nowinaminute 2813 Posted June 8, 2018 7 hours ago, 73robb said: So why put the high price on a product with a niche following, when there are more capable products for a similar price out there? I'm sure they are well aware of what percentage of customers are willing to pay for the more expensive kits and assume those customers have more money to spend in general. I don't think something like the Bruiser sells on it's capability, if they charged £150 for it, would it sell as well as something the same price and more capable? Like you say, it's a niche product and that basically means they can charge what they want for it. I suppose there's also the fact that from a business sense, they can either make many items and sell them cheap or make less and make more profit per item. If you can make less items and have the same profit I suppose it makes more business sense. There's a lot of parallels in the photography world, cameras and lenses that cost 10x more than technically superior products because they are hand finished and some people seem to believe this will somehow result in superior photography. A company such as Leica can literally charge as much as they want for most stuff because they know their products are pretty much bling for rich people these days. That's not to say they aren't beautifully made or not capable photographic tools but that doesn't change the sad fact that they have become status symbols for the same kind of people who buy those diamond encrusted mobile phones. Perhaps the worst offender was Hassleblad a couple of years back, they they essentially re-skinned a Sony camera and charged 6x the price. David Beckham and Eric Clapton couldn't wait to get theirs! Even the lens was the same basic entry level lens except for marble effect plastic here and there. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
topforcein 1764 Posted June 8, 2018 16 minutes ago, Juggular said: I would call that "gateway drug effect." Like you, I bought Montero Wheelie because it was cheap ($120) and then bought 5 more from Tamiya in 1 year. Originally, I wanted to buy MST CMX, but that was $250, so I went with cheaper Tamiya. Now that Tamiya raised their price, CC01 Bronco is $280 at Tower Hobbies. That's too much for me. Just as Nowinaminute said, I can only be loyal to my own wallet (I am an RC peasant too, LOL...). I would like to be loyal to Tamiya. But Tamiya charges $280 for something that used to be $150 until last week? I don't want the re-packaged 25-year-old CC01 that bad. Since Tamiya wants to give away the "gateway drug effect" to other companies, my next purchase might be MST CMX. It's like CR01 crawler ($507 now), but less than $300. i know us so called "peasants" that are huge tamiya loyal fans me being one also is what keeps tamiya going the cheap end of the market is the main seller esp know a a days. i would love to buy a trf kit but it wont happen yes i know i am one of the lucky ones to own a bruiser but the ONLY way i got it was buy doing a spare change jar and it took me a few years to get around 400 so i only had to find 250 so to me it only cost me 250 plus the extras and that was the only way i managed to own one. i dont care if i needed cash i wont sell any of my tamiya rc's as i know i would never be able to replace any of them its like my 1.1 car its been sorn of the road for nearly 2 years and i can't bring myself to sell it as i value what i have even if it is 13 years old. know at the mo tamiya dont have anything on sale that floats my boat and i have no plans on buying any rc's either apart from a trailer for my truck but it's gonna take a long time to get one of them as my wallet only tends to have moths in their these days. from what i have read tamiya with the price hike are not doing them self any favours in the currant market if theses other so called rip of companys can do r'c at affordable cost then why can't tamiya do the same seeing how huge the the brand is for me traxxas have done the same when i brought my revo when it first came out it cost me around £400 the equivalent know is over £600. look at it this way tamiya was in the same boat as these "rip off" merchants" when the company was first started if tamiya was worried about theses i would say they would be taken of sale in a short amount of time so in y eyes if it dont bother them would should we be chucking our toys out our prams over it. what other people have and can afford don't bother me each and every one of us can buy what we can afford and what we like at that current time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markturbo 135 Posted June 9, 2018 It's here... I just got it out of the box for pictures, I will update later when I get into it more. But first lifting it out of the box it feels nice and heavy and looks awesome. Shipping did not take too long to Canada, just a little over a week. I bought from "toucanhobby" on ebay. 7 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
