New generation of Fake Spektrum Receivers

[Paul Marsh]

Since the prices of Spektrum receivers shot through the roof and the almost impossible task of buying one at a UK model shop now, I noticed how many new vendors there are offering fake AR8000's and AR6210 at cheap prices.

I don't know if this is a blessing, as before, when AR6200's were out, there were fakes, but after Horizon flooded the market with their receivers, prices fell and the fakes were put out of business.

They are back - bigger than ever. I see the days of Spektrum radio numbered...

 

Edited By Paul Marsh on 03/09/2017 20:23:38

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Paul Marsh]

The prices are a giveaway, £6.90 for the Ar6210 and £9 for the AR8000a including delivery...

[DavidKP]

Tom

I am sorry but I do not see the difference between your definitions of a fake and a low cost copy

Presumably if you bought a Porsche without an engine then it would be fake, but if it had an engine made by Hyundai then it would just be a low cost copy.

Sorry

[Phil 9]

Posted by Tom Sharp 2 on 03/09/2017 20:28:34:

What is your definition of fakes?

If there is nothing inside the receiver box they are fakes. If they have compatible working innards, they are low cost copies.

Edited By Tom Sharp 2 on 03/09/2017 20:34:17

Tom do you want to buy my farrari

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Doesn't a fake imply trying to pass off something as genuine when it isn't. Copies are very much fakes. Compatibles may sometimes have dubious legality if intellectual property rights are involved but are clearly not trying to be passed off as a genuine article.

Edited By Martin Harris on 03/09/2017 21:20:56

[Old Geezer]

So, what are folk's experiences with the "low cost copies"? Acceptable or should we resort to the citrus varieties? I've been assured by converts that the Lemons are at least as good as the genuine articles but significantly less expensive.

[Brian Cooper]

Spektrum are making it very difficult for people in the UK to like the brand. . They abandoned UK servicing facilities, then they increased the price of the receivers, and then reduced the number of retail outlets where their products can be purchased. . . . it seems like they want to commit commercial suicide.

Fair enough. . There are other brands of radio out there.

B.C.

[Paul Jefferies]

Is there a way to spot a fake........ apart from the price?

Paul

[Robert Putley 1]

I can't see the word "SPEKTRUM" anywhere on either of the rx's, in which case that makes them copies, not fakes.

[ChrisB]

Whether its fake or copy, I can't see why anyone would want to risk injury to a person or damage/destruction of an aircraft they have invested time and money in by buying receivers at a price that seems too good to be true. Buy from a known UK retailer and you won't go far wrong.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Posted by Robert Putley 1 on 04/09/2017 07:55:17:

I can't see the word "SPEKTRUM" anywhere on either of the rx's, in which case that makes them copies, not fakes.

States AR6210 on em and a patent number.

[John F]

Posted by Paul Marsh on 03/09/2017 20:17:18:

They are back - bigger than ever. I see the days of Spektrum radio numbered...

Edited By Paul Marsh on 03/09/2017 20:23:38

I very much doubt that fake items on the market would mean the end of a company. If folk buy them, they'll buy them but Lemon and Orange Rx's have been around for years and Turnigy have been putting out their own Spektrum compatible Rx's too with no ill effect.

You say that Spektrum Rx's are not available in UK shops yet every single online store I've searched shows plenty of stock.

[Peter Miller]

I just bought an AR6210 receiver for £17.99. It has all the right writing on it including the Spektrum name but I notice that the lead to the satellite Rx looks like the one in the pictures above rather than the lead on my other genuine receivers.

Now I a,m worried that I have been done. Anyway to prove this one way or another?

[Peter Miller]

Sorry Double post

Edited By Peter Miller on 04/09/2017 09:33:05

[Cuban8]

Posted by Peter Miller on 04/09/2017 09:06:14:

I just bought an AR6210 receiver for £17.99. It has all the right writing on it including the Spektrum name but I notice that the lead to the satellite Rx looks like the one in the pictures above rather than the lead on my other genuine receivers.

Now I a,m worried that I have been done. Anyway to prove this one way or another?

You were robbed Peter Plenty of those receivers on Ebay for ten quid less...........**LINK**

Something needs to be done about these.

[Cuban8]

Posted by Cuban8 on 04/09/2017 09:57:08:

Posted by Peter Miller on 04/09/2017 09:06:14:

I just bought an AR6210 receiver for £17.99. It has all the right writing on it including the Spektrum name but I notice that the lead to the satellite Rx looks like the one in the pictures above rather than the lead on my other genuine receivers.

Now I a,m worried that I have been done. Anyway to prove this one way or another?

You were robbed Peter Plenty of those receivers on Ebay for ten quid less...........**LINK**

Something needs to be done about these, as they're finding their way into the hands of private UK sellers who obviously don't give a stuff about the potential problems. Might be worth highlighting these sellers to Ebay.

[Peter Miller]

Yes. I saw the £10 ones. Which is why I may have been more convinced that this one was not a fake.

I have now seen pictures of genuine Spektrum Rxs on the Spektrum website showing the same type of connecting lead as mine.

If mine is a fake they have gone to tremendous effort to get all the labels right on the front and back.

Unfortunately I do not have an AR6210 to compare, all mine are genuine 7 channel Rxs. plus a couple of 4 channels

[Simon Chaddock]

Price is a very poor indicator of whether it is a copy or not.

The more astute sellers charge what the buyer believes is the genuine article but at a discount price. Probably does not sell so many as the 'rock bottom' copy but makes considerable profit on those that he does.

Labels? If you are going to have therm printed how much more does it cost to get them exactly right?

In many respects I am much happier buying Oranges and Lemons as they clearly state it is NOT a Spektrum copy. The only question then is how well they have emulated the original Spektrum performance and can I detect any difference?

[ChrisB]

Once the genuine stock has dried up I'm moving to Hitec.
I don't like the way Horizon Hobby are screwing over retailers and their customers. I'm told that if a retailer sells an Horizon Hobby product for less than the price set by HH, they are struck off. I think that breaches all UK and European competition laws I.e. price fixing and limiting distribution by way of selective trading conditions.

Edited By ChrisB on 04/09/2017 11:27:08

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Posted by john stones 1 on 04/09/2017 08:39:07:

Posted by Robert Putley 1 on 04/09/2017 07:55:17:

I can't see the word "SPEKTRUM" anywhere on either of the rx's, in which case that makes them copies, not fakes.

States AR6210 on em and a patent number.

...and Horizon Hobbies Inc - which in my view makes them very poorly produced fakes. And if they can't get a simple detail like that right, just how good are the internals likely to be?

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Looked at carefully, I suspect the photo Paul posted has had the Spektrum marking covered over anyway - possibly in an attempt to avoid accusations of passing off fakes by a seller?

Whatever the facts of the matter, they remain fakes in my book. I'd be interested why anyone would want to defend them...

[PatMc]

There's actually an FCC code on it which, if it's a fake, is probably considered more serious than trying to pass it off as a HH product.

[MaL]

I bet it came from the same sweatshop as the expensive ones you can buy from horizon. Just the excess production from the order from the distributer.....normal Chinese production protocols......Spektrum logo obscured to circumvent importation trademark violations....

[Dave Hopkin]

I think we should use the word "Counterfeit" as that has a legal definition against which trading standards would judge a product the definition is

"To falsify, deceive, or defraud. A copy or imitation of something that is intended to be taken as authentic and genuine in order to deceive another."

Whether or not they have identical wording I would personally say they are intended to deceive a buyer into believing they are genuine goods - of course we dont know how they were described in the original sale that would be a crucial element in deciding