There is virtually no point in buying a radio system off E-bay unless it is guaranteed to be NEW and have NEW NiCds.

You buy a 4 channel radio system from e-bay for $30... then pay the $12 to $25 shipping...

When it gets to you you are likely to find that it has bad batteries. The replacement batteries are going to cost you appx $35 to $55.

You have now spent... $75 to $110 for a used system and you haven't even found out if the servos work yet.

You don't know if the RX is functional... you don't know if the crystal is broken ($12 just for the crystal and they are easy to break in a crash..)

You don't know how it was cared for... and if it was poorly cared for its very likely that the whole system is useless even after you get the new batteries and the replacemnt crystal and a new switch harness...

A new 4 channel set with NEW NiCds can be bought for $100 and you get a 1 year warantee....

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Now do you still want to buy a radio off e-bay?

It doesn't really matter how honest the seller is... He can THINK he is trying to give you a bargain and you can still end up worse off than buying new. He may have paid $200 fo that 4-channel setup a few years ago. (because they cost that much a few years ago.)

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99.9% chance that a 3-channel system will prove inadequate within 3 months. there is no point in getting the 3 channel system either... the ones that cost much less than the 4 channel systems don't come with NiCds. Obviously... a 4 channel system will do everything the 3 channel will and then some.