backtomyroots 432 Posted June 9, 2018 I own an original Mountaineer new in box, 2 new built original Mountaineers and a re release Mountaineer, new in box. I'm a big Tamiya supporter, I think it's okay that I'm also going to order one out of sheer curiosity. . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nowinaminute 2813 Posted June 9, 2018 On 6/9/2018 at 5:31 PM, markturbo said: It's here... I just got it out of the box for pictures, I will update later when I get into it more. But first lifting it out of the box it feels nice and heavy and looks awesome. Shipping did not take too long to Canada, just a little over a week. I bought from "toucanhobby" on ebay. Will be curious to see how well it's put together. Don't forget a little scissor work will sort out those toyato decals! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Biz73 603 Posted June 9, 2018 The Toyato stickers are the best part. Do up Bruiser box art, but a big Toyato tailgate 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy 4Pole 0 Posted June 10, 2018 I bet they will sell a metric tonne of these though considering the price of the proper tamiya kit! Hex hardware too! Does The Tamiya Bruiser kit come with hex hardware? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gordb 121 Posted June 11, 2018 On 6/9/2018 at 9:31 AM, markturbo said: It's here... I just got it out of the box for pictures, I will update later when I get into it more. But first lifting it out of the box it feels nice and heavy and looks awesome. Shipping did not take too long to Canada, just a little over a week. I bought from "toucanhobby" on ebay. Great pictures - thanks for taking them. Very interested to see how it runs and what you make of the quality of it (though agree that "heavy" is usually a good sign here). Have you noticed any/many differences from the Tamiya kit? Mine is unfortunately in a box right now, but just going from your pictures and the Bruiser re-re pictures on Tamiya.com, it looks like: steering rods are black instead of silver hex bolts instead of phillips black motor + deans plugs metal used for the transmission and axles looks different (milkier and "less silver") ... perhaps just the lighting? and is it just the angle of the pictures, or does the transmission not have the holes + plugs on it? (it actually took me a while to see that ... I knew there was something that didn't look right!) But other than that, it does look suspiciously like they've just created their molds straight off the Tamiya parts doesn't it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pininfarina 1009 Posted June 12, 2018 On 6/10/2018 at 12:31 AM, markturbo said: It's here... I just got it out of the box for pictures, I will update later when I get into it more. But first lifting it out of the box it feels nice and heavy and looks awesome. Shipping did not take too long to Canada, just a little over a week. I bought from "toucanhobby" on ebay. Not Bad... Maybe someone should do a comparison ? Actually i am considering buying their 6x6 i hear good things about it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
njmlondon 570 Posted June 12, 2018 One thing of note is that the front cab only has the two holes on it for the nerf bars and not the 2 extra holes that annoy me so much on my Mountaineer. Why Tamiya did not fill these in, I don't know. Really want to see Matteo do a side by side video of this with his Mountain Rider. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markturbo 135 Posted June 12, 2018 I just got around to a quick test drive in the house last night, everything powered up with the included lipo battery. The truck drives flawlessly, shifted thru all 3 gears with no problems. Truck comes with the diffs open, will need to lock them up before I get it outside, the manual shows how to use the screw pin to lock them. The suspension seems to flex well for being a new truck and im sure it will break in with more use. There is play in the driveshafts but I will run them until they break. Also a bit of play in the front knuckles but nothing too crazy. Other then that everything else looks and feels good. I did notice a little bit of frame flex when the truck articulates hard while viewing the truck from the front, not sure if the original was like this or not. I'm not sure I will continue to use the included lipo as it's only 1500mah and I'm not sure I trust it anyways, it feels really light and cheap. Overall I have no regrets with this knockoff Bruiser and look forward to getting it outside in the dirt. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EddScott 134 Posted June 12, 2018 Encouraging news. Have one on its way right now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RC4x4 123 Posted June 13, 2018 I know it's cheaper than the original ones, but it's hard to beat the quality of the Tamiya ones. I bought several new re-release ones and built one. Love them. It'll be interesting to hear how these run and hold up. Cory Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swarm 242 Posted June 14, 2018 Is there a website and price for these bad boys ? I tried opening a link but got spammed 🤔 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zakspeed 187 Posted June 14, 2018 Just search HG on ebay in the rc section. Do highest to lowest and youll see em listed. I have one on its way out of curiosity and to compare with my mounty. