Hobbyking Europe no more!

[Steve Colman]

Perhaps I'm late to the party but I see that HK is closing down it's European warehouse.

 

I've used them for a number of years for batteries, general modelling supplies and a few models with very few problems and delivery to Spain generally within a week.

 

Now, I am left with a choice between using the global warehouse with all the associated shipping delays, increased costs and problems which can arise, or finding and using another supplier for my modelling needs.

 

I understand it's hard times for our hobby and many retail outlets have gone to the wall and I guess HK is no different to the rest. Still, it's somewhat sad to see one of the major players of recent times, who offered us some great gear at reasonable prices, reduce their operation so drastically that they now have no representation in either the UK or mainland Europe.

[leccyflyer]

It was inevitable once they had obviously decided that it was just "too difficult" for them to fulfil the requirements to provide products to the UK market. Motion RC manage to do it - at a cost - other retailers manage to do it, but after closing the UK warehouse this was only going to go one way.

 

It's a shame, because it shuts off access to certain models which are simply not available anywhere else - notably the Durafly and Avios Hobbyking brands, as well as the models marketed under their own name. The spares situation made some of those models unsupportable once the UK warehouse had gone - ordering from the EU or Global warehouse was not an economical possibility.

 

With that said, they have recently revised their shipping options from the global warehouse, which means small spare parts that can use the <100g service can be imported, with modest costs, comparable to postage within the UK. I was able to make an order for a couple of Durafly tailwheels a little while back and the postage was a fiver.

 

Quite a few folks have replaced Hobbyking with Ali Express or Banggood, coming directly from China - the waiting time seems very variable but some of my clubmates have had good deals. I haven't tried them yet.

[Simon Chaddock]

I agree.

If you want it cheap(ish) then ordering direct from China is the only option. You just have to wait and hope nothing goes wrong.

As I pointed out a while back the "Golden Age" of cheap China RC stuff directly available the UK is over.

[PatMc]

Good heavens!

Does that mean we'll have to resort to building our own models ? 😳

[Engine Doctor]

Victims of their own sucess ? HK never thought about all the other disributors or LMS they put out of business and some of the stuff they sold was a bit mediocre putting it mildly.

Hobbies are the first thing to suffer when recession comes knocking on the door. In some ways it's good as it rekindles our ability to build although this doesn't help those who never learnt to build in the first place and only fly foam or ARTF's.  Anither positive is that to fill a gap in the market an occasional cottage industry pop's up or restarts.

 

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Engine Doctor

[Christopher Wolfe]

Same here downunder. HK re-opened their Australian shop in January, listed their remaining few items for local sale and now are gone.

 

But not missed 🙃

[Cuban8]

Economic Natural Selection? Look how the big supermarkets decimated  local corner shops and small grocery chains. They themselves are now coming under pressure from the discounters such as Lidl and Aldi. Someone will come along to fill the vacuum left by HK. Banggood and Aliexpress seem a bit flakey to me TBH, but my spending on aeromodelling has dropped considerably of late so I tend to rely on what I have already.

[Zflyer]

At sometime hence another will pop up. LMS will also suffer a little due to stocking issues. In addition 2nd hand (pre loved or whatever nonsensical phrase) prices will no doubt go up as they seem to have done already.

[Nigel R]

2 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

Banggood and Aliexpress seem a bit flakey to me TBH,

 

Aren't they a shopfront system for various 'cottage industry' type operations? Like Amazon these days. Or Ebay. 

 

[Ron Gray]

16 minutes ago, Nigel R said:

 

Aren't they a shopfront system for various 'cottage industry' type operations? Like Amazon these days. Or Ebay. 

 

Yes they are and nothing flakey about them, imo. I’ve bought quite a bit of gear from both over the years, the latest being my Sculpfun laser which was ordered from Aliexpress on a Friday and was delivered the following Wednesday from the Cz warehouse!

[Cuban8]

55 minutes ago, Ron Gray said:

Yes they are and nothing flakey about them, imo. I’ve bought quite a bit of gear from both over the years, the latest being my Sculpfun laser which was ordered from Aliexpress on a Friday and was delivered the following Wednesday from the Cz warehouse!

Will try them out at some point.

Hmmm.....just had a look at their lipos, not a bad price including 'free' postage but a two month delivery time!

Edited March 16, 2023 by Cuban8

[Engine Doctor]

I ordered some carbits from Aliexpress and they quoted a  very long delivery time but they arrived after a fortnight ! Nothing to complain about Aliexpress. They sell stuff that is often unavailable in the UK.  Bangood however keep sending me emails for items that are " not sent to UK " ?

[Lima Hotel Foxtrot]

7 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

Will try them out at some point.

Hmmm.....just had a look at their lipos, not a bad price including 'free' postage but a two month delivery time!

Ah, but if you buy now they will be here in time for the good weather. 

