18MZ Sell-off
 

I wonder why there are so many Futaba 18MZ radios for sale all of a sudden. There were 5 for sale last I checked.

Is there a new "hot" radio out there that's causing the sell-off or am I just looking too much into nothing.

i think I did see a new 18MZ Futaba released

People are switching to Jeti...

lol

People have seen the light and are switching to Spek

People changing over to the newer 18MZ WC.

modtron
Oxford UK

Sadly its probably people wanting the WC version which I don't understand why you would spend that kind of money for an extra receiver protocol that is for tiny things, all the other things are available with the current.

I'm really evaluating that option, there telem is amazing

Yup, I switched from Futaba to Jeti, I will never go back!

I'd find somebody who's got one and ask to hold it in your hands before I got too excited about changing radios. I was kind of thinking about a look see for the Jeti's when someone showed up at our field with one of them last Summer. I asked to see it and flew one of his models with it and I hated the way it felt in my hands. Sort of like hanging on to a metal brick or something.

Myself and two other friends of mine who have been long time Futaba users switched to Jeti and have never looked back. The telem is very simple and just works! We on the other have like the way it feels, and the gimbals are far better than our old radio.

Don

I guess it boils down to do you like holding a plastic box or CNC machined aluminum ;)

As far as the gimbals, they are top notch, that was one of the many reasons I switched to Jeti

The Jeti uses non contact hall effect sensors, where as Futaba has held onto the old school rotary encoders (potentiometers) that have major wear issues, I know of at least four jet crashes due to the "pot's" failing. :mad: Two of them were with my old Futaba 9C about five years ago...

One of it is probably the 18SZ coming out with a lot of the features but for less $$$.

It's still a great radio and you can get all the telemetry you need using third party equipment. The battery lasts for days of use and the RC dependability is solid and legendary,

I think Jeti is nice but not so nice to make me switch. In fact I just bought a used 18MZ a couple months ago in case anything happens to mine. The programs are incredibly easy to transfer between radios, never even a click of trim change. The 18mz does so many things that people who own them don't even know it does. It logs signal quality, battery voltage and all 18 channel positions to the SD card on every flight. A lot of guys don't even know it does that.

I have so much intellectual property invested in programming mine I would not want to re-program my brain to get into a different system.

I would like to see them continue to update the software to keep up with the other guys. Still a great system.

I myself have been eyeballing the new 18SZ as well.

I think Futaba is following their usual marketing strategy. They did exactly the same before the 18MZ was launched.

Remember back when the 14MZ was the top radio; first an 8 channel was announced, then the Super 8, but with 14 channels, then the 14SG, then the 14MZ Anniversary (just like the 18MZ WC now).

All they doing is milking the last of the 'old' model before the 'new' top-of-the-range is put on the market.

I am very happy to wait (and continue to use my 18MZ), because a new Futaba will be on offer soon........and I will have all the telemetry as well as being able to use my installations as they are without changing receivers and switches.

Cheers,

Jan

Sorry to burst your bubble, but in order to improve the system they would have to introduce bi-directional system with real transmitter interface and wireless receiver, sensor, 3rd. party devices programming.

And IF Futaba will do that, they have to change Hardware and communication Protocol, and IF they make those changes you will need to change your receivers and redo the installation.

Cheers
Zb

.....and EVEN if they don't....I will not change to Jeti ....

Sorry to burst your bubble.

Cheers,

Jan

Hey Zb, here is some advice mate.

Just stick to providing technical support to your customers, rather than brand bashing your competitors on a public forum. There is good and not so good in both products (Futaba and JETI), so lets just leave it there.

Those who think they're at the top have only one direction to fall.

Is this an actual rep from jeti? Wow!

Before you continue,
please fix the ridiculous slow telemetry update rate you have, reported many places. Once you get a decent number of sensors on a Jeti system, it becomes very slow. Check your protocols (which are a joke, no one uses 9 bit data in this century anyway (and you even changed the later models to 8 bit). even then, there are bugs in your system, just go and look it up ;) )

Maybe its time to go and dig up and analyse the different problems there are with Jeti, and start bashing all the Jeti threads, just like you do with your competitors (you where even not playing nice in one of the Weatronic threads when it became known that they were in trouble, very very BAD practice!)

And as others here have mentioned, as long as a Je.. like you is the rep, I will not touch Jeti even with a long stick!
You are a classic example of how NOT to run a business.

It's a neat radio. Lots of functionality in a slightly smaller package with the same gimbals as the MZ. The programming interface is a bit different and to me it seems less intimidating than the MZ and the slightly smaller size fits my hands as well as my old favorite, the JR 12X.

If you pay attention to the coupons, you can get one and ship it for less than a grand at Tower.

There's a poll thread of radios used on jets. Futaba was the clear winner, I think Jeti was 2nd though. Looking at them side by side is like looking at a blackberry compared to a new iPhone IMO.

Actually I don't want to be the guinea pig with my jets with Jeti until they get everything working as advertised. ie no talk about 900mhz receiver for the new DC-24 so selling it as triplex but cant use it?
I'll wait to see if they survive.

its for tray flyers only, cant make the switch if you use thumbs.

I've seen some friends flying Jeti with thumbs, but I'm a little guy and as such have short fingers so it's definitely not the right fit for me.

I'm surprised this is used as a selling feature. The things I'm looking for when it comes to the feel of a radio in my hands is weight and comfort, not whether it will survive if I drop it off a 20' ledge.