Budget radios. Thoughts?

[Fluid]

Why is it that those who defend cheap radios will 'attack' those who have bad experiences with them? These 'problems' are usually considered the fault of the user, not the radio. Yet problems with high-end radios are highlighted because "those radios are over-priced and over-rated".


There is a "cheap radio cult" just like there is a "cheap battery cult" and a "cheap motor cult". We all need reasons to rationalize our decisions, and basing them on price is a quantifiable justification - "you can't argue with low prices". Value is far more difficult to define, and it means different things to different people.



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[properchopper]

The gt3b is the best radio for the money bar far, and a much better choice than the Tactic.

I'm with you, Bro. I guess I'm one of the dummies that uses a Gt3b in all my boats, many precious and high dollar ones in fact. Inside antenna as well. At the recent SAWs, where in order to get a good run up to top speed going through the lights, you had to navigate far enough downfield that your boat was just a speck [OMG there's an accidental pun there],( I actually had to get on it just a tad to see which direction it was pointed), it stayed linked up just fine (with an inside antenna and CF bottom lining,btw). Several racers with the more recognized, expensive radios on many occasions had to run down the shoreline to get re-linked. I was not one of them, which is good as I'm too old & out of shape for such excercise. I use a 2500 mah lipo for powering the Tx and I'm good to go. Only once, before I installed the lipo, did the AA's get too low, but the fail-safe just stopped the boat ( AND the radio beeps when this condition occurs). In truth, I do bring a backup Tactic & Fut 3PM to the races, but I sold off two 3PM Rx's & used the money to buy the Gt3B & a lifetime supply of Rx's. Further, the 3PM Rx's (at $89.99 each) go bonkers when a little H20 gets to them. The Gt3B Rx's with a little Corrosion-X on them don't seem to mind so much and I've yet to have to replace one, which at @ $7 isn't too big a deal, considering.

[Rumdog]

Here we go again.
Why is it every time a great product comes out of China that is inexpensive, all the "gurus" feel the need to slam it? 99.9% of the people who have bad things to say about this radio have never and probably never will own one.
The reasoning for sundog's questioning is more than likely because these radios have been getting great rviews. They are far from junk. If you don't like it because it's inexpensive, don't buy it. Why slam a product you have 0 experience with? If you feel the need to spend 10x more on a radio, go ahead. For me, this thing is perfect. Tons of function and performs flawlessly in my boats, gas and electric and rc cars.
There are lterally TONS of cool mods you can do to these radios too.

BTW, there is a new version coming out very soon!

[sundog]

Why is it that those who defend cheap radios will 'attack' those who have bad experiences with them? These 'problems' are usually considered the fault of the user, not the radio.

Since you were talking about me (I saw the pre-edited version) let me say that wasn't meant to be an 'attack' - my apologies if it sounded like that. I am just trying to get to the root of the problem, and since this is not an inherent problem with these 'cheap radios' I was just suggesting possibilities. And yes, I like these radios. The features, and the price. I used to be an Airtronics user (made in China - with many middlemen driving the price sky high), and had no problems with them either - other than the $90 pricetag of the receivers. I'll bet whatever radio you use was made in China as well. You don't have to spend a lot, but you do need to pay attention to details and follow basic rules.

I also like the 'cheap' batteries and use Turnigy, Rhino and Zippy without the problems some others have claimed. But again, I pay attention and follow basic rules of charging, connection and storage. One shouldn't automatically assume it was a fault of the (inexpensive) part just because it was inexpensive. You wouldn't have posted this rebuttal if you had owned a GT3B for any length of time. You would have asked the questions I asked (and am still waiting for an answer to, BTW). Buying expensive gear won't cover bad habits or lapses of memory - warm, fuzzy feeling notwithstanding....

[T.S.Davis]

What does "proven itself quite worthy" mean? Maybe that's where the great divide is for us brand name slappies. What proves it?

