twoslick2

Can anyone give me any info on Hobby King? I was looking at the HK 500 gt kit. This would be my 1st kit build. Are there instructions that a beginner can work with? I have been flying for a year but this would be my 1st build. My next thought is to go with a T-rex kit .

rchelipilot10/30

I'm in a similar situation and am goin to go with the hk450. I've never used hobbyking before as well but I've recieved a lot of help on this forum. you may want to check out [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9498157/tm.htm]my topic.[/link] I think hobby king looks safe enough, and It's so similar to xheli.com which is what I've been using so I'm going to try it out. I'll let you know when I place my order for my hk450

matty_p80

Hobby King are quite reliable as long as you don't mind the wait! i've heard brethren in the states claim the postage is quite high but i've had no complaints here in Blighty!

they are the budget end of sites, so don't expect any thrills and frills with the products! look closely at what you're ordering and if there is no manual available to download on the item's page, the chances are it's a clone and you can use the original component's manual!!

it's very true you get what you pay for in this hobby but there are loads of budget items at this store which, although not top of the line, are very useable! the best of which by popular belief are the Zippy or Rhino LiPo batteries!!

The HK500 comes in two versions: a T-Rex clone or a JR Voyager clone! i would recommend the T-Rex clone for ease of getting replacement parts!! heck yeah! a 500 size heli for $50 you can't beat it!!!

i have not had any probs with Hobby King at all and although a little slow in response time their support is quite informative and helpful!

enjoy and fly safe

Matty )

drobin

I've been using hobbykink (or hobbycity) same place for a while now and am happy with them. I have a HK450 and it is a direct clone of the trex450 In fact, I'm using it for perts for my trex and copterx.Can't get the parts alone for that price. Every order I placed took 12 days to get. Most of the wait time was US Customs.

twoslick2

Thanks for the info. Since I am here in Indiana where it will be snowing for a while it won't matter if I have a 2 week wait

clarencem

i ordered a couple weeks ago and still dont have but from what i hear this is normal but for the price i can wait a while

beau0090_99

Remember that you are ordering in February, which includes the 3 week Chinese New Year, so that means there was a shutdown of the store, but the site has been up taking orders. I believe going into the week they were shut down, they had about a 1 week backlog, so it may be a while before it even ships. The next problem is waiting for the Chinese Post Office to actually get it on a plane. Then you have to wait for it to clear customs. February and Early march are one of the worst times to order from Hong Kong, follwed closely by Late November and Early December.

With all that said, I bought a HK450 as a first heli last November and I absolutely love it. I bought everything for it minus the Rx and Tx for $120 shipped and I love it. I also have spend a lot of money with them over the last year and can safely say that I saved $2 for every $1 I spent.
Good luck with it and post any questions you might have,
Curtis

trickle007

I placed an order from Hobbyking on feb. 8th and it still has not arrived. I know it shipped cause i have a tracking number but when i track it it just states it was sent airmail and left hong kong on the 16th so i figure its probally just sitting in customs who knows. If your patient you cant beat the price. buti am growing ever more impatient cause i have a brand new Trex 450and i waiting for my batteries from HK to get it running. This is my 1st order from them and possible my last, 2 + weeks is tolongto wait for a shipment imo. I have ordered from other places in hong kong and at the most took 8 days to get to my house. But like i said it could be sitting in customs and thats not hobby kings fault but what isthere fault is it took them almost a week just to process my order o well.

beau0090_99

Trickle,
IMO you are lucky you got your stuff shipped as early as you did. They were closed from the 13th through the 16th and I am sure that the HK post was inundated with stuff trying to get it shipped out. If you didn't send it EMS, you should expect it to take a while. If it went out on the 16th, I would guess you should have it by Monday.
Best of luck,
C

Ybenjulkay2x

check the HK 600GT, bigger are better

sellers11535

i use xheli there in cal. orderd 2 11.1 2850ma 25c lipos for total of 54.00 and had in 5 days
can use in my tr500 or my df 59

sellers11535

xheli.com 5 day for two 11.1 lipos cheeeeeeeeeap

choppersrule

Twoslick2,

I'm just down the street from you, down in Greenwood. Lol! Small World, eh!

