Totem basic price hike

Dear Reboot,
You need to do you're research before you say that the only Aliens that Totem cam misses are the blue and black ones. Fixe was carrying all the plus sizes, but now it appears on their website that they don't. They still offer that elusive range in between the red and yellow with the grey. Don't even bother to add that the offsets covered it as Fixe now adds those(offsets),to its product line. Who would be dumb to buy the Totem basic cams now that they are ten dollars more than they were, it was really worth it before. The new Aliens are now rated(not like the days of old), plus you can get the blue and BLACK. Totem just slipped in my opinion. Time for those extraterestrials to fill the nitch like they were meant to. R.I.P. Wagoneer! THX!

Killing In The Name Of wrote:Nah, usually Ray has good stuff to say. I'm guessing it's been about three weeks or so since he's gotten laid and his coffee machine's broken, or equivalent. Reel 'er back in, cowboy!

I haven't had this much sex since I was Boy Scout leader.

Ray Pinpillage wrote: I know you won't get this but it's kinda nice having local dealers carry the gear. You know, the dealers you demand take your broken shit back at the drop of a hat. Anyhow, I'll let you get back to worrying about what everyone else is doing, it seems like a full time job for you.

nice enough to pay an extra 10 smackaroos per cam ... or around a 15% increase in price? that "pay more because we are a brick and mortar store" argument is passe, died in the 90s for good reason =P

good luck returning those cams to any dealer which aint REI or MEC ... short of a defect

worrying, why thats the pot calling the kettle black ;)

Totem probably looks at the currency exchange rate and the predictions like anyone else setting a price for the next year. The dollar isn´t looking too good at the moment.

Except the vast majority of climbers dont have the allusive black card. One would have to be pretty dull to buy Tolem cams with the thought that the extra bling hanging from one's harness would rack in a few more girls, as they would be impressed a fine taste in exotic Euro cams. Rock climbing is not really a "bling, bling rack in all the double D tited hoes with your Visa" type activity. That is more suited to rap music videos with undereducated morons driving golf carts with golden spinners while chugging Sapporo's Space Barley.

How often gear goes on sale, Im surprised anyone pays full price for a cam. Once totem's hit stores Im sure they'll go on sale at some point.

dan k. wrote:Fixe was carrying all the plus sizes.

That's the operative word here, was, just like the totem basic was $20 cheaper than the Fixe.

dan k. wrote:They still offer that elusive range in between the red and yellow with the grey.

And Totem made the red slightly smaller so there's much less (if at all) need for that after-thought in-between size.

dan k. wrote:Who would be dumb to buy the Totem basic cams now that they are ten dollars more than they were

Who would be dumb to buy the Fixe when there's an improved version that still costs less? (lower profile axle termination resulting in slightly narrower overall head width, flexible trigger wire mesh instead of rigid wire so when the lobe is a bit deformed the cam won't have as much trouble fully expand). Fixe may have bought the name but Totem is actually taking the design forward (as evident by their attempt at making an internal spring blue). I know which I'd rather support.

They claimed on their blog that the blue should be out in may.

February 20, 2013 at 18:30:31

The blue and blue/green hybrid sizes will be released for May in USA. In Europe in June.
New model of Basic Cam will be released with much better looking and lighter.
Regards,

Mikel

Yeah thats a good point. Apparently they have it dialed in now, but Ill believe it when I see it. Good looking cam though.

Jim Titt wrote:The dollar isn´t looking too good at the moment.

Compared to the Euro, or Spain in general, the dollar looks pretty damn good I'd say. Trying to pin this on FX rates is silly, the EUR/USD is trading at the midpoint of its 5 yr range.

Yay for a blue/green hybrid. This is probably the only cam of my original alien hybrids that I routinely carry when free climbing.

Even if they're going up by 15%, I don't think Totem every really had sales and in my experience it isn't very difficult to find some other retailer that has a 20% off discount in addition to any price matching and/or rewards that you can stack on. So MSRP will be higher, but the actual price you end up paying will likely be lower.

This is Mikel from Totem.
I hope you will find the prices acceptable. As someone commented in this forum we are cutting down costs and now we are able to sell to retails. We need to continue in this job
The definitive date for blue and blue/green hybrid Basic Cams release is May 1st. All Basic Cams will be updated. Changes: diagonal microteeth more aggressive than actual Totem Cam microteeth, color coded upper trigger plate, ergonomic aluminum trigger, brand stamp in outer trigger sheath, rounded copper swage, anodized aluminum trigger inner sleeve. Functionally the new model will be almost the same as old. 0.21oz lighter and much better looking. As soon as we have photos available we will announce them in our web.

Ian Stewart wrote:Even if they're going up by 15%, I don't think Totem every really had sales and in my experience it isn't very difficult to find some other retailer that has a 20% off discount in addition to any price matching and/or rewards that you can stack on. So MSRP will be higher, but the actual price you end up paying will likely be lower.

only true if they sell em at online stores ... if they want to bring it into the "hands of more climbers" ... ie touch and feel ... its likely smaller shops that are less likely to discount

or they could go the REI/MEC route

either way the price as it stands is 15% higher on average

heres a suggestion for totem ... since there was no warning about this price jump, you might want to have a short period where your fans can buy the cams off you directly for the lower price ...

its not like your costs have suddenly jumped from last week

Will S wrote: Compared to the Euro, or Spain in general, the dollar looks pretty damn good I'd say. Trying to pin this on FX rates is silly, the EUR/USD is trading at the midpoint of its 5 yr range.

However the dollar has been on a steady slide from it´s high last year of .81 and the projection is generally around the 0.7 mark for the end of this year. Any European manufacturer that doesn´t take this into account setting prices for this year is a fool.

Hey Mikel, thanks for posting the updated features. Sounds great!

It's also nice to see a company with a personal, responsive presence on these kind of forums. Best of luck to Mikel and Totem.

Will S wrote:Best of luck to Mikel and Totem.

+1

Mikel, the new cams are sounding good. Im sure I speak for most everybody when I say we are all looking forward to that blue basic. As far as prices go, it was a shock to me when all of a sudden the price went up $10 each. Especialy when I had a set amount budgeted for another set. Regardless I do think you guys make a fine product, while now more costly, the quality is there for sure. Keep up the good work.

I'm not going to lie... now that blue is coming out with internal springs, I may just have to buy blue through red to augment my master cams!

mapeze wrote:This is Mikel from Totem. I hope you will find the prices acceptable. As someone commented in this forum we are cutting down costs and now we are able to sell to retails.

Which retail outlets are you targeting?

So if the new cams with the changes aren't available does Totem really expect many people to actually pay the $70 for what most of us just paid $60 for? I was planning on buying a few more, but I'll wait till the new ones come out, then I'll be comparing them with the BD-X4, which looks more durable and has more range for the same cost. The cam market is now saturated with very similar cams, so most likely I'll buy whichever is cheapest. The market will have it's say.