At a $500 price point you can expect the preorder queue to fill slowly. This is for a hobbyist already in the "serious money" category.
if they dont know how its worth, then they should not even buy the 3GHz version.. even the Ali $50 knockoff version.
It's easy to suggest how to proceed when you're not the one taking the risk.
if they are afraid, they can send me the design and let me order pcb and parts from lcsc/jlcpcb, assemble it with my hand for my personal usage ![Face Palm :palm:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xfacepalm.gif.pagespeed.ic.EBDwh1hCfo.png)
Aren't you a bit childish expecting to be handed something for basically free, that someone spent months of work on, building up intellectual property with the hope to make a profit out of it eventually. Especially with the copycat mentality displayed among Chinese manufacturers, they're bound to fill a pre-order queue first before committing serious money to a larger production run.
Hitting the right price point, and the right target group, with a decent margin, is critical. USD500 retail is already a stretch, IMHO. If the device is built similar to the NanoRFE V2, even with the enhanced specs, that's going to be a tough sell.
if it takes too long, the people in the wait list may quit due to impression that the designers are struggling to meet the promised specs... we may wander off and get the current alternative and try to live with <50dB spec beyond 3GHz just as what we get used to on previous VNA cheaper options such as Deepace unit, here is what i'm talking about ($400 LibreVNA) ps: i have a "one heck of a serious" project waiting for the device. if OwO charge me $700 for their early birdie unit i will not hesitate to pay, even if its aesthetically looks nasty, as long as electrical functionally within the promised spec.
I doubt people will walk away and buy something else, because, what else would they buy? There is nothing with the same performance and the same price point. Alternatives like the PicoVNA 106 sell at over 5000GBP. The real question is whether the target group is large enough to have a business perspective for the product. I have some doubt about that. If you really need a 6GHz VNA, would you buy something off Tindie or Taobao for $500, from a vendor struggling to put the money out for the first production batch, or would you buy a brand-name instrument even if it costs 10 or 20 times as much.
So, the target group are people who don't actually "need" it yet are curious enough to put out half a grand to buy a novelty item for which they have no actual use. It better be a damn sexy thing.