Owner's Manual(s)

[weirdjim]

I don't think that anybody on this forum that has been around aviation for a few years hasn't heard of RST Engineering (Kit Avionics). We started back in 1973 in a back bedroom in San Diego and have been going for 38 years, some ups, some downs.

Honest, this isn't a sales pitch. This is a real request for how you all think about something.

Here's the problem ... paper/printing costs are going out of sight. What we used to pay for a ops/construction set of manuals has tripled in the last five years.

We are considering going to a CDROM based manual system. There are definite advantages and definite disadvantages.

Advantages: Full color for the same price; we can fit ALL our manuals for all our products on a single disc; we can have "show me" video for complex procedures; we can change a single word or two without reprinting the whole manual; cost of a single disk is pennies; if you spill coke or beer on a disk you can wash it clean; you can have a printed manual by printing one out from the disc.

Disadvantages: Hard to use on a workbench; can't check off steps as you go; isn't as warm and fuzzy as treeware.

So, for a hypothetical $100 product, would you prefer to keep the price at $100 and get a CDROM or jack the price up to $110 and get a paper printed manual?

This ain't a Chinese dinner. Can't have one from column A and one from column B. All digital or all paper. Which way would you prefer to go?

Thanks,

Jim

 

[dmccormack]

One page "Quick Launch" sheet in box with links to your web site.

It works for MicroSoft....

 

[JesseD]

I'd go with the disc, BUT, give the customer a PDF checklist on there too. That way they can print it out themselves.

 

[ClimbnSink]

Disk. Even better have the stuff on your website. When I need a product manual now first place I go is to the companies website. Might print a page or two and bring it out to the garage. Plus you can get them on your phone. Only caveat is if your customers are not very computer literate. I don't know what the solder stuff at home demographic contains. I'd guess you could have luddites and very competent computer folks in the mix.

 

[weirdjim]

We've done that demographic, albeit a few years ago. There is a very strong attraction between pilots, sailors, photo bugs, and computer nerds. If you are into one of them, the odds are even that you will be into one of the other three.

With the requirement that all libraries have computer terminals and folks that can help you use them, there aren't a lot of places where you can't pull something from the 'net.

I really like the idea of online manuals. That way we don't have to print anything but a link to the site. That's clever.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Bob Noel]

Caveat: I'm not one of your customers. It's been years since I've completed any kits (the healthkit H-89 was my favorite kit).

If you go the online manual route, please please please let the user download the manual. This will facilitate printing. I really dislike the John Deere online manual.

 

[Tom-D]

I bought 5 of the RST head sets and they worked great and still do..

Why not simply place a Power point presentation on your web site, the customer could down load the power point presentation and print what they need.

 

[gismo]

I'd skip the CDROM and just put PDFs on your website. It's pretty much a given that anyone who can print or view manuals from a CDROM can download content from the internet. In addition, I'd bet that anyone who would consider putting one of your kits together wouldn't have any trouble with downloads. I like manuals from a website because I can access them from multiple places and revisions are painless. A CDROM is likely to get lost and/or outdated but the internet is forever. And if you put in a little extra effort you can include linked indexes and TOCs.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I'd skip the CDROM and just put PDFs on your website. It's pretty much a given that anyone who can print or view manuals from a CDROM can download content from the internet. In addition, I'd bet that anyone who would consider putting one of your kits together wouldn't have any trouble with downloads. I like manuals from a website because I can access them from multiple places and revisions are painless. A CDROM is likely to get lost and/or outdated but the internet is forever. And if you put in a little extra effort you can include linked indexes and TOCs.

What Lance said. Plus, with things on a web site you can use them easily from netbooks, MacBook Airs, iPads, phones, and other devices that don't have a CD-ROM drive. Also, I bet the bandwidth for a manual download is probably cheaper than the cost of producing the CD-ROMs.

