Schulze is out of business!

[ray schrauwen]

I have a receipt for a Hydro-Zeta 2 motor esc and still have the esc. It would run 2 brushed motors at once! Only $300+ That was about 26 years ago.

Someone once told me long ago that inflation makes prices double every 7 years.... Well, that's not true anymore since lobbyists sold out the west to China.

Since they sold out the west, they gave corporations the ability to clamp wages and since everything started getting so cheap many people haven't realized their wages don't increase that much. That's called deflation no? Slow boiling of frog yes?

26 / 7 = 3.714

So since I bought my Hydro-Zeta, by now it show be worth... well, more than $2400 today but, it's barely worth $20 now.

That would be a realistic price if wages kept up but, they haven't unless you are a lawyer or something...

I don't blame myself for buying the cheap stuff. Why? I didn't change trade laws and tariffs. If they didn't sell out, things would be different. China would have folded long ago, now look at them. Can you say who's your daddy?

[ray schrauwen]

Just got a call for a job interview, I'm STOKED!!!!!

God Bless you all on here for putting up with some of my crap.

[properchopper]

Just got a call for a job interview, I'm STOKED!!!!!

God Bless you all on here for putting up with some of my crap.

Good luck Ray

[tlandauer]

I am very disappointed to hear Schulze is no longer in business, it is not surprising as many others already gave their views. I am lucky to have my DF 45 Sniper came set up with a Schulze ESC, not my build but I at least am fortunate enough to feel the actual "German Engineering" touch. Yet I am afraid to admit that without the Chinese junk I would not be in this hobby or at least not as involved. It is a two sided sword, we want to have as big and / or diversified a community as possibe but only the elite few could and derserve to have the above average equiptment. When I said "ELITE" , I don't mean the few who can afford or have their nose up in the air, I mean those of us who take their passion to a level that I personally would only be dreaming. As I learn more and more, I too was fantasizing perhaps I would be building on a HPR Hull and with Shulze, I check their web regularly just to get stoked. Oh well...
I happen to fancy nice German cameras, same thing happened to them long ago when the "Japanese Junk" took over.

[Livewire121]

Good luck Ray!

[ray schrauwen]

Thanks guys! Sucks about Schulze even though I've only used the U-force esc.

It's odd that my brother can still find a niche market for Audiophile equipment but, when it's all hand made by someone like him people come knocking with cash still.

G 'night..

[sjslhill]

Still using my Astroflight 207D's and Hughey controls.

Also, cycling some new 4600 NIMH cells I had sitting around. I can't stand LiPoly, yes I know it's more powerful and lite. But, but, but, it burns. Yes, I know, it's just not for me.

[T.S.Davis]

Well that sucks. Wouldn't it be sweet if Schulze sold their designs to Castle? That would be the dawn of a new erra. Dare to dream.

[don ferrette]

Well that sucks. Wouldn't it be sweet if Schulze sold their designs to Castle? That would be the dawn of a new erra. Dare to dream.

Unfortunately it would be more like wishful thinking as we've yet to see anything from that part of the world that could even come close to going toe to toe with a 40.160 ESC.

[RaceMechaniX]

As someone who is in this business professionally I can tell you it is very competitive and evolving at a break neck pace. When your sole product is limited to the hobby industry you really have to be aggressive. It is also very difficult to compete with manufacturing and labor costs in Asia. I just returned from a trip to China to generate business and first hand I can tell you the Chinese do it faster and cheaper. Setting aside some dislike of their business ethics you have to be impressed by their pace. I truly hope Schulze can claw back and keep their doors open. They have a great product although for a niche market and fairly loyal following. YGE and others are in the same camp as Schulze so we'll see what plays out. If you like their product shoot Schulze an email and let them know you support them and their product. Hopefully customer feedback will spur them to keep the doors open.

Tyler

[tlandauer]

Tyler, do you fore see someday the Chinese would come up something more high end? Like I said, in the 50's and early 60's many of the Japanese cameras were not considered high end product, but they proved themselves and look at the market in the last 30 or 40 years.
Just curious.

[keithbradley]

At this point, there is a strong lack of innovation in China, only copying of other country's designs.
My opinion on the "what if" in regards to Schulze's design being made by an Asian based company, is that it doesn't really matter. It's usually the poor execution that leads to the inconsistancy and failure of Asian ESCs, not the design. This is much like the idea of HPR's hulls being produced elsewhere...the product is only as good as the person who makes it.

