Pre ordering RC equipment

[Grogg]

Has anybody here have any experience with pre ordering stuff specifically for RC use?  And if so what was the experience like, are there safe guards in place to stops people from not delivering as product and just taking the money and running, that the product will be delivered within the specified time frame, and so forth.   There's a product I really want to get, but can't find for sale anywhere other than via pre order.

[Lone-wolf]

If its a reputable model shop and best to pay with paypal then should be good only issue may be stock might not arrive for suggested time also a few shops only take a deposit payment on pre order, with balance to pay on completion

[turok007]

Normally shops say it is on back  / pre order so it is a waiting game.   Im waiting for some things at the moment, But things are still on go slow

[Grogg]

This would be pre ordering directly from the manufacturer, I've not been able to find an alternative to pre ordering directly from the manufacturer.

[Alex97]

Pre ordering a new item with an expected delivery date is usually pretty safe however sometimes manufacturers will put preorder on an item that's out of stock, some times there isn't a delivery date as they don't know when they'll make the next batch. 

 

What are you pre ordering? 

[Grogg]

12 minutes ago, Alex97 said:

Pre ordering a new item with an expected delivery date is usually pretty safe however sometimes manufacturers will put preorder on an item that's out of stock, some times there isn't a delivery date as they don't know when they'll make the next batch. 

 

What are you pre ordering? 

 

I'm thinking of ordering this.  Since we've decided on our TT-02 challenge I've been loonkng into getting a rolling road/dynamo, and so far this is the only one I've been able to find for RC cars.

[lorrylemming]

I would not preorder that, the website only has renders. No pictures of the actual product or a prototype.

[Grogg]

3 minutes ago, lorrylemming said:

I would not preorder that, the website only has renders. No pictures of the actual product or a prototype.

 

Are there any alternatives that you know of that do roughly the same thing, measure top speed, distance traveled, and acceleration?  Can handle 4 wheel drive, and both 1/10 and 1.8 scale?

[BigGinge]

Why not just stick a GPS on the car and measure out on the road?

[Redback]

3 hours ago, Grogg said:

Has anybody here have any experience with pre ordering stuff specifically for RC use?  And if so what was the experience like, are there safe guards in place to stops people from not delivering as product and just taking the money and running, that the product will be delivered within the specified time frame, and so forth.   There's a product I really want to get, but can't find for sale anywhere other than via pre order.

I would never pre order anything, whats the support going to be like, what about the company in a year.

Pre orders for computer games should be a good example, people pre order stuff because, Fomo and there for are usally sold half complete products.
There is no rush, get it when it releases, consider pre order a bit like kickstarter, unless its in some ones hands and they have a production line, your buying into the idea. Save your money and let some one else fund the idea and see if it goes anywere.
 

If your wanting something to measure speeds, cant go wrong with a skyrc gnss or similar product (garmin) that has a good reputation.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Redback

[Redback]

1 hour ago, Grogg said:

 

I'm thinking of ordering this.  Since we've decided on our TT-02 challenge I've been loonkng into getting a rolling road/dynamo, and so far this is the only one I've been able to find for RC cars.

Get some pipe, put in some 1/10 scale wheels and hubs, bolt to some metal, do this 4 more times and you have a rolling road. otherwise can fab one up with metal but just thinking how you could make one from off the shelf bnq parts.

Plastic pipe, Bearings, Threaded rod and bolts, Aliminum angle plate. Poprivits. Tires and wheels that are spare and can go inside the pipe snugly and sit on the threaded bar.

[Grogg]

55 minutes ago, BigGinge said:

Why not just stick a GPS on the car and measure out on the road?

 

I have a SkyRC GNSS for each of my RC cars, but it's one thing thrashing about as fast as you can on land you own to see how fast your RC can go, but trying to hit 100mph, you need a lot of space, and the danger of it, even on a very long private driveway.  And not to mention with a dyno/rolling road, you can do speed runs whenever you want, you don't need to wait for the right weather conditions, nor worry about finding somewhere safe to do it and a safe time to do it at, range, or worry about damaging or losing the RC car. 

 

It's also a lot more convenient for tuning, and testing RC cars built for high speed runs.

 

42 minutes ago, Redback said:

Get some pipe, put in some 1/10 scale wheels and hubs, bolt to some metal, do this 4 more times and you have a rolling road. otherwise can fab one up with metal but just thinking how you could make one from off the shelf bnq parts.

Plastic pipe, Bearings, Threaded rod and bolts, Aliminum angle plate. Poprivits. Tires and wheels that are spare and can go inside the pipe snugly and sit on the threaded bar.

 

 

I was considering giving this DIY approach a go:

 

 

 

I've seen unboxing videos of the dyno/rolling road I'm considering pre ordering, like this one:

 

 

 

Ideally I want to buy something that is pre built, and not DIY one myself or buy one that is basically somebody else's DIY project.  But something that is backed by a warranty, customer support, and the manufacturer.

[Shergar]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175213553096

[Grogg]

41 minutes ago, Shergar said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175213553096

 

Tamiya actually make one that measures top speed, acceleration, and distance traveled, but it's only available for their 1/32 scale AA things.