Nigel Heather Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 1 minute ago, Graham Davies 3 said: Hi Cuban8, I can't directly comment, but as my job is to manage 'private label' products, many of which come from the FE, I have a bit of possible insight. You are correct, there are only so many factories actually manufacturing. The difference (in my case, and I suspect also George's at 4Max) is that a UK company not only spends time to select those factories with the better manufacturing practices, but also provides a UK 'buffer' where they are prepared to put their own good name on the line. Anyone can buy either directly from China, or indirectly from sourcing or trading companies, but there is SIGNIFICANT added value in using companies prepared to put their own name on a product. We all have a choice, but don't think Branded products are simply cheap chinese junk with a new label; there's a lot more to it than that, and advantages to the customer. Graham It might also be the final step of the processing. They all come off the same conveyor, but the budget ones go straight to branding, packaging and dispatch and the premium ones go to quality control where they are checked for matched internal resistance, build quality etc. The same batteries, they will most likely perform the same, but more likely to get the occasional bad apples in the budget line. Same with CPU and Memory chips - they all come off the same die but a batch are tested at higher speeds and sold as higher performance products. Chances are the standard ones are just as capable of running at those higher speeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heather Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 2 minutes ago, Flying Squirrel said: I would say almost all Lipos originate from China/the far east? Some are just shipped bulk and others piecemeal. Is there any particular reason for wanting one sold from a LMS rather than Amazon or just a case of choosing to support an independent? Simply that I see some makes on Amazon and eBay that I don’t see in any RC model shops. Rightly or wrongly I imagine that any reputable RC shop owner will not sell products that they don’t have faith in. Therefore, I perceive the ones sold by reputable RC stores are ones that the owner is prepared to ‘stand by’ whereas those ones that are not sold by any store are of an unknown quality. They may be brilliant but I find it hard to believe that they are brilliant and super cheap but no RC store has picked up on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 I have been buying lipos from Amazon since Hobbyking closed down. I haven't had a problem with any of them. Prices are good. You can also read reviews for all of them at the bottom of the listing. Of course you may get the odd poor review because the reviewer made a mistake but if the majority of the reviews are good it is a pretty safe bet that the odd one is one of the goofs. I have been reviewing items now for years and am also a Vine reviewer. I have reviewed some things as pretty awful. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Squirrel Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 24 minutes ago, Nigel Heather said: Simply that I see some makes on Amazon and eBay that I don’t see in any RC model shops. Rightly or wrongly I imagine that any reputable RC shop owner will not sell products that they don’t have faith in. Therefore, I perceive the ones sold by reputable RC stores are ones that the owner is prepared to ‘stand by’ whereas those ones that are not sold by any store are of an unknown quality. They may be brilliant but I find it hard to believe that they are brilliant and super cheap but no RC store has picked up on them. I do see where you are coming from but I suspect margins play a big part in the selection of products by RC stores. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heather Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 (edited) Thanks for all the suggestions and advice, so in summary Overlander 4S 2900 - £15 more expensive, and not well regarded on this thread GNB 4S 2800 - good price, size and weight but out of stock, XT60 fitted as standard Zeee - don’t do the capacity/size that I’m after HRB - do a 4S 2600, good price, little longer than I would like, bottom end of my desired capacity, comes with Deans that would need to be replaced ONBO - couldn’t find any details, would need to email the distributer 4-Max - do a 4S 2600, £10 more expensive, bottom end of my desired capacity, longer than would like, no connector included would need to add My favourite at the moment is the GNB so waiting until more stock arrives. I also like the look of Zeee’s products but unfortunately they don’t make anything in the capacity/size range that I am looking for. Edited April 21, 2023 by Nigel Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 1 hour ago, Nigel Heather said: Simply that I see some makes on Amazon and eBay that I don’t see in any RC model shops. Rightly or wrongly I imagine that any reputable RC shop owner will not sell products that they don’t have faith in. Therefore, I perceive the ones sold by reputable RC stores are ones that the owner is prepared to ‘stand by’ whereas those ones that are not sold by any store are of an unknown quality. They may be brilliant but I find it hard to believe that they are brilliant and super cheap but no RC store has picked up on them. Relevant data point here is that a significant number of model shops sell Overlander packs. Likewise a significant number of model shops used to sell Flightpower packs. I rest my case. 