[MonsterMaxx]

Yup, I can be a hot head. Been working on that...

Also, if I recall, that copy had just come out and I was boiling mad about it. Adding insult to injury they even used MY parts in their print ads. Now you understand first hand why I was so pissed.

But back to the point of bringing that up...fact is, in this Walmart Chinese Disposable society we have now people don't care as much about quality as they do price.

Screw engineering, ethics and quality. Make it look good on the shelf and cheaper than the competition and you'll sell. I can almost guarantee that Integy made more on that cheap knockoff crap than I ever did. Their entire freeking product line is nothing but ripoffs. Not one original idea in their entire lineup. And they sell the heck out of that stuff. Bling Bling, looks nice on the shelf and it's cheap (sorry, 'inexpensive'.)

This kind of thing still boils my blood. But what can you do other than give yourself ulcers?

Customers don't care, US govt doesn't care, retailers and etailers don't care, laws are not in our favor, and as a small business you have no recourse but to spend all your money fighting a battle you can't win.
Or accept the fact that the world ain't fair, suck it up and move on. If you can't stand it, find some other industry you can apply your talents too that's not as cutthroat (good luck finding that - everything I've tried so far is that way) Or give up entirely and work for someone else, let them have the headaches.

To be honest with you, this and the racing drama is what killed my interest in RC. I mean, why the f__k should I do the engineering for China? I have plenty of other interests where I am my own demographic, so make stuff for things I’m interested in – and make a thousand of them, then move onto the next thing.
Since that race (what 6-7 years ago?) I'll could count the number of times I've driven a RC car on one hand, probably on a hand that has had several fingers blown off. I’ve been thinking about getting back into RC cars now that I have such a nice home with a place I could build a track and a shop to work in, but I have nothing that runs anymore and just can’t seem to get motivated. All my friends have moved on to other interests.

Oh, and my helis and planes use original design items like Align, Kasama, Kontronic, Castle, Eagle Tree, Spektrum, JR, Futaba, etc.
Though I have to admit, I do use the HobbyKing batteries. Because they are so cheap it fits my maintenance style – which ain’t great. Batts last 20 or so cycles before I leave them charged too long, smash them into the ground, overdischarge (this is a biggie) or something else that would ruin any batt. I figure until we get telemetry I’m probably going to continue to ruin batts so why buy the expensive ones. It’s me that kills them, not the quality. So I guess I’m just as guilty as the rest of you.

I do NOT shop at Walmart.