Avalon 821 on Sale – Sticker Shock Included at No Extra Charge
Canaan’s long anticipated Avalon 821 Bitcoin miner went on sale last night via authorized distributor Blokforge. Nobody should be surprised to learn The Avalon 821 on sale event was very, very short; they were sold out in minutes. However, everybody should be shocked by the price – $3,599. I predicted a $1500 sticker price back when we announced the 821 relative to the price and performance of the Avalon 741.
Boy was I wrong. I got an email from Blokforge announcing the Avalon 821 on sale and surfed right over — HOURS before the sales window opened at 7:00 PM MST — and already saw it was sold out. WTF? Figuring it might be a mistake or that the eCommerce system didn’t have it entered yet or whatever I hung out at the Blokforge website for hours. No go. It seems their entire allotment of Avalon 821s were gone in record time. While I was waiting to see if I could buy at least one Avalon 821 my mind struggled to understand the price…. $3,599!
The Avalon 821 on sale at $3599 makes it 450% more expensive than the Avalon 741. I purchased two Avalon 741s last fall for $798 each from authorized distributor Minerwarez. Minerwarez was excellent with good communications and fast shipping. The only reason I tried to go with Blockforge is that they were talking about the new Avalon miners (761, 821, 841, etc.) while Minerwarez didn’t even mention them.
IN ANY CASE let’s gain an understanding behind my sticker shock. The Avalon 821 on sale now has a hash rate at 11 TH/s with 1200 watts power consumption. Canaan deserves a lot of credit for building such an efficient Bitcoin miner. The thing is – the Avalon 741 operates at 7.3 TH/s with 1150 watts power and could be acquired at a fraction of the price. On a side-by-side comparison the Avalon 821 delivers 50% more TH/s than the 741 but it costs 450% more.
The math doesn’t work with the Avalon 821 on sale at such a high price. When I did my research last summer on which Bitcoin miner to buy I ended up going with the Avalon miners because they had more bang for the buck and would deliver faster ROI than any other option out there. Canaan has indicated that pricing for the new line of Avalon miners would be based on market demand among other factors. I totally understand the whole supply vs. demand thing but don’t understand the justification of putting the Avalon 821 on sale at a price inordinately higher than it’s predecessor. My initial price estimate of $1500 would make perfect sense and I have no doubt Canaan would make a lot of money at that price. I can even digest a price of $1999 to make it a competition-crushing product relative to Bitmain’s Antminer S9.
Interestingly, the NEXT BATCH of Avalon 821s were priced significantly lower at $2899 — and are also sold out. I can see myself paying $2899 with a frown on my face because I happen to like the Avalon miners quite a lot and anticipate recapturing my investment as Bitcoin is expected to go nowhere but up. Obviously I’m not alone in my thinking.
