jermpool

I introduced a friend at work to my rc crawler a few months back. Of course he wanted one. Yesterday he text me to ask if our local stores were open today, yes on 1 no on the other. I told him to ask me before he bought anything, not that I'm some all knowing expert on rc but being in it for 15 years I have some personal experience, plus what I read on here and learn from you guys. He was in Knoxville and stopped at a Hobbytown and left with a Jato 3.3 without asking me what I thought. I had a Jato for about 2 months and if I would have started with that truck I doubt I would have stuck with this hobby. I liked it but I do not think it is a good first car and you would think any hobby shop would stear newcomers away from it. I hope I'm wrong and he absolutely loves it.
Any opinions.

The Mad Modder

Yeah, I see your point. Of course it could have happened at any hobby shop where they're just trying to make a buck and don't care about what's best for the individual.

A friend of mine got into the hobby with a old .15 t-maxx(he happened to have bought it from hobbytown). It was such a pain for him that he got turned off to RC and the maxx has been sitting in his closet for years.

Smiff 24

Sounds like hes got a good friend to help him figger it out.
Nitro can be frustraiting for a first car, just learning how to tune can be a pain.
I too have seen a couple of people buy nitro for the kool factor (which it is)
and get frustrated real quick and put it away.
Is your friend on RCU yet ? Anyway I hope it works well for him.

tommygun32

Agreed....sounds like he has a decent friend who can help show him the ropes.

On another note, if he went into the LHS looking and asking for a crawler and they sold him a Jato 3.3, no matter what the LHS is named, I'd go back and have a few choice words with those monkeys. They obviously don't understand anything about customer satisfaction and ensuring that new customer becomes a long term client.

DaveG55

Just to play devil's advocate...

customer; I want to buy an rc truck.
LHS employee; what are you planning to do with it, run it inside or out?
customer; outside
LHS; where? Dirt, grass, street?
customer; dunno, mostly street probably with some grass
LHS; ok, sounds good, now do you want electric or nitro
customer; what's the difference
LHS; well there a lot of differences but electric can be easier and a bit faster but nitro is more realistic.
customer; well, i like realistic but want fast too, got anything like that?
LHS; well there is this car (Jato), it's fast and nitro so it fits both things. And the company that makes it is real good with customer service and a lot of new people start with this company. But this is a fast car and can be a tricky first car. You sure you don't want to start with something a little easier like electric or a little slower?
customer; wow, i really like this one, it looks soooo cool and you say it is fast? and that the company is a good one for beginners?
LHS; yeah, it's a good company, great customer service and it is a nice car, fast and realistic, but, again it might be a bit much for a beginner...
customer; well, i'm a fast learner and I have a friend that can help too so Lets Do It, I just love this car!!!!!


I was in retail for a long time and that's a perfectly normal conversation. It's hard for me to slam a store or a sales person when you don't know EXACTLY what happened in that store. Buyers can go nuts and lose a lot of common sense when they see something that they want and it's really cool and right there in their hands!
As far as the actual truck, if the friend did buy it unknowing then take it back. As long as it's in new, unrun condition then Hobbytown should not give him any problem on a return

BKoz559

My Feedback: (3)

I'm with Dave, I too slaved in retail for just over 5 years and a good sales person is informative while still secretly trying to suggest what's best for his benefit. But, most customer's still have their mind pretty much made up when they walk into the store and it's hard to push them away from something that really catches their attention. Especially if it seems to have everything they were looking for in the first place.

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

The Jato is a perfectly fine for beginners, any Traxxas is. Why would HobbyTown be bad for the hobby? If anything, it's making it more mainstream, and accessible to just about anyone. Don't be an elitist.

xerxes

htusa isnt any mor bad 4 da hobby den any lhs is.

ur dudez a noob. he walkd in wantn a crawler but left wit a jato. obviously he found sumtn with more allure dat he wantd more den a slow crawler.

he can also go bak & buy a crawlr if he still wants 1. mattr of fact, he can buy any amount of any kind of rc he desires.. dont blame da lhs, blame a change of taste

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

DaveG55 hit the nail on the head. Dunno if it could've been put more properly.

Customers really don't know what they want, especially beginners.

"I want an on road car"
"Have you ever had an RC car before?"
"No, but I have a street out in front of my house that i plan on running on"
"Most streets aren't very on-road car friendly, I'd recommend an off road car either way"
"I want an on road car, i don't care"
"OOOOKAY"
A week later
"This car sucks. Can I exchange it?"
"No, you ran it"
"BUT I'VE HAD IT LESS THAN (14, 30, 90) days!"
"But you RAN IT"
"But I don't like the car, it's not good on my street"

Any really out-there conversation happens in a hobby shop. ThunderbirdJunkie has worked in several over the years. Take the most belligerent, unreasonable newbie you've ever encountered on any RC forum and multiply it by a thousand and that's a weekly case at your LHS.

Hobbytown USA is a corporation, but the stores are franchises and privately owned. That is why some are awesome (like ThunderbirdJunkie's Hobbytown), and some are awful.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

I really dislike my hobbytown. Unhelpful, overpriced, and just plain rude to deal with them most of the time.

However, in this case, its probably not hobbytowns fault. These days with the internet and especially having a friend in the hobby, its nobodys fault but the buyers if they get ripped on the price or come out with something that wont suit them. An hour's worth of google time will get you narrowed down to a couple things to choose from and then you can take it from there.

On the other hand, I love my jato and even though its fast, its somehow very easy to run at the same time. It rarely needs much tuning and it is pretty tough as well as being pretty good off road with the right tires. [8D] Id say just help him out with it and be sure he knows how to tune decently, and he will be fine with it

jermpool

When I had talked to him earlier he had told me he wanted nitro so they didn't change his mind on that. But for what he was wanting to spend I was expecting a nitro sport or maybe a rustler not a Jato.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

The NitroSport and Rustler are not as good as the Jato. The Jato is a better all-around truck. This is likely why he wound up with the Jato instead of the Sport/Rusty.

