Like the crisp fall air the RC industry has cooled off this week, with only one new release hitting out inboxes in the last seven days. Spektrum had the only release of the last half-fortnight with their new DX Rugged+ 12 channel DSMR+ transmitter. This highly functional transmitter is aimed directly at scale enthusiasts with a full dozen channels, strong signal strength, a durable protected housing, off-road textured steering wheel, a new capacitive touch screen that is usable in a multitude of environments as well as AVC control built in. Available in standard grey, orange or green (orange and green versions are transmitter only options while the grey arrives with one SR615 AVC receiver).
Links:
Green: https://www.spektrumrc.com/product/dx6-rugged-6-channel-dsmr-transmitter-only-green/SPMR6215G.html
Orange: https://www.spektrumrc.com/product/dx-rugged-12-channel-dsmr-transmitter-orange/SPMR6220O.html
PROJECT UPDATES
This week saw the delivery of a brand new radio from RadioLink, this time an RC8X. I chose to utilize the trade-in program that Radiolink offers to save a few dollars on the purchase but this is where I want to share my experience with this as it is not as simple as clicking buy and being done. Don’t get me wrong, the employees at RadioLink have been great to us here at 1i-rc.com over the years and helped us every step of the way while doing this upgrade, so I have nothing but good things to say there. My issue is that the upgrade has to be done through AliExpress (specifically the RadioLink shop on that site) and this is where things start to go less than favorably. I submitted the trade-in transmitter’s information to RadioLink and received the instructions on how to proceed. I added the transmitter and (6) R6F receivers to my cart. On RadioLink’s website there is a spreadsheet that gives the price of the trade-in, however it is listed in Yuan. No issue, I converted the Yuan into USD and had a price in mind for what I should expect to pay. Once I had everything in the cart AliExpress themselves tried to charge me around 3x what the total should have been. After nearly 4 hours back and forth with their chat based customer service (which was no help at all) I sent an email back to RadioLInk. They gave me a link to their store’s customer service through AliExpress and I was able to chat with them. They gave me a new total to pay which was unfortunately higher than what I expected. The issue? The prices that are on RadioLink’s website for the trade-in program are for customers in China, not the US, and those prices do not simple convert from one currency to another. Since AliExpress is also based in China the recent US tariffs apply and that is not reflected in the pricing chart on RadioLink’s site (nor should it be as it only applies to Chinese customers). After tariffs and shipping I saved just over $12 utilizing the trade-in program versus just purchasing the radio from Amazon. For Chinese customers the trade-in price is around $130 for the RC8X and $2.18 per R6F receiver. For US customers the price is $229 for the radio and $19 per receiver. As of the time of writing I can purchase the radio on Amazon for $259 and the receivers are only $13.99 each. I have spoken to RadioLink about this and they replied that they will being updated their site with information that applies to US users as well. Keep an eye on www.radiolink.com.cn for more information.
That being said, this radio is extremely premium. Premium in feel, premium in function and premium in appearance. I will say, the screen is packed with information but this makes it difficult for my eye to see considering how small the font has to be to make it all fit. I will be contacting RadioLink to see if there is a firmware I can utilize to make the font larger and put less of it on the screen at one time. The menu system is simple to navigate and the customization is impressive; I’ve been playing around with this transmitter for a few days and am excited to bind it to a truck and get to driving!
We appreciate your continued patronage of our site; readers like you are why we do what we do and the fact that you spend your valuable time with us each week is not lost on us. Until next time, be good to yourself, be good to each other, be good to your RC.