echthelion

so i was window shopping on tower hobbies =P and i noticed that all the Hobao stuff that HPI should be supplying has been labeled 'Discontinued' parts included
of course i know this doesn't mean the cars are discontinued but makes me wonder if maybe hpi is failing to fulfill there role

EXT2Rob

My Feedback: (1)

WHAT the Hey?

SyCo_VeNoM

wouldn't doubt it if HPI pulled a boner like that as they have been pulling boners left and right for the past few years.

Too bad ofna lost the contract with HoBao I bet the guy who signed the contract for exclusive rights for HPI is kicking himself due to the lost sales

echthelion

indeed when you look at how many RC's Hobao makes it makes your wonder why hpi picked only 3..

SyCo_VeNoM

Not in my eyes seeing most of hobao's stuff is vastly superior in quality, durability, and in price to the complete crap HPI's been selling as of recent.
Lets face it the hyper 7 was being sold for $300 where the drastically inferior in every way HPI Trophy buggy is $390

IMO HPI did the exclusive distribution rights to just remove a competitor, cause now which nitro buggy is under $400 that is readily available?
Only good cheap nitro left(that I know of) in the lower bracket is probably the Nexx 8t, and that is $20 more than the HPI Trophy truggy. Outside that is just HPI's new crap, and over priced old tired designs that are discontinued everywhere but in the USA.
Hell only thing that didn't compete directly with what they currently sell was the 4wd SCT as HPI's been too stupid to make one(might actually be a good thing they didn't after what the more recent disasters they made have been like)

Foxy

I seem to remember saying a long time ago that this would only hurt Hobao. Still hoping HPI can get it together, but really, what are the chances now that they are not distributing anything in the US. ERm....

echthelion

dont wanna make this a hpi bash thread but for me personally i tend to look over hpi cars atm

my first car was a firestorm 10t (still have it) and ive beat the $%^# out of it and with 6 gallons later im still in love with it
then i had my bad time with the Savage XS (sold it) then hearing about the trophy/bullet series and the recon with there problems i dont wanna gamble with my money =P

HPI realy needs to pick up there game

EXT2Rob

My Feedback: (1)

Well that's a dang shame!  I don't understand why, if company A makes a product, why doesn't company A SELL it?? Why do there always have to be these convoluted schemes in distribution?  Then there's the naming conventions. Company A makes the SuperDooper SC10, but only in Japan. If you want it here in the US, then you have to buy Company B's SC10 BFD.  [:@]

SyCo_VeNoM

well they would need to either A partner up with a distribution partner (in which case that is what HoBao did), or B open a office in the country, hire a pile of employees, and distribute it that way which would cut into their figures at 1st, and might pay off long term. But when they think about B they look at the local scene.
In HoBao's case, as well as HSP, and other manufacturers it makes more sense to sell them a little cheaper to distributors, then sell them themselves

echthelion 2 out of the last 3 HPI's I've bought were 100% lemons. (Brama 10b, and mini recon being the lemons) Honestly its to the point where I would only buy a HPI if they had a 110% money back guarantee for defects, and failures under STOCK power. But then with their current quality they would go bankrupt in a day.

The Brama 10b(I've complained so much about this RC, but that should show how bad I was stung by it) IMO is where it all started going downhill the RC was not fit to be sold, I cracked not one but TWO chassis's on it using STOCK power where the motor mounted. It wasn't used for any insane jumps, as the motor was so slow you could walk faster then it so it literally was only driven on flat cement, and hit nothing. Its literally the only RC I've picked up, and threw out due to being fed up with it. Crappy drive chain, trash chassis, and HPI pretty much telling me they had no plans for any kind of upgrades to the faulty parts sealed its fate in my eyes. That reps attitude I got a hold of kinda angered me as prior I only had stellar support from them.
Bought a DF-02 after (my 1st non HPI RC btw) for less then the Brama cost, and its performance, and durability were light years ahead of the brama (even though its a fair bit older then the brama...)

