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Prototyping in your product development process pays.  I can't stress the importance of prototyping your product.  If you are a first-time inventor, you should try and create a prototype yourself.  If off-the-shelf products and components are available--rock 'n' roll, you could be in business cheaply and in no time.  If you are going to work with a manufacturer and it's cost effective, having them create a prototype of your product can be very helpful in assuring that you get 10,000 units of what you paid for in a production order.

The Wikipedia Entry on Prototyping:

Prototyping is the process of quickly putting together a working model (a prototype) in order to test various aspects of a design, illustrate ideas or features and gather early user feedback. Prototyping is often treated as an integral part of the system design, where each prototype is influenced by the performance of previous designs, in this way problems or deficiencies in design can be corrected. When the prototype is sufficiently refined and meets the functionality, robustness, manufacturability and other design goals, the product is ready for production. 

Here's our take on what you can get out of creating prototypes of your product:

1)  Marketing Research:  Having something to place in your customers' hands allows them to physically interact with the product and opens a whole new realm of observation and insight possibilities into assessing and answering their needs better.

2)  Design and Engineering Spec Verification:  Having an overseas manufacturer create and send you a prototype based on their understanding of the product allows you to quickly assess whether they really understand the product.  You would be amazed at what can come back from a manufacturer after you think everything has been clearly explained.

3)  Quality Control:  A prototype from a manufacturer is going to give you an idea of the kind of quality of work that they do.  Typically, prototypes are not up to the quality level that your actual product will be.  They often are made from different materials, might be hand-poured, and might not perform all of the functions of the actual product.  That is ok.  What you want to see is how much effort the manufacturer puts into it in the first place--the attention to detail.

4)  Packaging:  You can photograph a good 'looks-like' prototype to use in your packaging, website, or other promotional materials.

5)  Communication:  Submitting an existing prototype to a manufacturer allows you to convey to them an enormous wealth of information.  They can hold the product in their hands, feel the finish, understand the working parts and requirements, sniff the glue, see the colors, etc.  This will help you circumvent the language barrier as they will be able to see for themselves.  This is extremely helpful.

6)  Attracting Investors and/or Selling Your Product:  If you are looking for investors for your company or product, or if you plan on using sales reps, or contracting with distributors or retailers, a prototype is an excellent way to sell your product.  It shows them that the design is almost or completely finished, allows them to better understand the value of your product, and indicates a seriousness about taking the product to market.

For one step in the product development process (which may be repeated many times), that's a lot of value in many important areas of your business.