AAPEX 2008
My feet still hurt a little bit. I’m still catching up on emails. And I just spent five days in Vegas, but didn’t hit the craps or blackjack tables once.
Must have been AAPEX (and SEMA) week.
This year’s AAPEX show was good (not nearly as down in vendors and buyers as had been forecast). I saw plenty of new and coming tools that you can read about in PTEN and PD, and keep checking our online buyer’s guide as well.
New this year, we did video at several booths so those of you who missed the show can still feel like you were there, talking one-on-one with the folks in the booths. Look for those videos to be live online in the next few weeks.
And there were plenty of tools that stood out that you can read about in my Editor’s Picks in the December issues. (I will let the cat out of the bag and tell you I was particularly impressed by Grey Pneumatic’s Duo-Line Sockets that will be rolling out soon. Very cool stuff…)
November 12th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I spent the week there as well but had a slightly different impression. I didn’t see a whole lot of innovation this year aimed at the quick sale. Under $100. There were plenty of high end tools but with the market the way it is right now high end sales are few and far between. I was extremely disappointed that SPX/OTC/Robinair/Tiff was not present. With their new scan tool launch I would have expected them in all their glory.
What was interesting is how much the vendors were willing to deal this year as opposed to last. Minimum order quantities dropped a bunch. Sign of the times.
I thought attendance was poor compared to last year. There weren’t nearly the crowds of previous years to deal with. I actually liked that aspect as it allowed me to walk the entire show upstairs and down in 2 days which left me time to visit SEMA as well.
Most of the cool tools were $2,500 - $5,500 though.
November 14th, 2008 at 9:35 am
I’ll agree with you that attendance was lower this year, but all the manufacturers I’ve talked to since the show have said they had quality traffic to their booths and we’re very happy they went.
Regarding the cost of new tools, I have to disagree again. I saw some great new stuff, under $500 from Grey (as I mentioned in my first post), but also from Redline, Mayhew, Lincoln and others. I do agree that a number of new innovative products did show up in the upper price ranges, particularly diagnostic offerings.
- Brendan, PD editor
November 14th, 2008 at 10:35 am
It is a slap to distribution that SXP/OTC/Robinair did not exhibit at AAPEX. They will say they were there…at SEMA. Not to be found in the tool & equipment section though. They were in the fuzzy dice area with their retail products Auto Xray and Actron.
Also noticable by their absence again was I-R. Chicago Pneumatic had an smaller exhibit but to their credit they were there with all their sales force while the other 2 mentioned were walking and hawking.