So i take it the awser is no

There are cycles to everything in life. I don't' think RC will ever totally go away. Populairaty will go up and down though...

For the Houston area, though, it is down now. As big as the greater Houston Metroplex is, we only have one track that actually holds races (an hour outside of down town) Plus two more tracks (that I know of) that will let you run for a daily fee, but they don't race...

i was born in the late 70's, so i was a "tamiya" kid. i had 2 tamiya kits as a kid. then when i hit 16 or so, i stopped playing with RC cars. i was about 25 when i got back into them when someone at work got a 4x4 truck.

i have been playing with RC off and on since then, almost 20 years.

with that being said, when my nephew was 12, i introduced him to rc cars (same age i started to play with them). he has played with them for about 4 years, but i see he is growing out of it

i think RC cars will stick around if people introduce them to the younger generations. they need to make it fun for them to do it. with so many electronics and video games out there, the rc companies need to keep the prices at a rate people can afford them or they will price themselves out of business.

in just 10 years, i have seen the associated FT kits go from 220-250 per kit to 330 per kit, and that is without electronics.

Originally Posted by RustyUs

Dying? No.
Slowing down? Maybe.

It all depends on what part of radio control you want to look at and focus on. Look at "drones". We didn't have DRL televised events years ago.

I think that is correct, usually RC takes some dedication, it's harder to casually practice, and the focus these days is on "on-demand", instant satisfaction, with only your internet bandwidth as limiting factor. But as long as there are people who can show there is more out there than what you can see on a screen, RC will remain.

Originally Posted by Rcdude99

So i take it the rc hobby will never die

Over my dead body, that's for sure.

And what about price of models and inflation?

I think I paid $100 for my Frog back in the day. That equates to a $220~$230 inflation price tag for the Frog. That is a lot of money for what you get in that particular kit.

Currently, in my mind, it's cheaper these days to get your "foot in the door" in this great hobby.

I remember starting with a remote control car that only turned right or went straight (I think)... to make the remote control vehicle (Max Machine yellow van) turn, I had to clap my hands cause I broke the noise making remote control. The lure of controlling something from a distance will never go out of style...or die.

Originally Posted by Rcdude99

So i take it the rc hobby will never die

Originally Posted by Rcdude99

So no the rc hobby is not dying or going to die?

Originally Posted by Rcdude99

So i take it the awser is no

What's the point of your asking this over and over and over again? Nobody knows the answer 100%. It could die tomorrow, who knows? All information available now says it's going to be around for a long time (land based stuff at least, air stuff is more questionable).

Originally Posted by DC1138

What's the point of your asking this over and over and over again? Nobody knows the answer 100%. It could die tomorrow, who knows? All information available now says it's going to be around for a long time (land based stuff at least, air stuff is more questionable).

👍👍👍 Same thing on another thread.

This question was asked in a car forum and all the responses have been aimed at and probably made by car guys. Forty or even fifty years ago, the only RC activity was built around airplanes and the only way to get an airplane was to build it. There were no ARFs. And on a Sunday afternoon the RC airfields were a madhouse. Then ARFs came along and, boy, were those first ones lead sleds. And it seemed interest in the hobby/sport picked up a bit. Then somewhere back there helicopters were introduced and the hobby/sport got another shot in the arm. And then somewhere in there video games became popular and the hobby/sport suffered a decrease in popularity as kids lost any interest in building and most of their interest in flying. Then cars came along and it was instant gratification--buy a car, put a battery in it and go racing. No building, no preparing for the next flight day, just go run your car. Interest in airplanes waned more and more and by now most of the interest in building was gone along with most of the kit manufacturers. Cars replaced airplanes as the most popular aspect of RC. Then somebody built a drone, and that became very popular. Nowadays, cars and drones are the lifeblood of the hobby/sport. People at the airfields on Sunday afternoons dropped to almost nothing with most clubs having only a few members left.

I suppose the whole point of this tirade is that RC is not dying but certainly has changed focus. There is very little interest in airplanes any more and most of the building is not really building but merely assembling components that some drone manufacturers and car manufacturers have put in a box for the consumer to "build". And I certainly am not bad mouthing any of the people or changes in the hobby/sport. I became 80 years old earlier this month and have just recently joined the folks in the RC car madness, and I love it. I know next to nothing about them yet, but I am learning. The few guys left in our club here were 100% airplanes/drones/helis just a couple years ago but have all bought a car of some kind and run them when it is too windy to fly or we just want to run them instead of flying. I have no idea what the next innovation in RC will be, but something will come along. It ain't dead yet.

No hobby every goes extinct. It just goes in to obscurity.

It's a little dead around me, I'm 46 and my mother got me in it when I was young and I will always be in this hobby. Hopefully the gen. Of kids will be in to it

Originally Posted by JollyPopper200

This question was asked in a car forum and all the responses have been aimed at and probably made by car guys. Forty or even fifty years ago, the only RC activity was built around airplanes and the only way to get an airplane was to build it. There were no ARFs. And on a Sunday afternoon the RC airfields were a madhouse. Then ARFs came along and, boy, were those first ones lead sleds. And it seemed interest in the hobby/sport picked up a bit. Then somewhere back there helicopters were introduced and the hobby/sport got another shot in the arm. And then somewhere in there video games became popular and the hobby/sport suffered a decrease in popularity as kids lost any interest in building and most of their interest in flying. Then cars came along and it was instant gratification--buy a car, put a battery in it and go racing. No building, no preparing for the next flight day, just go run your car. Interest in airplanes waned more and more and by now most of the interest in building was gone along with most of the kit manufacturers. Cars replaced airplanes as the most popular aspect of RC. Then somebody built a drone, and that became very popular. Nowadays, cars and drones are the lifeblood of the hobby/sport. People at the airfields on Sunday afternoons dropped to almost nothing with most clubs having only a few members left.

