Originally Posted by
krokodyl
Agreed, I also would hesitate on 450, but I bet it will come fully rtr batterys and all. I think maybe redcat is trying to get more hobbystores to sell there products. Most stores dont sell redcats because they dont gain enough money. IMO redcats biggest boost to selling there products is getting more stores to sell their products. It can be pretty annoying to wait up to a week on some stupid part. I know some people will go into their LHS and buy the product thats appealing to them, no matter of the brand. Time will tell if tedcat will ever get more popular than it is today.
I could not agree more. one of the biggest complaints redcat owners have (who are often new to the hobby) is when their model breaks they have to find the part online. And half the time, if they go to their local hobby shop they are basically told that they shouldn't have bought a redcat in the first place. If models and parts were sold side/side with every other brand it would do a lot for the company.
When I asked my LHS why they no longer sell redcats (did when they first opened...still have a couple of old nitros left over) they didn't give specifics but said in general they had problems with customers having issues and redcat not replacing parts.
Now, I was a dealer and never had such problems. I don't know if redcat's attitude towards brick and morter dealers is different from their online dealers (why would it be?) but I suspect that the margin's on redcat's models is lower than on traxxas and other brands. I know that most of the 1/10 redcat models only have a margin of about $40. A redcat nitro is just over $200 where the base model traxxas nitro is about $350. $150 more is nothing to sneeze at! Im thinking the profit margin on the traxxas is higher, thus making it worth more for the hobby shop to sell. Shelf space in some stores is limited.
Of course, the conspirousy theory is that some of the big name companies wont sell to stores if they carry redcats. I don't really think that is the case...but then, I don't think anything could stop traxxas or hpi or losi from doing just that. Can you imagine any hobby shop standing up to those companies? Any hobby shop would certainly choose the big brands over redcats.