Iam about to make a large first time order with Hobby King. I have had positive expiernces with Tower & Horizon and would like your positive/negative feedback re: Hobby King

I've generally had good luck with Hobby King. I have gotten a couple defective items from them but Iknew that would be a risk with the super-low price. I have heard that they can be difficult when you have problems or returns but I have never verified that myself.

Shipping cost has always been a down side with them unless you place large orders to make it more cost-effective. They have a US warehouse now though so some items can be shipped for alot less.

Imay order from Hobby King again in the future but the local hobby shop, Tower, Advantage, Central Hobbies, Aeroworks and others will always ber my first choice.

I've had good luck with them so far. I mainly buy Lipos, chargers, and other electric stuff from them. I've never bought any planes or glow engines from them. Just don't order anything that shows a negative stock quantity, back orders can take months.

I've ordered lipos, chargers, servo extension, watt meters, etc from them and haven't had any issue. Even when I picked their cheapest shipping option, I still got the package in about 3 weeks. Don't order anything that is back ordered.

The Turnigy batteries and motors are ok, but everything else is pure junk; especially the planes. Forget about support and returns. Buyer Beware!

Ihave bought a lot of stuff but avoid any big dollar items. Ihave had quality issues with some things like my 2.4 conversion kit and a bad servo.
unfortunately if you need to return something you have to use expensive shipping with tracking or they "lose" your return. I had heard this and tested the theory, yep they "lost" it.

I've easily spent over 6K with them.... ( Platinum member... )

I guess that should have more weight than the dismissive "junk" proclamation from the single or low item count buyers....


I've been afraid to order planes from them though I've seen some of their Balsa ARF's and they are DEFINITELY NOT "JUNK".

I've only had one minor problem with a missing item, that I had them pack in on a subsquent order. This was resolved via e-mails.




NEVER, EVER order ANY backordered items. This will delay your shipment for an undetermined amount of time!


I always use EMS shipping and get my stuff in about a week, faster than what I get from Tower!

Shipping is expensive, but it is offset by the price of say the first battery pack I order.

I've ordered Gas engines, glow engines, HD servos, standard servos, mini servos, motors, EDFs, voltage regulators, receivers, tools, starters, etc... everything has been GREAT thus far.


With the servos, frankly I've had far more problems with Hitecs than any of the ones they sell.... and I've purchased well over 160 servos of different types.

Just be careful in your choices and assume that you will be unable to return anything for any reason what-so-ever.

Thanks all for the insiteful and helpful feedback.

My feedback would be very similar to that of Opjose: I have ordered 7-8 times form them in the past and no issues, but given the price I have always taken into account that if anything were wrong I wouldn't go through the trouble of returning it; I guess I have been lucky so far.

Others have said it, but just to be clear: HK will not partial ship your order so if one item is on back order your entire order will sit until the entire order is filled, so order only what it in stock. I usually get my stuff in 1-2 weeks, so keep that in mind if you are in a rush.

I have pretty much the same postive experience as the other guys have reported above, BUT I have one suggestion, as follows:

On a backordered item that you don't need right now, place a separate order for that one item. I've done this and while it's a tad more expensive due to shipping you get it as soon as it comes into stock. Since it's the only item in the order, it does not hold anything else up. I do this with specific items I like and that are more for stock than a specific plane, as it could be a while before it ships.

I have five of the three wire power switches on backorder like this. They are great switches and less than 25% of hobby store prices, so the $2.99 postage for 5 of them is still very inexpensive and I don't have to keep checking the site to see if they are in, then place the order. I did this with the Orange HK brand Spektrum compatable receivers too. These do not stay in stock more than a day or so, but my order was queued up and shipped quickly. I limit this to reasonably priced orders, as you pay when you order, not when they ship, so HK is hanging on to your money.

Remember, you shouldn't order anything you need right now from HK. I've had orders arrive in a week and also in four weeks.

Jack

I have been trying to return an item to Hobby King which I purchased from the USA warehouse for several months. Not a big dollar item ($66) but they are almost comical to deal with and respond with emails that say virtually nothing. I first couldn't get the address for their US warehouse (the first customer service person said she didn't have the address). When I got the address I sent the item back FEDx ground. Once I received proof of delivery I sent this to HK and asked for a refund, This has been going on now for almost one month and they keep telling me their US warehouse hasn't acknowledged they received the item even when I've sent them the proof of delivery including the signature. So, bottom line..be really really sure what you purchase...because returns don't seem to be an option.

Have gotten 78 shipments from them over the past few years (no planes). So far so good. 1 bad Lipo, 2 bad servos & 1 bad UBEC. Canned the bad stuff since its not worth the bother of trying to ship it back & get a replacement.

Despite the DOA items I am way ahead on dollars saved by using them. I expect I have saved well over 50% on anything I have gotten from them.

I don't know about them, but a couple of years ago, I ordered four servos from Tower Hobbies. They sent me three of one kind, and one of another kind. The one that was different was a higher cost item than I ordered. I didn't want to use it as a throttle servo, could have used it as an elevator or rudder servo, but it isn't what I wanted.

I called them and told them about the discrepancy. They told me to keep that servo and sent me what I had originally ordered. Not bad, I'd say.

CGr.

Speaking of Tower servos. Had a few HK labels come off & Tower ones were underneath. I expect most of the stuff is coming out of the same Chinese factories

They were Airtronics servos.

They are also available out of Hong Kong, could be Sanwa contracts out the manfacturing.

Hobby King sometimes sells servos under the "Tower Pro" brand name. These are not to be confused with Tower Hobbies (or Tower System 2000) brand servos, which are made by Hitec (as are Hobbico brand servos).

I've ordered a lot of batteries, motors, and speed controllers from Hobby King over the years. I've always been pleased with the accuracy of the orders and pleasantly surprised at the quality of the products. I've been using Hextronic HXT900 servos in some of my smaller electric planes for several flying seasons now, and I have yet to have one fail. I trust Hextronic servers as much as any brand of micro server on the market.

I tried their receiver switches once, and had the first one I tried to use shorted out a receiver battery. I ordered a helicopter canopy and it showed up with cracks in the fiberglass. Those are my only negative experiences that I can remember. I bought one of their 2.4Ghz 4-channel radio systems for $23, and it works quite well.

I generally don't order anything from Hobby King if I'm in any kind of hurry. I order the stuff, forget about it, and then I'm pleasantly surprised when it finally shows up. Two to three weeks for processing and shipping has been the norm. If something is backordered, but it's what I want, I just order it and wait. They get stuff in all the time, and the stuff always shows up sooner or later.