What? No more Spektrum?!

[Valkpilot]

Not a HH insider (yet?) just an avid flyer and hobbyist longtime first-time on the boards and just wanted to get my point out and across that for me personally as being a customer of HH, I don't think my business benefits with buying from both HH and MRC, only because A) I have a limited hobby allowance and with that my business tends to go to HH because I purchased last year my Spektrum DX6 - I like buying German, and "Spectrum" is spelled Spektrum in German - so its a German/W. European Brand; B) If you pour your money to one of the two more skewed the other likely will not give you the same service as like a better customer and vice-versa

I don't see how anyone who is a retail customer could not agree more that HH and MRC forming a partnership and alliance whereby a merger of customer service capacities gets delivered to the ground floor where MotionRC customers get service from Horizon Hobby reps, and Horizon Hobby customers get service from MotionRC reps, where everyone gets to know each other and business is held all "under the same roof" then favoring one customer over another won't become much of an issue because in my example I'd be buying from one company and my service wouldn't change depending on exogenous variables that most of us today tend to be constrained by?...

I guess you didn't read my reply. They don't fotm partnerships, they just keep what they need and throw away anything that competes with THEIR core brand Eflite.

[MikeT]

Tower was dead before Horizon acquired them at auction. The whole plan for Force was that they were to be the the Horizon outlet for mail order while Horizon focused strictly on their wholesale customers ( Hobby Shops ). I though that was pretty stupid at the time and apparently so did they and the plug was pulled. Force was never a player in the market and Tower though bad , bad management killed itself. Times have changed and so has the hobby, you sell what sells and makes you money. I don't see Motion going anywhere but if the price is right I don't blame them a bit.

Mike

[WrightBrosRC]

...the Chinese, who don't seem like the most scrupulous of people.

My 11 year old niece from Asia is curious why you made a generalization about Chinese people. So we talked a bit about how companies from all countries manufacture things and the quality is really tied to each business and not to the race of the owners or the country in which the business is owned.

[xviper]

Not a HH insider (yet?) just an avid flyer and hobbyist longtime first-time on the boards and just wanted to get my point out and across that for me personally as being a customer of HH, I don't think my business benefits with buying from both HH and MRC, only because A) I have a limited hobby allowance and with that my business tends to go to HH because I purchased last year my Spektrum DX6 - I like buying German, and "Spectrum" is spelled Spektrum in German - so its a German/W. European Brand; B) If you pour your money to one of the two more skewed the other likely will not give you the same service as like a better customer and vice-versa

I don't see how anyone who is a retail customer could not agree more that HH and MRC forming a partnership and alliance whereby a merger of customer service capacities gets delivered to the ground floor where MotionRC customers get service from Horizon Hobby reps, and Horizon Hobby customers get service from MotionRC reps, where everyone gets to know each other and business is held all "under the same roof" then favoring one customer over another won't become much of an issue because in my example I'd be buying from one company and my service wouldn't change depending on exogenous variables that most of us today tend to be constrained by?...

So ............................... A HH insider wannabe! This, in many ways is far worse. You are far more likely to be a rabid fanboi when you badly want to be something and are trying hard to be that something.
And what business would that be that it would be affected in any way due to you buying or not buying from Hobby shop X?
Not seeing a particular perspective is a function of your own limitations and not usually to do with what the prevailing feelings on the matter may be.
And your comment about unscrupulous Chinese borders on racist. Some may even agree that it is. There are over a billion people in China. How would you compare the % of unscrupulous people there to say the % of unscrupulous people in the USA, in Canada, in UK, in Germany, in Italy (and the list goes on)?
I still say that based on you joining this forum just to post such one sided opinions on what can be considered a fairly "obscure" topic, tells me you were already a member here or a banned member here or you are afraid to use your "regular" username to express what I'm sure you already know are inflammatory statements. So, who ARE you, really?

[xviper]

My 11 year old niece from Asia is curious why you made a generalization about Chinese people. So we talked a bit about how companies from all countries manufacture things and the quality is really tied to each business and not to the race of the owners or the country in which the business is owned.

Exactly! I'm thinking maybe all these 100's of millions of Iphones are made by unscrupulous people. And yet, they outsell any other single brand of cellphone, maybe even several other brands combined. Do we like being screwed over by such horrible people?

