Thursday, May 28, 2009

Mr. Curious

Mr. C has been outta the loop for awhile but apparently got sucked in recently by all the new Impulse hoopla and sent in this question.

Is the new Impulse Smart Parts' response to the Planet Eclipse Geo?

14 comments:

papa chad said...

I'd say it's more "purposefully mid-end" and the GEO is more like "take your choice between our two high-ends."
If there is only one milling pattern per gun these days, they could have made it look better.
Despite that, it will probably be really expensive for some months before it gets to it's real price range.

Baca Loco said...

Bbbzzzttt! You've missed Mr. C's point I think, PC.

papa chad said...

well, crap.

Anonymous said...

Sort of, I think that SP wants to see if bringing back an incredibly successful gun (in it's day) will rival the success of the luxe. Lots of people are stoked to see the impulse come back and it already has an established fanbase, and there will also be all the lovers of the luxe that like poppits aswell to add to the potential buyers.

To answer the question, I think Smart Parts is bringing the Impulse back to see if they can be successful with it after seeing the success of the Geo.

Pelc said...

I think what baca is trying to get at is that PE released the Geo to have a spool valve gun to take customers from Smartparts and Dye, trying to corner the market a bit with both types of high end guns.

I would think it is because of that. Before that all companies pretty much made only there one type of gun to draw a fan base maybe for a style of gun? but now that PE was smart enough to offer both i'm sure all the companies will follow in their footsteps to get back lost customers to the different style guns.

Missy Q said...

I think people are assuming that the Geo has been a great success and eaten into SP's market share. I think even SP assume this. If you buy into this train of thought then sure, this is an attempt by SP to buy back market share at the expense of the Etek/Ego.

If however the Geo has not actually been successful after its initial hoop-la, then this is another high-end gun looking for a piece of a rapidly shrinking high-end gun market. Paintball company's always think that if their numbers are down, then it must be because someone else is doing all the business. If this is not the case, and business is actually down accross the board, then inserting another gun into a high-end price-point is not going to help.
The Impulse looks great. I'm sure it will work great. But I would have loved to have seen a version at $500 retail, creating a buzz in the (still) lucrative mid-range marketplace.

SSRoman said...

Smart Parts had a gun at every market level (entry, mid, high end, woodsball) except poppit. My guess, look for Dye to release a poppit as well, or maybe some Smart Parts goggles next year.

Mike said...

It isn't a response to the Geo,
It's a response to all the newer guns.
The Victory, Geo, Luxe, DM9... Smart Parts I think was losing a chunk of the market without a gun in that range. The Luxe was too exclusive and pricy and from what I've heard the Impulse will be around $999 new... so slightly more affordable then Geo/DM9. etc.

Missy Q said...

No, they didn't, and havn't got a gun at every level.
They have the Vibe (entry/rental), the SP1 (scenario entry), the Ion XE (tournament entry), and they have the LUX (super-hi-end)
The other guns, the Eos, Shocker etc, are not being made anymore, which is why I was expecting someything in the mid-range, especially with the Impulse name/reputation.
I expect SP fans may now get an Impulse instead of a LUX, which doesn't really work for SP. I think Ego fane may have bought a Geo instead of an Ego, which is equally useless to the manufacturer. The only thing worse than this would be to do what planet did, and have 2 hi-end guns at the same price-point. In my opinion manufacturers (all of them) need to recognise the existing demands of the marketplace, not try to shape those demands.

Pelc said...

Missy-
You're right about smartparts loosing some profit by selling the impulse instead of the luxe now but I think what PE did was pretty good. They offer both styles of high end guns at the same price so they won't loose any profit but they can possible take some customers from the high end spool valve gun producers.

Missy Q said...

The issue of having 2 guns at the same price-point is that you are doing twice the work, and stocking twice the inventory, to sell roughly the same amount of guns. If the second gun hits a broader area of the market you can recognise an expansion in sales and build your customer base and brand loyalty, preparing clients for a purchase of your high-end product as they move up the ranks.

anonachris said...

Dye is the only smart company of the bunch, holding off releasing a new high end gun in the teeth of a recession (depression). By the time people have money they are actually willing to part with, the Impulse, Luxe, Geo, etc. will be old hat. Just in time for a new whizbang by Dye.

sdawg said...

Are they really not making the Shocker anymore?

papa chad said...

well, it's the luxe. So in comes the impulse so that SP can have a flagship alongside their other flagship "high quality" luxe. I think a part of the DLX brand name was to make people think "quality" shocker, not SP shocker. They shook off the stigma and provided (provide) excellent tech support.