well im happy with my clone, it's pimped out and not cost me much more then a stock standard hpi rtr (so far)
how can you say these clones take 100% away from the hobby and give nothing back? And how can you be happy with one particular brand of a clone but not the other?
the redcats are not exact copies. In fact they are quite different than the mcds, but get compared to them becuz the gearing setup and assembly is about identical, but the rest of them are not and pretty much any other mcd parts will not work
so many people who could not afford the hpi baja, can now afford a 1/5 rc.
Since the clones have been released, im sure you guys would have noticed the sales of after market parts have increased dramaticly, infact the hole 1/5 hobby in general has exploded.
less expensive is only on the initial purchase. Typically they fail in many places very early on and with minor bumps ect.....they will break faster, they will need quality parts to make them close to worthy. By the time you spend the money pieceing it together with stock hpi baja parts, you ll spend well over what the hpi would of cost.
lets face it the after market parts are what make the baja (clone or not) imo the best bashing 1/5 money can buy.
You've even said yourself, two of your baja's are 50% after market.
cant argue that on the aftermarket parts. But.... The stock hpi parts will last alot longer than the stock km baja will, thats also not arguealbe. Hpi parts in stock form are better!
My green baja took nearly 3 yrs to get to the point it is now. 2.9 yrs, 18 plus gallons of fuel. And hrs and hrs and hrs of thrashing. And if you think i pussy foot around with my bajas, then watch the vids i have on google video and youtube. I don't use it like its an rc, i beat the living poop out of it, but don't abuse it, just run it hard and put it away wet
if the hpi is so much better then the clones why have you swaped 1/2 of the hpi parts out for after market? so i can go harder, farther faster, and beat it more than i could in stock form.
people who choose to buy a clone will be doing the same thing, (swaping parts for aftermarket) but with out forking out the big $$$ to begin with.
thats true, and theres not much you can fault them on. But, out of need they will have to upgrade, (and a stock hpi part on a km baja is an upgrade). But i know many of these aftermarket guys that would not sell parts to someone if they knew if was for a clone. Period. I can gaurentee almost every top baja aftermarket manufacturer would rather lose 100 sales then see one of their parts on one clone. Its a pride and integrity thing, neither of which km appears to have
i look at it like this: If im selling a widget cheaper then the current one on the market, thats great news for the customer and great news for my bank balance, sure the first company that produced the widget isn't going to be happy, there losing out on profits but im not and the consumer saves in a big way. Thats business.
and this is were we really part ways. That my friend is plain bs. Now if km piad their employees a fair wage, bought their material from quality material suppliers like used with the hpi, and used a higher quality assessories like servos, plastics, other electronics, they would be out of business before the line even was turned on. Period. And if they did put a product on the market, then the cost would be at least double what they sell for now.
Under that train of thought, now allow me a little latitude here, but basically you are saying its ok for me to come overy your place and bone your wife. Or anyone elses wife for that matter. I mean, i do it better, and can do it for much longer, and im larger than the average bear which means shes happy as a lark, and my needs are satisfied, and my bank account is good to go becuase shes giveing me 1000.00 every time i stop by, which is 3 time a week. Everyones happy... So your good with that? Really?
Now obviously this is only an example, and a bit extreme, but it is that exact train of thought that you are supporting! If thats cool with you, you have some serious moral issues.
you say "your not a hater, just a clone hater". Then why is it anything bad that gets said about forum sponsers products gets deleted?
Arn't we intitled to the truth about all parts and products?
i couldnt tell you, im not the president only a client. But if you were to take the 3 months required to read thru all of my posts here and on hbf, you ll see i pull no punches!! Period. I ll call bs on any of the parts manufacturers/makers, includeing hpi on more than one occasion.
I cant speak for others, and maybe im cutting my own throat, but poop is poop is poop, regardless of where its made and whos wallet is getting fat selling it. I ll call it out, see my sig for further details.
you guys bag integy constanly but i see nothing wrong with there product, it looks good, works well and is sold at a reasonable price, what more could you want?
i ll bag integy just out of ethics. What would i want to see to stop? How about research and development? How about fair labor practices? How about innovation? How about their own design, not one they used a copy and piaste button on) how about a product the totaly did on their own? One of the other local guys was here today, and we were talking about this very issue. Now inticrap did make their own beadlock style and their own bumper for the baja and the steering wiper set. It blew my mind< they acutally did something of and on their own, but that only further proves their low life nature, if they can to it on a bumper and on beadlocks, then they can do it on every part they make. But they choose to steal someones elses r&d work, someone elses testing and redesign work, and someone elses time and money they spent making sure the parts were up to the job. Integy buys the original part and simply copys and paists the parts into the manufacturing process. Km and intigy falls way short on both integrity and morals. I can NOT support that in any form.
All respects to hpi as they are the company that went through the r&d and got this great model out there.
Sure the hpi baja is a better product of the factory line but with the hop ups that need to be spent on both the hpi and the km baja's, imo i think your better off buying a the km and saving a couple of hundred dollars.
again this train of thought is dangerous. If every one did that, we would all would be useing the same large scale rc, and only have one option for parts, that are inferior and expensive as they break on first use. You have no warrenty, so its just money down the drain. doesn't that sound like fun? We all can own and use one rc.
sure these clones are not good for hpi's profit margins, but so many other companies, customers, retailers and 1/5 in general is/are bennifiting from these cloned products.
again i ll say, if this were the facts, then we really wouldnt have any rcs to play with at all. Innovation and r&d are king of the hill. If no company that does r&d and innovation (what got us the hpi baja in the first place) can stay in business, then how will anything be made period?
stop hating and get bashing!
P.s heres a question, why is it all hpi parts bags (in australia) are stamped "made in taiwan"
becuz hpi owns their taiwan factory, they pay their employees a fair wage, and invest their profits back into r&d which is what will bring us the next greatest thing in rc. This isnt about where parts are made, but the integrity and innovation that allows them to make them. So if they have no profits due to lost sales and cheapass copy parts, then whos going to make the newest innovative rc. If you think km or integy will, well your going to be sadly mistaken
