Oh, wow--wish I'd seen this thread sooner!
I tried doing True/False on the questions and couldn't; my answers aren't that simple. Like BobK, I've been in this a long, long time (he's got about 4 years on me). My first kit was a shortwave receiver, a Hallicrafters S-119K "Sky Buddy II" in 1963. (I still have it.) Lots of kits in those days--Heath and Knight were the big ones I remember. My first ham transmitter was a Heathkit DX-35.
I think a nifty (look that up, too!) product line to hit the kit market is the Elecraft stuff (http://www.elecraft.com/). High-end, but very nice.
Like Melanie, I do this stuff for a living, but I still putter around breadboarding stuff and buying the occasional kit. Unlike Melanie, I wouldn't classify the Heath line as "crap kits". They offered a balanced line, from the simple to the elaborate. There were a few duds, to be sure. But (for example) the Heathkit "Twoer" (one of two products--the other was the "Sixer"--generically called "lunchboxes" because of the handle on top) did more to put hams on 144 MHz (2 meters) than any other single product in history--and it did so without busting your wallet.
I think there's always a market for good, well-designed kits. I believe Velleman has demonstrated that, as has Ramsey (http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/hk/). Last year, I redesigned a product as a kit (http://www.i-zombie.com/pages/sc1201...controller.php). The biggest challenge was doing a decent instruction manual--it was unbelievably time-consuming!
Trent, it sounds like you're doing some market research. How about telling us more?
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