The title says knockoffs but alot of you guys seem intent on bashing one brand or another. IMO hobby grade means you can get parts for them when they break, no more no less, Exceed RC was mentioned earlier, they have there own website and affordable spairs so I don't see how they can be on this list. If it is a true knockoff then shouldn't we be helping to identify what they are knocked off of? if its 95% based on one car that may help someone keep an unkown car running with "better or more easily available parts", around here some guys would bash a real TC4 if it was pictured in one of those $79.99 ebay adds with a WADANGLE ENTERPRISES sticker plastered over the body and different battery holder, if you said it was based on a tc4 at least one joker would say it don't look like any tc4 he has ever seen!
I will help to identify at least one knockoff I WOULD recommend to anyone to get started in rc for $50, its the Hotwheels Flashfire RC IN PURPLE AND WHITE ONLY-the yellow and white is based on another chassis, the purple and white is a tamiya df 02. These Flashfire kits have terrible radios and range to about 30-40 feet but for as low as $46 on the net you get, car, radio, battery and wall charger, all you need is the aa batteries. Big name companies sometimes license kits like what happened with the Tamiya-Mattel deal here. The associated-radio shack minis is a well known licensed deal.