RunRyder - Gary Wright goes to Miniature

rrTV-PHOTO

New HD TV

HOME rrTV-PHOTO GALLERIES MY GALLERY HELP-FAQ

myHOME PM pmRR MEMBERS 699 ONLINE 26 EVENTS SEARCH REGISTER START HERE

3 pages [ << < ( 1 ) 2 3 NEXT >> ]

4429 views

POST REPLY

PowerHelis	.	Heli Wholesaler	.	3D Heli Depot
	.		.

Main Discussion > Gary Wright goes to Miniature

vigor 73
Heliman
Location:

I read this in the Robbe fourm. Miniature Aircraft has got all the big dawgs now except CY! Good going Miniature!!

03-12-2002 Over year old.

ed vega
Key Veteran
Location: nyc, queens

I believe gary is a member here on the forum .. saw his name and a webpage he posted .. CY has already flown MA, think he'll pick it up again?

03-12-2002 Over year old.

Agilefalcon
Veteran
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Miniature Aircraft

Kudos to Gary Wright

03-12-2002 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

z11355
rrMaster
Location: 10000 is enough time wasted.

Chris,

Agreed. The sad reality (in talking w/ HUI) is that they sell ALOT
more silly RC boats than helicopters. Is Robbe's marketing
presence about zero in the US? Yup. And that's too bad cause
the ships rock. We can lament all we want but if the company HQ
wants to ignore the sweetspot of the market (nuke the SE and
keep pushing the kilobuck machines), whatcha gonna do? I like
the new Cuatro. It's advertised as suitable for beginner, sport, 3D
expert, FAI and oh, cameraship. Yea, that's gonna be a big win.

Ditto Freya. Did we need a $650machine and then jump to a $1700 and $2000 machine? Where is the Freya SE? Lighten up the
silly thing w/ some CF or some whizzo Hirobo engineering and price
it in the 800-900 zone. I think Jeff has done a good (very actually)
getting us new stuff and promoting the line via the Hirobo Cup series
but still, go to any FF and you can usually count the number of
Eagles & Robbe's on one hand.

But, MA has done an excellent job in not only getting the right
products out there but MARKETING and exposing them well too.
Hats off to them and I wish them (jealous) success.

Z

03-12-2002 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Dave_D
Key Veteran
Location: Philippines

Z,

Sorry for going off-topic. But I too am in that predicament with the Freya. It definetely needs a model in between the plastic one and the foofoo megabuck model. Metal stackframes, same drivetrain, rotorhead and tail.

03-12-2002 Over year old.

Rotor
Key Veteran
Location: USA

I believe Sleeth Hobbies in Springfield, MO has a couple on hand in their store. Their phone number is 417-883-1118..

My motto is this..Fly...Rebuild...Fly

03-12-2002 Over year old.

DrScoles
Veteran
Location: Redmond WA

I think a lot of people see the 60 size market as the end all be all of the industry... Hirobo has a very successful new 30/50 in the Sceadu, the Freya rocks, and they have a full line of scale ships...Hardly a "fraction of the market"... MA seems to focus on the 60 size market. Yes, they have done a superlative job in marketing the Fury... It seems more popular than tickle me elmo and the rubiks cube... It's the must have of the moment... But are people looking at the other pieces of the puzzle? Augusto(coleopter) did a crash comparison a while back, showing the Freya and Rap 60 were more affordable to repair than the Fury. How about working on them? Does anyone here who has one of each a Freya and Fury care to comment on which is easier/more enjoyable to work on? Availability of kits/parts?

Altech has been very responsive to our requests/demands when it comes to changing kits... The sceadu comes with the dtds and third bearing block as standard... got rid of the fiberglass blades that we wouldn't want to use, added them to the 30 kit which are a nice upgrade from the wood blades. Yes, there is a need for an upgrade to the Freya that doesn't cost $2K, and I bet you Jeff G is listening...

