SAVAGEJIM

I personally dislike clones, but my dislike really goes deeper; mercantilism. I will leave it at that word and wont go much deeper than that.

I agree, competition is good, but it has to be PROPER and HEALTHY competition in which the competing companies actully supplement and complement one another. Aside from large scales, nitros and electrics have been hit by cloning too. An example is Smartech cloning the Traxxas TMaxx (I told this story before, but I cannot remember if I said it here). Smartech illegally cloned it, even down to the Traxxas logo on the parts. And they (or some Smartech fans) had the gall to say that Smartech was cloning the TMaxx under contract or liscense when that was not the case. (Traxxas themselves will tell you straight up that they never gave them any sort or permission to clone the TMaxx). I am pretty sure the Smartech clone, which is poorer in quality, is one of the reasons why many think the TMaxx is a sucky RC because they could be mistaking crappy clone for a real TMaxx.

This is one instance how clones hurt the real company. Also, clones undercut the price of the original. Since clones come mostly from China, they have several advantages that undermine the original companies: Cost. The coners get money to do business, where the original companies do not. The cloners also have the advantage of having way cheaper labor (numerous reasons for that) and are not under as stringent of maunfactuing rules (again, numerous reasons for that) as the original companies. So they are not cheap just because they might be made more cheaply, they have other serious advantages as well.

I mentioned in a previous post of how the RC industry has fled the US and what Gil Losi though about that. The RC making exodus is a direct result of the overly price undercutting. No, clones are not the reason for this RC exodus and price cutting, but they are part of the reason why manufacting left.

I want to say so much more, but I cant. Cloning is just one dirty aspect that I dislike what is happening in RCs, but there are so many more reasons behind it. I will not talk about these.