I'm a bit surprised that they put up 500 Early Birds for sale, usually you see them limited at 100 or 200 units so that a campaign can brag about selling out of them in half an hour. But yes, it's amazing how fast something sells when it's $100 off the retail price. I'm really happy to have gotten one before they sold out.

Actually, having done a lot of research into motors and such while considering making a RepRap, I can't see how these early bird specials could possibly be at cost to produce. I'm guessing that the $199 backer price is just about exactly the cost of materials, and only then if the materials were already bought in bulk. Then again, Dragon is a pretty well established manufacturer so bulk orders are pretty much a given.