As many others, I have bought some "clone products" from RC-timer in the past, simply because some stuff is pretty cheap there. Now, I got the bill for that and learned that paying less often means paying double.
Earlier this year, I bought two MinimOSD clones from RC-Timer. One went to my copter and the other for the moment into storage for another project. Several weeks later, I took the second OSD out of storage to use in my new project and I found that it was not working. The Arduino IDE kept reporting connection errors and I even couldn't flash a new bootloader with an original Atmel AVR USBISP Mk II and the original Atmel IDE.
I emailed RC-Timer on 22JUL13, and their "Jane" emailed me back on 23JUL13, saying that I should send the OSD back to them and providing a return address.
I sent the item back after returning from a trip on 09AUG13 via registered airmail ($17 from Finland to China) and informed RC-Timer via email. "Jane" was answering that they will get back to me as soon as it arrived.
According to the tracking system (see here), the shipment arrived on 18AUG13. When I didn't hear from RC-Timer until 07SEP13, I sent another email to them, requesting status information. To that email, I never received any reply.
On 20SEP13, I again sent an email to RC-Timer, demanding a status information. Again, I did not receive any reply.
In my opinion, this behavior constitutes fraud. I will, for sure, never order at RC-Timer again and I write this blog post as an intense warning to the community about RC-Timer and to think twice before ordering from far east "cloners".
Opposite to this case, I once had the problem with the serial multiplex chip being fried by a dying ESC on my (original 3DR) APM 2.5. After posting about the problem in the DIYD forum, I was contacted by Rogelio of the 3DR support team and he sent me a new automux chip for my APM for free. No product costs, no shipping costs!
Now you decide... Do you want to save a few dollars when buying the stuff and be left totally alone or pay return shipping for nothing if something goes wrong? Or is it wiser in the long run to pay a few dollars more for your stuff and receive great support?
My choice for the future is pretty clear!
Comments
Euan,
Under powered/spec'd Esc ?? I have seen quite a few cases of this. To save/shave few $, people buy lower spec Esc and some times get away with it but serious draw of amp through Esc results in brownouts if not burnt esc. Good luck next time , hope the damage wasn't too bad.
Lol.
I saw this post before going flying and thought "ill write a defence post when I get back".
Well im back. Early. My Disco took a dive from 2m...burnt out ESC...from RCTimer.
Facepalms all round. :-)
I agree with Gary.
Critical components like RC control, engine go for quality, others you can live with cheap ones, remember , you will have enough spare cash when they fail against the higher cost of quality/branded stuff. Good luck
I pretty much buy the important electronic stuff from 3DR or a reputable supplier within the US.
I buy motors, ESCs, batteries and air frames from everywhere, especially China.
Often the price differences for major parts can be 2 to 10 times cheaper in China - delivered.
Clearly, it is also reasonable to expect a higher failure rate, but for those kind of differences - so what?
I know many of you will say one part fails whole plane crashes, but a substantial number of the failures are out of the box failures and another significant number fail gradually or non destructively so you can exchange them before terminal destruction sets in.
Strategy in when and where to use these components is one of the most important things to figure out.
Experienced RC'ers who already do this already know what to expect, but rank newbes often make the mistake of trying to do it all on the Chinese Cheap.
In fact, generally they are the ones who should do just the opposite.
It's one thing for Jack Crossfire to put together a HobbyKing microquad, quite another for Joe Beginner.
If you want to get started in multicopters, look at the Wiki Here: http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/build-your-own-multicopter/
It will give you a lot of good clues of how to move forward without massive frustration from inadequate parts and still at low and staged costs.
The one thing I like BluSky1 definitely recommend is buy your eolectronics from the people who actually support it. They have a big investment in making sure "your" part actually works and if it doesn't they are the ones you need to rely on to fix that.
These days, it is really simple, for a flight controller, get a Pixhawk from 3DR it has displaced the APM and for most uses the PX4 and is the flight controller of choice for the next year or two.
And if your doing FPV get a 3DR MinimOSD because it is compatible with the Pixhawk.
As for the FPV radio get a FatShark or a 3DR FPV system.
As for the rest of the stuff research and make the best choices and compromises you can.
A $30.00 RC-Timer Motor is clearly never going to be as good as the equivalent $90.00 Tiger-Motor, but then again it is $30.00.
There is only 2 Chinese suppliers I buy Rc equipment from and that is Hobbyking and Goodluck buy and I buy a lot, I have had never had problems with them before but thanks for the heads up on rc timer (I was thinking of trying them out)
Here’s a concept, why do we ask for and buy USA build products?
I know it’s tough to avoid buying some stuff as an import but places like RCT and HK thrive on selling poor quality stuff that they don’t stand behind.
I bought an camera mount from RCT that the screws were worthless and the holes didn’t line up between parts. My action to resolve the issue is I don’t buy from them anymore.
Buy the quality you enjoy and just pass on the rest.
Jared:
I discovered the problem after the Paypal protection had expired.
Nero:
Did you read my blog post to the end? I tried to "get it fixed". They just stopped answering my emails after I sent the defective item back.
Just because you got a bad deal from A supplier doesn't mean there all bad....Im sure everyone has gone through a Drive through gotten home and then realized your missing a cheeseburger sometimes you gotta just go back and get it fixed......
The trick is pay with paypal, if something breaks or is broken, open a paypal case and you are guaranteed your money back once the items says arrived on tracking info
I know 3DR can be expensive, but as I understand it (that is why I will always buy my APM and all atmell products from them) is because they test it really well before sending it. I have received and APM with logs still on it because of the tests they did.
One thing is that I will never buy RC equipment from them (I have bought from them 4 motors and 4 esc's that is still working 2 years ago) because of the rc stuff not being strong enough (not enough watts on the motors and ESC's not enough AMPS) and they do not have a dynamic shipping system that calculates like hobbyking based upon the weight.
But what I am trying to say is (what an old timer RC guy told me) If you have 5, 10, 20, 30 thousand dollar equipment in the air do not use un tested products.
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