1st Generation Silca Futura

[Simes]

Just received word that Silca are no longer supporting the first generation Futura Pro.  Nice!

That's Silca off my list for any future cutting machines.  Purely a ploy to make me update.  For me the updates (which are paid for!) were a strong incentive to buy Silca.  No point paying higher prices if we can find our machines obsolete as far as updates go with a weeks notice!

I totally get it with programmers as the technology moves on, but with key cutting?   

[grahamparker]

1 hour ago, Simes said:

Just received word that Silca are no longer supporting the first generation Futura Pro.  Nice!

That's Silca off my list for any future cutting machines.  Purely a ploy to make me update.  For me the updates (which are paid for!) were a strong incentive to buy Silca.  No point paying higher prices if we can find our machines obsolete as far as updates go with a weeks notice!

I totally get it with programmers as the technology moves on, but with key cutting?   

Does seem a little bit premature for the Futura.

My 399 is also on the list but i have had it over 14 years now and it has cut over 100.000 keys so I did know this was coming.

The Fututra however has not been around anywhere near that ammount of time.

Only thing is once you buy a computer machine (not the futura) nothing else comes remotely close to Silca.

[Simes]

1 minute ago, grahamparker said:

Does seem a little bit premature for the Futura.

My 399 is also on the list but i have had it over 14 years now and it has cut over 100.000 keys so I did know this was coming.

The Fututra however has not been around anywhere near that ammount of time.

Only thing is once you buy a computer machine (not the futura) nothing else comes remotely close to Silca.

I would be more sympathetic if there was more notice, but less than two weeks!!  Plus I may be wrong but there is no difference I am aware of in compatibility with the second generation machine is there?  Not sure what generation we are on now.

[rapidlocks]

this is the way of things now , to generate more income you discontinue a product in favour of the new product , not so bad when its a cheap item , but a cut to code machine is not a cheap item.

you understand this with programmers , but why ? silca owned advanced diagnostics sold smart pro as the necessary upgrade to ad100 pro and mvp pro , added token charges for free functions on mvp pro to the smart pro , increased revenue from previously free functions = more money for silca . was it a necessary upgrade to by smart pro , we are told so to cope with the more complex vehicle systems , yet former advanced diagnostics owner who now sells tdb1000 has very similar coverage with a very basic tool at a fraction of the cost , necessary for whom , for silca to make more cash possibly , as if tdb can do it with a basic unit , why not silca ?

i understood this with viper as had limited axis to cope with newer keys and was an old machine but still a hard working machine , but futura has same coverage as the newer so i see no valid reason for this , stopping updates is one thing , but to stop services and spare parts is upsetting for owners of this machine , glad i bought keyline ninja laser instead of futura.

the smaller businesses who buy a cut to code machine are making for them a large investment in their machine , for some it will take many years to get payback on their investment , many cant just buy the latest tech in the current market especially when their current tech hasnt paid back , silca like most big businesses dont consider this , they look at numbers and how to increase revenue .

Though will it increase revenue ? many have relagated smart pro to just a back up machine which means far less tokens and utp bought going forward , many turning to the ever improving china machines and programmers , china pretty much dominate this market and improving year on year offering more and more affordable solutions , whilst silca raise prices , invent new income streams and turn their customers towards china and their competitors , personally i think it will achieve the opposite for them.

last week i was in town on a thursday evening , every pub in town was quiet , the best for real ale was dead where 2 pints is a tenner , yet all 4 wetherspoons in town was packed , 1 of them had a queue to get in , sign of the times.

all of us who have been cutting keys for a long while would agree that silca is the best quality in volume cutting machines , there machines were built to last so didnt often need replacing , china machines may not last the time silca does in build quality , but they are far cheaper to upgrade to latest tech than silca and if the speed at which futura has become unsupported i suspect some china machines will have the same life as these at a fraction of the price.

i agree with graham , once you have a silca cut to code then with the exception of some keyline machines , nothing comes close in quality , but the heavy duty machines are a far smaller market than the light to medium use machines and a luxury item many small businesses cant warrant.

as much as silca is the best for cutting machines , not for programmers any more , but cutting machines yes especially for those doing high volume cutting , but are they the best choice for the smaller lighter use customers any longer ? the rate of sales the chinese are having id say not , and these many small businesses will accumilate to be a huge chunk of the market , though i doubt silcas market going forward. looking at silca cloning chips being 7 to 10 times more expensive than xhorse and keydiy chips of similar quality , making functions that were always free and still are on mvp pro now require a token on smart pro , ceasing support for machines that are not old machines to try and force an upgrade all the silca way , it seems they want their loyal customer base to pay for the trade they are losing to new starts to china .

the model looks to be , too expensive for the multitude of new set ups , far more expensive to use than their competitors and alienating their once loyal customer base , where else does it go other than into the hands of their competitors , since the job has become so much easier , the amount of new starts has gone up 10 fold , i guarantee that its not silca kit that they will be buying .

silca is still great quality products , but they dont value their long time customers and have lost touch with the market they serve . I still have many silca and keyline machines and they will see me to retirement , but the new generation are not so enthusiastic about silca.

 

 

[Auto Key Wizard]

18 hours ago, Simes said:

received word that Silca are no longer supporting the first generation Futura

I purchased one of the first Futura machines in UK
Where has that information come from?

[grahamparker]

23 minutes ago, Auto Key Wizard said:

I purchased one of the first Futura machines in UK
Where has that information come from?

Silca.

As discussed Silca have announced that from 2024 certain code machines will no longer be supported on servicing, parts or updates for new key cutting cards. This means that if something was to go wrong with the machine, or a new key came out in the UK market, you would no longer be able to use the machine or cut that particular key.

 

The machines that they have specified for end of life are as follows;

 

Unocode 299

Unocode 399

Unocode 399 Evo

Triax-e-code

Futura Version 1

[grahamparker]

That was in an email to me last week from Aldridges.

 I was informed this was happening 2-3 months ago but that was not official at that time and i did not know it included the Futura.