f6hlct

My Feedback: (4)

I am at the point of switching over my current 9303/72 system to a new 2.4 9303, and am curious about JR Vs Spektrum receivers. As I will need to replace all my existing receivers, this will consume a chunk of change. For instance, the JR 921 is about $30 more than the Spektrum AR9000. They look the same, and have the same specs. They are probably made by the same company, so why the price difference? Is there something that I have missed, or is it just the JR name that affects the price?

BuschBarber

My Feedback: (2)

I have two XP9303 radios. One has the 72Mhz Synthesizer module and the other has the Spektrum 2.4 module. I picked up the second Tx when a friend was upgrading to the X9303.

The Spektrum module allowed me to jump into 2.4 without buying a new system. It cost $300, at the time, but the AR9000 Rx would have cost me $169, so the Module only cost me $131. I have since purchased another AR9000 and three AR6100.

Perhaps, in the future, I will jump to the 12X, but for now, the only difference I have found between the XP9303 and the X9303 has been Model Match. There may be some Latency, but I do not notice a problem.

As far as the AR9000 vs the 921, I thought that they were the same. I do not know why the R921 is $20, at Horizon, than the AR9000 (just looked it up). The descriptions are slightly different, but they basically say the same thing.

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

Maybe you could dig into the question of the warranty period?

I know the JR stuff is 3 years, but I think the Spektrum stuff is 1 year?

Don't know for sure since I've not really bothered to track it down, but that might explain the difference?

BuschBarber

My Feedback: (2)

I spoke to one of my fellow club members who is very well informed and has both Rx's. He says that, visually, there are distinct differences in the appearance of the two Rx's. Whether that means that the two Rx's are functionally different is another issue.

f6hlct

My Feedback: (4)

Good thought Zeeb. You are right about the warranty. Spektrum is 1 year where as JR is 3. If that is all there is, I think that I would like to save money as opposed to buying extended service warranty, which is what this would amount to. I have found with electronics, that if it lasts past the first 60 days, your chance of problems are greatly diminished. After the first year, you will rarely find a manufacturer have any new patches or recalls as they are already on the next version.

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

Well that warranty difference is probably the only one then. I can't say for sure if say an R-921 is physically identical to an AR-9000 as I don't have one of the AR-9000's to do a side-by-side comparison with my R-921's.

As for functionality, they are supposed to be identical. There was an SB on the AR-9000's about 18 months or so ago, and it generated a bunch of questions on the support forum about whether or not it applied to the R-921's. Danny Snyder from Horizon who used to answer questions said that the two rx's were the same, but the R-921's were built in a different place than the AR-9000's.

Then you look at say the AR-9100 PowerSafe rx's and those came out a number of months before the R-922, but those are supposed to be identical as well. Then the R-1221 and R-1222 rx's came out and Spektrum doesn't offer a 12 channel rx so I think it's just been a kind of evolution of the lines with some minor changes to firmware, cases and colors along the way. Regardless, they all run the Spektrum DSM2 components.

slarty

Spektrum is made in Taiwan typically, the JR is made in Japan.

Costs would depend on exchange rate at the time.