ORIGINAL: dubd
At least LGM isn't biased. He seems to dislike all Chinese ARF manufacturers.
dubd,
While it's true that I am done with buying chinese ARF's, I still have my own opinions of each one. I think that many of them have their place in the industry. Some are definitely better than others. As I mentioned above, I see that FEJ's is improving seemingly in leaps and bounds. I have stayed out of FEJ threads as of the last couple years because I have not had any of their new products. While I still have my opinions from pictures I've seen and other threads I've read, I've kept quiet. Keep in mind, that in the beginning, I was one of FEJ's biggest supporters. I went to bat for them many times, I had one of the first Rafales when FEJ first appeared on the market. Yes, I had some issues with that jet too, but I continued to support them. It was the Liberty that was the crushing blow to me. I'm not out on a FEJ smear campaign, I did my time with them, and I have formed (and as far as I can tell) am allowed to have my own opinion. I do not blast into the recent FEJ threads with my opinions, nor do I go into the "which jet should I choose" threads and say this or that is crap.
What I do continue to do, is talk highly of the manufactures that I have never had any real issues with. Oddly enough, the airplanes I have never had any issues with were ALL kits, not ARF's. My DL Aeromodels Cyclone, my Maverick, my first Kangaroo, my Exocets, my Super Bandit, Firebird, CAI Raptor, CAI Razor, and my Kingcat (which I admit, was an all white ARF, but even the Kingcat as an ARF requires a fair amount of work). They all treated me very good. The ARF's I've owned and flown always required more maintenance or "fixes" right from the beginning. Maybe I'm fussier about things than most, maybe I've had bad luck with ARF's, I don't know, what I do know, is of all of the jets I've had great success with, none were from Chinese manufactures. That's not to say I haven't got complaints about the quality vs cost of some of those kits, but at the end of the day, they all build well and work well.
As I say, I am not on a smear campaign against FEJ's, this was my thread originally, and you can even see in this thread that when I first received the Liberty I was positive about it, I didn't even mention the shortcomings as I had agreed to let the factory know first so that they could be corrected. It was when I was told that they were not going to look at the issues because they were too busy with other airplanes to be bothered that I lost any and all hope/respect I had for them at that time.
Like I say, it's my experiences that I base my opinoin on, and last I checked, I was allowed to have that opinion, and share it when somebody asks a question, particularly in a thread that I started.
I know that FEJ's has a good following now, and not unlike BVM, it's turned into a following where people that have had issues cannot make comments without being flamed anymore. I don't get that, just because more people are having good experiences, does not negate the fact that many in the past were left holding the bag.