I have collected a bunch of POH's, avionics manuals, and such over the years that I keep on my hard drive. I love it when companies make them available by PDF. Plus, then I can also read the manual before purchase/installation so that when I finally have the box, I already know how to use it (at least somewhat).

 

[schmookeeg]

For the record, I hate sailing and photography

I'm surprised a web-accessible library of PDFs wasn't the first thing you thought of. Our maintenance shop is all computerized, and if they REALLY feel the need to hold the paper, they print that page out. Presto.

First thing happening to a CD with manuals? getting lost.

First thing happening to a printed manual? getting lost.

At least for me.

I'll host your manuals for you if you're worried about bandwidth/hosting charges. I love your stuff and the whole idea of your company.

$0.02

- Mike

 

[peter-h]

Depends on how big the manual is.

If it is 500 pages then best to supply it on a CD, with a "get started guide" in a booklet.

If it is 50 pages then get it printed using a modern process - about $0.50 for a stapled booklet produced on a Docutech or similar machine. Feed a tree and a PDF one end, and they pop out the other. That price is for 1k; if you print 10k-100k then get them printed offset litho which will be even cheaper.

Nobody wants a CD to read a 50-page manual, especially if they actually need the manual to make the thing work.

And put PDFs of everything on a website. Works wonders in reducing phone call volume.

That's what I do and I've been at it since 1978 (serial interface / protocol converters, etc).

 

[weirdjim]

For the record, I hate sailing and photography


I'll host your manuals for you if you're worried about bandwidth/hosting charges. I love your stuff and the whole idea of your company.

$0.02

- Mike

I love sailing, gliding, photography, pornography (but I can't find a decent pornograph to play them on any more), and power flying. Not necessarily in that order.

Thank for the offer, but I've got bandwidth coming out my ears.

I love my stuff too, and the idea of it, if you must know, is son of Heathkit. I must have put together half a hundred of those things when I was a kid and I just loved the idea.

By the way, Heathkit failed as a business model when the suits took it over with the phrase "We won't let you fail." Hell yes, we'll let you fail, and we don't have the time to repair the damage you caused by sloppy workmanship. Just imagine what a fix Van would be in if every hamhand who showed up with an RV nailed together and patched with duct tape and said, "fix this, please."

 

[Ted]

Online manuals. That way as you make updates, the latest revision is always there. Make it a PDF so people can print it out if necessary.

 

[weirdjim]

OK, the vote is in and the winner by a landslide is "post it PDF on your website (along with all revisions from all the years). That's a hell of a lot of work, posting 35 years of a couple of hundred manuals, but all it will take is time (and I've got a new automatic feed scanner that ought to make it a lot simpler).

Now, can anybody tell me how to print out this whole thread so that I can show it to "the boss" (and you married folks know damn good and well who I'm talking about)? :wink2:

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Ted]

Jim,

I would hit Ctrl+P (or File -> Print), and then make sure to cut it off at your last post so that "the boss" doesn't get angry.

 

[JOhnH]

It seems to me that with all the cost savings of going digital, rather than make the choice to continue to charge $100 for a CD or raise the price to $110 for a printed copy, you should offer the CD for about $20 or $30 (or whatever a more realistic cost might be). I never felt that manuals should be a profit center, except for 3rd party manuals that are better than the manufacturer manual.

 

[jesse]

It seems to me that with all the cost savings of going digital, rather than make the choice to continue to charge $100 for a CD or raise the price to $110 for a printed copy, you should offer the CD for about $20 or $30 (or whatever a more realistic cost might be). I never felt that manuals should be a profit center, except for 3rd party manuals that are better than the manufacturer manual.

It can be highly annoying. I just bought a $15,000 motorcycle. I had to pay another $100 to get the damn manual for it.

 

[wabower]

I feel your pain. Must be difficult to decide which of those decisions was dumber. :wink2:

It can be highly annoying. I just bought a $15,000 motorcycle. I had to pay another $100 to get the damn manual for it.