cjshaker

A warning to you all, since I recently ended up with one of them. Sellers are again selling FAKE Futaba GY-401 gyros on eBay. From what I can determine, they are cheap piezo gyros put into a fake Futaba gyro case, with a large metal nut added in to make the weight match a real one.

Futaba has a page about the fakes, but it needs to be updated. They only mention a font difference and say that the clones have silver plated contacts. Wish I knew the difference before I gave the seller good feedback. I did not think to check mine for being a fake until another purchaser contacted me to see if mine was also fake, as his was. Now, the clones also appear to have gold plated contacts. The fakes use regular phillips screws, instead of security screws requiring a tri blade driver. If you open up a fake one, it contains a large metal nut. I assume it is to make the weight the same as a real one. Also, the product numbers on the bottom of the plastic box it comes in are different. On the FAKE, the numbers are "07101492-1", and "GY401-020". On the real Futaba gyro, the numbers on the bottom of the case are "01101472-1", and "GY401-001".

Futaba's website about the fakes
http://www.futaba-rc.com/techsupport/counterfeit.html

Another thread on the fakes
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1296848

Pictures of rusty nut inside fakes. Mine at least had a shiny nut inside it
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...1296848&page=3

This is what a REAL one looks like inside
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/attac...mentid=3141785

Now at least you know what to look for when considering whether or not yours is also a fake Futaba GY401 Gyro

Chris Shaker

blvdbuzzard

On another forum, (HF) a guy was told it was a fake by MANY people. He was convinced it was a "REAL" Futaba GY401 for $19.99 shipped from China. Well it was a very poor, total crap, not even close fake. It was the one that had a rust nut to add weight and bridge the two boards. He was upset it was not a real one.

If it sounds to good to be true, guess what, its not true.

Buzz.

cjshaker

Given how everyone is going to FBL helicopters, I would expect the sales of single axis gyros are way down. So, when I saw people paying $70 for these fake gyros, it seemed possible that they were real. Also, the fact that they were coming from Canada gave it more credibility in my mind (how wrong I was).

Chris Shaker

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

Send it back. Dennis

cjshaker

In progress. Sent a message to the seller, received no response, and opened a case with eBay. It appears that the seller no longer has any items for sale on eBay

http://stores.ebay.com/HOBBY-HOBBY-STORES

Last time this happened (with a fake SD card), eBay shut the seller down altogether, but they gave me my money back.

Chris Shaker

porterdog

Just as an aside, it's occurrences like this that drive me to ALWAYS fund a paypal transaction with my credit card instead of my bank account.  IME the CC company *always* sides with the buyer, so doing it this way always leaves you powerful recourse.