aarowsmith

Is the industry trying to kill this hobby and sport??? Anyone???

Is this hobby getting out of hand with the pricing?

I see allot of people leaving this sport and hobby because the costs are getting just way too high!!!

R/C tires and part prices have sky-rocketed.
Now I have really no choice but to shop now on Ebay for monster and buggy tires especially.

I still support my local Hobby Shop, although allot less now, now that their pricing is getting way out of hand!!!
Kit pricing and RTR's are priced well and are sometimes a good value for the quality of parts included but kit/RTR prices have always stayed reasonable for the most part.

But wow try to replace/upgrade parts, tires, rims, fuel, batteries etc.
It makes me want to quit the sport. Just four years ago most R/C parts were allot less money.

Most people don't have a unlimited income and or cash flow, so we need Hobby Stores and the industry to lower prices accross the board otherwise.......I really don't know, but I see this hobby coming to a possible dead end soon.

I hope not, I love this hobby.

That is what happened back in the mid 80's prices were reasonable and then got out of hand just when it was booming and then it just stopped dead, until T-Maxx got allot of people back in to the hobby again and the industry lowered their prices again and people were interested in buying allot of R/C until now.

Please Industry lower your prices or this gold rush is gonna end real soon, I know I have cut back allot on spending!!!

Oh well I guess history repeats itself? Again............



Cutting your own head off despite your body'

[&o]

2DMaxLST!!

No, everything thing is getting better and cheaper, it's a great time to be into R/C!!!

Thorough Hobbyist

I think if you're looking at electric RC it may be expensive depending on what you're doing. But in nitro it's like working with a miniature real car since it has a real engine. So I don't see how they can offer that for toy RC prices. But I do find my preparation to be very costly but it's an investment and much of the things like tools are ones I'll hopefully have to buy only once.

ThermalRD

Well, honestly, i disagree. Of course there are some examples of expensive kits, but thats not that common. And the quality, and what we demand is ALOT higher. Look at whats included with some of todays RTR's. LST2 comes with a real nice synth radio. Theres the sportwerks mayhem that comes with a Spektrum radio... And a person does NOT have to spend a ton to get into this. My LHS started carrying that VTX brand. They have a buggy in there i think selling at about 300 bucks. RTR. Of course it doesnt have all the CNC 5mm alloy found on some high dollar kits, but its a start. When i started in the hobby, i had a blackfoot truck, and some clodbusters. My clods were roughly 330 for each KIT.... Ya, that was HIGH. Put that together with a couple motors, radio equipment, and see how much you have into it. That was back when i was a kid... So in general, the hobby IS expensive. And some forms are more costly. But i dont feel its gotten much more expensive than it was many years ago. If anything, its become more affordable to do on a high end level. With all the online shops now, they are destroying local prices. Making it more affordable, but also making the local shop, and track nearly vanish.

Dale Gribble

My Feedback: (4)

Good discussion. It's hard to say. Here is an example of how it goes and where we are at; here is my example just using Nitro MTs-

T-maxx released
People Rejoice; Nitro hobby rejuvinated
People want more
T-Maxx 2.5 released with better engine, wider and stronger
People want more, .15 too small
Savage .21 comes out more $$$ then Maxx but with .21
People rejoice
People want more- .21 a dog, drivetrain not strong enough
Savage 25 released
People rejoice
People want more- engine bigger then .25, still a stronger drivetrain
Revo released
People rejoice
People want more from Revo, longer, wider and a big block
LST released, synthesized radio, .26 engine, hi/low range, huge shocks
People rejoice
People want more from LST
LST 2 released
Revo 3.3 released
TMaxx 3.3. released

and so it goes...

That is quite simplistic, but I think you get my point. It's not the MFG's that are driving the price. It's consumers. We aren't happy with X- we want Y. We want them bigger, faster, more reliable and with better radio gear. I guess it's possible that we might just demand our way out of affordability. I don't blame the manufacturers; they are just giving us what we want.

That is personally why I hope 1/5 scale stays a niche and doesn't become a driving force. $900 for a kit is where I get off this crazy ride.

