Originally Posted by ducatirdr

Total cost is $142 shipped. That is still a great deal.

PNP Icon A5 $119 shipped. What is the "great deal" here? What am I missing?

Both my HK Icons were absolute junk (electronics). Buyer beware.

Renfield I think you have a valid point. But! It is a little unfair to compare the Icon considering it has had it's share of issues. Probably the reason it is being cleared out. I admit that I am not willing to pay $42 to ship this plane. I think they will probably get these to the regional warehouse's. I would think they shipping here in the conus would be less than $20. Just have to wait and see.
Jay

Originally Posted by Renfield

PNP Icon A5 $119 shipped. What is the "great deal" here? What am I missing?

Both my HK Icons were absolute junk (electronics). Buyer beware.

That PZ Icon was a great deal and I ordered one at that price as well. You are right the ESCs and servo's in the HK BNF stuff tend to be marginal at best. So "great deal" for 22 dollars more will need to be reviewed when mine comes in.

There's really no point in arguing about shipping from the far east. And it's not only HK either, R2Hobbies also does that.

My take is I take the model price, add shipping, and the sum is the price of the model. Whether it's $100 plane plus $40 shipping or $125 plane plus $15 shipping doesn't really matter.

Regarding the Icon it's still 130 Eur plus 10 Eur shipping here, even being on sale. So the Skipper is cheaper. Plus other than both being float planes (flying boats?) I think the two don't have that much in common.

Just my $0.02. Oh, and HK? -- hurry up with the shipping already!

Originally Posted by Fentonflyers

Renfield I think you have a valid point. But! It is a little unfair to compare the Icon considering it has had it's share of issues. Probably the reason it is being cleared out. I admit that I am not willing to pay $42 to ship this plane. I think they will probably get these to the regional warehouse's. I would think they shipping here in the conus would be less than $20. Just have to wait and see.
Jay

Hi Jay,

Having owned multiple PZ and HK Icons, I will say that the PZ issues pale by comparison. By the time my HK Icon was useable, it was outfitted with completely new servos and ESC. And the wooden support structure was never waterproofed, so it warped and moulded inside the foam. All of which is to say nothing of how poorly it performed in the water.

I might be curious enough to get bitten by HK again on a seaplane. But not for $100+. They've already fooled me twice. Shame on me.

Cheers,
George

Originally Posted by Renfield

Hi Jay,

Having owned multiple PZ and HK Icons, I will say that the PZ issues pale by comparison. By the time my HK Icon was useable, it was outfitted with completely new servos and ESC. And the wooden support structure was never waterproofed, so it warped and moulded inside the foam. All of which is to say nothing of how poorly it performed in the water.

I might be curious enough to get bitten by HK again on a seaplane. But not for $100+. They've already fooled me twice. Shame on me.

Cheers,
George

I think we are on the same page George. I have read reviews for the HK Icon and decided to stay away. I also steered away from the PZ Icon after watching a few fly at the field. Not so much because of they way it flew(except the tail way) but it simply didn't light my fire. I have been bit by the water plane bug this summer so my take is a bit different. When Horizon put the Icon PNP for $119 I bit. It's still in the box but....

I really am curious about this Skippper. There is a veteran pilot at our field that has a couple of the Polaris models(one powered by a 70mm edf) and they really fly nice. I almost purchased the new version of the Polaris that is molded EPO. I just don't want to have a ton of money(and time building) a plane that may not be able to go to the field very often. So I figure if the Skipper works out and I can have it in my hands for $120 give or take I will bite.

My same exact reasoning. Plus I have already wasted quite a bit of time on a EPP ripoff of the Polaris which never flew.

We'll see how it works out. Seeing what we do from the Joysway it should be good.

Originally Posted by Fentonflyers

I think we are on the same page George. I have read reviews for the HK Icon and decided to stay away. I also steered away from the PZ Icon after watching a few fly at the field. Not so much because of they way it flew(except the tail way) but it simply didn't light my fire. I have been bit by the water plane bug this summer so my take is a bit different. When Horizon put the Icon PNP for $119 I bit. It's still in the box but....

