I remember the 2002 causing a bit of a ruckus.

The 2003 is available with the 2003 Insignia for a combined price of $280.

Any thoughts?

It looks like they are bundling to push some 2003 Insignia out the door as well.

I thought when I had a shared membership in the Phelps Preferred Club, Backus was $120 or $125, and Insignia was about $93. These prices were for the 2002, which is supposedly better then the '03. Both were avail in several on-line stores at similar or slightly lower prices, (which led us to drop the Club after the '02 Backus shipped) and the $280 being offered seems like anything but a bargain. FYI - the '03 Backus is RP95, the Insignia 91, Both respectable scores, but off for the Insignia, which also rated RP91 in '00 and '98. If the 2000 Insignia is any indicator, which was avail in many places for $60-75 as recently as last xmas, the '03 has a lot of room to drop if its not selling well.

If sales are slow and Phelps tries to hold the retail level at the $90 or so that was the minimum for 2002, they'll dump the '03 in restaurants who'll make a killing on a lower wholesale price while only slightly discounting the typical markup. Maybe they'll do a Costco dump for simplicity as well. Stay tuned, but don't buy at $280 for the two.

Thanks for the info - $280 definately seemed to be out there ...