Yup, absolutely.

I used to buy a certain brand of glow engine that had a reputation for having to be sent back several times in order toget it "fixed" to run normally. I do know what it is like to be frustrated in such a fashion, although, later on, after I had enough reliable engines that a trip back to the factory wouldn't keep me from flying, I bought them anyway.

The manufacturer used to encourage his customers to tinker with their engines and he would sometimes send free parts and provide you with a good, educational phone conversation for free. I used to try to discourage newbies in the hobby from buying the particular brand as their first engine. Of course, they would always ask me why I bought them "if they were so bad". I explained that these engines were a complete hobby unto themselves and that later, when they had more experience, it would be fun to buy some of these foxy engines.

Problem is, getting back to the point, no one knows what is good or bad when a new product comes out. If one is not up to snuff on engine theory, operation and maintenance practices, they might want to forego buying the enticingly cheap engines for a while and get some experience with a well proven, reliable, factory/distributor supported engine.

If my latest gas engine has problems, I yank it off the plane and put my trusted Zenoah, BME, ZDZ, Brison, Brillelli, BCMA or Evolution engines back on and go fly. Someone with a limited budget or experience would not perceive an engine problem the same way as a more experienced, better equipped modeler would.


Ed Cregger