I suppose the whole point of this tirade is that RC is not dying but certainly has changed focus. There is very little interest in airplanes any more and most of the building is not really building but merely assembling components that some drone manufacturers and car manufacturers have put in a box for the consumer to "build". And I certainly am not bad mouthing any of the people or changes in the hobby/sport. I became 80 years old earlier this month and have just recently joined the folks in the RC car madness, and I love it. I know next to nothing about them yet, but I am learning. The few guys left in our club here were 100% airplanes/drones/helis just a couple years ago but have all bought a car of some kind and run them when it is too windy to fly or we just want to run them instead of flying. I have no idea what the next innovation in RC will be, but something will come along. It ain't dead yet.

Indeed the focus has shifted. Though there are still car kits, and not only for competition cars, and also drone kits are starting to pop up in the entry level market.

For me a big reason to mostly run quadcopters and cars, is that I can more easily operate these relatively close to home, or even in the living room. With a small indoor brushless quadcopter like UR65, I can even practice flying inside, navigating around chairs, fly under the table, etc. No way I can do that with a plane.

And even outdoor, for planes I need an area with sufficient space to land, as I don't want to risk relying on catching the plane with my hand, which you sometimes see pilots do. A quadcopter lands vertically, so I could even, in worst case scenario, land it on the roof of my car, if all else fails. With a plane, you need some more runway, and a clear landing path, preferably against the wind.

I still like planes a lot, these look great in the air, but I can get more air-time with other flyers.

So I can't speak for the RC hobby as a whole and I'm one of those "drone guys." I agree that " cars and drones are the lifeblood" -- but even this aspect is suffering at this time.

I'm not sure about the AP drone sector, so I can't speak for that. But I see the race drone / fpv freestyle area is in a slight decline. There was a boom between 2015-2017; and interest has slowed since then.

I don't have any fancy charts to quantify any of this scientifically, so take it as it is.

But having kept up with the community in general I'm seeing a shrinking engagement. There are significantly less viewers on most of the channels I frequently watch for FPV drone products. Instead of growing, these channels are shrinking, or just sustaining. This figure is not just reflected in viewership numbers; vendors who have been willing to share sales information publicly or privately consistently present the same predictment: market shrinking/not growing.

FatShark goggles are the still the "thing" to have if you are going to stay in the fpv sport long term. These are still the primary item that you pick up. HK's Toby Osmond who says they account for "30%-40% of FatShark's" market has said that they haven't seen continued "growth on growth" at this point. HK has their own problems as a vendor but this is interesting nonetheless. Premium goggle sales should be booming if this sport is growing, and they aren't. Yes, one can argue that there are now cheaper alternatives to going straight to fatshark, ok, fine. But that's all they are. They're still stepping stone products.

So if we are to believe a market isn't growing or has at least slowed down a bit what does that mean for further advancements? Well, it's not good. We're seeing some in the R&D sector just pull out. Alex Greve from Video Aerial Systems announced last month that he was going to "throttle back research and development of any further FPV products because it is costing me a fortune." Some of this is from chinese cloners stealing his work; but it's also definitely because of the market as a whole.

But even the cloners probably aren't doing well because the chinese sales aren't exactly peachy either; how do I know this? Let's just say without naming anyone specifically a couple vendor employees I've worked with myself as a reviewer have both told me "this has been a hard year for rc." You'll just have to trust me on that one.

These struggles are not good. I believe this is part of the reason why we are not going to have HD FPV any time soon, or maybe even other advancements that could open this hobby up to become more accessible. You would have to be a fool to dump too much money into R&D for new products in a market like this right now, so I suspect any advancements like that would have to come from outside.

FPV racing drone flight, building, and management could fit into the span of multiple college classes whereas flying a DJI drone requires little to no knowledge at all. Therefore; there's a big barrier of entry. Those who maybe tried it at the height of it all and got burned by crappy BNFs are now out and not coming back. HK has said at the moment, "if it's not DJI then it's really not selling near as well" It saddens me to hear this but I believe it.

In all of this, some people decided a while back to make a career of this and quit their jobs. Go full time FPV pilot. Some have... made it? Many burned out, or decided to go another direction when they found out selling marked up motors or other gear with their names on it wasn't going to be a career for them. Not sure what will happen to some others in the future who decided to make a youtube career out of this either. Most of them are all very smart people, so they'll just shift focus, but I imagine it's still got to be really painful.

Finally, at least in the United States, while it is not a major cause, the FAA has not done anyone any favors either. The last time I took out my Mavic to show a group and get some footage the first thing on all of their minds was "Wow, that is so cool. I'd like a drone but I'm afraid of all the laws and regulations I've heard are coming about them." That's contradictory with DJI sales doing well for vendors; I know, but it's a part of the bigger picture.