What has happened to Hobbyking?
#126
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Its good to share these things because Horison has been the best ever for me . I had the original 65" SPan Corsair , with great scale mods and I reinforecd the wing , fuse and firewall .
While flying my wing folded at the retract leading edge despite my internal fiberglass reinforcement . Mine was not the first and I only knew to reinforce this area based on others in an RCU thread having the same problem.
I sent the crashed plane less motor and servos back to Horison in a box 100% on my cost with a letter .
I did not call them did not ask for a return number , just told them my story in an included letter ( old school )
With zero communicatin from them -100% true story , they sent a new kit to me in under 5 days .
I have been a loyal customer from that day on because I have never in my life experienced that type of servace in anything that I have been involved rc and non rc
While flying my wing folded at the retract leading edge despite my internal fiberglass reinforcement . Mine was not the first and I only knew to reinforce this area based on others in an RCU thread having the same problem.
I sent the crashed plane less motor and servos back to Horison in a box 100% on my cost with a letter .
I did not call them did not ask for a return number , just told them my story in an included letter ( old school )
With zero communicatin from them -100% true story , they sent a new kit to me in under 5 days .
I have been a loyal customer from that day on because I have never in my life experienced that type of servace in anything that I have been involved rc and non rc
I was dealing with Horizon UK ... could be a difference in culture, I suppose.
#127
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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.
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.
Last edited by topspin; 07-18-2015 at 10:21 AM.
#129
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Last edited by jgracco; 07-19-2015 at 08:54 AM.
#130
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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.
Last edited by jgracco; 07-19-2015 at 08:55 AM.
#134
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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.
#139
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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.
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
#140
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
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
#141
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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
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
#143
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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.
Gerry
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.
Gerry
#144
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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.
Ken
#145
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,,,,,,,,
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
#146
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,,,,,,,,
Gerry
#147
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.
#148
Gerry
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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.