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Squirrel Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 At risk of sounding like a HRB salesman they are available as 4s 3300Mah 60c with XT60 plugs direct from Amazon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heather Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 3 hours ago, Flying Squirrel said: At risk of sounding like a HRB salesman they are available as 4s 3300Mah 60c with XT60 plugs direct from Amazon? Yes I realise that, but as I have said, 3300 is heavier and larger than I would like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 https://www.rapidrcmodels.com/lipo-batteries-363-c.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graff Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 Dang it.... I ordered batteries from Zeee. They've sent shipping information now, and they use friggin UPS! I guess I'll never see those batteries... UPS here in Sweden sucks. Really, really much! They never try to deliver and you'll have to call to find out which delivery hub the package is at. Last time the package was available for pick up at their hub 150 km away.... If Zeee could have used any other means of transport, like carrier pigeons, or anything other than UPS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Jenkins Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 4 minutes ago, Graff said: Dang it.... I ordered batteries from Zeee. They've sent shipping information now, and they use friggin UPS! I guess I'll never see those batteries... UPS here in Sweden sucks. Really, really much! They never try to deliver and you'll have to call to find out which delivery hub the package is at. Last time the package was available for pick up at their hub 150 km away.... If Zeee could have used any other means of transport, like carrier pigeons, or anything other than UPS. Have you tried telling them about UPS? Might be worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban8 Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 This is such a grey area and I really don't know whether to believe whether we're being 'had' by fancy claims and advertising or if there is really such a worthwhile difference between the cheaper and dearer brands of Lipo. Usually you do get what you pay for, as in cheap tools versus quality professional ones - but then you do know what you're getting quite obviously when comparing a monkey metal set of whatever and the real deal (Snap-on or Facom etc) costing many times as much. Many variables that could make a cheapo lipo perfectly fine for one user and quite useless for another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graff Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 On 24/04/2023 at 17:56, Graff said: Dang it.... I ordered batteries from Zeee. They've sent shipping information now, and they use friggin UPS! I guess I'll never see those batteries... UPS here in Sweden sucks. Really, really much! They never try to deliver and you'll have to call to find out which delivery hub the package is at. Last time the package was available for pick up at their hub 150 km away.... If Zeee could have used any other means of transport, like carrier pigeons, or anything other than UPS. And so it begins. Got an email with a "shipping update".... Due to unforseen circumstances (yeah, right) we can't give a date for delivery. As I said, UPS sucks. The tracking information is a fun read, it started in northern Poland (roughly 400 km away) and then went to Germany before the last update where it was in NL.... That's more than 800 km away! Amazing..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMON CRAGG Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 Mmmmm interesting topic. Over the years, I have gathered a reasonable collection of Lipos, which are used in anything from EDF, F3A, 3D, Vintage etc. By and large, they are all much of a muchness. A few observations though: I had no joy at all with Turnigy Nano-Tech, puffed up very easily. Youme, were gutless. Flouron not much better. Overlander, 4Max, Zeee, GN3, Radiant, HRC, Turnigy, Rhino, Zippy used regularly without issues. CNHL OK, but do not believe the "c" ratings!. Anyway, its probably a bit of a lottery as there are so many variables. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heather Posted April 27, 2023 Author Share Posted April 27, 2023 (edited) Must admit I have four Overlander 3S 2200, quite a few years old now and still look and perform fine. I've not done a proper capacity check but the flight duration hasn't changed. Still straight and flat, not a sign of puffiness. One caveat though, I don't fly them hard. Before I started this thread I would have bought the Overoander had they not be 50% more expensive than their competitors. But some comments on here about Overlander have made me a little cautious. The only other batteries I have are Align branded 6S 1850 for a helicopter. They are also a few years old, still give the same flight times but are a little puffy. I think by the nature of helicopters the batteries are run harder even if you are just hovering. Edited April 27, 2023 by Nigel Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graff Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 Well.... I went to the distribution hub today and picked up my Zeee batteries. They look really great and seems to be great value (even if I had to drive 200 km to pick them up, which made the shipping quite expensive.....). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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