufacturer support? Is it a quality product at the right price? Will they stand behind warrantys? The list is a mile long. You need to know the answers before you get your feet wet.

Edited February 8, 2008 by Bernie

[irishfield]

In this type of business deal, if you don't know the answer already... then no.

[Vanselena]

The manufacture is the second largest in the world and is top notch. Transducers would sell for about half the price of the sonar companies.

[danc]

The manufacture is the second largest in the world and is top notch. Transducers would sell for about half the price of the sonar companies.

Then it seems like a no brainer. Go for it.

[JustinHoffman]

Getting a business plan together would be your first step. If their is not enough need or want to buy secondary transducer's, then I would think you have your answer.

 

Much like Bill said, most folk (I would say 90%+) but the whole kit and kaboodle when purchasing a fish finder. When upgrading, I would think most buy a whole new unit.

Not sure if you'd have a big enough market buying single transducer's alone...perhaps the hard core guys that want a variety of cone angles, etc., but not the everyday fisherman. Sadly, that's where the most money is to be made in the fishing world...

 

Good luck in your endeavour if you go for it. Just make sure you have all the info, know your market and have a solid business plan before ultimately signing the dotted line.

 

Best of luck,

Justin

[SlowPoke]

Transducers alone? It sounds like huge overhead to cover all brands/frequencies for a small market.

 

I think there would be more of a market for sensors, camaras, downspeed/temp units, black box, downrigger controls etc. compatable with today's network systems.

 

I'm thinking of a hi-res LCD control center that would offer...

- colour monitor for your camara

- downrigger cycling, raise and lower from the console

- black box/positive ion control from the console

- downspeed/temp readouts

- trip function using sensors for fuel flow/fuel remaining/fuel economy

- kicker motor throttle adjustment.

 

I can see a gold mine here in available accessories that would allow users to build on thier systems. A company could develope thier own hardware or just offer adapters/software to interface with already available hardware. A lot licensing hurddles unless it's all home grown hardware.

[Big Cliff]

There are a lot of questions that would have to be answered here before I could give you an answer.

 

Do you have to put any money up to buy inventory?

 

Do they already have established customers here in Canada and if so what is their sales volume?

 

Do they have a marketing program already in place?

 

Are there any other distributors in Canada or the US and if so, what are their sales volumes and typical profit margines?

 

Would this be the only product line you would be carrying?

 

Are you in a position financially to start out on a new venture?

 

Have you ever run a business before?

 

How would you intend to promote the products, are you going to sell to dealers and if so are YOU going to have to make all those sales calls?

 

What is your background, do you have the technical skills to trouble shoot problems if they occure?

 

How did this offer come about?

 

Who is going to cover all your expenses for travel, advertising, phones.......?

 

Could/would you carry other product lines in your new venture?

 

If you were to get sick and couldn't work for three months what would happen to the business, is there a backup plan?

 

If for some reason the business wasn't successful, what would it do to you financially, could you end up loosing everything you have now?

 

There are a lot more questions that need to be addressed before making an informed decision, as Justin said "Getting a business plan together would be your first step." If you are unsure of how to do that I would be happy to help you, I have done many!

 

Don't be afraid to dream, just make sure your dreams are possible!

[TJQ]

These are replacement transducers??? Sound like a great little idea, as long as you dont have to inventory too much product.

[irishfield]

"Not too much inventory" T.J. Have you ever tried to find an accessory for a Lowrance unit.. plug changes every couple of years.

 

Vanselena... do a poll. See how many here have ever needed to buy a replacement transducer. I've bought one in my lifetime...that didn't come with a unit.. and only because I broke the wires above the puck on my portable and couldn't be bothered to cut/splice and reseal. It cost me $32, at the time, at Trembly's tackle shop for an OEM Hummingbird.

 

Big Cliff typed you up a nice list of things you need to do/comprehend before going forward. I was too lazy to do that and summized all that into my one line answer to you.