I've looked at your gallery, and I think that a 500 size heli would fit your bill for sure. As mentioned by others, Hobby King is reliable and so is Xheli. I've dealt with both for a couple years. Hobby Kings only deterent is the waiting time to receive your purchase. I ordered the HK 450TT pro 3d on 2/10 and still waiting. However, if you already have things to fly and work on it's no big deal. That would make me 3, 450 size helis, and I also have a 600 size.

Here it is: http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10901&Product_Name=HK-450TT_PRO_3D_Torque-Tube_Helicopter_Kit_(Align_T-Rex_Compat.)

As far as instruction manuals you can download the Trex 500, don't let the head assembly scare you, it's already assembled on the HK 500GT.
Here's a manual to browse: http://www.heliproz.com/images/Trex500ESPManual.pdf

Now the only thing left for you to do is consider, which motor, esc, servos, TX and RX you want to use.

Any more questions, just post 'em or PM me.

Dave

RosscoW

An example of HK "customer service"

Outrageous!

So, here's the history of this order-

On the 3rd I make up an order including an Sbach ARF aircraft. I delay paying till the next day as I wasn't sure if i wanted it or not. Decided I did, but by then it was on back-order with a "Will arrive within 50 days" ETA. I decided that was OK and made the payment.

On 13th, website announced the Sbach was in stock and my order went from "Back-order" to "Reserved". Cool! On thing I noted was that I had only ordered one servo in the original order, so I made a second order getting some additional servos, a spare prop and a couple of batteries, SPECIFICALLY for the Sbach which is now in stock and coming my way.

1 day later the SECOND order (the extra servos, prop and batteries) ships- the kit still hasn't.

On 17th I contacted on-line support to check, and was told "All items in stock and will ship shortly", and a note is added to my order asking the factory to expedite.

0n 21st I contact again and am told the same thing. I ask for this to be followed up and am assured all is OK.

Today, 22nd, I again contact support, am again told all is OK. I insist they contact the warehouse to check- AND- they inform me the kit is actually on backorder due to "Factory error". I ask three times what that means, and am never told.

I explain that the second order was only made because Hobbyking erroneously told me the kit was in stock and coming soon, and that I want a refund on both orders. I'm told that I can refuse the parcel, and will (eventually) get a refund, but will not be re-reimbursed for postage.

I ask when the kit will be in stock and am told (because she's just reading from the item entry) "Within 50 days." I ask if that is 50 days from now, or 50 days from the original order on the 4th- and she can't tell me!

I canceled the order....

Errors happen and systems are imperfect. The measure of a good company is their reaction to errors.

From this I've learned-

Hobbyking do not train or empower their customer service people to actually deal with customer problems. I knew there was a problem when the latter package shipped first and reported this to Hobbyking. The CS person just looked at the same page I did, saw the item was reserved, and told me everything was OK. If I can tell something is wrong, why can't your staff? How about training your staff to actually try and detect problems and deal with them?

Hobbyking will only do the minimum to help after their error- I'm out the postage on the second package, and will wait a long time for the refund. Hobbyking made an error, took forever and a lot of persistence on my part (5 different contacts) to admit it, and will now not part with one cent more than they have to make up for it. As the second package was only ordered because they told me the first was coming, it is only fair they cop the postage charge.

This was my 25th and 26th order with Hobbyking.

And the last.

drobin

I've been dealing with Hobby King for a while now.I ordered a HK500 and some other items from the USA warehouse and had the stuff within a week.And free shipping. I just ordered 4 batteries last Tuesday and had them on Friday.The only hold up I had with shipping was from the Post Office.Not Hobby King. But I,ve never waited more than 2 weeks for any thing, if it is in stock.

olefart

Check this out http://www.mikeysrc.com/Low-Cost-450-Heli.html