[robbthepilot]

Turnigys for 3 years and never a problem

[bobmic]

Hi Cliff,

I agree with your preference in purchasing parts from NA, the only thing to remember is that the parts from Hobbypartz, Nitroplanes etc. are from a similar source as HK and are probably being shipped directly to them from the manufacturers in the far east with no middle man in NA, similar to HK in the US.
But again if the price difference is not huge I also try to by local as much as possible.
As for quality you roughly get what you pay for BUT not 3 times better... for motors servos etc. you can see the difference in quality but this difference does not justify tripling the price. The cheaper parts will usually weight more and will not be as reliable but they are quite close and it is not a real gamble.

For batteries - the ones from Hobbypartz a good especially the GenAce but also the SkyLipos, I do not have Thunderpower batteries to compare but I did compare Eflite, Zippy, and GenAce ...the Eflite's were not the best...

Good luck
Bobby

[Dangaras]

Zippy batteries and Turnigy have been the winners over the years. Best value and performance for the dollar. There is no way the NA hardware costing 3X as much for retail markup purposes is worth it.

Buy 3 of the HK/Far east labelled items before spending local. The majority of NA products are made out east and labelled for local companies.

[flytwice]

Our club has 18-19 members. They all used Thunderpower batteries when I joined 5 yrs ago. Now Nobody does.
Almost exclusively we run the Flightmax Zippy battery, with a few now running the newer Nanotech.
I originally purchased 3S/2200/20C Flightmax after buying cheap no name stuff from Ebay! The Flightmax lasted at least 200 flights! They where $18.95 then. I now use the Flightmax 3S.2200/25C. They are as good as any other battery I ever used, and now sell for $11 or so.
Our club members must have 200+ of these, I own 20 myself. Same goes for the 6S/5000/30C a6 $55ea, bulletproof imo.
HK also sell a line called Rhino, more $$, but definitely a superior battery too. none of these are anywhere near the prices TP tries to suck out.
I also run Turnigy motors in my smaller planes. In larger planes I do go to Scorpion, but would consider Hacker, Hyperion, Axi.
Up to 80A, I've found the Turnigy Plush ESC's series foolproof (up to 6S), K force are also good, be sure to buy the appropriate programmer.FWIW flytwice