ORIGINAL: MikeL


Retail street price? That's a new term. Let's stick to established terms. Retail price is what a distributor suggests that its products be sold at. Street price is what you and I pay at competing shops. MAP is just that - - the minimum advertised price. It has no bearing on what goods are actually sold for. This is extremely common when goods are widely distributed. It's an attempt by distributors to keep prices relatively uniform. Price fixing isn't OK, but MAP certainly is. Want to see some good example? Shop online at places such as Amazon. You'll see products where you have to ad the item to your cart in order to see the price, as it is below MAP. There is simply no such thing as "retail street price."

Tower Hobbies is probably one of my least favorite retailers, simply because of the games they play when it comes to pricing. They're Hobbico - - they set the MAPs for products such as Futaba, yet screw both customers and their own dealers by playing games with pay-for-play price clubs and find-the-coupon ads, along with slightly larger discounts for those who spend very large dollar amounts with them. Tower's street price is the price paid by those who buy the most, find the best coupons, and pay for the privilege of shopping Tower. Tower's retail price is the price paid by unsophisticated customers who don't know to look for coupon codes. Most people fall somewhere in between, paying more than certain customers and less than others. I'm not a woman. Shopping isn't a game for me. I like the best possible price, and I don't like knowing that someone else got a better deal than I did. I don't like feeling as though I'm getting screwed. Variable discounting invariably screws consumers. Do I buy from Tower? Sometimes, sure.

Sure. www.toddsmodels.com is one of the places you'll find great deals on Spektrum receivers. Todd's gets around MAP by having customers log into the website, via a gimmick called "Todd's Team." Sign up (there's no fee) and you'll see prices well below MAP. Todd's isn't the only place to find prices such as this. Liteflightrc.com is another. They take Amazon's approach, not showing you the price until the item is in your cart. If you don't see an item, you can drop them a line and they'll price it for you. There's also such things as the local hobby shop.

Just like when it comes to selecting our equipment, there are benefits to taking a more sophisticated approach to shopping. With a very small amount of effort, a person can greatly reduce their total cost of ownership in this hobby. Or, they can choose to get more toys for the same buck. It's not hard.

I went to 2.4ghz earlier than I expected because of Microsoft's eBay promotion this summer. I got 35% off of the street price for an X9303. I could have had that discount off of Futaba or Airtronics gear. What pushed me to JR was the pricing on the Spektrum receivers and the variety of receivers available. There was just no lower total cost of ownership available, because the only real competition was Futaba. Airtronics, in my opinion, is second rate gear. NOT in terms of quality, but in terms of technology. Now, before someone babbles about different types of 2.4ghz methods, I'm talking about their transmitter and receiver. The RDS8000 is an improved RD6000. I've got an RD6000. It was a great piece of gear back in its day, say eight or nine years ago. It just can't compete with JR and Futaba, however. Airtronics spent so little on their R&D that they fell behind. They even fell behind Hitec, if a person considers the Multiplex line. That RDS8000 is so cheap right now because the technology inside of it is so old. Buy it, and you're paying for year 2000 gear. It's at such a low cost because there was so little spent on R&D for it.

One thing I am is a technology snob. I use the very best gear I can afford. Back in 2000, that was the RD6000. It was much better than competing 6-channel offerings from JR and Futuba. Things are different now. There's only one model of receiver available for it, in a one-size fits all package. One size doesn't fit all. Hopefully Airtronics will successfully bring more receivers to market. I'd like to see them become a top-tier brand again. Competition is good, particularly for technology snobs such as myself. What I've seen of their new 10-channel doesn't impress me. The display looks coarse. Not as bad as the RDS8000, but no where near the 10C or X9303. And the 10C and X9303 are essentially old technology, too - - just refined 72mhz designs.

What I really want is a new ground-up, top of the mid-line (say $500-$700) transmitter. One that is physically designed for 2.4ghz. All of today's transmitters are still physically designed to balance with a 72mhz antenna sticking out of them. I want features like Spektrum's Model Match - - how simple yet brilliant is that? I want Futaba's timers. I want JR's analog throttle trim. I want a computer interface that is useful, and continually updated transmitter programming.

Right now, however, I have to choose from a series of compromises. What I've found to be the best compromise for me is JR. Pricing I can live with. Receivers that let me pick an appropriate design for each model I own or want to own. Software that has some features to make my time spent flying more enjoyable with fewer of the less enjoyable moments. Good support in how they address the flaws in their product. Widely distributed gear, providing me with a real choice in retailers and lots of availability.

Spektrum isn't the right choice for everyone. If a person flies .40 size glow up to small gassers and doesn't mind old technology, Airtronics can be a wonderful choice. Futaba is a brand that many people are comfortable with, even if their distributor isn't my favorite company to deal with. I wish Hitec would get back in the game. I fully expect radios two years from now to be "true" 2.4ghz radios, as opposed to the modified 72mhz designs of today. Competition is a good thing. What I would like to see is more competition for Spektrum/JR - - I'd like to pay even less per receiver than I do now.