The Mad Modder

+1 idk about the nitro rustler, but I know he'd have a better time with the jato than the nitro sport.

DaveG55

IMO, asking if Hobbytown is bad for the hobby is kind of naive.

I happen to live in an area with a lot of hobby shops in a 50 or so mile radius. I can think of at least 8 hobby shops within that area. The number of shops changes all the time but, at one time, three of those were Hobbytowns.

It is my experience that the name hanging on the front of the store has very little to do with the pricing and customer service inside. One Hobbytown is great, good pricing and nice, knowledgeable people inside, another - not so much. One indipendant shop has people that will stop and talk for as long as you want to. They are friendly and helpfull and happy to work with you on getting and pricing most stuff. But another LHS has an owner who keeps his head so far up his butt you cannot see his elbows... He is a rude, know-nothing, know-it-all who thinks anything in his shop is worth more than gold.
Lumping all Hobbytown stores togeather is like trying to dump all, IDK, Dairy Queens togeather. Sure they all have the same "stuff" but each store is really pretty different...

rgburrill

I started going to Hobbytown 15 years ago when they dealt with airplanes kits and stuff. I never heard the conversation you give above. And even now, the very few times I go there again no questions. They try to hook the customer on the flashiest, most expensive stuff right from the start. That must be why they have changed from an RC enthusist store to a hobby junk store - return customers are not necessary.

grimbeaver

I'm not a fan of the HobbyTown in my area, but it is nothing against HobbyTown in general. You see every HobbyTown as the same, like a BestBuy or Walmart. When really I do not think they are not anything like that. Just like most hobby stores they are what the people who run them make them. Some of the individuals at my local HobbyTown I like but others not so much. However I can say the same about some of the other LHS in my area as well. There are those I go to when I just need something and those I go to when I actually want 1:1 advice from someone.

Nitro cars (boats and airplanes too) seem to have a stigma these days that's it's so much more work then electric and a beginner shouldn't get it. I don't understand it. When it comes down to it the person getting it should make an informed decision on what they want. I recently helped someone who has never had r/c anything get started with a nitro boat. Other people asked me why I let him get a nitro. Well it was simple, for what he needed it was a big plus to be able to just refuel and go. Since he's not planning on getting anything else r/c anytime soon it would have been impractical for him to invest in the high end chargers and quantities of batteries to fit his needs. It has been a little work for him to learn the ropes of the nitro but he is enjoying it.

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

It really depends on the Hobbytown. I have been to a few really good ones, with knowledgeable people, but I have also been to a few that were run like generic retail stores with cocky kids running the counter.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Thats why i said MY hobbytown

378

My Feedback: (4)

No, not really. Unless it's defective or a bad engine they're no more complicated than changing a light bulb. You just need some common sense and a good instructional video that clearly demonstrates the sights and sounds of these engines under different states of tune, and Traxxas provides such a video with their cars.

Catalinaflyer

One must remember that Hobby Town stores are franchise stores and although they have the same name, order from the same suppliers and have corporate pricing structures they are ultimatley owned by individules. Our local Hobby Town is owner operated, if the store is open the owner is there. He has been in the business for many years and in fact bought the store from a previous owner who was retiring. He had worked there for many years before buying it and for the past 15 years he has be the local go-to place for anything RC car and/or truck. 99% chance that if it's been made in the past 15 years he will have the parts for it and a staff of local bashers and racers that have forgotten more about RC than most people will learn in a lifetime in the hobby.

I for one would not hesitate to send someone just getting into the hobby to them, they will steer people in the right direction. I have watched them talk a customer into a $200 truck instead of the $1500 8ight he wanted just to keep him interested in the hobby rather than sell him all the most expensive components and loose a customer due to frustration.

Asking if Hobby Town is bad for the hobby is kinda casting a wide net, I have been to HT stores that are the hands down best place to buy a craft clock kit but don't have a clue what RC is then there are others like my local HT that is one of the best places in the region for cars/trucks but a little light on airplanes then another in Wisconsin that used to be the go to place for anything airplane till it got sold and the new owner thinks that dungeons and dragons is all he will need to have a successful business model.

As for your friend buying a Jato to start out with, I started out with a Revo because thats what all the glossy ads in the magazines were touting as the best of the best. Several engines later and untold 100's of dollars in broken parts and I gave up on ground based RC stuff and went back to building and flying airplanes. Don't get me wrong, the Revo was fast and cool but it was a royal pita to keep tuned and the parts were fragile to say the least. My wife on the other hand bought a Mayhem and that thing so far has been bulletproof.

378

My Feedback: (4)

Sums up Traxxas in a nutshell. They're good cars if you're willing to put in the time to keep them running. Try something from any of the other big brands next time you venture into surface stuff.

tkapfer

Htusa is pretty good as long as you want cars or helicopters.
I fly giant scale planes and they typically don't carry anything for us modelers.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Giant scale planes are a very small percentage of an already niche market of general hobby grade RC, so it's not surprising. Considering the cost, and the selling price, of the stuff in that genre, do you really expect a hobby shop to stock Moki engines that cost a couple to a few grand that the shop MIGHT make a whole $200 on if the *right* person wanders into the store?

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

Hobby Town opened and closed within 12 months in my local area. They sold very little RC plane stuff and catered to the car people. In addition to that 90% of their inventory was nothing but arts and crafts. Hobby Town is not a hobby shop for modelers.

jermpool

I never had an instructional video to change a light bulb.