 

The only sure thing is nobody ever got anywhere just lying on the couch...... well maybe Nicole Simpson !

[Guest gbfisher]

I have had many different Sonar units over the years. I have never replaced a transducer or have I known of anyone who has. Maybe I just don't know many who fish.......

 

Vans. I have to ask. What happened to your UNIT? The one you have been testing and trying to get on the market. The best unit there is going today. The one that says how far away off to the sides, how deep and how warm the water is. All for the best price going. Seems like the better plan to me.

Your buddy Wiley Whitfish has a trans tester . .....Maybe you two could put your heads together and work as a team...

[DT10Sam]

I have a statement that we always use in the store for our employees and this is "If you are on the fence the answer is NO"

 

Hope this is of help.

 

Regards,

Sam

[LeXXington]

Can't say I would choose this type of job. How many would you sell in a year and dispite marking effort etc would you really sell that much more?

 

Then again a job is a job as long as the $$ is good

[ccmtcanada]

I find fish finders to be sort of like having a toy. You go out and buy one and use it for a while. Then it breaks and it's a great excuse to go out and buy a brand new one with better features. If the transducer fails within a year, then warranty should cover it. If it lasts you more than that and newer stuff comes out with better sensitivity, better gps capability, better screen size and graphics and so on, then lots of people would investigate those options.

 

I may be way off the mark, hopefully others will chime in on this one too!

 

Someone had a good idea about starting a poll...would be a great way to measure what you are hoping to find.

[Terry]

man, I must be hard on my equipment

 

I have scraped the heck out of my ducers and had to buy a new one

then I needed a different one for my electric trolling motor and bought a new one

I wanted one for ice fishing so I wouldn't have to keep removing it from the boat and bought a new one

 

then I hit a stump and lost one...and I am sure there are a few more I have needed to replace over the years..

 

oh I just bought one for my x67c ice machine, with a suction cup on it, so I could use it on my folding boat for the back lakes I like to fish

[irishfield]

As you say Cliff... my 50/200 was defective out of the box.. or should I say installed on the boat. Warrantee replacement. Now if that thing fails again.. say 3 years from now.. I won't be buying a new combo unit to replace it, I will buy a transducer alone for a couple hundred bucks vs a few thousand upgrade...and why I told vanselena to start a poll to see what numbers have ever had a need to replace just the transducer. I never had to replace the humminbird transducer on our 26' Tempest in the 20 years we had it.. or the old POS Fiberform we had before it.

 

Okay,, so I see Terry got one in while I was typing. Hope he's not as hard on my stuff next week !

Edited February 8, 2008 by irishfield

[doubleheader]

Sounds like this company is outsourcing the service. If so, they will have sales history to help you in your business plan.

[ccmtcanada]

As you say Cliff... my 50/200 was defective out of the box.. or should I say installed on the boat. Warrantee replacement. Now if that thing fails again.. say 3 years from now.. I won't be buying a new combo unit to replace it, I will buy a transducer alone for a couple hundred bucks vs a few thousand upgrade...and why I told vanselena to start a poll to see what numbers have ever had a need to replace just the transducer. I never had to replace the humminbird transducer on our 26' Tempest in the 20 years we had it.. or the old POS Fiberform we had before it.

 

Okay,, so I see Terry got one in while I was typing. Hope he's not as hard on my stuff next week !

 

I hear you Wayne! Your finder/gps combo has a screen bigger than my living room TV, so I understand where you are coming from....LOL.

 

I'm talking about my own situation, where I have a fish finder that is worth maybe a hundred bucks. People like me are likely to upgrade slowly over time. A little market research would be HUGE in making this kind of business decision (like the poll you suggested). I'd really want to know the percentage of people who are looking to upgrade in the next 12 months vs those who are looking to upgrade up to two years from now, to people who are quite happy with what they have. The sweet zone for replacement transducer business I would think would be in the latter group....with some spill-over into the 1 to 2 year group.

[Vanselena]

I have had many different Sonar units over the years. I have never replaced a transducer or have I known of anyone who has. Maybe I just don't know many who fish.......

