Where to get cheaper electronics.

So I just got into the hobby and I had to buy almost $300 worth in stuff. And all that stuff is still pretty low quality. I am still using a 4channel Hobby King transmitter and saving up for a FlySky one. However where can I find cheaper electronics(mainly batteries) that also have fast shipping. Amazon just has too little options and is pretty expensive but has good customer reviews and Prime and fast shipping and free returns. Is there a place where I can buy electronics from a reputable manufacture with free returns/warranty and fast/medium shipping(like at most 2 weeks).
 

Timmy

Legendary member
Just roam around Aliexpress and banggood. The stuff won't be the best quality but it will be cheap. usually you can't get good stuff for a good price. Shipping from china will take more than 2 weeks.
 

Ranger_107

Elite member
So I just got into the hobby and I had to buy almost $300 worth in stuff. And all that stuff is still pretty low quality. I am still using a 4channel Hobby King transmitter and saving up for a FlySky one. However where can I find cheaper electronics(mainly batteries) that also have fast shipping. Amazon just has too little options and is pretty expensive but has good customer reviews and Prime and fast shipping and free returns. Is there a place where I can buy electronics from a reputable manufacture with free returns/warranty and fast/medium shipping(like at most 2 weeks).
I understand u on the battery side of things. I know hobbyking was selling these RHINO batterys for like 6 dollars each and @CustomRCMods did a reveiw kinda thing on them and thought they were good. On the transmitter side of things dont get flysky, its kinda cheap and will break down easier then if you got a taranis like a QX7 or a X9 Lite which are both sub 100 radios and both work great.
 

Indy durtdigger

Elite member
Just roam around Aliexpress and banggood. The stuff won't be the best quality but it will be cheap. usually you can't get good stuff for a good price. Shipping from china will take more than 2 weeks.
With all the stuff going on currently shipping from China is sketchy at best. I ordered a plane off of Banggood last month and it's given arrival date is a couple days shy of 2 full months.
 

Indy durtdigger

Elite member
So I just got into the hobby and I had to buy almost $300 worth in stuff. And all that stuff is still pretty low quality. I am still using a 4channel Hobby King transmitter and saving up for a FlySky one. However where can I find cheaper electronics(mainly batteries) that also have fast shipping. Amazon just has too little options and is pretty expensive but has good customer reviews and Prime and fast shipping and free returns. Is there a place where I can buy electronics from a reputable manufacture with free returns/warranty and fast/medium shipping(like at most 2 weeks).
Check out Motion RC. Their Admiral brand stuff is pretty good quality and reasonably priced. Most importantly they still have quite a good amount of items in stock, not something every place can say at the moment.
 

sundown57

Legendary member
I put in an order from banggood on May 4th. got it 3 days ago. never again. As for TX I'm a real big Flysky fan. Perfect tx for most everyone. Get the I6X, not the I6S those are more for drones,
 

Merv

Site Moderator
Staff member
Good prices and fast shipping don't normally go together. It's usually one or the other. Pay more and get it sooner or save a few bucks and wait. For me, anything from China takes 4-5 weeks, other Asian countries were a bit better 2-3 weeks. If I buy from North America shipping is usually a week.

With Covid, China is taking much longer, not sure if they were backed up or is this the new normal.
 

CustomRCMods

Elite member
I understand u on the battery side of things. I know hobbyking was selling these RHINO batterys for like 6 dollars each and @CustomRCMods did a reveiw kinda thing on them and thought they were good. On the transmitter side of things dont get flysky, its kinda cheap and will break down easier then if you got a taranis like a QX7 or a X9 Lite which are both sub 100 radios and both work great.

Those Rhino packs really aren't too bad, however I would definitely recommend going easy on them, use them for low-discharge rate applications, don't use them to fly a quad or something :). A single motor plane is just great. The heat shrink is thin, so if you crash the durability may be in question. I threw one out after a crash, the heat shrink was mangled and I just couldn't justify the risk of keeping it. Thats the advantage of having such a cheap battery, I don't hesitate to get rid of it because it was only 6 bucks.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
Amazon carries the Tattu brand batteries; their US Warehouse is in San Ramon, CA. I've used them successfully for years with my quads and planes, and love them. Only had one go bad, and it was due to a crash, so not the fault of the manufacturer. :)

No, they're not the $6 Rhino batteries sold at Hobbyking, but they'll get to you relatively quickly. I've been ordering batteries from them and 1-2 days from the Bay Area to San Diego. From the Bay Area to elsewhere in the US? A week, at most, I would imagine. You could also check out Dinogy Lipos out of Las Vegas; Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego loves their batteries.

If you want cheaper, you're going to wait 2-6 months for it to come by Chinese Junk, where it will apparently be put onto a boat, then the boat will be carried by hand across the Gobi Desert, through Asia to a point in Europe and the Mediterranean, then set down on the coast somewhere where they then disassemble the boat and reassemble it, put it in the water, find out it's leaking after it settles to the bottom, then they'll send down divers to retrieve it, pull it back up, reassemble it correctly this time and then ship it out. However, it will then be hijacked by pirates, rerouted back to China and sold on the black market, and start the process of delivery all over again to you until it gets through the pirate blockade, to land on whatever coast of the United States is opposite to you. Then, once it has arrived, it will sit in customs for several months while they decide if it has COVID-19. Once it's cleared, it'll then criss-cross the continent in its attempt to get to you, several months later. LOL

I've had bad experiences with CHEAP electronics that I've tried to buy - cheap servos that have had shorts in the wiring, bad ESCs out of the packaging that had timing issues...Sometimes, going with the cheap, no-name brands that nobody's ever heard of aren't the best way to go. How cheap is it if you have to buy 2-3 before you get a working one?