With the major brands I can get testimonials from guys that are borderline professionals and many moons worth of historical data. I'm not a Futaba guy but they've been around for ever. Been raced by the top level racers in every aspect of RC ever concieved. No that still doesn't "prove" anything but all I have to go on is the words and data I can garner from those I respect.

Tony's testimonial is the first I've heard that's of any use to me on these. He's running them in a race conditions. He's running his gear the way I do. That has "value" to ME. That may be of NO value to someone who sport runs. Blast down, blast back, no traffic, no unpredictable water. That means nothing to me.

That said. I'm not switching. My Spektrum gear has been perfect. I know of at least one racer that raced every boat in his fleet with them. He took high points at the nationals with his Spekki junk and is the current national chairman. PLus the waterproof RX's have saved my keister too many times to count.

Twaits Jr. has run Hitec since I've known him. High points guy maybe 10 times.

Buass runs Futaba I believe. I know PAGS runs Futaba.

Price point is absolutely an acceptable decision making tool. So is "value". Value means something different to each of us.

[Rumdog]

Are you a dock member? If so go PM Jim Nissen and ask him what he thinks of it. He has had it apart and has done testing and he will assure you it's a quality radio as well.

[LuckyDuc]

I buy low priced radios (Tactic and GT3B) for my boats because I tend to drop them in the water from time to time.. If I dropped a Futaba 4PKS in the drink you would hear me screaming in California. I do buy more expensive Txs for my Helis, Jets, and airplanes though... no water near by for me to drop them into.

[Flying Scotsman]

Well said Terry, all I can add is I run Spektrum marine equipment and believe me, I did a lot of research before buying this system

Douggie

What does "proven itself quite worthy" mean? Maybe that's where the great divide is for us brand name slappies. What proves it?

With the major brands I can get testimonials from guys that are borderline professionals and many moons worth of historical data. I'm not a Futaba guy but they've been around for ever. Been raced by the top level racers in every aspect of RC ever concieved. No that still doesn't "prove" anything but all I have to go on is the words and data I can garner from those I respect.

Tony's testimonial is the first I've heard that's of any use to me on these. He's running them in a race conditions. He's running his gear the way I do. That has "value" to ME. That may be of NO value to someone who sport runs. Blast down, blast back, no traffic, no unpredictable water. That means nothing to me.

That said. I'm not switching. My Spektrum gear has been perfect. I know of at least one racer that raced every boat in his fleet with them. He took high points at the nationals with his Spekki junk and is the current national chairman. PLus the waterproof RX's have saved my keister too many times to count.

Twaits Jr. has run Hitec since I've known him. High points guy maybe 10 times.

Buass runs Futaba I believe. I know PAGS runs Futaba.

Price point is absolutely an acceptable decision making tool. So is "value". Value means something different to each of us.

[Rumdog]

Brand name is personal preference. Hardly any gas guys will touch a Spektrum radio.

[properchopper]

I don't see any reason to debate which radio is best. If you're happy with what you're using, then let's all hold hands and sing Kumba-ya. Seriously though, I'm happy and I hope everyone else is too & remember diversity (there's a damn radio pun again) is what makes it all interesting. Besides, if there weren't any differences in opinions, there'd be no horse races.

I started out with cheap AM radios. $48 each and one for each boat. Seemed reasonable at the time. When that became too clumsy, some friendly racers felt it was time to "assist" me in winning a Hitec 2.4. Darn thing always glitched coming out of turn two at Legg. Same thing with another (gas) racer; he finally smashed it to the ground during a heat when it crapped out in the same spot. I sold the Hitec & haven't heard any negative feedback from the buyer, not a Legg Lake racer. When I got one of the first UL-1's with a Tactic, I outfitted the growing fleet with their Rx's. Worked fine, didn't like getting wet in spite of the Corrosion-X 'tho. Then a few years ago in AZ Winter warmups I realized that the Tactic with no model memory required me to trim on the mill lap. That sucked. Went to a Futaba 3PM Fasst. Nearly lost a nice P-Mono when the antenna parted inside the antenna tube, a condition which I couldn't see, and I ran into the (fortunately mud) bank. And $89.99 for a Rx, ouch, especially with a 6 raceboat fleet.
I'm still a little nervous about the GT3B, what with all the talk about using an inexpensive radio with lots of valuable rigs, but maybe I'm just lucky so far. When the other shoe drops, I'll tell all , if & when.

