Heng Long, Matto and all the knockoffs of them are entry grade. Tamiya is always, and Hooben to an extent, what we call 'hobby grade'. Heng Long etc are ready made, Tamiya and Hooben are kits, as is the exquisite Aeromate 1/16 Tiger 1 in all metal.

Depending on what you want to do with the tank should decide which you buy. There is a fair amount of aftermarket equipment available for Heng Long et al, of varying quality and price ranges. To get Heng Long etc up to Tamiya running standards will require some significant monies for metal lower hull and suspension systems, tracks, upgraded transmissions and motors, Elmod or something similar for control and sound generation, different radio and batteries, etc etc.

Tamiya is not perfect out of the box. Some are excellent runners and battlers built stock, some are not if you are building for competitions. There's a huge amount of both running and cosmetic upgrades for Tamiya, most of which will fit the corresponding Heng Long tanks as far as cosmetics go, but NONE of the running gear and motive systems are interchangeable without a bit of work, sometimes significant work. With a Tamiya kit, except for kits marketed in Japan you have to buy also a radio of minimum 4 channels, plus batteries, chargers, etc.

Bottom line, all depends on what you want to spend in the initial outlay and what you eventually plan to do for the future in this hobby. However, if you eventually intend to get in to competitions, please be advised that the Tamiya protocol for the Infrarot Battle System is the world wide standard for competitions. Stock Heng Long, Taigen, etc do NOT use the same protocol as Tamiya and will not work with the Tamiya system. That being said, in Moskau the last competition included a separate battle event for Heng Long and others without the Tamiya battle systems.