I really am curious about this Skippper. There is a veteran pilot at our field that has a couple of the Polaris models(one powered by a 70mm edf) and they really fly nice. I almost purchased the new version of the Polaris that is molded EPO. I just don't want to have a ton of money(and time building) a plane that may not be able to go to the field very often. So I figure if the Skipper works out and I can have it in my hands for $120 give or take I will bite.

Gotcha. Looking forward to reading your impressions once in hand.

Originally Posted by Razors edge 29

whose gunna be the first to FPV this bad boy>

There's a few boy's in the UK FPV thread waiting on this one coming to the UK warehouse.

Originally Posted by 4x4rc

True. But at least compared to the outrageous prices they're asking for a Joysway in the EU it's still 40% off after shipping and tax.

Can't wait!

Originally Posted by agedflier

You can't beat HK on prices..I'd hazzard a guess and say that they are made in the same factory and re-badged..How others can charge double is beyond me given that they are probably made for about 1/8th of HK price..Postage/Mail they have no control over.

To be honest I didn't think the Joysway was priced too badly, I paid £120 ($195 ish) delivered and I've had my money's worth out of it and some. If I'd have known HK was going to do one I'd have probably waited and got it even cheaper though, might still get a backup anyway. I'd wait till they hit the UK warehouse though as it's not just shipping that bumps the price up for us, we get hit by tax and handling fees too At the moment it comes in at £96.13 with delivery, add tax and handling fees you could easily be as much as the Joysway. If I wrote mine off tomorrow I'd be ordering another one from somewhere even if it cost me the same price, wouldn't care if it's HK or Joysway, it's the speed of getting it to me that would win out.

HK is bound to beat the prices of the small guys as they buy in massive massive quantities. They are definitely made in the same factory, the Joysways have been harder and harder to come by as stocks ran out, they couldn't restock them as the factory was busy fulfilling HK's contract. I did come across this Joysway on Ebay US and there is the odd one floating about the UK but most stockists have been out of stock for ages.

To complicate it even more I'd much rather have a Modelaero Polaris Ultra but man does that come out expensive shipped from the US with tax and handling fees then you've still got all the gear to put in it.

Originally Posted by Fentonflyers

Renfield I think you have a valid point. But! It is a little unfair to compare the Icon considering it has had it's share of issues. Probably the reason it is being cleared out. I admit that I am not willing to pay $42 to ship this plane. I think they will probably get these to the regional warehouse's. I would think they shipping here in the conus would be less than $20. Just have to wait and see.
Jay

Fenton....I agree with you on the cost of shipping and at the outset do not blame HK.. I had my eyes on their Canadair CL-415 at around $40 in kit form..Shipping was another $40 so I thought maybe I will add motors and electrics to the order to maximise the load..To my surprise..when I got to the checkout shipping had jumped to $70..Needless to say I cancelled the order.

.Some of you may say..So what ......its only $70..Well If you are buying a $300 plane $70 is not much. I will NOT buy a plane when the cost of shipping is more than 1/4 the value of the plane.If they had made it available in the AU Warehouse shipping would have been no more than $15

I saw it fly at neat and this plane is a blast!

Yes..grass water or even hand launch...looks like a fun plane..NOW when will we get it at NSW warehouse...We just seem to get Durafly new ones here.

Originally Posted by 4x4rc

Regarding the Icon it's still 130 Eur plus 10 Eur shipping here, even being on sale. So the Skipper is cheaper. Plus other than both being float planes (flying boats?) I think the two don't have that much in common.

Obviously, regional differences will change the equation. That's why visitors to S.C. from Belgium, Germany, India, Australia, etc. tend to buy iPhones here.

I'd probably be stuck with something like NFD Hobbies Icon if I lived in Asia.

Agreed the two have little in common in terms of design. The Polaris/northstar/joysway/skipper thing is a form-follows-function setup, reminiscent of a Jeep. Zero style and zero scale reference. While the Icon looks like something Apple would sell and in fact represents one of the coolest real airplanes in general aviation.

Renfield.......I like this statement...While the Icon looks like something Apple would sell and in fact represents one of the coolest real airplanes in general aviation.

I wonder being so "cool" why or if anyone has thought about building a full size one..I have seen something similar that skips over the water but never actually flying.