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aleblanc 57 Posted June 14, 2018 I ordered one to beat on - worse case i'll hack it up and make a custom crawler out of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tamiya_1971 608 Posted June 14, 2018 I have a new in box Bruiser that I have not built yet. So I ordered one of these to try until I feel like building my Bruiser. It arrived today, inner box was damp on a corner but it was well packed, nothing broken. (Ordered off of AliExpress “Top Speed RC World” seller). I ordered the black one. I’ll probably give it a test run this weekend. I read on an rc blog that there is no grease in the gears on these. Something I will definitely check out first. This radio...🤮 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tamiya3speed 461 Posted June 14, 2018 I hate this knockoff and what it represents with every fiber of me. But...$320 to my door is going to be hard to resist forever. If I jump on it I will justify that I already have multiple reres so Tamiya wouldn't have sold me another genuine article. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JeffSpicoli 1363 Posted June 14, 2018 I won't buy any other brands besides Associated and Tamiya. Just my preference. I know the quality is top notch in these 2 brands. I never liked Kyosho after owning the original Ultima. I can't believe I took out a $100 bank certificate to buy it when I was 12 :-( Dumb decision! The hobby stores I go into now they usually only carry Traxxas and one other brand, I think Hobbico? I'm not a fan. My best friend bought the first Traxxas car that was designed to compete with the RC10 and the Yokomos, Kyoshos etc. I forget the model name, the Bullet I think it was. It was an RC10 wanna be. This Bruiser wannabe looks pretty awful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tamiya_1971 608 Posted June 14, 2018 39 minutes ago, tamiya3speed said: I hate this knockoff and what it represents with every fiber of me. But...$320 to my door is going to be hard to resist forever. If I jump on it I will justify that I already have multiple reres so Tamiya wouldn't have sold me another genuine article. I justified it by looking around for a complete Bruiser body set that was reasonably priced so I could tear it up when I run it. Is there one that is reasonably priced anywhere that isn't used and torn up? Not that I have seen. If I buy all the parts and piece it together, it is well over $150. This was $275. For the extra $125, I got a body, a radio and a ton of parts. I call it smart shopping. 23 minutes ago, JeffSpicoli said: I won't buy any other brands besides Associated and Tamiya. Just my preference. I know the quality is top notch in these 2 brands. I never liked Kyosho after owning the original Ultima. I can't believe I took out a $100 bank certificate to buy it when I was 12 :-( Dumb decision! The hobby stores I go into now they usually only carry Traxxas and one other brand, I think Hobbico? I'm not a fan. My best friend bought the first Traxxas car that was designed to compete with the RC10 and the Yokomos, Kyoshos etc. I forget the model name, the Bullet I think it was. It was an RC10 wanna be. This Bruiser wannabe looks pretty awful. I've had every brand out there it seems like. It's not as awful as you might think, that Traxxas Bullet though, that was awful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markbt73 5290 Posted June 14, 2018 2 hours ago, tamiya_1971 said: Any curiosity/temptation I had towards this thing has been cured by seeing this photo. Thank you. Now I can stop thinking about it. 1 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saito2 6573 Posted June 14, 2018 3 hours ago, markbt73 said: 5 hours ago, tamiya_1971 said: Any curiosity/temptation I had towards this thing has been cured by seeing this photo. Thank you. Now I can stop thinking about it That's just a special box wrench tool for reaching around corners. Um, yeah, that's it. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swarm 242 Posted June 15, 2018 Looks like typical Chinese rubbish - I swore off buying Chinese junk sometime ago ,it’s always inferior in every way . I guess you get what you pay for . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StrokerBoy 772 Posted June 15, 2018 On 6/14/2018 at 6:36 PM, tamiya_1971 said: I justified it by looking around for a complete Bruiser body set that was reasonably priced so I could tear it up when I run it. Is there one that is reasonably priced anywhere that isn't used and torn up? Not that I have seen. If I buy all the parts and piece it together, it is well over $150. This was $275. For the extra $125, I got a body, a radio and a ton of parts. I call it smart shopping. Walking into a shop and swapping the price labels over so you pay £5 for a £40 item, is that "smart shopping" too ? What about buying something from that furtive bloke in the pub, no questions asked, overlook the bolt-cropper marks ? Some people are able to justify that too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EddScott 134 Posted June 15, 2018 Box wrench aside, I'm sure these things will be fine. I too ordered mine from Top Speed RC World. I will most likely strip mine down and rebuild before running it properly. I have a NIB Mountain Rider and this gives me the opportunity to run a similar RC. I've bought a fair amount of Lepin (Lego clone) over the years, mostly out of print Lego sets I'm not paying £££££ for. Other than the odd bent bit here and there, it's all been fine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites