Oh...as for the TBS Gemini. Let's be realistic here. TBS is the marketing arm. They didn't develop the quad. I'm sure they're playing some roll in refining it for retail but their primary role here is salesman not designer/developer. Just like almost everything else they sell. They don't do much original at all. They just leverage the popularity of their videos to move merch. I've yet to see anything from them that impressed me.
Their gear looks decent from what I've seen. But their electronics are nothing that impresses me, their frames leverage other manufacturers parts, what they really excel at is marketing. And their bad boy image plays into that very nicely, it's a well proven formula.
These will sell well but I wouldn't expect to see many of them flying in groups unless they sell well enough that they can have dedicated gemini leagues for racing. (And why not, we've all seen similar less than top of the line products dominate their field because they were well marketed while better options languished in obscurity because they didn't have the publics eye.)
To me they're not that far off from DJI and are equally attractive to me.
Value is tough to define. I'm cheap, but years of being cheap have taught me that there are places corners can be cut and places they just can't. On my fullsize dune buggy that's almost as old as me I'm still using the original 35 year old master cylinder even though when I bought the buggy the seller told me the cylinders needed to be replaced and even included a brand new set of Chinese made replacements. Except the brand new Chinese replacements worked worse than the worn out (then) 20 year old originals. I bought another set of Chinese replacements from a reputable vendor and they were better but still not as good as the originals. I ended up buying a rebuild kit for the originals that cost more than the full Chinese Cylinders - and haven't had a problem for 10 years.
Along the same vein I have no problem buying cheap Chinese "bar clamps" and billet aluminum accessories like rearview mirrors and various mounts - they work just as well and aren't something that can literally be life or death like brakes!
But at the same time I "downgraded" from a custom built race motor that would run 9k RPM and had people questioning where I hid the extra cylinders - to a stock 90hp motor pulled from a street car who's owner was swapping the 4cyl for a v8. My buggy may not be quite as fast anymore - but it has a much more usable powerband now, uses cheaper gas, and has cost me less in maintenance in 7 years than the race motor did in one year. My fun level has gone up markedly while my spending has gone down even more - that's some serious value in my book.
There are things I have no problems buying Chinese knockoffs of. But there are others that I just won't even consider buying.
A $15 frame may mean I could buy 10 of them for the same cost as a blackout....but....that doesn't do me much good when I pack it in early and head home because I broke something in a crash that a better frame would have shaken off. Yeah, I'd be money ahead...but I'd be flying hours behind. Which is more important is a personal question that each of us have our own personal answer for.
Their gear looks decent from what I've seen. But their electronics are nothing that impresses me, their frames leverage other manufacturers parts, what they really excel at is marketing. And their bad boy image plays into that very nicely, it's a well proven formula.
These will sell well but I wouldn't expect to see many of them flying in groups unless they sell well enough that they can have dedicated gemini leagues for racing. (And why not, we've all seen similar less than top of the line products dominate their field because they were well marketed while better options languished in obscurity because they didn't have the publics eye.)
To me they're not that far off from DJI and are equally attractive to me.
Value is tough to define. I'm cheap, but years of being cheap have taught me that there are places corners can be cut and places they just can't. On my fullsize dune buggy that's almost as old as me I'm still using the original 35 year old master cylinder even though when I bought the buggy the seller told me the cylinders needed to be replaced and even included a brand new set of Chinese made replacements. Except the brand new Chinese replacements worked worse than the worn out (then) 20 year old originals. I bought another set of Chinese replacements from a reputable vendor and they were better but still not as good as the originals. I ended up buying a rebuild kit for the originals that cost more than the full Chinese Cylinders - and haven't had a problem for 10 years.
Along the same vein I have no problem buying cheap Chinese "bar clamps" and billet aluminum accessories like rearview mirrors and various mounts - they work just as well and aren't something that can literally be life or death like brakes!
But at the same time I "downgraded" from a custom built race motor that would run 9k RPM and had people questioning where I hid the extra cylinders - to a stock 90hp motor pulled from a street car who's owner was swapping the 4cyl for a v8. My buggy may not be quite as fast anymore - but it has a much more usable powerband now, uses cheaper gas, and has cost me less in maintenance in 7 years than the race motor did in one year. My fun level has gone up markedly while my spending has gone down even more - that's some serious value in my book.
There are things I have no problems buying Chinese knockoffs of. But there are others that I just won't even consider buying.
A $15 frame may mean I could buy 10 of them for the same cost as a blackout....but....that doesn't do me much good when I pack it in early and head home because I broke something in a crash that a better frame would have shaken off. Yeah, I'd be money ahead...but I'd be flying hours behind. Which is more important is a personal question that each of us have our own personal answer for.