Spektrum rant
Yes, this is going to be a bashing post. I've owned exactly 4 Spektrum products in my 9 years in RC, and have exactly a 100% failure rate with them. I take good care of my things and I don't have trouble with any other brands, so the issue is not me. Here's the history:
1. 4.8v NiCd receiver battery- less than 20% capacity when new. I would have lost a plane had I flown with it without cycling it first. Battery was replaced for free by Spektrum.
2. DS821 servo- To be fair, there were 4 of them in the helicopter I was using and only 1 failed within the first 2 years. I'm just glad it failed on the ground instead of in the air. Replaced for free by Spektrum.
3. DX6i radio- Bought used when it was just over a year old from a club member I trust. Had a bad rudder pot. Cost me $20 to ship to Spektrum for repair and have it shipped back to me.
4. DX6i radio- Less than a year old, same problem. There is a history of bad pots on this radio, yet Spektrum has never addressed it nor issued a recall. I'll have to send this one in too for repair.
Yes, I realize that there are many RC pilots who have been lucky with Spektrum products and will defend them. But you have to admit that this brand has a much larger number of problems than any of the others. And I don't buy the argument that there are more problems because there are so many more of them out there. Futaba sells a lot of radios too, but we don't hear about them losing bind while in flight or browning out or having bad pots. Spektrum makes junky stuff (or more properly speaking, has their items made for them in cut rate factories) and then invests in a good repair department. It's a bad business model that shouldn't be thriving as much as it is.