With the A10x series now impossible to loot, the prices have been rising quickly. This leads many people to consider alternatives, but its hard to determine if the alternatives are even worth it. Lets take a look at how the numbers stack up between the alternatives.
The A103 adds 12 points, the Boom ACC(L) adds 10. Both similar in TT value with the A103 worth 30 and the ACC worth 37. When adding in the factors for efficiency, if you bought them both for TT value they would both just about equal out. (The A103 comes out very slightly ahead.) The ACC goes into the trash, and the A103 gets repaired.
Markup on ACC is about 105%, so the markup is about 1.85 PED/amp you purchase. Now suppose you hunt once a day and burn an amp down to zero each time. In one month, you will have spent 55.50 PED in markup for the ACC. Thats not a small number. Its a small global.
It immediately makes sense that if you plan on burning through 30 amps, and you could buy an A103 for less than TT+55.50 PED, you should buy the A103. But keep in mind, this is only if you hunt through 30 amps. For many people, thats a month. What happens if you hunt through one each day for 6 months? thats 180 amps. It sounds like alot, but it is not all that unusual. the markup for 180 ACC amps is +333 PED. Thats PED that just evaporates, gone to markup. You really would have been MUCH better off with an A103. Today, if you bought an A103, used and repaired it 180 times, and threw it into the TT when you were done, you would be out a whopping 22 PED. But things being as they are, you might be able by then to sell the A103 for even more than you paid for it, actually making a PROFIT on the amp while you use it.
This makes a strong case for the purchase of the A10x amps. Current prices reflect a break even at around 12 (L) amp purchases to cover the markup on the A103. You can use this number similar to P/E ratios in the stock market.
I would suggest the unlimited amp price should be somewhere in the 50 (L) amp markup range before the price stabilizes. This gives the A103 a markup of +92.5 PED. So in conclusion, I would suggest that A103 prices should climb to the +90 range fairly quickly and probably stay there for quite some time.
You are welcome to apply these techniques to the other A10x amps if you like, and then you will probably come to understand that the highly inflated prices we are seeing are not being caused by manipulators, but rather by people who have spent a little time doing the math. And the math says that even at the current prices they are an incredible bargain.
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