eastern

I bought the 12FG about 5 years ago for £495, the same price i've just paid for a 14SG. Call me cynical but I thought 5 years of progress would have taken Futaba forward, yes we have S Bus but that only seems to be worth it if you buy a £2000 18MZ which I'm not prepared to do. Yes I made a mistake selling my 12FG only cause I thought Futaba were a forward thinking company. The other key point I should have noticed was why are there so many new 8FG's for sale on the BMFA site, reason disillusioned customers.

DougV

Perhaps for the same reason I sold one of my 8FG's, to get the 14SG.

Doug.

Dick T.

My Feedback: (243)

Sorry for your frustration. But you shot your own foot off by moving down the product line from a high end transmitter. You expected a lower end transmitter to have greater capabilities?

Go ahead and jump to Spektrum with their ever changing specification, 2.4 protocols, mandatory 6 volt batteries, multiple satelitte receivers where one Futaba will do, fiddely binding plugs, on and on.

Offer to trade your 14GS to someone who feels their 12FG is more than they need. You both will benefit.

You will be back.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

I'll be selling one of my (2) 8FG's also .... to get a 14SG. There are enough new, improved features on the 14SG to make it worthwhile for heli use. My other 8FG will be retained until the 12FG / 12Z replacement comes along. I bought the 8FGs just for the purpose they are being used for, as a stop gap measure until the newer radios come along. A year ago, I wasn't about to buy one of the expensive 12 channel radios when I thought they were getting a bit long in the tooth. I suspected they would be going away as they are. The only thing I didn't expect was that a replacement isn't yet available and that is not the norm for Futaba. I suspect they wanted all of the current 12 channel stock long gone before bringing out a replacement.

As for the 8FG, it is a darn good radio and I have not seen the rush to dump them on the used market.

forrest gump

eastern...I am struggling to see your logic.As I said before,I have both 8fg and 12fg.As soon as I heard about the 14sg I downloaded the manual from the futaba site and found it the same as the 8fg one,give or take a little.Now with the small screen and the same software as the 8fg,I fail to see how this was an upgrade to the 12fg,appart from the Teletery and FHSS compatability.I intend to ,If I need telemetry to buy the FASST transmission rx with FASTEST telemetry transmitter built in which will transmitt data to a clip on screen which I will put on my 12fg in the future if needed.These are avaliable on german sites at the moment as they are actually selling these rx with the 8fg as a telemetry setup.

I agree with you to some extent and think FUTABA are taking the pi55 with the price of the 14sg and why they have deserted the 8fg with telemetry but there will be a FASTEST 12fg available soon called something else which will talk to the FHSS rx and probably have built in RF deck like the 8fg has.

I would stay well away from the spektrum side as we have had manny problems in our club with them and non at all with FASST.I understand it might be an emotional reaction to your dissapointment but I think ,long term FUTABA will eventually win us over in their own unique way!

DougV

My personal opinion is that Futaba should add Conditions to the 14SG for airplane mode with the next firmware update, not a deal breaker but it would be nice to have. For now I can use rates or I can use Glider mode for airplanes if I need conditions no big deal. But if it was up to me, I’ll get rid off the airplane mode and combine both airplane and glider software, it’s all we need.

Doug.

BuschBarber

My Feedback: (2)

It is very obvious that any manufacturer's line of radios has models at different price points and that in general, the cheaper models will have less features than the more expensive models. Even if the cheaper model is capable of supporting the firmware found in the more expensive model, you will likely not be able to update the cheaper model to the more advanced firmware.

If the same manufacturer comes out with a cheaper line of radios, you can bet that they cut corners somewhere to offer it at a cheaper price. Less features and cost less to manufacturer.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

I agree 100%.

eastern

You agree 100% that 5 years after a radio is introduced that it does less than one of the same price brought to market now! Why also can I not take my SD card, with all my modle memories in and use it straight away in my NEW 14SG, oh because its a different file format. they are taking the pi55. As I have said I was diyed in the wool Futaba since about 1974, this has sickened me totally they are having a laugh.

luv2flyrc

My Feedback: (6)

To all the mystics and psychics out there that see new Futaba radios on the Horizon (no pun intended )

I see nothing.

Consider that new radios are usually "leaked" well in advance of actual launch. This means Futaba is a good year (at least) away from launching a new transmitter. Why would they leave a "hole" in their lineup for that long.

Also consider, why is it necessary to fill the gap between 14sg and 18mz? 90%+ of the market is with the 14sg and down transmitters and the other 10% or less will likely shoot for the 18mz regardless of price.

Futaba probably realized they made a mistake in the past by offering 12FG, 12Z and 14MZ all with virtually the same capabilities thus simply splitting sales in the very small high end market between them.

Mike

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

I base my opinions on what I have seen in the marketplace over the last several decades. I'll stick by my opinion that Futaba will have a radio to fill the void between the 14SG and the 18MZ. I choose to be an optimist rather than a pessimist in this regard.

