sick of paying $3 for deans plugs

[BrianG]

I agree with you Slowkrawl, to a degree. I don't have a problem at all with paying the asking price to the original makers, but it does seem like they are price gouging. I mean, c'mon! $3 for a single pair of connectors? You can get a set of gold bullets (which have a lot more material) for the same price, and Deans are not exectly a complex design. After all, they are just two flat bars encased in a type of plastic. Oh, I guess we can't forget the curved springs on the male units.

Prices tend to lower over time as the "technology" matures and the manufacturing process improves, but not these. And you'd think with the millions of these things sold, they aren't exactly hurting. IMO, $3 would be a fair price for 3 sets of Deans.

Not to mention Deans has not improved the design over the years. Back in the day, they were perfect, but today's larger setups need a design that has at least 50% larger contact area and slightly longer casing for easier grip.

Oh, and if we are gonna gripe about copycat companies, why not complain about Traxxas connectors? The connector design is very similar when you look at them. Actually, they are more of a combination of Deans connector with PowerPole wire entry.

And while we are talking overpriced parts, how about tires/rims and lexan bodies?

I guess that is the price we pay when the term "hobby" is used on a product.