Also, it is becoming an increasingly common practice to have a China based company make a product or design without knowing what it's for or what it does. By doing this, you prevent the manufacturer from selling to your customers directly...you also have someone making your product that doesn't know why they are doing what they are doing, which will never equate to a consistant high quality end part.

[Alexgar]

Still have MGM compro for high end escs for those out there that won't use cheap escs service is great but be prepared to shell out a little extra but programming and data logging are standard on most the escs us boaters would use I have 3 and am happy so far

[RaceMechaniX]

Honestly I don't see innovation equaling or surpassing what occurs in the US/Europe/Japan in the near future, but their universities are cranking out more engineers than the rest of the world combined. Eventually I think they will rise to the same level. The Chinese tend to form Joint Ventures to lure foreign technology with China's immense capital and available workforce. From their perspective why reinvent the wheel when you can license it and mass produce it making decent profits. There is a noticeable difference in quality and particularly process control from my experience visiting both US and Chinese manufacturers. If you carefully look at an MGM/Schulze/YGE versus a lesser manufacturer you can spot the differences in board layout, trace quality, soldering, component placement, etc. This is not true of all products and there are some outstanding examples of decent designs like the T180 which I have seen been pushed further than higher rated esc's that cost 3x- as much. Typically you do get what you pay for and a good chunk of a products price is customer support and warranty. Often support and warranties are non existent with lesser brands where as Schulze will repair an ESC at quite a reasonable rate. I speak from experience hear, trust me. The lesser brands will just expect you to toss a damaged unit or even swallow the cost of a dud right out of the box. The good brands will repair or replace with reasonable and sometimes even no cost.

Tyler

[properchopper]

As Tyler points out, in general, the higher priced products generally offer deeper warrantee support and this is no accident or artifact. Having a background in both manufacturing and retail, I have learned that a product's cost of manufacture generally includes an amount , usually as a percentage of raw cost, that goes into a warrantee equity account to pay for the producer's handling of defective returns. This amount is built into the product's wholesale price if the actual manufacturer honors the warrantee, or as likely in, for example Turnigy ESC's, HK gets the product minus thev OEM warrantee and tacks on a warrantee equity fund amount to pay for handling of returns themselves. Since HK sells at (what I'm assuming are) slim margins I tend to believe that the amount of warrantee holdback amount is a rather small amount which in turn causes a fair amount of warrantee "stonewalling" to the consumer. In any case, it's you, the consumer that ALWAYS pays for this as it is built into the price you pay. One way to evidence this is how retailers of car batteries price their battery lineup. You can buy batteries with 60 month warrantees, 72 month warrantees, 84 month warrantees and so forth. The price goes up as the length of warrantees go up. IT"S the SAME BATTERY - you the consumer are just paying, as I explained above, for the warrantee holdback that the retailer must maintain. Same for "Free service for 24 months on your new BMW". Seriously I hope no one believes that this is "free" and doesn't realize the price of this service is built into the car's selling price and the buyer is just paying for it up front when they buy the car. Adds credence to the slogan : "You get what you pay for" and like my buddy Redneck Andy says : "There 'aint no free lunches"

Honestly I don't see innovation equaling or surpassing what occurs in the US/Europe/Japan in the near future, but their universities are cranking out more engineers than the rest of the world combined. Eventually I think they will rise to the same level. The Chinese tend to form Joint Ventures to lure foreign technology with China's immense capital and available workforce. From their perspective why reinvent the wheel when you can license it and mass produce it making decent profits. There is a noticeable difference in quality and particularly process control from my experience visiting both US and Chinese manufacturers. If you carefully look at an MGM/Schulze/YGE versus a lesser manufacturer you can spot the differences in board layout, trace quality, soldering, component placement, etc. This is not true of all products and there are some outstanding examples of decent designs like the T180 which I have seen been pushed further than higher rated esc's that cost 3x- as much. Typically you do get what you pay for and a good chunk of a products price is customer support and warranty. Often support and warranties are non existent with lesser brands where as Schulze will repair an ESC at quite a reasonable rate. I speak from experience hear, trust me. The lesser brands will just expect you to toss a damaged unit or even swallow the cost of a dud right out of the box. The good brands will repair or replace with reasonable and sometimes even no cost.

Tyler