[Flying Scotsman]

Do not worry Rummy, as the gassers minds have crashed due to the fumes.....seriously though, do your research and buy within your budget and the features you want.

Douggie

Brand name is personal preference. Hardly any gas guys will touch a Spektrum radio.

[Darin Jordan]

Brand name is personal preference. Hardly any gas guys will touch a Spektrum radio.

They were soured on these back in the days when Spektrum thought that you could use a surface protocol over water. It's their loss, really... but I gave up trying to tell them, or show them, just how well these work...

I'm a "gasser", and I used Spektrum without ANY issues at all... But, to each their own...

[T.S.Davis]

They're all personal preferences. Once you've tried them at least.

Over the years I've run Airtronics, Futaba, Hitec, JR and now Spektrum. They're all from china. Let's be honest. Your buying the brand name and any reputation that name carries. I haven't tried any of the less expensive offerings. Sounds like more and more guys are giving them a shot. I need a new radio right now but I already own a fleets worth of water proof rx's. My display is fogged up from racing in the rain. haha So I'll see what I can find out about the latest and greatest Spektrum. The thought of buying a bushel basket of RX's just makes me cringe.

After my FM systems crashed a few boats I decided to get out of FM. (ya think?) I gathered information the best I could. Asked some guys I trusted that did the same kind of toy boating I was doing. Then Newland let me play with one at the NATS and I've been hooked ever since. I even like the way it feels in my hand. That's TOTALLY personal preference.

I've heard the gas guys had issues with Spektrum. I wonder what's up with that. Maybe the resonance of a gas motor? I'm ignorant on that one. Although you would think an electric motor would create the most electronic noise.

Just last weekend I broke the rudder off my Geico. Took a 1" square hunk of glass with it. The boat was of course filled to the deck and sinking fast. I crushed the throttle and ran it up in the grass with all the electronics completely submerged. Try that with.....well.....any of them. Raced the next heat with the whole setup too. Didn't even blow it off with air.

[NorCalZ71]

I love my gt3b I prefer it over my spec radio. I have programmed and played with most of the spec line being a crawler guy I had to have the most channels and options and none of the spectrum surface radios provided that. I have followed the rctech and rccrawler guys in modding my gt3b and now I have an 8ch pistol surface radio that works farther then I can see (tested this recently) over water. And the recievers are between 8$ and 20$. Granted I don't race on a competetive level but when we get a few boats on the water we have never had glitching or signal loss with 2 gt3b's and a spec marine (proboat) radio all running off the same small 8'x10' dock


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[Fluid]

Since you were talking about me (I saw the pre-edited version)

First mistake - I was not "talking about you", there are others in this thread (see above) who have expressed the same mind set.

You wouldn't have posted this rebuttal if you had owned a GT3B for any length of time...

What "rebuttal" are you referring to? I simply asked why some folks - it's both sides of the aisle on this issue really - resort to emotion first instead of thought. Of course I know the answer, but it is the question which must be asked since it is the root of the discord in this thread. Most people are defensive and insecure.

And why do you presume to know how I would react under any circumstance - you do not know me. I watched Tony use his FlySky radio for three days of racing last month, it worked great for him. Where did I "dis" that radio in this thread - or any thread for that matter? Couldn't find it could you - because you are putting words into my mouth which were never uttered. Nor where they considered - although as a self-appointed expert on how I think I suppose you must be right....

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