 

Vans. I have to ask. What happened to your UNIT? The one you have been testing and trying to get on the market. The best unit there is going today. The one that says how far away off to the sides, how deep and how warm the water is. All for the best price going. Seems like the better plan to me.

Your buddy Wiley Whitfish has a trans tester . .....Maybe you two could put your heads together and work as a team...

 

Hey GB the UNIT is still in development, it takes quite a period of time when developing a new product. Even the Sonar companies with teams of engineers take at least 3 years to develop a product. The good thing is we own the patents and thus we will make sure everything is right befor releasing a product. It is since I have periods of lag time waiting for certain engineers to complete certain tasks that I am looking for other things to do, I hate being idle.

 

Thanks for your response!

[Vanselena]

I hear you Wayne! Your finder/gps combo has a screen bigger than my living room TV, so I understand where you are coming from....LOL.

 

I'm talking about my own situation, where I have a fish finder that is worth maybe a hundred bucks. People like me are likely to upgrade slowly over time. A little market research would be HUGE in making this kind of business decision (like the poll you suggested). I'd really want to know the percentage of people who are looking to upgrade in the next 12 months vs those who are looking to upgrade up to two years from now, to people who are quite happy with what they have. The sweet zone for replacement transducer business I would think would be in the latter group....with some spill-over into the 1 to 2 year group.

 

CCM the interesting thing is transducers do have a ping life, or in other words as time goes on the ceramic becomes less and less sensative. The reason it becomes less sensative is the frequency is actually driven into the sonar element, almost like the same effect as being magnetized and slowly loosing it's magnetism. When a sonar unit becomes less sensative 99% of the time it is because of the transducer and 1% of the time it is due to the transceiver in the sonar head.

 

Over the past 25 years the basic function of sonar has stayed the same and that technology has not improved. What has changed are the bells and whistles. For those that just want to see fish then buying a good unit the first time makes total sense.

 

Just thought I would clear up some sonar info for those that didn't already know.

[RandyLinden]

Tranducers have changed

Over the years there have been a number of different frequencies used.

The common one today is 200Khz but there are a lot of 50Khz, some combination 200/50Khz as well as 192Khz models.

There are also 3 beam transducers, and wide multibeam verisions like on some Hunninbird models.

Then there are the puck style transducers for trolling motor applications with or with out temperature probes, some have paddlwheels for speed sensors built in. The various styles of skimmer type transducers again with or without temp, thru hull, shoot thru hull models portable versions etc. etc.

[Vanselena]

Tranducers have changed

Over the years there have been a number of different frequencies used.

The common one today is 200Khz but there are a lot of 50Khz, some combination 200/50Khz as well as 192Khz models.

There are also 3 beam transducers, and wide multibeam verisions like on some Hunninbird models.

Then there are the puck style transducers for trolling motor applications with or with out temperature probes, some have paddlwheels for speed sensors built in. The various styles of skimmer type transducers again with or without temp, thru hull, shoot thru hull models portable versions etc. etc.

 

I agree there are alot of different types of transducers over the years. One of my favorite sonar units for testing is the old Lowrance LMS 300. It uses 3 frequencies, 50khz, 100khz and 192khz. It also has the ability to see out to the sides. The unit is at least 20 years old and combines loran with sonar. If you want you can even use a 50/192khz transducer instead of seperate elements, which is ok but when using one element for two frequencies the sensativity goes way down. You can even use a puck style transducer for this unit. The power is 3000 watts peak to peak so it is pretty much good for any of our lakes. Of course I couldn't help myself and have pimped the unit to make it even more sensative by adjusting the receiver to match the exact return frequency (another subject all on its own) and have added a 192khz iceducer and a 100khz iceducer, this way I can split the screen using the two frequencies and watch a 9° cone and a 25° cone so when a fish approaches in the 25° cone I know to get ready and when the fish enters the 9° cone I know the fish is watching my lure.