Originally Posted by
testing1234
I'm in the exact same boat. I left the hobby 20yrs ago when JR and Futaba we're the gold standard, battery powered was just a fad and we flew on specific channels with crystals on our radios/receivers.
JR doesn't even do radios anymore from what I'm told. I'm completely lost.
As I said in a previous post, I still use my trusted Futaba stuff since I've never had an issue with it, starting way back in 1982.
That said, truth be told, radio equipment hasn't really changed that much. Obviously, just about everything is now digital and uses the 2.4GHz frequency band where the transmitter and receiver are "linked"(have a code in the signal to ID the transmitter so the receiver will reject all other signals) and servos are now, generally, higher powered with some being programmable. You can still get fairly simple systems or, if you want to pay the price, up to 18 channels(possibly more since I last looked) with almost unlimited functions and/or mixes.
In contrast, electric power has evolved considerably. Motors are higher powered when set up with batteries like we used to use. Then again, what we used to use were nicads with their very limited capacity. Today, most don't even consider them as an option, going with Nimh, Lipo or (the latest and greatest)LiFe. Which is best is determined, more or less, by what you're using them for. At the same time, ask ten different people and you'll get ten different answers.