consumer electronics designer / prototyper needed

This forum is for discussion, not solicitation. If you would like to hire a designer freelance, than I suggest you invest in a post on our sister site: http://www.coroflot.com

I think the critique comes in the form of your original post garter. If you are serious, than write a serious and well thought out post. Your original post does not give the impression of someone who has given this endeavor a lot of though nor research. In the experience of more of myself, and some of the other more veteran designers who posted cynically (not to speak for them, but to perhaps interpret) we have seen this style of request many times and typically it comes from someone who does not want to invest the time, money, or effort and typically wants someone to go on a goose chase for a handful of magic beans… please prove me wrong by purchasing a job post or hiring an experienced designer for a professional rate.

Know that developing a product from idea to production is going to cost you a material amount of capitol. An idea of just industrial design fees:

initial research and idea exploration: 1 week man hours: $4,000 - $10,000 (depending on experience level)
design refinement (mock ups, renderings): 2 weeks: $8,000 - $20,000 (depending on experience level)
final design CAD and factory technical package development: 2 weeks: $8,000 - $20,000 (depending on experience level)
working with factory team on design for production: 2 weeks: $8,000 - $20,000 (depending on experience level)

Total design fees: $28,000 - $70,000

and this would be a bare bones program with no real user research and only design CAD. Add mechanical engineering (unless you can get a factory to pay for that, but to do that you will need to show you have sold things at mass retail at quantity) and add tooling costs, packaging design, etc… now you are ready to go through the joy of figuring out import duties, distribution planning, retail sales, customer service, handling returns, managing inventory, etc…

So, it is difficult for me to take the original post seriously without you giving any background on yourself/your partners and the ability to follow through.