How Much Time Did You Spend on Your Last Roadtest?

Most of the reviews I have done include designing a circuit and building a PCB and most include designing 3D parts as well. In all cases the effort exceeded 20 hours. Even the simple hand tool review took longer. I don't keep track of the time and each review is very different, so it is tough to be accurate about what an average review takes. The one I am working on now is supposed to just be a 10 minute video review, but I have already spent much more than 20 hours on it, and I haven't sat down in front of a camera yet. 

It depends on the road test, but in my case, it usually goes like this:

• (1hr) Collecting information about the Roadtest (a fast review)
  • 1hr
• (5hrs) Thinking about the Roadtest HowTo (if it catches my interest)
  • Collecting more information about the Roadtest (datasheets, videos, forums, ...) (4hr)
  • First sketch planning (1hr)
  • All this is done over the course of 1~2 week
• (3hrs) Applying to the RoadTest
  
  • Draft (20min)
  • Feasibility (e.g. check resources I have like time, components, time ...) (1hr)
  • Proposal (if feasibility was OK) (1hr)
  • Final review (30min)
  • This is done over the course of a week
• (15~110hrs) Doing the road test (this varies a lot depending on the project)
  • Initial Setup (1~2hr)
  • Scriptwriting (e.g. writing done in a more formal plan) (4~8hr)
  • Hands-on (writing code - firmware, gateware, software, ...) (4~40hr)
  • Testing (aka playing with the device) (2~20hr)
  • Recording and documenting (aka actual Roadtest) (4~40hr)
  • This is done over the course of 1~4 month
• (4~9hr) Posting
  
  • Reviewing notes (40min)
  • Video Editing (1~5hr)
  • First Draft (1~2hr)
  • Review (1hr)
  • Final Review (20min)

So in total between 28~128 hrs given or taken:

• 3.5~16 days (8hr day)
• These are "real" data (I usually time myself)

and yes, you can see that I am a project manager ;) - as a side note, this post took me ~20min (going back and forward reviewing some old notes)

Just putting together the proposal for a roadtest can be a bunch of hours, 5-10 depending on the product. I've even spent trade shows, tracking people down who may be able to provide contacts with in a company for support. I've also been up at 3am to have a meeting with those contacts. It defiantly is nothing shorter than 10 hours even for a "simple" road test, but I definitely would not dismiss having put 10s if not a few hundred hours into a roadtest.

Kas

Hopefully not too late to the party.  My last roadtest was for a cable/wire finder so wasn’t at all complicated and I think I spent around 20-30 hours all told.  The one prior, mind, I spent months on, hours each day.

I want to thank everyone who has participated in this poll. It's really valuable to me. Okay, I know people are spending a good chunk of time on a roadtest. I guess seeing it in (orange bars) drills home how much time is being spent. I had been thinking about adding question to the application form. But I think I won't. I don't want to add to anyone's burden for applying.

Randall Scasny

RoadTest Program Manager

Exactly. I aslo spend several hours by reading datasheet, checking documentation, software and many other things before I decide to apply.

I may even have spent close to 20 hours on just my application for the RTM3004 road test a few years ago.

Have to agree with others so far, I think my last Road Test took up all of the two weeks I'd allowed for it and more - so a 20 hour one would count as very quick !

MK

My last roadtest (Xsens MTi-680) consumed most of my free time (evenings, weekends) for the two months I was reviewing the product. Just reading the documentation alone consumed more than 20 hours over the weeks. Then there was time taken by devising/planning of tests, arranging items needed for tests, conducting the experiments and recording results, and writing them down in the blog posts...all of that took a lot of time. Good thing it was a product that interested me a lot, so I happily spent all that time on the task. 

My roadtest review before that (MPM54304 Evaluation board) took >3 weeks of my free time in total. My estimate of the time spent on roadtest related activities is ~20 hours per week. I am glad my better half is supportive of me spending time such pursuits :)

In conclusion, unless there is a roadtest  that I can finish in less than a week, the total time spent would be much much higher than 20 hours. 

Agree, it needs another zero : ) 

I'm not sure a RoadTest has ever required less than 20 hours.