Widetrack

Just wanted to drop a line on these boats for some of the people who are starting out in r/c boating.
Many of the chinese made boats look good...... thats about the end of the line.
Many peopl have received these only to find out after their first or second trip to the pond
or lake they fail, and getting replacement parts is next to impossible! Alot of sellers will take a return if it has not been used or if received DOA... to me thats a big DUH !!! Pleas take heed !!!

sportygreg

My Feedback: (2)

I wrote a review on Fleabay about the Chinese boats-the "Vector push design" with no rudder and a mystery box with junk electronics that fail after a short time.Too many people are buying these "flied lice" boats and getting ripped off.[&o]

suzukiboy

Here is my writeup and list of mods I have done/had to do on my Chinese Boat to fix the poor design.

http://www.plaig.com.au/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3476

cyclops2

Japan went thru this. Communist satallite countries went thru this.

Only buy from well known established companies in ANY country.

Simple

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

The problem with these boats is not their country of origin. The problem is they are bing sold by people who don't care a bit about supporting customers. Aquacraft and ProBoat also sell Chinese made boats. While there may be some problems, the buyer does get support from two companies that have shown that they do care about their customers and that does stock replacement parts. Contrast this with someone who knows little to nothing about the hobby, but sees a chance to make a few bucks by ordering a container full of cheap hobby products, unloading them to a rented storage unit and then selling them on eBay or their own web site.

Trying to save a few bucks by buying generic products through auctions, from remarketers who do nothing other than resell cheap products they get by the container load, or even directly from sellers in China, just wastes money. Support your local hobby shops. Support online sellers who are active in the hobby. Support the companies who provide customer service and are involved in the hobby.

Quicksilver

I figured this thread would go somewhere bad, but it didnt so...........The ebay boats, like the NQD boats and that lovely admiral boat, arent being sold for lots of money so I have a hard time really feeling bad for people who buy them. The internet is a wealth of information. Anyone with a few spare minutes and some basic knowledge of searching could find out the boat is garbage. Then there's common sense, if a boat costs $50, and there's 18,000 listings for this boat on ebay, maybe it's $50 for a reason.

Then there's this thread, a little searching most likely would have found this topic has been discussed a dozen or so times. Announcing to the world that Chinese products are inferior [sm=lol.gif] isn't really groundbreaking and posting it here amounts to the same as me posting it on the front door of my house. Really if you don't know you're taking a risk buy buying Chinese or Korean(let's not limit it) than maybe you need to learn the hard way, since there is literally no way to tell any large amount of people that have been living in a cave for the last 20 years.

Yes, we do need to support our domestic economies, I'd include Europe in this as well, they should be supported too. But now this is getting into the realm of geopolitical and economic strategy, which has no place here. Unfortunately it's the inevitable way this thread should go.

suzukiboy

They can still be fun.

I still have & enjoy runing my 26cc chinese boat.

Even at the price I payed, it was alot cheaper then a brand name boat with a Zenoha engine.

Just think they are worth about half what I payed for it.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Look around you, folks. Virtually everything you buy as a consumer these days is made in China.

Graupners most expensive RTR boats are made in China by Tian Jie.

Your computer, television, stereo, camera, kitchen appliances, power tools, etc are all made in China even though they have manufacturer names that were once made in USA or Japan.

Your clothes in many cases is made in China.

Most of the ARF planes are made in China.

Some ARF boats and airplanes are being made in Viet Nam.

Pretty soon, you will see automobiles on the streets of the USA that have been manufactured in China.

It all boils down to what the comapny placing the order wants. You want top of the line, best quality? The Chinese can make it, and it will be priced accordingly.

You want el cheapo crap that will sell for a few bucks? China can make it too.

They use the same CNC machines and the same raw materials as the rest of the world.

If you buy a $50 RTR, you get a $50 RTR! What do you expect? Something decent? lol...

webdr

"Your chirping awfully loud for a new canary....."


