PAPE

ok I see your point and like i said every one has their opinion, but I just want to as you one thing "do you know about the brand hot bodies" they are sold by HPI. ever wonder why HPI Dosent really put HPI on them insted they call the hot bodies???

hellya

Hyundis and Kias are close I remember when honda first imported their 3 cylinder car cost was under a grand

gunner221

has anyone seen this clone before ? it's selling for £300 RTR free shipping

Pro5thScaleDistributors

Well I think they finally came up with there own 1/5th scale car...
The china clones now have an original design about to hit the market and corner the large scale industry.


Driver sold separately.

Dale Gribble

My Feedback: (4)

I guess I take refuge in the fact that if my car malfunctions, I can call 1-800-HPI-RACING and get warranty service. If you buy a CHINACO clone and your engine craps out after a tank or your radio fails and your car runs away causing engine and car damage, game over for you. You can't get warranty service because there is no warranty service and you don't even know what your company's name is if there was! $250-$500 in replacement parts later and you will wish that you went legit in the first place.

hellya

Clones in the market place.....No way

They been here for years, (3-4 years... before alot of us even knew about the 1/5 vehicles) & will continue to be here in the future.

Some of the manufacturers start with clones and then design their own 4x4 vehicles look at smartech.

Any patent on the vehicles Baja MCD FG is done and gone...now its a free for all

No Moa

My Feedback: (1)

ROFL

mooman007uk

Anyone out there posting against clones in this thread own a duratrax firehammer...a marder clone, same with smartech though they are now designing their own original stuff ie the 4x4 titan and 4x4 buggy; the irony there is the cloners original design will soon be cloned lol now they'll know what it feels like.

When the japanese first started reverse engineering full scale cars in the late 50's and in the 60's everyone referred to it as jap crap...who had the last laugh there.
Eventually the chinese will start their own innovative designs and then everyone had better watch out.

Yes clones make the hobby more available to people who don't want to spend big bucks, yes it can either get them hooked so that they then move up to a premium model or turn them off cos it's not up to snuff and sits broken most of the time (though the smartechs and duratrax are durable enough, time will tell with fs and baja clones).

I'm kinda for them for the affordabilty to the masses and the possible future innovation but against them in principle as far as the ripped off manufacturers side of things goes.

I wouldn't buy a clone myself but I am looking at buying (from a cloning company) either the titan 4x4 MT or 4x4 buggy to go with my FG baja...does that mean I'm supporting cloners?.
I think the whole debate gets more complicated the further you go.

DriftingDragon

alot of clones tend to be made by the real mfg they are unbranded

clubin

I disagree.

badz

My Feedback: (1)

I'd have to say you're right, most these clones are ripped off designs, some aren't even legal to import because of that.

Anomie

Because.....?

I do know that despite the fact of few US auto tire manufacturers there are many brands, and I have been told by Goodyear that many 'cheaper' tire labels are manufactured by them. They can flood the market at more than one price level in order to maximize their sales and also offer good quality rubber to those on a limited budget (PC term, not my first choice).

Related? Perhaps.

I am pro-clones. I don't care if the owners of the 'real thing' are offended by companies that may rip off another design and pour it out into the market. The perception of quality is not necessarily there for the buyers of the clones. The owners of the original design know who they are, and should not be dissuaded by the fact that there are manufacturers attempting to profit from a good name they did not create. Those that know will eventually seek out the like.

Just my opinion (although it is compelling, isn't it? )

ozace

I love the clone concept, it opens the hobby to many more players are the proces are low enough to risk a try.
The only thing that offends me about the "clone"wars is the lies and deceptions.
Before i pass judgment on the origin of any machine i want to know where it comes from. Do HPI make the baja in a factory they own? is it comming from an oem supplier in the east ?. Are these "clones" comming out of the same factory? Once we have the facts (the real facts) we can then decide if we are all being taken for a ride.

Bratch96

Every industry has it's copy cats. If the quality is better than the price should be higher, if the quality is lower than the price should be lower.

The problem with clones is the second hand market. I could really see some one trying to pass off a King Motor Baja as an HPI Baja 5B. That would really be shameful.

I think that buying a clone rc is no worse than buying a cheap work boot, because all steel toe leather work boots are clones of the original steel toe leather work boot.