HerrSavage

Excellently put Dale..

john0087

My Feedback: (4)

I blieve that it depends on what you do with the hobby. For bashers/fun, I think that its a perfect time to get into the hobby.

For example, you can walk into a local hobby shop and pick up the "Race spec" RC10 for $230.00. Add some battereries and a charger and you have a really really nice off road toy for less than $350.00. If you want to go "big" the XTM 1/8 scale buggy is like $280. Not cheap, but great pricing for great quality and a whole lot of fun. You can always go with less expensive items from Tamiya without safraficing quality or fun, just a little speed.

On the otherhand, if you are going out to race, then be prepared to spend some money. Yeah, I know, its not the car, its the driver that wins races. But most people with a "racer" mindset are usually gearheads and like the higher end parts and cars. It allows us to releate to full size race cars ie Ti and carbon fiber parts, intricate set ups etc. even in this case, the quality for $$ is amazing. My NovaRossi P5x is an Italian made motor for less than $280.00. Yeah, its expensive, but so are Italian shoes!!!

In other words, this hobby is as expensize as you want it to be.

John

MrN8

Don't ever get into shooting, if you think this hobby is expensive. [X(]

aarowsmith

I agree with all but one, manufactures do set their pricing according to the demand, just like oil prices relating to gasoline pricing, the oil companies don't care what the price of a barrel of oil is today, they just want to make maximum profit right now as do the investors so we the customer have no other choices, and the demand is there because the industry created it.
So the oil companies can charge what ever they want for gasoline until the government steps in and controls the pricing which will not happen.
Why, because the oil companies own allot of the government/congress and lobbyist and news media and they dictate their own policies and laws and pricing to the customer even though they are making record profits doubling and tripling, greed is never enough even though the economy is starting to feel the effects of high gas prices.

The oil companies do not care and will absolutely ruin the economy and are destroying our environment over oil and its greed.

But true with the R/C industry customers do have a large effect on the demand but not on controlling the pricing of parts and products, the industry does that.

It is now cheaper more than ever in history, to make and produce R/C products over seas.
And so the cost of manufacturing these parts are extremely low and profit margins are extremely high, even if they wanted to lower the retail pricing, so why are they raising their prices on replacement parts?

Because they can get away with it for now?

Because of greed in this world which unfortunately will not equal out ever, the industry will always try to make maximum profits especially on replacement parts, can you blame them?

Like I said kits and RTR's are priced right but parts are not.

But I think they, the R/C industry like the oil companies, will eventually kill the economy they created if pricing gets out of hand and allot less people buy their products or just can't afford to because of this.

Greed takes the enjoyment out of the sport I think, especially now when you go to buy one replacement part and find out your better off buying another whole kit instead because its cheaper for parts.



Wow what a great day for R/C!!!

2DMaxLST!!

Give one example of this.

farknben

This is a great discussion.

I personaly think it has gotten cheaper then it was 20 years ago.

The problem now is I have more money to spend. So instead of having 1or 2 kits, I have many more. And well.......... money dont last long when you spend it all Im sure you can all relate to that.

aarowsmith

For an example R/C car and truck tires and rims you can easily spend $100 on a new set of four and the kit cost you only $200 with tires, engine, chassis, radio and everything included.

Also a new piston/sleeve and crank rod for a nitro engine may sometimes run you $75 or more and you can buy a whole new engine for $129 or less.

2DMaxLST!!

Can please give me a specific example, ie this $200 model replacing the stocker tire's and wheels cost this much.

I have ton's of tires and wheel but I don't recall spending $100 on a set, a few years ago for less capable tires and wheels yes..but not now.

2DMaxLST!!

I know I used to spend a lot of money on 14mm hex wheels and tires that were no where near as funtional as what I get today. Todays stuff is lighter/stronger with way better traction characteristics than what I could get for more money just 6 years ago...

I'm just trying to frame my point of view here...

aarowsmith

You can easily spend a minimum of $60 dollars on small buggy tires and 17mm rims and or minimum of $80 on monster truck tires and rims in a local hobby shop.