You don't need to go the full on end either, but just be aware that the cheapest options aren't always the best.
 

CustomRCMods

Elite member
Amazon carries the Tattu brand batteries; their US Warehouse is in San Ramon, CA. I've used them successfully for years with my quads and planes, and love them. Only had one go bad, and it was due to a crash, so not the fault of the manufacturer. :)

No, they're not the $6 Rhino batteries sold at Hobbyking, but they'll get to you relatively quickly. I've been ordering batteries from them and 1-2 days from the Bay Area to San Diego. From the Bay Area to elsewhere in the US? A week, at most, I would imagine. You could also check out Dinogy Lipos out of Las Vegas; Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego loves their batteries.

If you want cheaper, you're going to wait 2-6 months for it to come by Chinese Junk, where it will apparently be put onto a boat, then the boat will be carried by hand across the Gobi Desert, through Asia to a point in Europe and the Mediterranean, then set down on the coast somewhere where they then disassemble the boat and reassemble it, put it in the water, find out it's leaking after it settles to the bottom, then they'll send down divers to retrieve it, pull it back up, reassemble it correctly this time and then ship it out. However, it will then be hijacked by pirates, rerouted back to China and sold on the black market, and start the process of delivery all over again to you until it gets through the pirate blockade, to land on whatever coast of the United States is opposite to you. Then, once it has arrived, it will sit in customs for several months while they decide if it has COVID-19. Once it's cleared, it'll then criss-cross the continent in its attempt to get to you, several months later. LOL

I've had bad experiences with CHEAP electronics that I've tried to buy - cheap servos that have had shorts in the wiring, bad ESCs out of the packaging that had timing issues...Sometimes, going with the cheap, no-name brands that nobody's ever heard of aren't the best way to go. How cheap is it if you have to buy 2-3 before you get a working one?

You don't need to go the full on end either, but just be aware that the cheapest options aren't always the best.

Valid points, and btw the 6$ Rhino Packs did ship from the HK Warehouse in Oregon. Somewhat irrelevant because they are still at the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality. If there is ANYWHERE not to skimp out on, it is your batteries, Motors can burn up, ESCs can fry, RXes can brown out and crash all your planes but proceed with caution when choosing batteries... The low quality ones can burn down your house and take your family and all your belongings with it. Is it really worth it to save a few bucks and put yourself at risk?? Ask yourself that.

I second the recommendation on the Tattus, Ive had some of their 1300 3s packs for well over 3 years now, working great. They are quality products for a fair price and also have a good product support network behind them.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
Valid points, and btw the 6$ Rhino Packs did ship from the HK Warehouse in Oregon. Somewhat irrelevant because they are still at the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality. If there is ANYWHERE not to skimp out on, it is your batteries, Motors can burn up, ESCs can fry, RXes can brown out and crash all your planes but proceed with caution when choosing batteries... The low quality ones can burn down your house and take your family and all your belongings with it. Is it really worth it to save a few bucks and put yourself at risk?? Ask yourself that.

I second the recommendation on the Tattus, Ive had some of their 1300 3s packs for well over 3 years now, working great. They are quality products for a fair price and also have a good product support network behind them.


And fires are DEFINITELY something i want to avoid. I know some of the guys in my club have had fires with batteries charging - puffy, old batteries that should've really been retired. Losing a garage, a den, half of their home...Lipo fires are no joke.
 

dahacker

Member
If your looking for txs look at the radiomaster tx16s. Its deviation and 16ch. Im hoping to get one.

I just got the TX16s and it is hands down the most performance/value transmitter out there. I’ve had a Spektrum DX9 for a long while and love it, but the TX16s should be every newbies first radio at 1/3 of the cost and 3x the features.

As far as where to get it, it is back in stock at a lot of places now.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
Just a follow up on the Tattus:

I cooked a 4S today. I mean actually got it HOT enough to where I couldn’t touch it. One of the guys at the field said, “Wow, you probably have it up around 150-160F.” He pulled out his laser thermometer and checked; 155 was the lowest temp on one of the cells, one was 161.

I actually had one cell drop down to 2.55v, while the rest were at 3.55-3.6v, and the battery was looking pretty puffy...

Now, before anyone starts saying, “That sounds like a junk battery!” let me just say in their defense that this battery was 4 years old and had quite a few cycles on it. It’s also seen a few crashes, so it might’ve had some internal damage that I couldn’t see. It’s also flown quite faithfully for my quads for those 4 years, in and out of service, through hard pushes, between 2 different quadcopters with no problems, up until today, so I think it was about time for it to give up the ghost...I’m just glad it did it after I’d run quite a bit of flight time through it. 😁 so in short, I’d say it was a really reliable battery brand that held up to the abuse I put it through (and no doubt, I abused it), and I think it’s a brand I’d seriously consider buying more of, especially since I can get them on Amazon and direct from the warehouse.