J/k

Widetrack

Well...I want to thank all for their comments, really no matter of your personal thoughts, I can't agree more.... But like I said this was intended for those with less knowledge than most of us have, only to see a disappointed family trying to have fun which ended with two boys ( 6 and 8 ) crying their eyes out. Yes ...I recommened this site to their father. Yes I retrived their boat for them. Widetrack[8D]

mfr02

With anything low-priced, something has had to give somewhere along the line. Usually, it is not percentage profit, which leaves wages and quality, if not of the structure, then the electronics If you buy from an EU supplier, the item should have a CE stamp, in the US, probably an FCC mark. Both these imply that they have been quality assured. Buy direct via e-bay and you will likely have no such assurance. My LHS has a fairly constant stream of people who have bought cheap and are surprised that performance does not come up to expectations.
Support your local hobby shop while it is still there. The products might still come from the far east, but you will get support if things go a bit pear shaped.

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

It is unfair to just narrow it down to the Chinese. The Koreans are now producing some engines and hulls, some that actually are very nice pieces.
Unfortunately it's getting harder by the day to buy much of anything not made in the US of A including that thing that you're staring into right now. The new Chevy SUV has a Chinese made engine in it. Didn't know that did you? Neither do many owners of them.
Yes, as far as what's pouring out of China is concerned, there is a lot of junk but at the same time like Chuck mentioned, all of the Pro Boat and Aquacraft boats are also being made there.
By the super-cheap boats and that's what you're going to get. What is expected from any $50.00 RTR R/C boat?

Quicksilver

Like everyones said, you dont have much choice and as some said you still can support our own country or at least the west in general, simply by buying from a middle man. When you buy straight from china from either the manufacturer or ebay, you're merely supporting the chinese or koreans or whomever and no one else....for your own gain. It's really your loss though through lack of service and it's your loss when our country has less economic input. People should keep in mind that US owes most of its infinite debt to china, so when you send your dollars directly over there, the country even losses more. So we're basically loaning money from china so we can buy chinese goods. Obviously is not that simple, but that's the way I see it in the big picture. btw, I'm not talking about $50 rtr boats, those represent so very little of the enormous amount of things coming over.

dannyual777

Very well said! I hate all of this chinese crap. It is soooooooo hard to find stuff that not made in china these days. I don't mind paying more for stuff made anywhere but china. Unfortunately, its getting to where there is little to no choice. In this country, its pretty much all made in china now. When I travel to Europe, you'd be surprised how much of their goods are made in their own country or at least produced in Europe. I think their governments must protect their own manufacturing which is something that we absolutely don't do here in the US.

posted by Ron,
[X(] [X(] [X(] That would p*$X me off so bad I think I'd go postal!

misshydro

Ok I'll put it into easy words! Well there no idams made in the USA anymore! Remember the old slogen?? Buy US made products?? If you want a good quality boat then built it your self. Then It's made in the USA!!! This cat I'd saw on ebay and talk to the seller told me is didnt run no 40+mhp and said it only do 20mhp. Told him the header&tune pipe was wrong on that boat plus other chinese .21's. Plus was nose diving on him.[link]http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120243501513&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:PIC&ih=002[/link]

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

I did some searches, because I was curious about this. Looks like you are right, [link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDAMS]idams[/link] are no longer made in the USA. [] However, people looking for R/C boat stuff that's made in the USA have many companies to choose from, including Insane, Speedmaster, Blazer Marine, Seaducer, Performance International, R/C Marine Designs, CMD Racing, etc. Of course people are going to have to be willing to pay more because the quality of these products is higher. I guess if one's most frequent shopping source is eBay, one isn't likely to find these products...

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

I also fly jets and let me tell you, the ARF jet kits coming out of China right now rival the quality of just about any kit you can think of!

The Chinese are capable of exceptional quality. It is too much generalization to say that everything coming from China is low quality junk.

