A woodworking forum for woodworking hobbyist and woodworking projects related and unrelated to the Shopsmith MARK V
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They quit making Mark VII's 50 years ago!;) Current model is a Mark 7.chris jay wrote:Well the wood working show in Sacramento was pretty good. Lots of great stuff. SS did have a both so I ordered the 520 upgrade along with the power pro. My pockets are a little light at the moment, but I think it made sense rather than buying a Mark VII with would have sent me back another 1200 plus 500 for shipping
) and called it a Mark VIII. robinson46176 wrote:SS should have had the sense to not recycle a model ID...
Several farm tractor manufactures have done that and it makes a parts department nightmare.
They should have generated another function (maybe a paperweight
I am sure they had reasons for starting back up with the Mark V but I still think that it would have been better (all other things being equal) to have cured the two problems with the Mark VII and started there... An aluminum cam and an aluminum rack gear would have cured its problems.
The other thing they failed at was not designing a quick easy to use lock to keep some kid or nosey neighbor (or an idiot BIL) from turning the speed control dial without the motor running. How many times a week do we warn some new guy about the speed control?
I love my Shopsmith's but I do get really annoyed with companies that fail to correct weaknesses as soon as they pop up. Sometimes it is $$$$ and sometimes it is just blind ego.
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Despite themselves they still manage to do business !chris jay wrote:Yes they really need some help in their marketing and promotion area. The product is great and has a sting following. If marketed better, they could really increase their sales
I think it ain't so easy. They are competing not only with the all the other tool manufacturers but even against themselves because they have made something like a million of these machines and, if you check ebay and craigslist, there's no shortage of them, many of them in excellent condition and selling for a fraction of the new price.chris jay wrote:Yes they really need some help in their marketing and promotion area. The product is great and has a sting following. If marketed better, they could really increase their sales
Yes for sure, however if I hadn't purchased my used Mark V I would've invested in the Mark 7 for a little more money. It would've save me a lot of time. No regrets with what I have , and what's coming. I'm self employed and marketing today is huge for any businessdusty wrote:Heaven knows, they have already had more than their fair share of free marketing advise - all of which they seem to be ignoring.
If we could get their attention, maybe they would pay us some of those big marketing fees for that same "free" advise. You know how it goes - if it is worth having, it is worth paying big bucks to acquire. POINT - Mark 7.