Is anyone else being deluged with Tower email ads? Hardly a day or two goes by that I don’t get a email from them and 99% of the time it’s for something I’m not interested in. I’m almost ready to shut down their emailing but hate to cut them off completely. Hope they are doing OK in our current economy. After all the hobby shops shutting down in the US in the last few decades it would be ironic if Tower got in trouble. Other than radio gear, paint and MonoKote they really don’t sell much stuff that I buy but it’s nice that they are there.

Oh yea,

I'd say about twice a week - email about the latest fly sized chopper or 4-wheel buggy. Who knows, maybe one of them will catch my son's eye one of these days.

On the other hand, the discount code emails they send don't bother me! [8D]

David.

me too. i just delete, they aren't the only ones i have to delete almost daily. i do however use an email address strictly for friends and family and other addresses for ordering, buying, inquiries, etc. that way i'm not deluged with junk mail where it counts.

Like David (that's sounds weird, I am David), I use multiple email accounts for different things. I have five that I check each morning. It sounds complicated, but it actually keeps things straight.

I hate to delete the Tower emails before looking at them because sometimes they include a good coupon code. Sometimes. But, I have definitely noticed an increase lately. Marketing probably had a meeting a couple of weeks ago, and someone raised their hand and said, "Hey, I've got an idea..."

David

And then there were three...

Some say that Tower is hurting, reason for which they're holding a big auction on stuff this weekend.

For the 72 MHz Futaba folks, this should be bliss - great prices on some of that stuff. Recently, I've started to consider using Futaba servos on JR/Spektrum Rx's. I have never done that but have used third party servos on both Futaba and JR Rx's.

Are there any issues with swapping out the connectors on Futaba servos to be used on JR equipment?

David.

Don't know about Spektrum and 2.4 but I have used Futaba servos with JR FM/PCM receivers for years. When they had the F plug I just trimmed the 'guide' off, took the 'corners' off the top (maybe bottom) side and they plugged right in. Works like normal.

Terry in LP

I have an alternate email account (like Hotmail or Yahoo) I use when I sign up for things I suspect will send out such traffic. Then I check it every week and delete what I don't want. That account is a spam magnet.

But compared to 99% of the crap I get, the Tower stuff is likely to be useful. I've certainly taken advantage of their sale coupons.

Terry,

thanks for your reply. With the J connectors on Futaba now and the universal S connectors used by JR/Spektrum, what's the preferred method to plug in the Futaba servo's. Do you actually solder on three new pins and slip them into an S connector for every Futaba servo you buy? Sounds laborious... Having standard Futaba->JR extensions would be useful.

David.

David,

I guess I meant J connectors. No soldering required. Just trim the guide thingy off the side of the Futaba connector, round the correct two corners (match wire colors) to fit the JR female recepticle and it's plug and play. Gotta be careful with the single edge razor blade or Exacto knife though. I have nicked a finger trying to hold the plug while trimming.

Terry in LP

Colors are, Futaba to JR: black to brown, red to red, and white to yellow/orange..

how do you find the tower auction?

Odd thing about that is that the only radio gear being discounted is the 2.4 stuff. Take a look at the last Tower Talk. What’s up with that? They’ve even discontinued the 14 channel 2.4 receiver.

You drive to Champaign Better leave now, it's a long ride from Georgia!

Here's an announcement: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/announcement.asp?id=487

Andy

No, the Futaba receivers on the 2.4 GHz FASST system that have been discontinued have all been replaced with newer versions. The R608FS has been replaced with the R6008HS, and the R6014FS has been replaced with the R6014HS. The new versions are available NOW.

Sorry, but no. The auction is to sell off the overabundance of display, photo, and test models that Great Planes has. As products are developed, there can be several prototypes, production versions, test versions, and so on. The numbers of items DO build up over time, so they need to be sold off. There used to be an annual auction to do this, but then it was suspended for a few years, and is now being reinstituted.

http://www.greatplanes.com/auction/index.html

Bax thanks for the update. The Tower website only shows this for the 14C SS http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0093p?&C=LDW and the 12FG is showing it is being sold with the discontinued receiver http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXRUB8&P=0 It would be good if Tower could update their info on the website.

Bill,

glad to hear that. Tower is a major source for products I use often and I wasn't happy about the news I heard through the grapevine.

Having said that, although I understand that marketing only has a certain capacity, it would be useful if Tower was able to better target their advertising. In other words, if clients are predominantly aircraft modelers (I'm sure Tower is able to profile their clients), then sending them advertising of off road cars and their associated parts is of little interest - both to the client and to Tower (in as much as it doesn't generate potential revenues). It's not really a suggestion to Tower on how to conduct marketing because I'm sure they know their business. It's more of a comment about the kind of advertising I'd like to see. Send me email with 5-10 items on sale that pertain to my hobby and I'll probably be tempted to buy one or two of them.

David.

David.

Terry,

excellent. That saves considerable tedious work.

I'll have to try that with a couple of Futaba extensions and plug the Futaba servos into a Spektrum Rx. We'll see how it works.

David.

I guess we are all getting tons of tower e-mail's.

Discounts for Intl customers are great, tower should reconsider shipping charges and prices, they are way to high compared to hobbyking.

e.g. Price for futaba extension at HK $ 1.15 + / - , tower $ 8.00 + / - [X(]

Hobby king charges 1/3 the price for shipping from Hong Kong, and they are having much more customers with the prices they offer, marketing dept at tower should consider that before they lose more customers.