Slammed

let the clone wars begin <- in a yoda voice

kryptonite5b

My Feedback: (-2)

im on both sides of the fence about this. i, for one dont know much about how it works as far as legalities of it goes. but my very first instinct when i saw the 5b clone on ebay was disturbing. if i remember correctly i called them f'n thieves. i think clones are morally wrong in many ways. its just not right. but then after thinking about it and seing many diffrent threads and reveiws as well, i goto thinking that it does have a few small good point to the hobby. none wich may compinsate for the damage it has done, but thats arguable too. this is an expensive hobby. some of you guys must make pretty good money. me? i dont. im a 32 year old under achieving roofer. i dont make that much money. it took me 6 months to save and buy my (first)5b. ontop of paying my mortgage and remodiling my house and all the other lifes expenses. plus im married, so passing this thru my very understanding wife was tuff. soo, so on that note it allws many of us to get into as well as stay in this absolutly awsome hobby. im my experiance i have purchased my large scales and pretty much had to wait a good amount of time to do any repaires as well as upgrading. ive wanted to get into on-roads for soo long, but it was just not reasonble un-less i sold off some stuff. so i opted to purchase a clone. i bought a cloned fg sportsline and i love it. the quality of it is slightly less then that of an fg.. i read on page one, somebody said,: were can you get a $2000 largescale for $600. i did. sportslines start at $1400 plus remote, cable brakes, and a good pipe your easly close to $2000.00.. my clone from hobby pro cost $500. with mentioned upgrades. and its not crap either. but the bottom line is, i am easly able to spend even more money at my largescale shop. and i dont meen in repairs either. all fg upgrades and aftermarkit goodies. so i have spent my 2grand. and omn top of that, a guy from the track who never even saw an on-road in person swears that he is going to place his order. and yes, he is buying an fgsportsline from fgsupply.com. . he cant wait. but becouse of my clone, one more fg is going to be sold. and just like myself, he is going to dump plenty of hobby money back into the industry. lots of these clone companies will come and go. its inevitable. some may stay and turn out some pretty good origanol designes. but there are plenty of known names that we all buy that started as clones. like duritrax and fg. fg's first car was a clone!! no lie!! this is a great thread. and to dale: what kinda warinty are you gana get from hpi? my ss was missing a stearing servo and i gave up bugging them about it. i also had the plating go on stock cy head on my first rtr and they pretty much told me to pound salt. there is NO WARRANTY!! its about as good as the paper it was printed on. does that make them bad? no, its just the nature of our hobby. and i wouldnt have it any other way

DriftingDragon

id have to agree about the km baja it what i was try to say earlier its essentially the same chassis they probably pay hpi royalties to use the design or else they wouldnt be in business any more

Slammed

You guys have to look at the BIG picture OK lets do that shall we .......
what shoes do you have on
how many DVDs do you have that are copies
what clothes do you wear
what kind of cologne do you where

knock offs copies its all the same if you want to preach no on clones the sell your car and your computer and DVDs and your whole life cause that's in most of our lives right down to McDonald's cheese burger at burger king or Wendy's etc

Kemo

heh, how many people are running with chung yang engines? People who rant about clones are hypocrites if they have CY engines

xhaliex

i like them i have a Smartech traveller (fg marder copy)

m8a1r22t

I love clones. Without them i would not of been able to afford a 1/5 truck and guess what that is all I own now. 1 smartech bigfoot witch is a clone of a clone. it cost me $500 new. i since have about broken every original smartech part it had on it but I upgraded to firehammer parts and all those have been holding up. I only spent about $200 on them and the original firehammer is about $900 now so that means I saved $200 by buying a knock off yet get the same quality as the original. and guess what duratrax still gets my money because I bought there parts. you see in the end it all works out you just have to be more open minded about it.

Mr Terminator

Wierd that,seeing as Smartech make the Firehammer for Duratrax.You'd think the parts would be identical.Why make the Bigfoot that carries the Smartech brand name with weak parts and put stronger ones on the truck you make for a different name as in Duratrax..Strange...

navgander

"Cloning" in the rc community is not confined to the big brands like HPI, FG, or MCD. Large company's figgure knock offs into their bottom line and are able to absorb the cost. They do part of this by putting that cost into their products including their spare parts. So when a clone is purchaced and a part breaks a part of the cost for the replacement part is figgured into the oem part, therefore driving up the cost. The ones who get hurt the worst is the little guys that put their sweat, blood, and tears into a product just to have a cheep clone on the market within months of the release. Those small manufacturers can't absorb the loss. This is where it hurts the hobby the most, puts a limit on who will put the effort into making a quality hopup for fear that it will be ripped off. Have I purchaced knockoffs ... yes. Did it hurt the original manufacture ... it could have. My one question is: How many folks complain about knock offs in the rc industry then will buy a gucci bag out of the trunk of a car put other then an oem part on their 1:1 car or buy opum perfume from a swapmeet. It isn't just in this industry and the bottom line is we all pay for it just like any other theft of goods. No matter how you try to spin it, helping, hurting, or just the way buisness is done it is still only one thing ... theft.

wan6176

its all in ur heart...

Kitsune

My Feedback: (7)

I'm against them, and for the reasons that others have already stated. Stolen designs, low quality, poor support, etc.