[AirHead]

Not a HH insider (yet?) just an avid flyer and hobbyist longtime first-time on the boards and just wanted to get my point out and across that for me personally as being a customer of HH, I don't think my business benefits with buying from both HH and MRC, only because A) I have a limited hobby allowance and with that my business tends to go to HH because I purchased last year my Spektrum DX6 - I like buying German, and "Spectrum" is spelled Spektrum in German - so its a German/W. European Brand; B) If you pour your money to one of the two more skewed the other likely will not give you the same service as like a better customer and vice-versa

I don't see how anyone who is a retail customer could not agree more that HH and MRC forming a partnership and alliance whereby a merger of customer service capacities gets delivered to the ground floor where MotionRC customers get service from Horizon Hobby reps, and Horizon Hobby customers get service from MotionRC reps, where everyone gets to know each other and business is held all "under the same roof" then favoring one customer over another won't become much of an issue because in my example I'd be buying from one company and my service wouldn't change depending on exogenous variables that most of us today tend to be constrained by?...

I also thought that SPEKTRUM was somehow German; related back when I bought my ever popular DX6i in 2009. But, it's a play on spelling. The guy who invented "Spread Spectrum" technology was a British guy named Paul Beard. Guess what! in 2004, he became Vice President of Engineering at HH! He worked forever to create the SPEKTRUM brand of radios; receivers and all accessories! He also did work for COMPAQ; Fisher-Price and Mattel! There Ya Go!!!

[AirHead]

Exactly! I'm thinking maybe all these 100's of millions of Iphones are made by unscrupulous people. And yet, they outsell any other single brand of cellphone, maybe even several other brands combined. Do we like being screwed over by such horrible people?

Does anyone remember 3-4 years ago, the American woman and her husband who travelled to Beijing? She discovered an "Apple Store"! She went in and talked to the folks there and looked around. She noticed something "not right" about the stores and asked more questions. She flew back to the US and went to visit Apple Executives and showed them her pictures! A team of Apple Executives then stormed on Beijing and demanded that the "Fake Apple Stores" be shut down and all perpetrators be incarcerated....Talk about "unscrupulous" people. Bottom line is: Protection of Intellectual Property is a definite must!!!!!

[Valkpilot]

Does anyone remember 3-4 years ago, the American woman and her husband who travelled to Beijing? She discovered an "Apple Store"! She went in and talked to the folks there and looked around. She noticed something "not right" about the stores and asked more questions. She flew back to the US and went to visit Apple Executives and showed them her pictures! A team of Apple Executives then stormed on Beijing and demanded that the "Fake Apple Stores" be shut down and all perpetrators be incarcerated....Talk about "unscrupulous" people. Bottom line is: Protection of Intellectual Property is a definite must!!!!!

While I don't know about the mainland, I have been to Hong Kong, both before and after it was returned to the Chinese. It seemed more urban and international AFTER the turnover, but from what I've seen in the news lately Beijing has decided to crack down on the zone. I guess they've decided to kill the goose that lays their golden eggs.

[Valkpilot]

Exactly! I'm thinking maybe all these 100's of millions of Iphones are made by unscrupulous people. And yet, they outsell any other single brand of cellphone, maybe even several other brands combined. Do we like being screwed over by such horrible people?

But they're producing phones for a MAJOR American company. Personally, I've never owned any Apple products. Then again, I'm a cheap S.O.B.

[Bill Wakeley Jr.]

Personally, I don't think we're getting a stellar site for products, service and just plain good business until someone really sticks their head out and advertises it this way, AND THEN KEEPS THEIR PROMISES! I'm in the middle of backorder hell with HH. Namely my Turbo Timber that I'll be posting on later today or this evening. It's quite the saga. All I want to do is enjoy my wonderful hobby and fly a quality product that has the backing of a 4 star service department. Hell, someone with a little know-how and knowing the right people could start a service sub-contract company. Then you would have to get everyone to let you honor their warranties.I think it could work. but that's just me and what the hell do I know?

[Valkpilot]

Personally, I don't think we're getting a stellar site for products, service and just plain good business until someone really sticks their head out and advertises it this way, AND THEN KEEPS THEIR PROMISES! I'm in the middle of backorder hell with HH. Namely my Turbo Timber that I'll be posting on later today or this evening. It's quite the saga. All I want to do is enjoy my wonderful hobby and fly a quality product that has the backing of a 4 star service department. Hell, someone with a little know-how and knowing the right people could start a service sub-contract company. Then you would have to get everyone to let you honor their warranties.I think it could work. but that's just me and what the hell do I know?

Know that feeling. My Millennium Master has been down since late June with a busted prop. First, it was mid-July, then Late July, now it's "on order". Ordered a different prop and will try it later this week, but how do you run out of propellers for over a month? It's like an auto parts store not having any motor oil for a month. Unless they're doing away with the plane again.

[Bill Wakeley Jr.]

,ll
Know that feeling. My Millennium Master has been down since late June with a busted prop. First, it was mid-July, then Late July, now it's "on order". Ordered a different prop and will try it later this week, but how do you run out of propellers for over a month? It's like an auto parts store not having any motor oil for a month. Unless they're doing away with the plane again.

