[rzimmerman]

The Snoo is great and the key feature that actually helps prevent SIDS is the restraints and swaddle, which is not being moved to a subscription here. It's actually FDA approved to reduce the risk of SIDS. The "bonus" rocking and soothing noises just help parents get more sleep.

The Snoo is very expensive and easy to pass down or buy used. I think they probably screwed up by selling it outright. You can rent the Snoo, which is probably a better model for everyone. This is kind of a janky way to pull back some of the rental revenue they lost by selling a durable product that people only need for a few months.

It feels gross, I get it. But it's effectively a $100 per child fee which is quite reasonable given the benefits. And there's no realistic way to charge for that other than subscription for the premium (non-safety) stuff. The alternative is to keep developing new models with new features and adding crap people don't need. One thing I love about the original Snoo is that it works fine without an Internet connection or app. I used the app and it was great, but it's nice to know that when you travel or lose power, it can still rock your baby and soothe them. I hope that's still the case if there's a subscription involved.

[lolinder]

> the key feature that actually helps prevent SIDS is the restraints and swaddle

Just a note that the NIH guidelines specifically call out this marketing claim as BS:

> Even though swaddling does not reduce the risk of SIDS, some babies are calmer and sleep better when they are swaddled. Even though swaddling does not reduce the risk of SIDS, some babies are calmer and sleep better when they are swaddled.

They also call out the monitors specifically as also useless for SIDS and issue a general warning that products that claim to reduce SIDS are nearly-universally not useful and are often counterproductive.

https://safetosleep.nichd.nih.gov/reduce-risk/reduce

[tshaddox]

> And there's no realistic way to charge for that other than subscription for the premium (non-safety) stuff. The alternative is to keep developing new models with new features and adding crap people don't need.

There’s another alternative: simply sell them for a little more than they cost. Just keep doing that. Solid business plan.