ORIGINAL: jester_s1
I know it's a can of worms but I'm going to suggest staying away from the super cheap radios. Turnigy stuff in particular is known for being hit and miss on quality control. If you get a bad battery and catch it in discharge testing that's one thing, but a bad radio will cost you an airplane. Sure, some guys do fine with them, but no way I'm trusting the money and time I have invested in even the cheapest nitro planes to them. Tactic stuff seems to be gaining a reputation, but I'll still reserve judgment until they have a few years on them. All 4 of the major brands have an entry level computerized radio for under $250. Considering how much it will get used in the hobby, it just makes sense to go with a product you can trust.
I agree 100%, I just returned my buddies turnigy/skyfly 9x to him. He went to the park the other day and it wouldn't power up. I already
had installed a rechargable battery in it. I did some research online and saw some info about poor soldering, when the case was opened
I found a cold solder joint that ripped off the power switch, he isn't the most gentle person with his equipment more like a gorilla with
a beer keg as a toy. i cleaned the solder globs off of most of the switches ans redid them. I really didn't play with the radio too much
it does have nice features, but I do suspect the quality of the boards and such if the switches were poorly soldered. I flew his Electric
edge with it and all was fine. I realize that lately cost is the determining factor in what we buy, but I don't know if i could trust that
radio. What would have happened if he was flying when the solder joint broke, definitely a crash but the potential for bodily injury
and property damage is definitely there.
Normally I would not take apart someones radio unless I was changing springs or antenna, I am in no ways an electronics expert.
but when it comes down to a radio he bought for less than 50 bucks I figured if I broke it I could replace it. my radios go to
radio south for repair. I just didn't want to recommend that people should repair their radios not only are they complicated
but if something gets screwed up you could end up hurting yourself, some one else, or shooting down someones plane