Certainly fewer high end radios are sold than the low cost ones but I would have to believe the high end stuff is more profitable.

luv2flyrc

My Feedback: (6)

Me too !

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

You must be reading something into my agreement that I didn't see?! Clearly your observation wasn't about the content of what I was agreeing to at all.

I was agreeing that Futaba should add conditions to the aero mode on the 14SG and that they should combine the glider and aero functions into one mode. Both highly desirable functions but not deal breakers for the way I would use this radio.

On to one of your new points, few memory storage devices used by Futaba (Campac or SD card) have been compatible between old and new radio models. There have been exceptions but they are rare and mostly confined to the newer radios such as the 12 series, 14MZ and 18Mz.

hairy46

My Feedback: (1)

Should have bought a freinds12fg he just sold for a great price. But did not know they would discontinue them.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Well, FWIW, the 12Z is discontinued now, as well.

My wife must have snagged one of the last ones; less than a week after she ordered it, it went "Discontinued".

A bit odd, knowing that your brand-new radio has just been dropped by its manufacturer.

Whatever... I'm gonna try it anyway.

.

Silent-AV8R

There is not a thing wrong with the 12Z. The only thing that you are missing out on is telemetry. Hobbico & Futaba will continue to support the 12Z well into the future. They still support the 9Z and that was dropped 8 years ago!! Enjoy your radio, it is a winner.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Kinda like buying a new car the month before the new models come out. The one you bought is no longer available but it is still a new car.

You're 12Z is a fine radio. Enjoy it!

Dave Harmon

That's right Bill!

I just retired my 9Z after 18 years of totally trouble free flying and got a new 18MZ to replace it.
I expect the reliability of the 18MZ and 12Z will be just as good and be supported for quite awhile.

bem

My Feedback: (1)

Hi,

How is it, is Futaba 14MZ also discontinued?
I have one and I just curious to know sinceupdates in software will probablybe rather rare in future on discontinued products.

It seems little strange to me that Futaba discontinue radios before they have anything to replace it with, some overlap could have been nice Ithink.

By the way, when people here say discontinuedare You refering to Futaba in general or Futaba US(Hobbico) only, or maybe only Tower Hobbies?
12FG, 12Z, 14MZ is still on Futaba US websitewww.futaba-rc.com
But I live in Europe and Robbe/Futabaherestill has 12FG, 12Z, but not 14MZ (but still FX-40)on their homepage and You can still buy them
http://www.robbe.de/rc-fernsteuerung....html?limit=45

/Bo

TFF

I believe the radios have not been made for about a year and they are selling out the stock. Tower dropped the price to get them gone. There must be too many 10Cs and 7Cs on the shelf right now but they will be gone in the future just because they will want to close the chapter on the Gen1 radios. You know, no 72 mhz stuff has been made for a while but they got to convince that what is left is fresh.

eastern

After a few days of simmering down after realising my error in selling my 12FG I have had more time to look into my predicament and also to speak to Dave at Inwood who has been excellent. I have been told that the 14SG is a replacement for the now discontinued 12FG and also had confirmation that model memories can't be transferred from one Futaba transmitter to another. As I've said before I'm really struggling to find the positives in all this. I know the 14SG will do what I need in that I will be able to fly a 12ch jet using it but that's not really my issue. What I can't understand is they've brought out S Bus and now S Bus 2, they've built in telemetry and then they appear to have downgraded the capabilities, no flight conditions, no means of transferring model settings from one TX to another especially when they are touting the 14SG as a replacement for the 12FG. The whole thing just baffles me. Apparently even if I had bought an 18MZ I still wouldn't have been able to transfer model memories over. So what's the point of having the ability of storing memories if the only transmitter you can use them in is the one you own! I'm reticent to abandon Futaba and certainly if it means going to Spektrum but I've looked at the new JR 11 channel tx and it feels really good, certainly feels like a £500 tranny. Lastly if anyone does have a 12FG for sale please let me know I'd take it back in a heartbeat.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

I hope so. I have two 9Z WCII's I've been using since 2003. Both are overdue for a lithium battery replacement, but still work great. In fact, I'm going to fly one of them today. Not quite ready to try the 2.4 thing yet...

.

nonstoprc

My Feedback: (90)

+1.

I love my 12z and would love to have the telemetry capability. 14sg also has the alarm feature and surely it would be a good feature for 12z to have (that can be triggered by the throttle).

14SG does have the conditions (see the manual) but it is only applicable to Heli and Glider.

TFF

For the most part the CAMPAC memory was not compatible to other transmitters so Futaba has never kept an information standard. I think Futaba also learned that when there was a close group of capabilities buyers did not always buy the top;they offered too much. Getting rid of the middle ground makes the 18 desirable to more people. They dont want you to use the 14FG in place of the 18; they wont match the capabilities.

Dave McDonald

My Feedback: (19)

Does the 14SG have the high quality ball bearing gimbals that were in the 9Z, 12FG, 12Z, 14MZ, and 18MZ?