Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

I remember going to the hobby shop long before the internet and on-line markets, seeing what size spinner they had in stock, and then I'd go home and finish the nose of my plane. Almost every hobby shop I've ever been in, and there have been quite a few, need to charge more to make a profit or they won't be in business long. And they can't carry huge inventories. That's a business fact. But today, since about 1993, things have been quite different. In five minutes I can look at 50 different spinners from 6-8 manufacturers, order the color and size I want, generally not be required to pay sales taxes, sometimes free shipping, and have it at my door in a few days. Hobby shops just can't compete in that scenario. As many have said on here already, you can buy things from Hobby King if you don't need them in a hurry, you can buy excellent batteries, XT60 connectors, chargers, electronic gizmos, props, receivers, servos, spinners, heat shrink, ESCs, motors, etc, etc, get great bargains in the process, stuff that works, and come out way ahead. I don't need "customer service"; I need bargains, reliable products, good web pages, and good records. By the way, I'm on order #90 with Hobby King, and have been VERY happy as have all of my flying buddies. How do I know it's #90? They keep a record for me in my account with every product, all the dates, prices, etc., shipping times, and so on. Great CUSTOMER SERVICE right there if you ask me.

EKIMRIS

Right. Just go ahead and buy more!

wallace.tharp

What is POS? Thanks for your reply in advance. wallace.tharp

EKIMRIS

I am afraid POS does not relate to Point Of Sale, but rater to Piece Of S... as in bull S....
to follow the rules we are communicating on set by the very company that sends us a lot of emails and so on, one might say this word refers to be made ouf excrements of a living mammal, pretty much of that of an ruminantia, rather referred to as cow/bull (Bos primigenius taurus), and its meat being the main ingredient of a quarterpounder.Hope that helps....

madmodelman

Piece of crap.

wallace.tharp

Rob, I believe you, and I need a Rx right now for my new PA Extra-260. How do you conduct your vibration tests? Does the orange Rx have the sattelite secondary Rx? wallace.tharp

Rob2160

Yes, I have to agree with you... Never thought of that but I have used my past purchase records (maintained nicely by Hobbyking) whenmaking new purchases..

It keeps records, payment methods, right back to my first ever HK purchase..

Pics attached..

Rob2160

Hi,

Depends if you want Futaba Orange or Spektrum Orange... The Futaba one comes with two aerials and no satellite.. the Spektrum ones can use a satellite but you need to purchase that seperately...

Links here..

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._OrangeRX.html

I do my vibration checkes two ways..

1. I have a dremel tool.. with an intentionally unbalance cutting disk that vibrates extremely at full power.. I use stick tape to connect an RX to this dremel and then power it up and run it for a few minutes checking the operation of the RX the whole time...

2. I have a "test bed" Helicopter that is deliberly unbalanced and I use it to test all new RXs also.. A 5 minute flight in this heli (which I consider expendable) will prove it will survicve in my regular planes and helis which are almost vibration free..

A bit OCD, but I have lots of time..

mixerfix

My Feedback: (1)

I, too, am all for supporting the LHS. Yet, sometimes, it is gives one a strange feeling when one needs to buy at double, tripple and/or quadruple prices. Why should a CM-6 plug cost $22? Why should an OS #8 plug cost $10? Why should an APC 12x9 cost $15? These are prices (more or less) from local stores. So - some stuff (airframes, glue, carbon) I will buy locally and some (electronics, servos) I will buy non-locally.

Having said that, HK does sell some (not all) good stuff. Clone receivers (especially for Futaba systems) are very useful and are quite reliable. Zero problems from more than 5 that I have personally bought. Some servos, some ESCs, some motors (especially the larger ones) are good.

Bought - in all - three airframes from them - all had issues, one trivial (a missing horn), one non-trivial (serious shipping damage to the wing) and one light-medium (slight shipping damage to fuse). None were taken care off by the customer support. So - yes - buying from HK means taking a chance. I will - probably - not buy airframes from them again.

M

mixerfix

My Feedback: (1)

Aye. Exactly right. Hear Hear!

Jame

Glad to hear you got it sorted in the end Marc, they are very popular, thanks for the advice on the 160 by the way, I ground checked it several times and havent had a single problem in 25 flights so far.

Your very welcome Gary, normally Carl H beats everyone with the amount of flights in a single day, but I think you definitely took that one at Elvington Thanks very much mate, really appreciate that.

