I'm not a fan boy and have never found the need to kiss anyone's ass, but I gotta say that all the negative postings about Fractal's approach here really isn't fair. As I've said, I'm sure that the Version II FX8 was created in an effort to be able to use the same chassis for both the FX8 and AX8. This translates to increased productivity (who hasn't bitched about wait times?) and lower overhead. These are two factors which help to keep the retail price more reasonable. That's the responsible thing for any company to do. What Fractal owes its consumers are things like unparalleled quality and customer service. They have clearly fulfilled their obligations here. They don't owe it to us to raise the price of a new product to make it easier for us to sell our used ones and it's not wrong of them to lower the price of overstocked first generation products they are trying to unload.
I know why you say that, but you can find any number of posts, including many that do things like make demos for Fractal that say things like, "sure just try it and if you don't like it you can easily flip it without losing much money".
And as a rule Fractal hasn't done what they've done with the FX8 previously, so no one would expect to happen if they bought an FX8. I PERSONALLY wouldn't have bought one as quickly if I'd thought I'd be unable to sell it without losing a crapload of money (relative to the initial cost).
My requirements as a musician changed pretty dramatically, and I wanted to buy an AX8, and mostly fund it by selling my FX8.
That is now utterly impossible, due to the fact that there's a new version coming, hot on the heels of the MK1, that's better, and cheaper. So it greatly devalued my purchase and means that I just took a bunch of money and threw it in the trash.
Then they dumped some extremely cheap MK1s on the market just to make sure that anyone wanting a MK1 could get one cheaper new than used.
To be clear of the values being discussed. I paid €1600 for my FX8. Which is 1800 USD. Less than a year after buying it they discontinued it, lowered the price by a third, then have dumped some MK1s onto the market for 700USD less than a new MK1.
I have had a cash offer of €800 so far, after months and months or trying. If I took that I'd lose HALF the money I spent AND then I'd have to spend €1700 for an AX8. Plus the €800 I lost on the FX8. Meaning my AX8 would cost me €2500 or about 2800 USD.
So you know, f*ck me I guess.
Which I wouldn't mind as much if the world and their cousin hadn't reassured me (and anyone else listening) that Fractal gear was legendary for retaining it's value, so I could buy without fear of getting hosed.