I am new to this hobby as well as many others, and I debated this question in my head for over two months before I decided what to do: Do you save up $1000.00 or more for a Tamiya with all the gadgets and gizmos, or do you spend about $60.00-$80.00 for a cheaper alternative?

I went with the Hen Long.

We have all heard how much better Tamiya's are compared to the HL's. There can be NO DOUBT that the Tam's are far and away a better quality item for many reasons. I won't bore anybody with rehashing the things that Tam's are known for. Likewise, I won't go into the HL's shortcomings either.

Some people will ask why I went with an "inferior" tank as opposed to the high quality, fun filled Tamiya? The answer is simple, and no, it was not only the price tag... I bought the HL because the HL can SHOOT!! I will say that the gun in MY tank is pitifully weak, but still, it IS a gun. I do have plans to modify the turret to accept a MUCH stronger shooting mechanism.

We are all hobbyists here, and we all tinker with our stuff to make it better, right? I mean, isn't that what it's all about? I know that my HL has a so-so suspension, plastic gears, crappy electronics and certain built in "mistakes". but these things are all correctable. Well, I admit, I have not come up with an alternative suspension idea yet, but I'm working on that... I plan on throwing about $300-$400 dollars at my HL to make it better. Most of that cost will be for electronics.

I know the die hard Tamiya folks are going loopy right now asking why would anyone put so much money into a cheap knock-off of a Tamiya instead of saving up for a REAL Tamiya? To this, my answer is... The HL can SHOOT! I don't need recoil or flash or sound (although that WOULD be cool!). I need to shoot stuff!

Lets face it, everyone who owns a Tamiya wishes it could shoot, and everyone who owns a HL wishes it was built like a Tamiya. Let me ask you this, could you make a Tamiya shoot bb's with all that recoil stuff in there? Not without a LOT of work I'm sure. Can you make a HL drive and sound like a Tamiya? Not without a LOT of work I'm sure. So we come down to simple economics... Hmmm... a $65.00 tank with $300.00 worth of upgrades that will perform at ( I'm guessing) 75% of a Tamiya, or, a $ 1000.00 tank that will need even MORE money to make it shoot like a $65.00 knock-off?

Maybe some day I will get a Tamiya. No, make that I WILL get a Tamiya someday. But until then, I'll throw some bucks into my knock-off, and have fun shooting stuff. I bought this tank knowing that it is a toy. The Tamiyas are not. That much is clear. But the HL is NOT a bad tank, it's not junk. It's just simply NOT a Tamiya. You can't compare them. Let the flaming begin now. I can take it.