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

Rob, you may have stated in the thread and I was lazy and did not go back through it. Have you purchased a large majority of your RC items from HK and have you had good success? Have you had any bad dealings at all with them? It does seem that success varies with HK from person to person and some get the bad end of it.

I tend to set a "risk" amount on anything I buy from HK. For instance, I won't spend over 200 and only buy items that I am pretty sure will be good or something that I don't plan to send back if it is defected. I spent about 500-600 in the past two years with HK - not a lot but success was good overall. One component was questionable but basically a non-issue for me.

I think I read that you do the same type buying from HK, however in just a much larger volume.

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

I agree with you and as far as the LHS price gouging. It is borderline stealing - there are just different ways of disguising it. I think most are good with a fair markup in cost, but when items are knowingly priced double, triple, etc. anyone knows that is basically ripping off customers that are in a need state.

The only thing that separates it from stealing is the fact that the customer makes the choice to purchase the high priced item and thus does not qualify because the choice is on the buyer. I often wonder how the dealers can sleep at night knowing that they charged such prices for something like a glow plug?

What is the dealer's justification for such? "I cannot make it if I don't charge these prices." How often have we heard that? If you have to charge dishonest prices to "make it" it is time to get out and re-evaluate the reason you are charging such prices in the first place.

Rob2160

Hi, yes, I have purchased a large number of my items from HK, mainly helicopter kits, 450 Size and relevant parts to complete them such as servos, gyros, ESCs,motor,carbon fibreblades and Lipobatteries..also Chargers, power supplies, numerous batteries, including some large 6S 4000 Mah ones for my larger helis, connectors, receivers,TX chargers, afew smaller RTF helicoptersformy nephews...

Ihave had close to 100% success,only one battery was dead on arrival, in the same order 4 others were perfect and still are 18 months later. . I have over 120 seperate orders, and each order usually comprises of several items.

I have bought several planes.

HK Spitfire
Durafly P-51
Stinger 64mm EDF

All of these are perfect, arrived perfect, fly perfect and are excellent value for money in my opinion.

One thing though, I am very careful only to buy items that have lots of good reviews.. This is another thing I really like about Hobbyking, they allow users to review each product and sometimes there are very bad reviews yet Hobbyking does not delete them.. I think that is incredibly fair for a supplier.

I have bought dozens of their servos for my helicopters. Only one failed after about 500 flights... I think that is reasonable.. I have had brand name servos (hitech) fail in less flights than that.

All my helis in the below video have been flawless and are still flying.. one has over 1000 flights, and most are over 500 flights.

There have been many items I have NOT purchased from HK because of the poor reviews, I will only buy if the item has had several consistently good reviews.

This seems to work because my experiences with HK are all excellent (I adopt the same policy on Ebay, only buy from sellers with 100% feedback and over 100 sales - in 13 years of Ebay, I have never been disappointed)

Hope that helps..

Here are a couple of vids of my HK Helicopters - this was a year ago.. I have 3 more now.. You can see two of the HK Lipo charges also, the turnigy ones.. they work great.

Also,the P51 and Stinger in flight this week..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVH_T1cvm5s[/youtube]


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruiuZahglQk[/youtube]


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nWQVlry9xg[/youtube]

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

Someone pointed out that many of us have good luck with Hobby King, and there are others who don't, who hate them, and berate them at every opportunity. I started thinking it was sort of like when we go out to the field on a busy Sunday. There are a handful of people who have carefully maintained and cared for planes and helicopters, fly well, are generally safe fliers, and who care for and respect their equipment. Then there are those on the other end of the spectrum, the ones whose equipment might be called junk, who don't maintain, who are unsafe fliers, and who complain when something doesn't work or are quick to blame others for crashes, radio failures, etc. I don't mean to be unkind, but I think you guys know what I mean. The great majority of us are careful with our stuff but not obsessive, respect our equipment, fly safely, and are "good" guys.

My point? I think the Hobby King experiences are about the same. Some of us rave (me) about how great HK is, some hate them, and most, on balance, have good experiences but not perfect. Isn't the same true with all suppliers and all hobbyists? Personally, I dismiss the haters, some of whom have never even ordered from HK, evident by their uninformed posts.