[GrumpyGnome]

I think they both quote very long times so they can actually appear to be delivering early.  Around 2 weeks seems to be the average time for what I have bought. 

 

Sometimes you get lucky, and things arrive in a few days - I guess it depends on the 'vehicle' to get it out of China, and how full it is when your item arrives at it.......

[FlyinFlynn]

18 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

Hmmm.....just had a look at their lipos, not a bad price including 'free' postage but a two month delivery time!

Did you check all the postage options? There is usually a 'standard Aliexpress shipping' option that comes in around 15 - 21 days. It won't be free but not silly money either. Lipos may have other restrictions on carriage.

[Cuban8]

11 hours ago, FlyinFlynn said:

Did you check all the postage options? There is usually a 'standard Aliexpress shipping' option that comes in around 15 - 21 days. It won't be free but not silly money either. Lipos may have other restrictions on carriage.

£15 extra for faster delivery. Not so bad for more expensive items, but needs considering for thirty quid's worth of Lipos.

Just browsing a few sites both UK based and abroad and the cost of the larger sizes lipos has become eye-watering. A couple of new 4S packs for my little HK Vampire might be around £150 now or even more.

Difficult to justify in these belt tightening times, but the alternative is to mothball the model for now.

Edited March 17, 2023 by Cuban8

[Don Fry]

Anyway, I’ve just launched into AliExpress. My boat winch battery remote has a weird 12v battery. And they do them, lifetime supply,for not much.

I mourn HobbyKing. Lousy, truly lousy, website. I assume designed by the owners great grandchildren. But the stuff was fine, and after sales, accepted they had a jump thro hoop system, was honest.

I won’t write off the Hong Kong warehouse. My experience, fairly old, I got an invoice for duty due from their shipper, on line, paid ditto, got delivered, no excess charges.

[kevin b]

Sometimes you have to juggle the Ali Express prices with the shipping and the delivery time.

What often seems to be the cheapest / quickest isn't.

Lipos always take a long time to arrive. I think it is more to do with the materials and the way they have to be shipped.

I usually try to order a few items and look at the best deals including 15 day shipping.

[Philip Lewis 3]

33 minutes ago, Cuban8 said:

Just browsing a few sites both UK based and abroad and the cost of the larger sizes lipos has become eye-watering. A couple of new 4S packs for my little HK Vampire might be around £150 now or even more.

It's sometimes worthwhile checking the obvious, I use serioulsy large LiPo's and two at a time, I use these ones. They do other sizes and are a known good quality.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/RoaringTop-5000mAh-Battery-Lead-out-Airplane/dp/B09LCTGK3C/ref=sr_1_1?crid=305Z6CWQ5H3G7&keywords=roaring+top+5000&qid=1654010873&sprefix=Roaring+top%2Caps%2C66&sr=8-1

 

Don't get confused, that price is for two 5 cell packs. 

[leccyflyer]

40 minutes ago, Cuban8 said:

£15 extra for faster delivery. Not so bad for more expensive items, but needs considering for thirty quid's worth of Lipos.

Just browsing a few sites both UK based and abroad and the cost of the larger sizes lipos has become eye-watering. A couple of new 4S packs for my little HK Vampire might be around £150 now or even more.

Difficult to justify in these belt tightening times, but the alternative is to mothball the model for now.

Might be worth having a look at the HRB and Zee Power packs on Amazon.

[Cuban8]

44 minutes ago, leccyflyer said:

Might be worth having a look at the HRB and Zee Power packs on Amazon.

Thanks, a few alternatives on Amazon that look to be a bit more reasonable.

[Cuban8]

1 hour ago, Don Fry said:

Anyway, I’ve just launched into AliExpress. My boat winch battery remote has a weird 12v battery. And they do them, lifetime supply,for not much.

I mourn HobbyKing. Lousy, truly lousy, website. I assume designed by the owners great grandchildren. But the stuff was fine, and after sales, accepted they had a jump thro hoop system, was honest.

I won’t write off the Hong Kong warehouse. My experience, fairly old, I got an invoice for duty due from their shipper, on line, paid ditto, got delivered, no excess charges.

I know HK used to get a deluge of hate from many quarters, but boy, did they make our hobby far more affordable and encouraged many of us into areas of flying that were just impossibly expensive before. They gave the model trade a run for their money and really only delivered the coup de gras to a number of smaller, ailing shops that were withering away in any case. The bigger names that remain have raised their game and offer excellent service via on-line sales.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Talking of which, I had an email earlier from Slough Models saying that they have moved to new premises with better customer facilities. 
 

No recommendations or connections with the company…

[Andy Stephenson]

SloughRC website comes up as error 502 "Bad gateway"

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Perhaps they’re updating their website to reflect the changes?
 

…but as I said in my previous post, I have no connection with or special knowledge of the company.