should specify I'm hoping to find a website that has legitimate merchandise, no knock offs and such...if that's at all a possibility. I don't want to chance getting in whatever potential trouble there is for unintentionally purchasing illegitimate name brand products.
Thanks

what kind of products you want to buy from China?

A dozen of these would be nice if the price is right , they pass final inspection and prove to be free from defect for a suitable test period.



8-11-10 Nice young lady has been removed , Tomuch exposure is bad for some users.

Originally Posted by everydayflyer

A dozen of these would be nice if the price is right , they pass final inspection and prove to be free from defect for a suitable test period.

I'll take a gross.

Kev

I hope your post was more or less in jest. The bulk of hobby products are originating in China one way or another at this time in history.

I would hazzard a guess that less than ten percent of hobby products available are other than oriental. Remember this has perhaps made the cost of the hobby less in real dollars than I can ever remember. Sure you have to pick and choose.

Quality is all over the place from the best in the world currently on some of their products to junk status.

Originally Posted by everydayflyer

A dozen of these would be nice if the price is right , they pass final inspection and prove to be free from defect for a suitable test period.

I want to see your evaluations. Test away and post the life cycles. By and large none of these packages have turned out to be inexpensive regardless of the country of origin.

My own concern as the tester would be failing first. This aging has it's limitations.. A twelve pack would burn some of us up.

Are you ordering hobby king?

Originally Posted by sea20

should specify I'm hoping to find a website that has legitimate merchandise, no knock offs and such...if that's at all a possibility. I don't want to chance getting in whatever potential trouble there is for unintentionally purchasing illegitimate name brand products.
Thanks

LOL...there is no "knockoff" issue with purchasing hobby parts from China.
99.9% of our hobby parts are made there anyways. I understand where you are coming from, but you aren't buying Gucci handbags for $10 when they cost $1000 stateside.

As you progress in this hobby, you will find that ALOT of brand name hardware is made of the same factory line as the less expensive non brand name hardware. 90% of the time, the only difference is the price and the name of the part, the other 10% is perhaps better components used in the name brand part, but this is most definitely not the "normal"

factory makes parts, one part gets a name brand, the other is sold as OEM with a generic name...price difference is typically HUGE.

another typical poster....one post and then he is gone

we already had that with "what is best lipo brand".....

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Originally Posted by cryhavoc38

LOL...there is no "knockoff" issue with purchasing hobby parts from China.

As you progress in this hobby, you will find that ALOT of brand name hardware is made of the same factory line as the less expensive non brand name hardware.

factory makes parts, one part gets a name brand, the other is sold as OEM with a generic name.

Uhh, you've been there and inspected these factories? Maybe each town is tasked with producing a single product for the entire world and competition is strictly prohibited? I've heard the Dean's knock offs are not made of the same plastic so I doubt they are the same sans branding. Neu is selling a relabeled iCharger 1010B+ for $20 more than the iCharger labeled 1010B+ at ProgressiveRC, but that is little different than your LHS having BSI brand CA with their name and address on the label. Maybe you have proof of two chargers that are identical in design and manufacturing quality just relabeled and sold for less under a different name?

What you should be telling the OP is to stay away from inferior third party products and low quality copies of known brands. The first that come to my mind are Chargery and Battman, but I am far from the Chinese import expert that Charles is.

sea20, if you want to subscribe to the above notion that all RC products are created equal then at least make your purchasing decisions based on support. For best support I know from experience that ProgressiveRC and FMA are excellent, but some of the Bantam and Thunderpower retailers have good reputations too.

Originally Posted by SteveM732

Uhh, you've been there and inspected these factories? Maybe each town is tasked with producing a single product for the entire world and competition is strictly prohibited? I've heard the Dean's knock offs are not made of the same plastic so I doubt they are the same sans branding. Neu is selling a relabeled iCharger 1010B+ for $20 more than the iCharger labeled 1010B+ at ProgressiveRC, but that is little different than your LHS having BSI brand CA with their name and address on the label. Maybe you have proof of two chargers that are identical in design and manufacturing quality just relabeled and sold for less under a different name?

What you should be telling the OP is to stay away from inferior third party products and low quality copies of known brands. The first that come to my mind are Chargery and Battman, but I am far from the Chinese import expert that Charles is.

sea20, if you want to subscribe to the above notion that all RC products are created equal then at least make your purchasing decisions based on support. For best support I know from experience that ProgressiveRC and FMA are excellent, but some of the Bantam and Thunderpower retailers have good reputations too.

Mega Power, Hyperion and Triton chargers.
All made by SJPROPO.

http://www.modelflight.com.au/rc_mod...swallow_eq.htm

Same design internals from the same factory. Slightly different case designs to suit the retailer. Different levels of support and firmware development of course.

http://www.okhobby.com/product.php?id_product=479

http://www.rcdude.com/servlet/the-75...606I-6S/Detail

http://www.electrifly.com/chargers/gpmm3155.html

And yes, there are chargers out there that are clones of other chargers. In most cases, the clones are just as good. I have a battman B6-50 and a b6-80 and they are made very well. In comparison to the Hobbycity accucel 6, the battman internals are much better.

Have a look yourself at the speed controllers that are under the name of Airboss, Quantum, Common Sense, Mystery Blue Boards, ZTW, Hyperion (the older ones) and hacker.

Have a look at their programming, the cards and the general design. All come from the same OEM, but some have value added features such as a micro switch, and in the case of the hyperion's, the emeter plugs..

I'm just saying..same factory line, different reseller.

Is this the case throughout the hobby, of course not.
Is there clones out there, of course.

Its just that not all "clones" are actually clones. They just don't have the same color or perhaps internal component upgrades such as japanese bearings versus chinese, better winding, higher grade caps and resistors, etc etc.

Originally Posted by everydayflyer

A dozen of these would be nice if the price is right , they pass final inspection and prove to be free from defect for a suitable test period.

I'll split the price if you send a few my way.

Originally Posted by cryhavoc38

Mega Power, Hyperion and Triton chargers.
All made by SJPROPO.

Yes and each has their own firmware that is very different from each other and non compatible.

Originally Posted by RC Accessory

Yes and each has their own firmware that is very different from each other and non compatible.

As I stated, each will have different levels of support and firmware development/engineering.

We are paying retailers in China for the goods so they are hardly discount. The hobby supply business in North America was rapidly becoming an absolute monopoly.

Vertical intergration and all with no actual benifit to the average hobby guy. China direct has shaken them pretty good so far and is continuing day by day to do so. The chineser will develop outlets in north america with their nationals at some point I believe.

I vote with my wallet. Try to imagine what you would be paying for hobby goods in general if the current senario had not happened. I think it blindsided the existing monopolies. They were pretty sure they had us until this occured is my personal belief. Marketing could not save the issue or situation either as it had already been used in an unethical fashion. Just goes to show that there is a risk to unethical behaviour and excess greed.

The North American wholesale suppliers did not really care for the consumer at all. Amounted to abuse in my opinion and still does in some quarters. Or a failure of the free enterpise spirt. Retail is supposedly to bear some relationship to costs other than what can be squeezed out of the market place by absolute control. When you have irresponsible, greedy people that only put their own self interest in the forfront in business. The outcome is almost certain at some point. Has they acted responsibily they would still be making a lot of money and we would not have had to be bent over for a long period of time. Instead they will be leaving the scene at some point.

This type of wholesaler will do smoke and mirrors and everything else to detract from any discussion of his actual cost. Lithium polymer batteries have been a great example of this in my opinion.