Genesis 300B Delay

I ordered the Genesis 300b strobe and battery pack back on November 26th. This is when I first saw the ad in the photography magazines pricing this kits at $289. Within a week of my order the website started showing this kit on backorder.
I just got off the phone with Calumet and was told that due to production problems it will be March before the product ships. I am starting to think that Calumet got caught with their pants down by discounting this kit by $110 and now they are stalling in hopes of people canceling the order so they do not have to honor the price.
This is my first order with Calumet and I am not that impressed so far.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that they can't deliver what they've promised or that they're hoping for customers to cancel their orders. I mean, this is the second year they had this holiday sale on their Genesis lights, am I correct? If they did get "caught with their pants down," then I'm sure they would have learned their lesson from the 1st year.

The 300b wasn't the only light that was heavily discounted: the 200 & 400 strobes + kits were also on sale and were on "backorder" for a little while. Of course, you could be right about this and Calumet could be hoping for customers to cancel their backordered orders.

Nonetheless, it does reflect really poorly on Calumet for having an item on backorder for so long and not being able to estimate the initial sales/interest in their units.

XxDJCyberLoverxX wrote in post #11594691
Nonetheless, it does reflect really poorly on Calumet for having an item on backorder for so long and not being able to estimate the initial sales/interest in their units.

Seems like they are coppying another strobe company
not trying to start another fight
hope you enjoy your lights OP when you get them

sigma pi wrote in post #11594982
Seems like they are coppying another strobe company
not trying to start another fight
hope you enjoy your lights OP when you get them

That's what I was thinking, PLMs have been on back order for ever.

sigma pi wrote in post #11594982
Seems like they are coppying another strobe company
not trying to start another fight
hope you enjoy your lights OP when you get them

haha true. Don't tell me this is a new wave of business model for companies in the photography industry.

First Sigma had a [Slight] delay on their 85mm f/1.4 and other new lenses this year; PCB has had this issue for quite a while; and Calumet is now following?

Juust kidding, just kidding.

I resisted the urge to mention PCB's delays when writing the original message. I figured he had been kicked enough lately. The seemingly common denominator in all of the referenced vendor's delays is the proverbial slow boat to China. I hope this is not going to be the new normal.

When the 300B was first introduced there was also a significant delay.
Could be a component shortage. Even high volume photo equipment uses many fewer of a lot of the electronic components that TV, Computer etc. So they may be down on the fulfillment list when components go into to short supply.

BTW, I have two 300Bs that I haven't used much and have decided to sell to help fund a lens.

PM me if you're interested.

The way it looks to me these companies stack orders and use them to gauge sales volume so they don't buy to much excess stock. Before the days of Newegg and Amazon there were discount sites with very limited offerings. Most would take your order, charge your card and tell you to wait 6-8 weeks for the item to ship. They never disclosed the wait time before you ordered but the savings was substantial enough that most bargain hunters would wait it out. So it's really nothing new for a company to try and count chickens before the hatch and purchase accordingly.

$276.69.. is what is making me wait till march... I was looking into a vagabond or mini lithium.. now i will have a light and battery for around the same price

XxDJCyberLoverxX wrote in post #11595516
haha true. Don't tell me this is a new wave of business model for companies in the photography industry.

hmmm I never thought about that
I hope not

dedsen wrote in post #11595640
I resisted the urge to mention PCB's delays when writing the original message. I figured he had been kicked enough lately. The seemingly common denominator in all of the referenced vendor's delays is the proverbial slow boat to China. I hope this is not going to be the new normal.

Elinchrom does not. They come from India

redrocket wrote in post #11596740
$276.69.. is what is making me wait till march... I was looking into a vagabond or mini lithium.. now i will have a light and battery for around the same price

good point I never thought of it that way.

Plenty of them left in the UK if you want them now, though you will probably pay higher than you would like. I assume they are all the same.

Highly recomended, btw.

Unfortunately, the UK, European version is 240V and the US is 120V.
The Genesis in not bi-voltage.

My mistake, I thought the OP was referring just to the battery pack, rather than the gun.

I assume the battery packs are all 12v, and are identical/interchangea​ble?