I'm also in the middle of backorder hell with HH. I bought a Turbo Timber, my first mistake. Leave the decision of buying a specific "NEW" plane out on the table for a few weeks before buying it. Chances are you'll start to see a bunch of complaints, the same ones over and over. Then you'll call them and they'll say they haven't "personally" viewed the paperwork to see the problem. So then they want you to send a bunch of pics and they'll call you back back in a week. They don't. So then they turn Mr. Pitbull loose on you. ( Surely a drill instructor from Parris Island. ) His job is to make you feel so stupid you can't explain the problem effectively. So that requires another call to HH and another hour on the phone With still no correction to the problem in the in the first case. I maidened the TT, and I floated my first landing as low and slow as physically possible because the gear was goofy. One wheel was crooked as hell and would consistently wobble and the other wheel was too tight to turn. I did the best I could. The plane flew horribly nose heavy and I did my best to land it but ( if you can understand this ) the plane rolled right over the gear. No kidding, the plastic parts that made up the anchor point for the gear broke INSIDE the fuselage. So this time I didn't leave a name just that I had a problem and could someone help me out. I got a call and was told that they would get together and see if anything could be done. I called the next day and they said they would send me a new fuselage. (this thing had at least four different textures on it where it had been heated up and left with "alligator skin. They even shrunk the decals ) Anyway I got them to deal with the wobbly gear and the and wheels but am still waiting for backordered parts. I think I might just glue the hell out of it and make it a seaplane with the floats. Not sure what to do but it wont be from HH.

[AirHead]

Well, my heart bleeds for ya. I've been down this road enough. Motion doesn't treat people like that and they don't sell the junk that others dish out. I can't see myself buying from HH after they "strong-armed" all those great independent companies that you could once deal with directly. They want to "commandeer" the hobby market. They are pressured by their shareholders, so they discontinue planes and parts a lot to save money. HK tries hard to cover all the bases too, but they have a troublesome website and stock issues. You remember the old saying: "It's hard to please all the people all of the time..." Motion tries best to please everyone. The others; Not so much.....Good luck with "Hiatus Hobby"....

[Bill Wakeley Jr.]

Well, my heart bleeds for ya. I've been down this road enough. Motion doesn't treat people like that and they don't sell the junk that others dish out. I can't see myself buying from HH after they "strong-armed" all those great independent companies that you could once deal with directly. They want to "commandeer" the hobby market. They are pressured by their shareholders, so they discontinue planes and parts a lot to save money. HK tries hard to cover all the bases too, but they have a troublesome website and stock issues. You remember the old saying: "It's hard to please all the people all of the time..." Motion tries best to please everyone. The others; Not so much.....Good luck with "Hiatus Hobby"....

I hate to say this but I'm thinking of getting out of the hobby. Where is there any fun when you're waiting for parts, or better yet, told you'll have your parts at the end of June and here we are in August and still no word from ( and I hate to mutter these two words together ) HORIZON HOBBY. I have to say, I have cartwheeled my Kingfisher( FMS) on more than one occasion trying different tricks and such close to the deck. Flip it back over, pull the clumps of grass out of the prop and FLY ON. If every plane was built to take this abuse, we would have new recruits on a daily basis, our clubs would swell with newbies and "back - into - its" and the sky would be filled with unicorns and fairies. Alright, no unicorns but definitely more hobby pilots. I should have a little time later to post some pics and tell the abbreviated tale of "TWO PLANES, TWO LOSERS". I'm going to set up my Turbo Timber to fly specifically on floats, because it's woefully under built to land on a hard surface. Maybe I just got a bad apple the first time, but two in a row? Really??? With the same damage in the same places? And even then I got a new fuselage and had to replace the rest at my own expense. I can almost see a conference table filled with donuts and a bunch of aging teenagers sitting around voting on who they'll screw today. Yesterday I was loading up to fly and I actually felt sad. HH can build a great looking plane that you would think you could have a long relationship with only to have your vision desecrated by poor workmanship, bad management and a tech on the other end of the phone working toward a promotion for saving the company the most money for the least amount of money spent on repair/replace. I will never buy anything from HH again. I sat down with my cigar box with all my receipts in it last night. I quit counting at $2000 and that was in 2018. 75% were from HH. I try to never wish ill on someone else but I'm hoping HH loses enough customers and income to look in the mirror and not like whats staring back.