I know the Fury is a quality heli, but all this talk about it is giving me a headache!!!

For those of you going to Phoenix, ask Jeff G for a test drive of one of his Freya's...

Mike

03-12-2002 Over year old.

Agilefalcon
Veteran
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Phoenix Fun Fly and Freya

I will also be at Phoenix with my Freya. Anyone who would like to give it a shot is welcome.

Chris Berardi
Hirobo Pilot Representative.

03-12-2002 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

ed vega
Key Veteran
Location: nyc, queens

dr. scoles - can you explain or clarify this a little further .. "as the end all be all of the industry"

hwat muan - just kidding me ?

03-12-2002 Over year old.

Agilefalcon
Veteran
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Panos:

You are a sport!

Thank you.

Chris Berardi.

03-12-2002 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

JDANJ
Heliman
Location: Orange County, CA

Haven't I heard all this before???

O.K. so I'm not a top sponsored pilot , however I do consider myself a pretty good pilot and since I have BOTH I'll give my OPINION.

My Fury is on the chopping block as we speak (actually I think its all ready sold) because like everyone else I believed the hype. Truth is its another 60 size heli that has great marketing at the moment. Yeah it flies good, but so does my Freya, IMHO the Freya with my set up is a better acrobat than the Fury.

Here's an analogy that I feel is appropriate for the GREAT DEBATE.

Remeber in the 80's how Wheaties payed every athlete that was somebody to promote their cereal, and in return you were guranteed to be a great athlete yourself for eating Wheaties. Their heavy merketing resulted in heavy profits.

Sound familiar?

Read some studies on marketing techniques and you might scare yourself when you see how much your subconscious plays a role in your descion making process due to continued presentation of a particular product.

Moral of the Story: Don't be a puppet on a string and don't believe the hype.

GO FURY.....
GO FREYA.....

03-12-2002 Over year old.

Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

JDANJ,

I hear you, but there is one tiny flaw in your logic; spelled Vigor.

I'm no marketing analyst, specialist, accountant, etc. But I DO have an idea of what advertising costs in today's publications, through prior association with a magazine. I certainly don't know for sure, but I would wager a great deal that NOBODY has spent as much promoting a model helicopter than Horizon has on the Vigor. That five-page spread in RCM alone, when the machine first came out, had to have cost five figures. Yet, the Vigor is not exactly what could be called a barn-burner, popularity-wise. In fact, Horizon has recently reduced some parts prices in an effort to promote sales.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a rep for anyone, and am not dissing any company. Yeah, I have two X-Cells (neither one a Fury); right now. Two years ago, I had two JRs (Vigor and CCPM Baby Sluggo) and a Kalt Baron 30S. Like 99.99% of the helicopter hobbyists in the world, I purchase what suits me. I was looking real hard at getting a Futura SE, until Robbe pulled the plug on that fine machine. Marketing geniuses at work again...

No doubt that marketing and the way a product is presented plays a big part in consumer purchasing decisions. But I don't think that heli guys in general are slaves to the almighty ad dollar, as your post suggests. Personally, aside from the Eagle, in ten years in the hobby I have never been impressed with Hirobo products until the Freya and Sceadu. IOW, I feel that, since this hobby is so specialized, the machines themselves play a bigger part in who buys what; rather than what big name is on the company masthead THIS week...

Steve

03-12-2002 Over year old.

JDANJ
Heliman
Location: Orange County, CA

Steve,

I respect your reply, however when the Vigor first came on the scene I remember A LOT of hype.

Let's not forget the Raptor 30 as well.

03-12-2002 Over year old.

Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

<<...when the Vigor first came on the scene, I remember a LOT of hype...>>

That's exactly my point, Dan. They spent mucho bucks, and haven't sold that many. I bought mine in November of 1999. When I talked to the dealer I bought it from again, in February of 2000, he had yet to sell another one. And this guy is a high-volume dealer that we know and love. He moves a lot of product.

