RaceCity and BuzzingB, great posts! My thoughts exactly.

Nowhere in our hobby do you see the stark contrast between quality engines and cheap clones more profoundly than when you are an instructor. You get to take responsibility in advising on the setting up, trimming, tuning and flying of scores of models. When you maiden someone's pride and joy, you really need the engine to be behaving itself. It depresses me to think of how many students have wasted valuable flying time breaking in and settling down engines "that were 20 bucks cheaper than an OS".

And to cite the ST's adjustable mid range as some kind of feature - sheesh! A well calibrated carb does not need an adjustable mid range for sport aircraft use. It's like saying that a Model T Ford is superior to a Mercedes because it has a crank handle and the Merc doesn't. Many guys at the field have difficulty adjusting mixture in two ranges let alone three.

The participants in this "buy anything except OS" game prevalent on this site are but a tiny percentage of the modelling community - perhaps 5-10 people. Many of these guys have upwards of 10,000 posts on this forum, let alone other forums we may not know about. Methinks if they bothered to switch off the 'puter, get outside and fly, they may change their tune.

When they start quoting a single magazine test that was published years ago as their only source of information of how an engine performs, you know they are getting desperate.