I am in the market for a new 7C radio system but will not purchase one only to return it to Futaba for repairs. Is there any serial number identification or identification of some type that will tell my LHS that the 7C he has will not have the throttle timer problem.

He does not know how to program the unit and neither do I. So programming the unit in the store is not really an option.

Thanks

New systems from the distributor should be ones that have the new processor. Here's the stock number:

FUTJ69** 7CAF FM R127DF 4 S3004

Are you saying that there is no way to tell wheather or not a local hobby shops Futaba 7C inventory has the timer bug in any of his units and I need to order one from, say Tower in order to obtain one bug free? How do I tell if any of his units are bug free?

Thanks

OMG ! This is STILL going on??

bnflyn, I went round and round with Bax about this, hmmmmm, had to be at least 6 months ago, maybe longer. The difference between you and I was that I heard about this bug BEFORE I purchased the unit and tried like crazy to find a way to buy one that was bug free.

I went to my LHS and tested all seven units that they had in stock.........Every one had the bug.
I contacted Bax about it and he said that the bug was only on the initial production run and that the new ones in the distributors hands should be bug free.
I had my LHS order a new one directly from the west coast distributor and even asked the distributor to make sure it was the most recent one they got in from Futaba. Waited a week..........guess what? It also had the bug.
I then again contacted Bax and asked for a serial number or manufacturer date cutoff so that the distributor could search his stock and pull a bug free unit. He said that that was not possible, for some odd reason.
Bax began to delete some of my posts on this subject, I guess out of frustration of having to deal with me. Hmmmm......wonder if this post will be deleted as well.
Futaba then suggested that I just go ahead and purchase the unit and if it had the bug, to return it to them for repair which is about a 2 week turn around time being that I live all the way across the US. I told them that it made no sense for me to shell out 170 bucks, and then go thru the hassle of shipping it back to them, and be without a radio for two weeks. That was unreasonable to me.
This went on and on for over a month. All I wanted to do was purchase a Futaba transmitter that works like it's supposed to work without any bugs, and apparently, the ONLY way I would be able to do this was to buy a new unit and then ship that new unit into Futaba service for repair.
One of the other members over at RCGroups had the same issue, and Futaba even wanted to charge him shipping to do this. Futaba then changed their policy on the shipping charges, but only after it was publically brought up here in these forums.

I can't believe that after all this time, the same issues are being delt with in the same ways..................

The final resolution was that I had my LHS order one directly from Futaba back east and had THEM pull one out of their inventory, and send it across the street to their service center for repair and then send the repaired unit to my LHS for me to purchase.

Again, all I wanted to do was to purchase a brand new unit from Futaba that worked like it was supposed to work and I had to jump thru major hoops to get it. Looks like things haven't changed much.

Iwien,

Yes I agree, I too can't believe this is still going on. I read every one of your post regarding this same issue and how it was handled, or more precisely, not handled. I was sure that at this late date I would receive a definitive answer to my question such as !QUOT!all units with a serial number higher than such and such have the new component that fixes the throttle timer problem.!QUOT!

I am very dissapointed at the first response provided by Bax, "New systems from the distributor should be ones that have the new processor. Here's the stock number:" Apparently when Futaba makes a process/production change they make no attempt to date or serialize when the change took place. Or at least not an identifier that Futaba will release to the customer.

Bax replied that new units SHOULD be the ones with the new processor. I really am not interested in "should". I am still interested in a new 7C that is certain not to have the throttle timer problem. And I am interested in the unit that is at my local hobby shop. Sure would be nice if I could patronize him.

I hope Bax will respond to this inquiry in a fashion that will result in my purchasing a 7C with confidence not worry. Actually I won't worry, I just won't purchase.

He said the EXACT same thing 4 to 6 months ago.........Like I said, things haven't changed one iouta since then, which I really find amazing.

The 7C is a great radio, bnflyn............What stinks is how they are dealing with this problem. Buying a new radio knowing that you'll have to send it in for repair is NOT dealing with the problem. What they should have done is to recall all those units that had this defect, fix them, and send them back out to their distributors. But rather than incur that expense, they decided to take care of it on a case by case basis. According to them, and this has been said by both Bax and Krysta, is that most people don't use the throttle/timer function, so they don't see this as important enough to do a recall. Ok.............so it's too expensive to do a recall to fix this issue. How 'bout being totally up front about it and send out a range of serial numbers that they know has this problem to all of their retailers. At least that way, retailers can inform their customers BEFORE they make a purchase that these specific units have this bug, and that if they don't use this particular function, than it's no big deal. If they do use this function, said retailer should be able to order a bug-free unit from their distributor.

Bax specifically told me that on their first production run, the units had this bug, but it was fixed on their second production run. Of course they know the serial number cutoff of their runs........................

The ONLY thing that makes ANY logical sense here is either that Bax has lied to us, or he himself has been misinformed by Futaba, and that NONE of these units are bug free. I have not heard of one single case where a customer who is aware of this bug, has gone into a retailer and purchased a bug free unit. If in fact it has been fixed on the second production run, then for God's sake Futaba, let your inquiring customers know what the serial number range is of that second production run so that they can purchase a unit that works like it's supposed to. Failing to do that makes everything else suspect regarding your responses.

Amazing.......simply amazing.

If it matters I ordered one from servocity.com about a month ago and it is bug free. I have the timer turn on a few clicks above idle and my rates never reset after I set it up.

Sean

Looks like Bax is up to his old tricks of deleting posts anytime the heat gets turned up regarding this issue..........

Bax, get Futaba to release the serial number cut off dates on the second production run on the 7c's rather than delete my posts that are suggesting to do just that.

well if he sells a lot of them and the older stock has been sold out and replanished i don't think it will be a problem . unless he had the radio on his shelf for a few months I think it will be ok. I bought mine in december and I don't believe mine has the bug