Horizon Hobbies

[Ernie]

Yes Martin, It wasn't very expensive..It's the principal that annoys me. I did contact the Germans, but still no result

ernie

[Paul C.]

Can't find and info on the closure of the horizon uk office or service having to go to Germany. Has google failed me or am I looking in the wrong place !! 😯

Paul.

[Guvnor]

They haven't actually 'announced' it... But all staff have had redundancy notices. I think they close end of March...

[Paul C.]

Thanks Guvnor, will keep an eye open for the horizon announcement. Would be a shame if we have no service options in the UK 😩

Paul.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[MattyB]

My understanding is that HH are venture capital owned these days, so I am sure they are just doing what all businesses do when times are hard and competition is fierce - they're consolidating sites to cut costs and stay competitive.

[Old Geezer]

Oh well - I'll sit on my hands for a little while longer - but the more I think about it, the less I am inclined to buy another Spektrum set this time. The prospect of having to post an Rx to Germany, let alone a Tx, looks likely to be the deal breaker. Looks like I'll end up with a Hitec, which one I'm not sure yet, but I've never needed more than 6 channels so, it really comes down to what it feels like in the hand.

[Erfolg]

Making an assumption that the recent communication from the area BMFA is correct, the silence, from Horizon, with respect to the implications to their past and future customers is at least puzzling, at worst a sign of abandonment of the UK as a market that is valued.

Spectrum radios have enjoyed the development of a customer base and a market share that many companies have spent multi millions to achieve. It all could be at risk, with the apparent vacuum of information, will dissuade many potential customers in spending their cash on a new Spektrum set.

Yet, being open, saying how horizon intends to support and values its customers, may maintain their existing customers.

I personally have had doubts with respect that some customers seem to have issues, from the loss of bind, to that corner of the field is the Spectrum grave yard. I have tended to believe that it is the shear number of sets that every club now has, that has lead to what i regarded as a mythology. Yet I was reassured that Horizon looked after its customers well, keeping them sweet. Will all of this good will be lost, squandered.

I had thought that RCM&E had supported the Spectrum brand, with an almost religious zeal. Can the mag. continue to be so supportive?

I had thought that my next radio, if there is to be an next, would either be a Spectrum or a Frsky product. I have been very pleased with my Frsky Rxs which I have used with Futaba Faast systems. Horizon will need to work hard to tempt me as things appear.

I also have an impression that workers in the UK have been made redundant. Have they also been silenced?

[kevin b]

Hi Erfolg.

As the staff will be subject to redundancy procedure, it is possible that they are unable to comment at this time without jeopardising their position.

It will be interesting to hear what happens after the beginning of April.

I'm afraid that HobbyKing is now the business model for these multinational accountant run companies and as we know, accountants don't like stock on shelves (well not for more than a few minutes).

[Trevor Crook]

Erfolg, I hadn't noticed RCM&E "supporting" Spektrum particularly. Sure, there are plenty of mentions in the new products section, and a fair number of reviews, but HH seem an innovative company and they launch new stuff pretty frequently.

I have noticed though that there is a Taranis article virtually every month.

[Erfolg]

Hmm, is it a fact that both companies are particularly active with new products, then, may be so. I can understand the coverage of the Frsky Taranis, as it is totally different to all the other radio set in relation to the software. Also i am not convinced that RCM&E are particularly defensive of the brand,although that could well be that as a system it is very robust and reliable. Although for some one like me, getting my head around the programming, is probably not something i would want to do.

I had been wondering is Horizon a distribution agent, or the holding company for the Spekrum brand? if Horizon is just an agent, then as Spektum, i would be a little anxious with respect to horizons intentions. I may also be thinking, perhaps the franchise needs a new holder in the UK.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[MattyB]

Full details of the HH buyout in 2014 are here - looks like the CEO bought out the company with venture capital money. Spectrum (with a C) the brand is owned by Bachman, but I thought Spektrum with a K was wholly owned by HH, is that not truer? Either way HH seem to do all the development and global distribution themselves, they are not just franchised distributors, so you are unlikely to see any changes in that model following the UK site closure.

In summary, it's just business - if you don't like what they have done then you don't have to buy their stuff. I can see why they have done it though - if it allows them to keep costs down that means lower prices for consumers, which is important given a lot of their competition now comes from companies like FrSky and HK who don't have all the middle layers of cost they have. Personally I think it is going to take a lot more than a move out of the UK to knock HH and Spektrum out of their current position; there are still plenty of people ready to pay a premium for the convenience of an end to end ecosystem of radios and models that reduce the knowledge required to get out there on the field quickly.

Edited By MattyB on 17/03/2017 02:18:00

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[MattyB]

I just downloaded the DX9 manual to see and you are quite right. The interesting thing is that Bachmann's own brand (which emerged in 1988) definitely is Spectrum with a C. Maybe it was one of these opportunistic legal moves where HH released Spektrum, Bachmann threatened/took legal action on the grounds it would "confuse" their customers and devalue their brand and HH had to settle because they had already invested too much to change the name? Who knows, but it seems very unlikely Bachmann really have anything to do with the Spektrum brand or its distribution.

[Erfolg]

You learn something new every day. Today I learnt that Bachmann are a USA company and not a German or Austrian company as I had assumed. Although I had passingly thought, although I had seen Marklin and Flieschmann model trains in Germany, I had not noted Bachmann.

Would I be reasonable in thinking that HH will still retain a sales and distribution team in the UK? If so some soothing words about improving services to their valued customers is being achieved by their new product maintenance centre in West Germany, to provide a Europe wide service by their dedicated staff blah, blah, blah.

Are Corona servos a HH product?

As a passing thought do Futaba, JR, et al, have service centres for their radios?