Where do you think that transmitter you use for the boats comes from?

misshydro

Well chuck those boat companys you'd mentioned?? I bet they have chinese or non US made parts in them. You tell me doesn any company makes a US made motors???? Zen,sikk and other are not make in the US?? I ment a boat with all parts even the radio and reciver that is US made. And I hate to say your not going to find one,Unless you build it your self![8D] Anything you buy in this country has some non US parts in them even ower cars trucks bikes and boats have non US parts in them. And we would why were lossing jobs in this country??[]

Umi_Ryuzuki

That only works to a point,...
I think I make great quality boats,...
But that only makes it, "Made in the USA."

I'm Chinese.... [&:][:@][:'(]

[8D]

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

Out of curiosity, did you take the time to become even a little familiar with at least one of them before making the above comment?
Andy Brown has made a huge investment in time and $ and is well on his way to making his own engines. Dubb Jett has been doing so for years. Many others used to, but many factors, including the tendency of many people to look for the cheapest alternative, such as buying cheap Chinese engines off of ebay (sound like anyone you know?), instead of buying higher quality products, caused them to go out of business.
In today's global economy it's difficult to buy any manufactured, relatively complex, item that has content that's 100% from one country. Because of this, your example, "a boat with all parts even the radio and reciver that is US made" is meaningless. What you can do, which was the point that completely eluded you, is choose components such as hull and hardware, from any of several USA companies who do make their own things and source other, commodity, components from elsewhere. Alternatively, you can accept reality and not worry about it.

Dan S

man I'm having fun reading this.

Dan.

misshydro

Yes Chuck I'd looked into those companys.[8D] Andy brown in which I have nothing against him,But his prices are step![] If a US companys want to compete with say Chinese or jappanes stuff they got to drop there prices alittle to get more customers. Like this motor I got,a CMB.21 RS Red head. If you break anyparts or replace them there very costly. like pistion&cyclender set is 80+ dollars. Nova's MAC OPS and other are costly too. That why people are running chinese/Japs motors like the Thundertiger.21 pro M-X or team infindy Go tech STS Mega tech vertex Leo and so on. There some of us that dont have deep pockets and money to burn like you big dollars boys![:'(]If I had your money I would burn mine! For the price of those pistions and cyclender you could go by a new Go tech motor or Vertex motor for those prices. even the US companys are out soreing there stuff out to Japan to cut cost.(Quote)such as buying cheap Chinese engines off of ebay (sound like anyone you know?), instead of buying higher quality products, caused them to go out of business. And dont tell me you dont buy anything off of ebay eather. Plus dont tell me you dont want to find a deal too? We all love to find steal of a deal some were. Plus theres a going trend of guys switching over for nitro to gas!! Part on the motor are lower then nitros plus and fuel cost way less then nitro. Motor are easyer to tune in then nitros.[8D] I have a feeling that nitro will be a dieing bread with fuel cost going up and parts. Gas and Fast Elictric will be the in for R/Cing.

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

Running, sure. Winning races? The people I see winning boat races sure aren't running Thundertiger, Go Tech, Mega Tech, Hyper Tech, Supersonic Tech, Goes Like Tech, Speedy Tech, Bubba Tech, or any other techs.

Well, you get what you pay for. When on a limited budget, one can choose quantity, at a low price, or quality, and buy fewer...

That was done in the 60-30 year ago range. Japan is no longer a low cost outsource destination, and hasn't been so in your lifetime.

Most of what I've bought from eBay was things someone decided they don't want anymore. I don't buy cheap, new noname boats, engines, or hardware from there.

Maybe, but what on earth does it have to do with the original topic?

misshydro

No thundertiger winning races??[X(] I think you better re think that Chuck!!![X(] Remember there some guys on ******** that mod them thundertigers to keep up with those CMB's Novas and MAC's and win races with them. So dont be suprise when there a chineses,tiawan or japanese company make a motor that kicks a** at the races and you get betten by one!! Just remember when the japanese invaded our country with there cars and bike and other stuff? Chinese isnt to fare behind them! Just remember Honda and toyota!!! There the hotest selling idams in the US. Also Proboat and aquacraft boats are made in china!!

Umi_Ryuzuki

You're just saying that, because Hondas are made in Ohio....