Hell you can get 4 tires mounted on a real car for $150, not that I would recommend buying those tires.

So materials and size does not matter but rather the R/C industry is just charging too much for most of their parts that costs absolutely pennies to make.

silverman1

I think parts are still reasonable


this is a test post

2DMaxLST!!

Let's take the real car example... a few years ago light trucks were not coming with 20inch factory tires and wheels.... you should try and replace a set of 20's on some of the new trucks.

silverman1

Sorry guys my computer was refurbished, and i just wanted to do a test post, being my login and all that data was lost.

Honestly I have trucks of all sizes and prices from 248.00 rtr to over 500.00. I had a cen mt 2 and as far as bang for buck goes, simply amazing. I pounded it so bad and it was so durable, I really had a blast with this truck. Now tires are expensive for monsters, and racing, and don't expect a big return if you go to resell your rc vehicle. I have vehicles that were 450.00 new and they are still new, never ran, and even at 100.00 off people won't even consider them. I have new vehicles with 100.00 dollar in upgrades, but people want it for nothing.

The other thing, most damage is done by my driving so i can't blame the rc vehicle. I think parts are still priced fair if you shop on the net.

thats my 2 cents

2DMaxLST!!

If it were not for ebay chop shops I might have to reconsider racing more than one class.

aarowsmith

I just think for the tiny size of these hobby car tires and parts we should be spending allot less than we are on the real full size cars and truck parts, but it seems the pricing is almost the same? I exxagerate................

But a real car gets you to work and back everyday but R/C cars are allot more fun.



But R/C cars are allot fun'ner'

2DMaxLST!!

The economies of scale come into the pricing of these small molded rubber parts...

HerrSavage

I have to admit, I recently made an order from Tower - well over $200 - and it was just for two sets of tires(Big Joes and Axial Terraizer XL's), one set of rims(Axial beadlocks), one body, and basically some fuel tubing, a fuel bottle, a plastic wing mount(wing not included..), and maybe a dogbone or two... Most rims and tires for MT's are really expensive.. Bodies on the other hand seem to always be getting cheaper. Engines too..

But then again I was looking over my 1 1/2 year old Savage 25 tires the other day, and they look pretty damn good, especially considering my "donut-phase" a while back, lots of running on pavement, etc...

I don't know, my beef is FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR more with high European taxes, making the prices TRULY stupid here, than with the manufacturers.. I do still harbor suspicions though about HPI trying to cut quality corners in the last year or so, even though they're surely raking it in... All in all yes prices are too high, but then again for the most part all these trucks - whether Savage, LST2, Revo, MGT, etc... are pretty impressive, and definitely 20x more impressive and worthwhile than some Walmart toy that costs 1/10 as much.. So though I think aarowsmith has a point about wheels and tires being really expensive, it seems to me that most Proline or HPI tires for ex are really good quality, and that tires in general are not something you really NEED three extra sets of...

aarowsmith

It depends on how much you use your R/C products, I know allot of guys are going through tires and pistons etc. pretty quick if you race allot and bash, and all the parts that wear fast can add up quick.



Its time to get another job or two'........[X(]

DaveG55

Twenty years ago I bought a Kyosho ZR1 Corvette nitro car with the radio (2 ch AM). It came as a kit and I spent nearly $600. Right now I can go to Tower and buy a Nitro 4tec with twice the size engine completely ready to run for $350. So, no, I don't think that it has gotten more expensive. In fact, I believe that overall the hobby is slightly less or about the same as it was then. I do agree that parts can be outragiously priced. But, that's not just the hobby industry. Look at buying auto or motorcycle parts. It's a well known fact that if you were to build a car from scratch using replacement parts the the end result woud cost many times what a new car would cost you.

duckedup

My 1st nitro (in '92) was a Kyosho Outlaw Rampage ST kit.. by the time I left the hobby shop, I had spent just over $700 (including kit, radio, fuel etc.)..... so, I'm gonna' have to say no also, it's quite a bit cheaper now - and you get a lot better stuff in most cases.