bogbeagle

I was dealing with Horizon UK ... could be a difference in culture, I suppose.

topspin

Several years ago I bought an Electrifly SE-5 made by Great Planes. Anyway, after a few flights to get it trimmed out I took it up to see what it would do. So I opened up the throttle to climb for a hammerhead stall and WHAM, the Rimfire motor exploded. Turns out the keeper screws on the prop saver side (towards the firewall) were loose and when the prop saver came off, the armature shot right out of the front of the plane. Since the plane was an ARF I had purchase the motor separately and it had a two year warranty. I sent it back to Great Planes with a note explaining how the motor failed and that it broke the cowl and also caused me to have to land very quickly from low altitude so I broke the outside edge of the lower wing.

They not only sent me a replacement motor, they sent me a brand new plane. That's the best customer service I ever had and that's why I'm still a customer of Great Planes. I was able to repair the wing although it looks weird since I couldn't find the right color monokote and after putting an AXI 2212-26 in it still fly's today. Someday I will build the new one and I won't have the same problem with the Rimfire motor since I now know to put Loctite on the screws and tighten them before installation.

1Ganger

top pic is a spitfireXIV? nose seems a bit long to be a hurricane. Shes a beauty for sure . <3

jgracco

...

jgracco

It seems that since this thread is titled "what happened to Hobby King or AKA hobby king sucks" that posting about decent or not so horrific experiences garners the label of shill or fanboy, I have had good and bad experiences with HK. Mostly good. I purchased one of their orange Rx units and had it die on me but I use it for testing only. I also bought a LIPO charger and it also died. In both cases I was told that they would not replace either item. Would I bash the company over it, no. I have bought tons of tools and other hard to find items that I honestly could not find anywhere local so to me they have their value. As for batteries, I have purchased at least 50 LIPO batteries from them in the past year and never had any issues with the batteries or the order process. I order from the US east warehouse. Not to say they don't have issues with other people but my experiences thus far aside from what I mentioned above have been ok.

PLANE JIM

My Feedback: (109)

yes this is true

morningflyer

Amen

jim billings

One post since 2002?

topspin

Not sure what is happening with them but it looks like they are on life support. The last post in the Hobby King forum was last year so it looks like they shut their form down. Also, the stock in the US warehouse is flagging, shades of liquidation perhaps? Lastly there are a bunch of complaints that the Hong Kong facilities have moved lock stock and barrel along with a rumor that the company was sold. We know for a fact that the FCC threatened to fine them over the Orange Spektrum compatible (clone) transmitters they were selling here in the US. Anthony Hand did say they were going to close. So at this point, it would not harm the RC hobby if they did disappear, there are a hundred other online sellers of RC hobby stuff with prices as good or better, and better cheaper shipping and better customer service. If they do go down the tubes they did it to themselves by screwing too many customers overt the years and continuing to do it.

morningflyer

So

morningflyer

Thanks topspin

jim billings

Only one post lambasting Hobby King is kind of unusual. Replies like Topspin are more fruitful and display research and professionalism.

jim billings

HK says the East warehouse has closed and all inventory is being moved to the West warehouse in Oregon. Maybe there will be some good sales. Or not.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Topspin,
Thanks for the update. Don't know if what you put out is true or not, but I'm going to take heed at what you say. I have ordered several motors and ESC's from HK in the past with no issues and was getting ready to order another way. In light of this info I think that I will find another vendor to send my hard earned greenbacks to instead. What recommendations do you have as an alternative??

Ken

GerKonig

I had to replace Lipos for this season, and buy a new charger. I purchased a lot of things from HK, basically $ 700 in batteries. I really looked around and found that many places did not have in stock what I wanted... But HK did. And the batteries shipped from China were here in LESS THAN ONE WEEK, and the servo extensions shipped from the West Coast HK warehouse took almost 10 days.
Most packs were 5,000 ma 6 and 4 cell packs (I use them in series for 10 cells), and 2 x 1800 ma for a foamie. All arrived very well packed and in good shape. I measured each of them, and they are great. The price per delivered pack was great like always.

I had used some Nitroplanes controllers (100A) in the past with relative success, but I lost 2, so this year I switched to Castle 120 A controllers (I use 10 cells on those). I also use now the Castle's 90A controllers in smaller models (6 cells). So far so good. Time will tell. I have used 4000 and 5000 packs from HK for a long time (since I got into bigger electrics maybe a decade ago). The motors (1.6 size) I really never had a problem with are the Bigfoot from Nitroplanes. I have 4 now, and there will be 5 in the fleet this year. For $ 60.00 they cannot be beat, and all of mine are still running. I use them with 10 cells 20x10 prop and have unlimited vertical on my giant stick and rascal 110. Will use one of them soon on a 1/4 scale pup with a 22 x 6 on 6 cells. Might put 2 x 6 packs in series for even longer flights, if the CG needs the weight.