[xviper]

Sorry hear this, Bill, but I can understand. A couple of us who started when we were "older", almost quit several times due to the "misery of defeat". However, we supported each other and we continued till we got better and better. I must admit that I started with Horizon Hobby product from the local shop but mine was a much simpler plane - a Radian sailplane, simple rudder and elevator. The hobby shop support was quite good with this plane and we never suffered the aggravation of lack of parts when we needed it. As I progressed a little more, I went on and discovered HobbyKing and the huge selection of "easy to fly", cheap planes. The parts support wasn't too bad but I had to get used to waiting for stuff to get to me, which sometimes took weeks.
I've concluded that starting off with Horizon Hobby and your local hobby shop and not picking the right plane to learn on is a rough way to go. Even though they market the Kingfisher and Turbo Timber as "trainer" planes, if you are a complete novice, they aren't really that good. Sure, they look good and has eye appeal, but ............................. (you know the rest). They aren't really all that inexpensive nor are they truly (IMO) beginner planes. You can succeed with far cheaper planes that don't have all the trainer bells and whistles. They are of a size and weight that when you plow them in, they break too easily. A smaller, lighter or a more floaty, slower plane with less stuff to deal with (eg, ailerons) can develop confidence and skill with less frustration and cost. 2000 bucks (if that's not counting things like TX, RX and batteries) in your first year is a hellish price to pay for something that's supposed to be a fun hobby.
I may have started with my local hobby shop (and Horizon Hobby) but I didn't stay exclusively with them.

[MikeT]

I've been in this hobby for over 35 years and had my ups and downs with products from EVERY distributor and not once every thought on getting out due to the product. There's always a workaround. the problem is that many of us have stopped being modelers. Instant gratification and ridiculous expectations seem to be the norm now. Very sad.

Mike

[xviper]

Sad but true. This is a "throw away" world we live in. Life becomes very busy just surviving or getting by. Time becomes precious and rare. That's what the last several decades have taught us. If it doesn't work right away or give us immediate gratification, leave it. There's something else just around the corner. Even staying within the RC hobby ............................ Fed up with planes? Try helis. Fed up with helis, try cars. Fed up with cars, try boats. And sometimes, we forget there are many different kinds of planes, helis, cars and boats.
It's like when you go through life chasing "wine, women and song". It may be the wrong choice, but the easiest one is to give up singing.

[MikeT]

LOL your right. I've managed to retire more air-frames than most guys do because I can build repair and problem solve. That's what makes the hobby great. I just hung this 1/4 scale N-28 up at the LHS over 17 years old and I couldn't stand it sitting in the shop. Now others can enjoy it.

Mike

[Brycalspitfire]

We're working on it but there is a 99% chance we will never carry Spektrum, E-flite, or anything from Horizon again. I was told by an employee of Horizon Hobby that they see Motion RC as competition which is mind boggling to me because they are 30x our size. I was also told they don't feel Motion RC adds value as a dealer of Horizon products. I can't give specifics but I'll say that Horizon made it difficult if not impossible for Motion RC to continue to sell Horizon products at a profit. I suspect the same thing will happen to other dealers if it has not happened already. As an RC enthusiast, I like Spektrum and E-Flite and I would love to keep their products at Motion RC. As a business owner, we'd be out of business if we continue to carry their products. Potentially following the same story line, we found out that Horizon recently went to a factory we've done business with for a few years and threatened to pull their business if the factory continued to sell to Motion RC. I'm all for competition but I'm for fair and ethical competition.

We'll offer Futaba as a good alternative to Spektrum radios, and we currently offer Admiral receivers which are compatible with Spektrum radios. If anything, this may be a silver lining to offer more and better alternatives. We will continue to innovate with new products and we will continue to offer all our customers the customer service we are known for. I love this hobby and I know everyone here feels the same. I sincerely appreciate all the business this community has given to us, and I hope you all will continue to support Motion RC.

Horizon hobbies all but destroyed tower hobbies when they bought hobbico they discontinued all the balsa kits from top flite and great planes and there balsa kit selection is a joke . they abandoned the older modelers like myself whose been in this hobby since the 70s and enjoy and are proud of building and flying our own planes .they havent had SIG kits in stock in over a year and there nitro engine selection is comical. . i buy direct from SIG or scratch build my own planes and been ordering from mrc when I can and try to stay away from horizon and towers unless I can't get it elsewhere .instead of trying to grow our hobby there trying to limit it to foamies and arfs.. Very sad

[MikeT]

Horizon hobbies all but destroyed tower hobbies when they bought hobbico they discontinued all the balsa kits from top flite and great planes and there balsa kit selection is a joke . they abandoned the older modelers like myself whose been in this hobby since the 70s and enjoy and are proud of building and flying our own planes .they havent had SIG kits in stock in over a year and there nitro engine selection is comical. . i buy direct from SIG or scratch build my own planes and been ordering from mrc when I can and try to stay away from horizon and towers unless I can't get it elsewhere .instead of trying to grow our hobby there trying to limit it to foamies and arfs.. Very sad

Hobico/Tower destroyed themselves due to piss poor management and bad business moves made over and over.. You can't blame Horizon for that. In any business you stock what sells unfortunately kits don't sell anymore. You do what you have to do to survive.

Mike