Re: Syquest PCMCIA drive w/ removable media

[Randy Whittle <whittle@usc.edu>]

At 04:38 PM 10/7/96 HST, David Ross wrote:
>> It's a PCMCIA type III device with a removable 100 MB cartridge (a-la
>> ZIP and other Syquest products).  Basically a Zip-like drive that fits
>> into a PCMCIA slot.  Cartridges are about 2" square and weigh less
>> than an ounce - pretty impressive for 100 MB.  I can't find any more
>> info about it.
>
>Syquest was hyping this big time last Spring - lots of space on their web
>page, etc.  I saw an ad (w/photo) for it in the TigerSoft catalogue -
>looked great, and I was all set to buy one.  Then, all mention of it
>suddenly disappeared.  I emailed Syquest, and they didn't respond.
>Clearly, they withdrew it, and for some reason didn't want even to
>acknowledge it had ever existed. A pity, I think there is  big market
>for such a device.

        I first saw this thing at Comdex Las Vegas in November 1993--just a
couple months before I secured my first ThinkPad (a 750C).

        I had assumed they would be bringing it out soon after, but as usual
SyQuest always has some bugs to work out.  I never heard about it again
until John Kim's mention of it here.

        If you're not already aware, SyQuest has had a few financial
problems (dipping earnings, mainly).  The Iomega Zip drive's success has
really hurt them and they've been playing catch-up ever since.  Furthermore
a lot of their customers are pretty unhappy with some very weird pricing
policies (I'm one of them).  For instance, 2 1/2 years ago a 105 MB
removable drive could be had--apparently uses the *identical* cartridge as
the competitor to the (EZFlyer) Zip uses, except that the EZFlyer capacity
is 135 MB.  Today, the EZFlyer carts--which appear to be identical--cost a
mere $20 a piece.  The 105 MB carts are over $50.  You'd think they'd back
off on the pricing here, given the EZFlyer cartridge is virtually identical
and holds more.  Its bad enough to be holding obsolete equipment, even more
bad to watch the mfgr. screw you on pricing of the "consumables".

        Even though I still have a SyQuest drive (the 275 version--which
appears to have been usurped by the successor to the EZFlyer which is 250 MB
or something), it wouldn't hurt my feelings if SyQuest went out of
businesses.  They've been playing some really silly games in pricing their
old products with respect to their new ones.  This would be forgivable if
the new ones were significantly different, but they're not.

-------
Randy Whittle		rwhittle@usa.net
USC Graduate School of Business    http://www-scf.usc.edu/~whittle
  "If you've been in the game for 30 minutes and still don't know who
is the patsy...*YOU* are the patsy."      - Warren Buffet