HYPERLINK

Me i bought mig-35, afther 1 flight both ESC died in flight (I'm lucky since i had a seccond bbaterie for receiver), then i change those 2 ESC with new casthe-creation, then... both motors let their smoke out...
so i changed them to... oh yes and one of 4000mA-90C batterie is dead on arival.. (they replace it for free), the craftsman is TERRIBLE... this is my first and LAST experiance with any fu....chieniese supplyer...
And i heard they will sale turbines... it will be high speed fliing impellers... if they ever start...

EKIMRIS

There is a point to dismiss the haters, everyone wants to save money in the end and get the best deal. I just wonder how you buy you your cars, I bet not online, so you would bargain. Yet, an iphone or something similarly neat and fancy, got it´s price. Take the Goblin 700 for example, very overpriced but one has to admit that this a real good product. Just talking about the IDLE rpms, god, try that with blades that hobbyking sells without balancing them. Of course, if you are practising, nothing is more welcome than a cheap source of supply. I would say, its a necessary evil to it. Someones got to sell at a low price at low service level. I wonder where you buy your food, its surely not at the small store, they died out a while ago.

Its also out of discussion on what one is happy to spend the money on or where, as it was earned in the first place by personal effort. So, of course, you will do good to buy your supplies even if the service is crappy at a good price point. Do not assume that hobbyking will come up with newly developed items, its just not fundable for them, they are aftermarket. If it wasnt for them, it would be another company. Making you aware that about 90% of all RC products are produced in China that are on sale, hobbyking just is very well located in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was returned to China by the UK a few years ago, btw..

So, if you are happy to buy, just buy, and if you are not, dont. This wont change a bit. Like in modern democracy you just go from bad to worse. They are there but they wont turn around the market like Align did. Their business dropped quite a bit, but they made the RC Helicopter available to a larger community. More gadgets, less problems, I could list it. And there is a whole bunch of young people that had a toy helicopter in the age of virtual games. I have children and I hate to spent their time on the games on mobile phones zombie-like. This hobby still skills you, sharpens your senses and by default is an open air business.

SigMan

My Feedback: (21)

bought 6 batteries 3 weeks ago and still no-show.

Seamus OLeprosy

If that was your first order, 3 weeks is not unusual.
If that was not your first order, well you know the drill.
Lipo's because of their potential to combust and down a plane are now only carried by a limited number of carriers and in special air cargo containers, Worldwide capacity in these containers is limited and if you picked the cheaper "air Parcel" (I am a cheap skate and always do) you get lower priority for at the air cargo centres and have to wait in line.

Rob2160

Can you post a link to the Mig 35, I went right through every aircraft on the HK inventory and they don't have a MIG 35. Can you post pictures of the craftsmanship so we can see what you mean?

Did you read the reviews before buying?

Here is an example of one I would never buy.. because of the bad reviewhttp://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._x_2_ARF_.html


And here is one I did buy based on great feedback... http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._EPO_PNF_.html

How many local Hobbyshops will let customers write bad reviews about their products and then stick them on the boxes in the hobby shops? None..

That is another thing I like about HK, they let you review, good or bad for the benefit of others..

Do some research and don't buy anything with bad reviews and you can't go wrong..

Rob2160

What type of shipping did you use?

Regular shipping can take up to 4 weeks sometimes. If you pay EMS or UPS it will arrive in a few days...

The best I had was ordered 11pm Sunday night, delivered 9am Tuesday.. (From the local warehouse)

Vettster

I bought 2x 4s 4500mah packs and couldn't believe I had them in 8 days!!! Just regular airmail too!

I always expect to wait weeks when ordering batteries.. For the savings... Ill be patiante

EKIMRIS

Special air cargo containers - can you please show us some references to that? For all I know is that an MSDS is enough to ship batteries.
Am suspicious because if there were special containers, people would charge special freight rates out of this special demand. Yet I see no difference in HK shipping rates wheter you buy a lipo or a brushless motor at the same weight.

EKIMRIS

A review is something on can edit, hence control. I like to lookup things in independent networks of people, like here. Although I am sure that hobbyking likes to keep it pretty clean, I do not trust it. At least because I do not have a chance to check the source thats commenting it. It might be a 15 year old guy in india leaving a vivid feedback or a 60 year old guy that has been into RC for 30 years. Thats why I love RCU, you can get an idea of whoms comments you read.

frankle951

My Feedback: (35)

I have been ordering from Hobby King for 6 years, never had any trouble yet, Im up to 50 order now, Keep up the work Hobby King