For the first time, this year I purchased small servos from HK, metal gear, for a Funmaster foamy. So far so good. In short, I am VERY HAPPY with HK but I regularly ONLY buy batteries, servo extensions, some props and batteries. I use other sources for the rest of the stuff. So, my experience while great, is limited to those items.

Gerry

topspin

Hey Ken, I'm not sure about them being sold, that was put out by someone on RCG a couple of weeks ago but all of the shipping issues, stock levels, and the company HQ and warehouse moving is real. As far as good places to buy, Banggood is a good place to find motors and ESC's, even the hard core Hobby King fans say Banggood is a good place to buy. I have bought a couple of things from Bangood and did not have any probles at all, shipping was typical for China, about ten to tweleve days. I'm sure you know about Hobbypartz, and HeadsUp RC. Also, there is China Hobby Line, I have bought some batteries from them and they are better, IMO, than Turnigy batteries, their 30C batteries seem to actually be 30C. Anyway there are a half dozen more Chinese outfits but I have not done business with them myself so I can't say. I mostly buy from the Tower, Horizon, and BP.

hairy46

My Feedback: (1)

Aftet word of mouth and all these forums on them, I have never spent a dime with them. To many horror stories!

topspin

I'm not sure when you bought those items Gary but the word on hobby kings own site is that they have had huge problems filling orders from Hong Kong, the orders that are being filled are taking a month or more and it looks like a lot of them were either screwed up royally by HK or cancelled by the buyers out of frustration. Heck, in a lot of cases they can't even cancel them. I don't know where you live but it is impossible to get anything from Hobby King in Hong Kong in less than one week. That just sounds too good to be true especially since Hobby King is admitting they moved the Hong Kong warehouse and are having supplier issues with batteries. You are either the absolute luckiest man alive or,,,,,,,,

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I usually stick to Tower and Horizon for most of my stuff, but when it comes to Rimfire motors Hobbico is damn proud of them and they sure show it in the price tags. I've ordered Turnigy motors from HK and never had any problems with them. I used to always get my Li-po batteries from Hobby People when they would go on sale and always had good luck with getting decent batteries. I'm not a huge electric flyer so I don't have huge needs. Most of my stuff is for gliders and smaller indoor stuff that I build. Other than that most of my planes are all gassers and I shy away from the electric world.

Ken

GerKonig

I will look up the paperwork. I saved that because I also purchased 2 batteries for my in-law. Heck I even have a picture of the loot on my phone! Like 20 pound s of batteries... Again, I do not buy a lot of stuff from them, but with what I buy I always have been successful.
I always look at other vendors recommended to me, but they never have IN STOCK what I need... And when I ordered my new charger from Revolectric, I also looked at their batteries. They were expensive, way more than HK. But they had them in stock. 2 weeks ago they had a lipo sale, unfortunately too late for me.

Gerry

GerKonig

I really do not know how they do it. But I also purchased (from china another vendor) a ND filter for my camera. It took 5 days shipped directly from china... In the past, Castle manufactured all their merchandise in the US. Not anymore, for what I read somewhere on the box of my new Talon controllers China and Mexico are in the business...

Gerry

acdii

I hope they stick around. Just discovered their covering and it is good stuff! Doing a Rascal 168 in it, and 6 rolls cost me under $60 shipped. Thats 30 meters, or 98' to us Yanks. An equivalent amount in Ultracote would cost $241.

GerKonig

Nice! Will try that, but I use mostly solartex/21 Century Fabric on the models I build. I love the Rascal, Had a 110, and sold it to get a new kit (w/flaps). Will open the box today. The 168 looks really like a great kit with some smart ideas applied to the building of the monster. You really have to have a way to move that huge thing around (and help to do so).

Gerry

acdii

Here is an example of their covering.

topspin

I have heard from two guys in my club that HK covering is pretty good for the price and easy to work with. It seems to be one of their better deals, I have seen it and it looks as good as monokote but is less expensive. HK's biggest problem right now is shipping and low stock levels on popular items combined with a very long lead time on backordered items. Since most of the people who buy from them do not build balsa planes my guess is that covering material is not a high demand item so I'm sure they have plenty of it.