RC price comparison

[Morinstal 170]

I was wodering about rc prices out there. Sometimes i read " rather than buy tamiya and upgrade it with hop ops, u could buy another tamiya or another traxxass or AE or other kits with similar price, and u get better deal". But the thing is tamiya is way cheaper compared to other brands, here. The china one is the cheapest ofc, tamiya is the second, even taiwanese brand like team magic and hobao is more expensive, and traxxass, AE, tekno is another way up there . Asia brands is easier and with more quantitiy and better part supports to get compared to america/ europe brands. 

* the price is based on local e_market here converted to usd currency ($)

Buggies 1/10                     Tamiya Thunder shot family rere (exclude terra scocher) 167                  Tamiya TD4 300              tamiya  Avante 2011 black special 533                                   AE_B74_kit 400                         Tekno_EB410_kit 516

Scale/crawler 1/10         Tamiya CC02 200               MST CFX kit (no body) 253                      Axial SCX10 III 467                            Traxxass Trx4 667

Touring/ rally  1/10            Tamiya TT02 133 - 167               Kyosho fazer mk2 280                 LCracing PTG2 (no body) 233                        Tamiya Xv01 240

Monster trucks                Tamiya super clodbuster 340             Arrma granite 3sBLX 417               team magic e5hx 340                 hobao hyper MT 460                                   losi LMT 733            kyosho usa1 653

Thats all i can think of, please add your local prices too for comparison. Thanks

 

 

[Willy iine 18806]

You have to consider freight so not sure if our USA local prices have much meaningful comparison?   (also hefty duty for other countries).  Maybe compare with your neighboring Asian countries.. like I would start with rcMart.

rcMart is having a sale, but I still have to add $100 for air freight to the USA.. so the only benefit for me is availability.

[Saito2 6686]

I wish the CC02 was $200. I wouldn't have thought twice at the price but in reality Tower wants on average $246. That's getting close to the much better equipped TRX4 Sport kit at $299 especially after adding in the usual "necessary" Tamiya additions like bearings. YMMV however.

The Thunder Dragon wasn't too bad at $180 but after the price hike, now its up to $200 and the Thundershot (literally the same buggy except the body) is $214.

Still if you want a Tamiya, only Tamiya will do (or Kyosho which is, at times, arguably nicer).

[alvinlwh 5895]

Sorry, such table/comparison is impossible especially if many "other" brands needs to be imported as they are not normally sold here.

For example, I recently got into 3R's MTCs, which is generally not available in the UK, meaning I had to order directly from HK. Even so, the M-05 equivalent, a MG Evo is cheaper than an UK M-05, £70 delivered vs £100+. It comes stock with bearings, CVA, universals, etc... I dropped an additional £40 on it just for unnecessary bing, and that total is just the cost of a stock M-05.

Next there is the £90 M4, which I don't think there is a Tamiya equivalent; 4WD belt driven MTC. 

Then there is the £90 MST TCR-M, which is simple MTC class car but differs in that it uses spring suspensions instead of shocks, and has a direct drive ball diff. Of course bearings as standard. It can be FWD, RWD or 2 motor AWD if you bashed two kits together. 

All the above examples are Tamiya bought from HK to UK, so shipping included. 

Thing is, large orders risks getting hit with tax on entry. So I avoid large orders and never had a problem. This needs to be considered for any price comparison. Then there is the "how much are you willing to pay for postage?" question. Postage also affect the cost. One good example is PJ had suspended regular airmail to the UK (actually it is JP that suspended it) and some of us suspended buying from PJ. There is a few with deep pocket that find it "value" to pay for the fastest shipping method while the rest of us will go for the cheapest possible. 

OK, my most recent build may be the answer you are looking for but still... 

I bought a LRP Twister Buggy kit for £90. That is just an Amazon DT-03 money and yet it comes with things like bearings, oil shocks, slipper clutch, etc... What it did not come with is a motor and ESC. To complicate matter more, this kit is not commonly sold in the UK, but more of a rare sale from a seller specialised in selling "odd" items. To buy it from DE (I think) will cost £130 + postage + tax. 

Sorry that my answer is all over the place, but I aquire my kits all over the place so... 

[Morinstal 170]

To tell the truth, all of the kits i mentioned is imported. The price i listed is for the end user / customer price.  I need to add $5 (max) for postage cost though.

I just want to know what total cost u guys need to get a rc kit. Like @Willy iine said, the freight / shipping cost does matter.

Thats why trx4 here have huge price difference compared to what @Saito2 can get there. Man that $300 difference for shipping and tax is huge. For him, its better to buy TRX4 compared to cc02, but for me that Trx4 is out of my league XD

[Jonathon Gillham 4606]

I'm inclined to agree for the most part, where Tamiya gets expensive is the hop ups.  I don't think the postage matters too much at least down here.  Buying multiples of kits are always cheaper from overseas, but if you buy one then its within 10% (ish) either way.  Another thing to factor in is what you need in addition to the kit.  I don't worry about servos, motors etc as I generally have them.

I also only really count bearings and oil shocks as essential upgrades, but have only ever had one Tamiya kit with friction shocks.  There are (mostly) always versions with oil shocks (TT02B,D,S,R etc, DT02 has versions, DT03 is all oil shocks) and bearings are cheap enough that it doesn't make much difference, but still, $10 is $10.  

A big part of Tamiya's appeal is that they are kits and not RTR.  I think many people (especially on here) value that highly and would pay more for it.

Performance wise, I don't think it makes much difference for the way most people use them.  The latest race buggy is probably less fun than a Boomerang in a parking lot anyway.

So I think that Tamiya's are good value overall, as I can buy a Thundershot series for NZD300, add $10 of bearings and a servo and I'm away.  It will be a decent runner as long as its kept within its limits, last a long time and do what I want from it.  My HB D418 will always perform better, but in my real world usage (away from the race track) the D418 won't be any better in my backyard track.

Hopups however are another story.  I think everyone has been carried away with the blue crack and overspent on a chassis.  Sometimes you just end up with a really shiny blue chassis that is awful, other times you end up with a car that performs as well but cost 50% more than the alternative (I'm looking at you TA07).  At least when going overboard on a TA or TB car you eventually end up with something that is comparable to a TRF car, unlike going overboard with a TT car...

The other outlier is cars like the Avante.  They are more expensive than a race kit and will never perform as well.  I think though we know the market for them, and people are quite happy to spend the money as they want it because it is an Avante with all its flaws.

[sosidge 624]

Tamiya realistically don't compete with anyone. They have made their own niche and they fill it almost completely. So it's impossible to compare prices.

You just have to go on whether you feel it is good value to invest in a Tamiya. 

[Juls1 1661]

I agree with above, Tamiya is it’s own thing, so price comparison is difficult if not pointless. What I wonder is will the generations below us want to take tamiya for what it is now, or will tamiya have to reinvent itself much to our own disappointment.