The Mini Recon... ESC I had was a piece of junk, and fried on its 2nd run(wasn't that upset about that as I had no plans to use it). RC itself after 1 hit required a front A-arm, a shock tower, cup spring(what they used to keep the dogbone snug), and rim. Cost to replace those parts was over $100(not counting the rim as it wasn't sold at the time separate) + shipping...
Yup to replace commonly broken parts together it cost more then the whole god damn RC did RTR... Now if it was some stupidly spectacular accident that the RC flew through the air by 30 feet flying apart I wouldn't have minded, but the hit was just the tire clipping a gate (think the radio or servo glitched as I was driving straight not touching the steering and it turned suddenly).
After this I bought a RC18b, and that sucker has taken way more hits, and abuse then the recon did, and the rc18 has yet to break one piece...


Outside monster trucks, and SCT's it seems HPI doesn't have a clue how to make anything anymore

nitrosportsandrunner

only recent HPI I would own is the mini trophy truck...and it has its flaws (ESC/motor only just enough for the truck, battery tray is stupid)
But it is a tough truck.

E10, worst onroad Ive had. I know its entry level...but it felt more like toy grade!

Other than the blitz and some nitro savages, I dont know of anyone near me who owns a HPI.

echthelion

makes me wonder if Hobao would have a legal case vs HPI if that was the plan

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

I wouldn't take tower hobbies "discontinued" status for hobao vehicles and parts at face value. With the new hobbico control over HPI USA, any changes in product names, packaging, or part numbers will result in Tower "discontinuing" old part numbers.

Hobbico does not eliminate products and product lines when they acquire them (or distribution rights). Perhaps Hobbico is going to brand hobao vehicles as Hobao! This would mean non-hpi branded boxes and lower prices (to align with the rest of the world box graphics, production, parts packaging, etc.

echthelion

pretty sure they are already branded Hobao. and of course the RC's wont be eliminated i was just saying maybe HPI failed to uphold there contract as the distributor

case and point http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNQo31V-B3Q

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

I do know that when ofna was their distributer, they had OFNA labeled packaging. I do not know if the hyper ss packaging in the video was US market or not.

echthelion

im assuming its U.S. because he refers to towerhobbies in the comments tho thats far from proof but im sticking with it ^^

SyCo_VeNoM

yea that was kinda funny with ofna I think only the jammin line had the box changed as they added the "jammin" name in front, the instructions I think its even only the top sheet changed cause I know on a few pages they had hongnor instead of ofna written. I also looked an the Nexx line from what I seen has a hongnor box from ofna.
I remember really vividly(prolly cause it was prolly my 1st or 2nd time to my LHS) seeing at my LHS HoBao hyper 7 TQ black a few years back, and thinking wow what a funny name (1st time I saw it when I was a HPI fanboy )

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

It was much more than the jammin line that had ofna unique packaging. The blazer line, pirate, colt, monster pirate, pirate 10, hodr, ultra, ultra worlds gt, etc. All hobao and hong nor products and spare parts were rebranded for a long time.

SyCo_VeNoM

didn't know about those I guess its just the ones they re-named which seems a lot like the earlier ones.
parts yea I do remember seeing only ofna stamped on them even the hyper 7's in the part bin

JoeMaxx

I was going to buy the Hobao this winter because of the quality but did not because HPI still is not importing the replacement parts.   Instead I bought the Duratrax 835B for a basher buggy.  While I am very happy with the Quality of the Duratrax and they have come into their own these days for basher style R/Cs I really wanted the Hoboa because it has a track record for quality.   

  I am disappointed because I really would have bought the Hobao but if I cannot get parts online for them I had to pass.   Hope HPI gets there stuff together soon as far as importing parts or this quality Japanese Buggy will not sell much here anymore.

Just my thoughts.   Should of could of but did not because ;o)

SyCo_VeNoM

HPI's lost a few sales from me due to not getting their act together like when they released the bullet flux over seas(well everywhere but the US) I REALLY was looking for a 1/10th electric ST at the time it took them what 2-3 years to grace the US with them? At the time I would have bought one in a heartbeat, but by the time they decided to get them here I already had a E-converted crt.5, and a jammin X1 crt electric converted to fill its shoes (the 1/8th cost me less then the bullet would have including everything... and is a way superior vehicle in every way)