RCoffroadracer

this hobby would be extinct if China wasn't making all the electronics and 95% of the planes. this is the sad truth about the world we live in. not only does every name brand manufacture rely on them, their own products work just as well than anything else.
there's no reason to buy a $2500 futaba when it's made at the same factory that sells their own $199 radio. the components(chips) all come from the same places. everything in this hobby is nothing but a rebranded Chinese made product. I have expensive stuff and dirt cheap stuff they all work the same.
at this point you really are just buying a name.
they're also putting the name brand companies out of business. look at hitec. their chargers are rebadged SkyRc chargers. their servos are basically no better than the ones that come with ready to fly kits. they don't make a radio system anymore. JR propo is basically done. Futaba is about to go down like JR.
futaba is just so over priced for basic stuff. I can't even find a futaba locally in any hobby store. it's all spektrum. spektrum isn't all that great to begin with. a radio master system is just as good for a fraction of the price. futaba wont be around much longer. it's too expensive for what they offer. they don't even put effort into their own website about their products. they offer minimalist offerings of flight stabilizers/gyro. I think they have 2 options of a 3 axis. companies like hobby eagle have 6 axis gyros. and futaba wants like $470 for a moderately high tech helicopter gyro. NUTS!! when other brands are selling theirs with more tech built in for for $40.

rgburrill

Telling it like it is.

Joseph Frost

Forget about RC politics and all the crap that comes with it, just buy what you can afford or suits you needs and enjoy it while you can. What's even better, you can buy the RC stuff on RC traders for the fraction cost of the new item and it works just as good, tho, it's a bad news for the ones who want to sell it! LOL.

rgburrill

RC Trader. 1 item in the US. Bad news for RC Trader.

donnyman

The cost of manufacturing is the demon, one has to make a profit or they are toast. china can make and sell things cheaper than others because they are assisted by their government and workers salaries are much lower, at one time Japan had this power It caused the company I worked for fits to keep up. Japan could always do it better and cheaper with more expensive materials, It is one of the reasons many companies moved their operations overseas. for now it's the Chinese turn. a good example is the electronic chip manufacturing industry which is on it's way back to the U.S. Making money in todays world is international and we live in a global economy.

Joseph Frost

So how come we had it so good decades ago? Dozen years ago I used to buy 90mm EDF jets, almost ready to fly for few hundred Austr. bux delivered to my door! It's all about "GREED" of human kind that will bring them back to their knees. LOL.

rgburrill

I don't think it's greed so much as it is the common laborers were duped into thinking they could have it better than their parents just by demanding more money. They either weren't listening or weren't taught economics and inflation.

donnyman

It's a combination of Greed, the need for more income, amongst other things. Inflation is a nice word to explain the increases in price for the things we want caused by the raising of prices to placate stock holders, many CEO's receive millions of dollars in salary while the average worker hasn't received a decent wage in years and if he does the price of the product is increased to compensate the companies pocketbook (a vicious circle) BEWARE THE WORD PROFIT MARGIN. volumes can be written about. I remember gasoline was 25 cent a gallon when I was 20 years old and the gas companies convinced us we are running out of petroleum, all the while they kept building more gas stations, the lines for gas was very long while petroleum companies increased the prices. diesel fuel is the cheapest to manufacture but look at the price now, so the poor slob driving the truck to deliver your goods had to raise his price to compensate for his higher cost and that increase travels down the line through all the products he transports and hits our pockets.

I have to be careful this can really get out of hand, I only touched the tip of the iceburg and I don't really know beans about our economics but I know greed when I see it! there is a lot more that can be said.

Wolperdinger

My Feedback: (4)

When I first got into RC in 1980, I bought a SIG Kadet, K&B .40, and a Kraft radio. Fuel tank was Sullivan. I think everything was made in the USA. It was comparatively a much more expensive hobby then than it is today. I'm not sure if it was better or worse than today, but it sure was different.

049flyer

My Feedback: (18)

The hobby existed long before China began marketing their hobby products. In fact the hobby flourished in the 1950s,1960s and 1970s when many important innovations were made in electronics and engines. China was not needed then and for many of us, they certainly are not needed now. Serious modelers/builders will find a way to build and fly their models with or without China’s “help”.

Granted, Chinese products have made the hobby easier, cheaper and more accessible for those unwilling or unable to build and/or fabricate the various bits we use, but if China were to stop sending their stuff tomorrow I think the hobby would continue. Though, at a reduced level and with fewer participants, at least for a while until other suppliers stepped in to fill the vacuum.

I lived in Turkey during the 1970’s and met some of the most clever modelers I have ever known. With scarcely any hobby supplies, they managed to build, fabricate or modify locally sourced products for modeling use. I learned from them that the best hobby shop around is the one in your “backyard”. Now, every store I walk into has products with hobby potential!

Joseph Frost

Well said, this hobby is lot more than cina, all you have to do is look at modelers from few old kommo eastern block countries with their creations, where fancy electronics, etc. were always an elite luxus.

StevesBro

Plug and play. Pretty incredible. Used to require effort. Now you buy the thing, take it out of the shipping box, push a button on the radio and it's ready to rip. I'm spoiled. Thanks and have a great week!

Joseph Frost

If you rely on 'plug&play' product, good luck to you. I have bought dozens of them over the years, LOL how badly they were put together, probably done on purpose to destroy so you can buy more.
Nothing out of ordinary for me to spend 50-100 hours to improve it so it will last lot longer.

An example, each of these was P&P, I spent 300+ hours on them, that's why they'r still flying many years after.

As the 1st. thing, building a proper TEs.

Clean

I remember hearing the same squawking when Tower came on the scene. For that matter, Pelletiers and Sears were squawking about K-Mart. Then Sears/K-Mart were squawking about Walmart even though they undercut the mom and pop shops. Everybody bemoans the loss of mom and pop shops up to the fact of actually buying anything at one. Nobody in the 1st world will work for anything less then a steak dinner per hour so many don't work and wait for their government assigned free items each month. 3rd world slave driven countries 5 year olds fight for a chance to work so they can eat something.
My biggest problem is all the money we spend on Astrophysics, Astronomy and the sciences of getting us to the stars. The stars are better off without us.

Joseph Frost

And what about 'Trillions" spending on destroying someone else's backyards, Ukrajina as an example.

rgburrill

I, too, do not all the spending on understanding the Big Bang or chasing down the god particle or even quantum physics. It's all a big "so what" to me. However, I see nothing wrong with commercial ventures trying to get us to Mars or even back to the moon. Without the spending on the "Space race" we would have smart phones. Or a 32mz 😎

Clean

How Smart would our children be if we didn't have Smart Phones? Don't get me wrong. I LOVE having a computer in my pocket, and a camera, and a notebook. It's been a while since I used it as a telephone and the last time is when I butt dialed someone.

RCoffroadracer

also keep in mind all the great affordable electronics we can get now. I mean you can get $35 6 axis gyro's that can be programmed via a laptop with free software or programing cards. you don't see the likes of Futaba offering this kind of thing. they won't even sell a indoor foam plane receiver under $80.
I'm actually grateful these companies have stepped up and bringing this hobby to new heights. we're not stuck with the old stuffy brands who refuse to change and innovate new products.

Joseph Frost

Good luck if you can get anything you are after nowadays. Down here in this AE of the globe, that's what our PM said ones about Australia, you can hardly get a thing you are after in RC, just about most of decent shops are gone incl. HK that was responsible for closing them at the first place, LOL.. No batteries, no motors etc.etc. I'm after, doomed for sure, but not going to get any better in the future, that's for sure!