[Guvnor]

Posted by Erfolg on 17/03/2017 10:48:33:

Would I be reasonable in thinking that HH will still retain a sales and distribution team in the UK?

It's a reasonable thought, but no, everything is moving to Germany...

Forget any soothing words. This is about hard cold money...

 

 

Edited By Guvnor on 17/03/2017 11:03:29

Edited By Guvnor on 17/03/2017 11:04:18

[MattyB]

Posted by Guvnor on 17/03/2017 11:02:10:

Posted by Erfolg on 17/03/2017 10:48:33:

Would I be reasonable in thinking that HH will still retain a sales and distribution team in the UK?

It's a reasonable thought, but no, everything is moving to Germany...

Forget any soothing words. This is about hard cold money...

Correct. Put simply they are of the view that cutting costs to preserve lower prices is more important than retaining a UK presence for support. Time will tell if they are right.

PS - For those thinking of jumping ship, all of FrSky's UK support is done out of the premier dealer T9Hobbysport - they even stock spares so you can DIY if you want...

Edited By MattyB on 17/03/2017 11:18:53

[Erfolg]

Guvnor and Matty

I do appreciate the need to cut costs, you need to cut the costs a lot to match the Frsky offer.

As a non Spektrum modeller, I have previously thought how tolerant and accepting many Spektum users have been. I had noted that the excellent after sales service compensated to some extent the troubles a few have had.

Users of all the other major brands, such as Futaba, JR, Multiplex, etc never seemed to beset by any of the issues that some Spektrum users seemed to endure.

As an outsider the one major advantage that Spekrum seems to retain, is that many of the ARTF models come as a package with Spektrum radios, installed, ready to go, at a very competitive price.

Time will tell if this consolidation in Germany will turn out to be a shot in the foot. I perhaps can understand why Germany, rather than the UK. I recently became aware to what extent that the single market is in some areas more myth than fact. Where as examples Austria, Germany and France places impediments in the way of easy access to work and trading in some instances, how extensive this is, I do not know, although according to some Dutch workers and business people it is pretty real.

[Gordon Whitehead 1]

Page 27 of the latest RCME has a pointer to the latest gen. It tells us to visit www.horizonhobby.eu Surfing that site, eventually you'll find in the FAQs that there is a service centre in UK. http://www.horizonhobby.co.uk/service-advice/index.html

Hope this helps.

Gordon

[..]

Posted by Gordon Whitehead 1 on 17/03/2017 15:30:10:

Page 27 of the latest RCME has a pointer to the latest gen. It tells us to visit www.horizonhobby.eu Surfing that site, eventually you'll find in the FAQs that there is a service centre in UK. http://www.horizonhobby.co.uk/service-advice/index.html

Hope this helps.

Gordon

Wooosshhh

[tigerman]

I for one have jump ship ,( I have gone from Spektrum to Futaba never had any problems with Futaba) It seemed to me that HH is not the company it was,yes their customer service was good but now you will have to send it to Germany so there is a question there ,will the customer service be has good .Also I would rather have a product that works from the beginning rather they say " That's alright their customer service is good and they will always fix the problem ,I would rather not have a problem in the beginning A lot of HH product seem to me to be having a lot of fault with their products just lately Is this down to cuts ,trying to keep the cost down ?

[kc]

I have often wondered if HH / Spektrum shot themselves in the foot by so readily replacing RF boards or whatever when a customer complained about a crash. Maybe just extensive testing and sending the original back intact with an engineers report saying " checked everything thoroughly and its absolutely fine so it must be your installation or piloting that caused a crash" would perhaps have improved their reputation even further! Perhaps they tried too hard to impress customers but ended up gaining an undeserved reputation on reliability!

[Erfolg]

The reliability issue is very difficult for the average modeller to quantify, most of us see a small group of people, rather than the whole of the modelling community.

What I have noticed, at least in the recent past, is that some of their sets seem to loose the bind, after shutting down then switching back on. I have been aware one modeller in particular, whose almost every flight ended in a crash. His reputation in the club was very much damaged, in addition both his confidence and enthusiasm was dented. Different Rx were tried, sent back all to no avail. Eventually the problem was tracked down to the Tx, I do think the Rf board was suggested as the culprit. Thereafter, his models did stop crashing, whilst i was a member. With the cheap Txs, my present long standing club, had an issue, which no one understood. Models would just spiral in. Then it was discovered that all were using rechargeable batteries. What was not apparent that the OD was slightly different to Duracell types. The difference in diameter was responsible for an intermittent break in current flow.

Looked at from a different angle, the rest of the club were using far more expensive bits of kit, such as JR, Multiplex, a Jeti and Futaba, as they wanted to be able to program in camber changing, crow braking, tailplane adjustments with the camber changing, as well as power on and off and in some cases Telemetry. Yet these combined represent less than half of the club radios, although to my knowledge non have had any issues. Perhaps that is what you would expect with relatively small numbers. Although the F3b types are pushed very hard especially when doing a speed run.

I guess when your brand is the most numerous, just one set causing a problem can create a disproportionate impression. The probability of seeing a Jetti for instance causing a problem is very much smaller. This weekend is the first time I have seen a Jetti, in probably three years, the previos time was at the Greenacre RCM&E event, previous to that a club member that flew open events with a Ava.

[Gordon Whitehead 1]

Posted by Justin K. on 17/03/2017 15:46:36:

Posted by Gordon Whitehead 1 on 17/03/2017 15:30:10:

Page 27 of the latest RCME has a pointer to the latest gen. It tells us to visit www.horizonhobby.eu Surfing that site, eventually you'll find in the FAQs that there is a service centre in UK. http://www.horizonhobby.co.uk/service-advice/index.html

Hope this helps.

Gordon

Wooosshhh

Eh??