I know we discussed the battery life or lack of it in another thread. Did you ever trace down what might have been pulling all that power? I think that they are powering the camera when not in use due to what I saw on the power feed when I had one in pieces but I only had it for a few minutes to test before it had to be handed back. It was not mine and I they were shipping it back so I could not be sure and did not want to really bring it up till someone else was testing one.
I doubt it's easy to lower the price when it's still assembled in U.S which have high wage cost.
Slightly OT but wage cost on something like this should not be an issue. Even at $20 an hour + benefits it's a non issue.
Sidehack designed and built a complete miner for $300
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5131245.0ColdCard is from Canada with higher and more expensive costs then the US in a lot of places and they have theirs for under $150.
-Dave