[LRflex] How to sell more M8s, well, sort of...

  • From: William Abbott <wbabbott3@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:26:31 -0700

Hi all,
When I recently cleaned the sensor in my DMR, I found myself gazing at the sensor plate on the R9 door and hefting the power/motor drive portion (less battery) and it dawned on me, how incredibly "simple" it would be to remove the original DMR sensor and computer and splice in their M8 equivalents, maintaining through firmware the DMR/R9 (or R8) interface. Hm...
That is how this note, "How to sell more M8s, well, sort of..." came to be.
Please, don't laugh yet. I know, I know, the M8 sensor is a different size and a new, stamped metal piece might be required to mount it, there may be a need for an interface box to condition DMR power to M8 needs, and a digital transform matrix might be needed to allow the M8 computer to talk intelligibly to the R9/8 hardware.
The optical interface of the DMR is very different, and the M8 sensor might not be usable "as is" and require expensive modifications, etc., etc. Perhaps only the digital portion of the DMR could reasonably be updated, retaining the original sensor and optical interface.
There are a thousand and one reasons why such a scheme would not work, of which I am not aware, and I defer to your superior experience, insight, and knowledge of how the "real" world works to "put me straight." I am only asking, "Why not?"
Practically, new production and quality assurance fixtures, gauges, and test and acceptance equipment would have to be designed, built, tested, and proofed, but the M8 experience is there to draw upon. Production and quality personnel would require training as well, but once again, the M8 experience is already there.
The payoff, aside from customer satisfaction? The engineering development costs of the M8 are spent, sunk, and are now being recovered through the sale of each M8. The sort of kluge (to use a technical term) I am describing would enable Leica to sell a few more sets of M8 electronics with a very small additional development cost, far below that of an entirely new product, and help defray M8 startup costs.
Even if the DMR production run was only 3000 units (a number I remember seeing somewhere), such an "update," to "DMR Zwei," might sell a goodly portion of that number, helping even modestly to recover the M8 development costs.
I know I'd be tempted if offered the chance to update my old (now!) reliable R9/DMR combo, even if it was for the M8 electronics only and kept the original sensor; whether such an offering would significantly cannibalize R10 sales I cannot say, but it could reduce eventual support costs of the original DMR to near zero if enough DMRs were updated to near-M8 standards.
Nonetheless, I think the idea is worth few minutes of calculations on the back of an envelope by the knowledgeable people in Solms, and I hope this observation will at the very least provide a laugh to the Leica people who are charged with monitoring this list and keeping up with what the the dedicated Leica users who populate it are up to now. 

What do you think? Is a DMR Zwei possible?

With all best wishes,

Bill

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