The Raptor 30 was in a class by itself. It galvanized the hobby like no other machine has.

Steve

03-12-2002 Over year old.

dchinww
Senior Heliman
Location: Seattle, Washington

Vigor Value

In my opinion:

The Vigor CS is one of the best flying and best designed machines on the market. It has a clean layout, low parts count and high quality components.

Unfortunately, it also has a high price tag (both in kit price and spares). If Horizon is serious about promoting Vigors, the pricing needs to be more competitive with the Fury and Freya.

03-12-2002 Over year old.

SemiArticulate
Veteran
Location: On Location

I also believe that hype is a BIG part of the hobby. There is no company not guilty of it. But once a rumor or idea gets traction, it spreads like wildfire. Say your in the market for a new 60 and you go to an funfly for a little research. You see all the big guys flying brand X. So all the best flying is done with brand X. Which one are you going to buy? Don't kid yourself. Your not thinking "well they are paid to fly that one" your thinking COOL. I bought my first heli (an R30) when I saw the best pilot at our field throw it around like nothing. There is always a certain gloss added when a product is demonstrated by someone with skill. Then you buy it and you want others to think its great also. So you tell how great you think your new machine is so others will buy it. After all, if you can't convince them it is as great as you think it is then you must of gotten suckered. You don't want to be suckered? Do you? Some guys seem to repeat the advertising verbatim and swear its the greatest thing and then add "can't wait to fly it". WHAT? you haven't even flown it yet! I don't know why these companies need to pay reps when you have free cheerleaders like that. Reps/salesman that walk into our door don't make it very far before they are sent right back out. They are nice enough guys but we don't want their crap. This hobby is different in that they actually put on a show that is well worth watching and hard to ignore. Most of us don't sit down with a calculator and check the merits of the design, cost, and ease. We look at hype. The 60 class machines are great for hype because the target group has learned to fly and willing to spend a few extra dollars if you can give them a reason. The only problem I can see is that we might start getting flavor of the month helicopters. Each company adds one more bell and whistle to one up the other guy. The newest one being the "got to have" helicopter while good luck getting affordable parts for the last one. I will predict that soon helicopter kits will be sold at a loss or at least break even cost from the manufacturer. The profit will be made from the upgrades and repair parts. It happens in other manufacturing circles and there is no reason this one would not follow.

I plan on having two sport 60+ size machines in my fleet total. They don't need to be the same brand. One to charge/repair while the other one is flying. I'll maintain and repair them until they are no longer worth it and then replace with the latest and greatest of that time. The only thing that might change that is if a model came out that could do some trick that my fleet could not. No flavor of the month for me. My other helis will need something more unique than an engine and a gear ratio. Like a few bada$$ scale helis and a Turbine

. Someday.

There, my long winded Andy Roonie imitation.

-SemiArticulate
Always striving to get more off topic than any other guy

03-13-2002 Over year old.

oldfart
Elite Veteran
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Vigour/Freya/Fury/Robbe

Unfortunately, in the USA, the import heli's, Robbe, JR and Hirobo helicopters are at a marked disadvantage in price. The same as the Fury is in Japan or Germany.

As Miniature (the manufacturer) distributes directly to the USA and Canadian dealers, they eliminate the margins required by having a seperate distributor, as is the case with any imported heli. As JR/Robbe/Hirobo manufacture elsewhere, they cannot distribute directly to US dealers as can MA. They have to distribute through a distributor in that country (HUI, Horizon.Altech). This dealer needs a profit margin also to advertise, promote, stock inventory and carry receivables (outstanding moneys owed from the dealer network), staff a service department etc.etc. from the dealer network and provide a reasonable profit to the company investors.

On the other hand, if you look for example at the prices in the UK (ditto for France, Italy, Australia etc.) where they are all on the same field - all having to using a seperate distributor in that country, you will see they are all more equally priced and the MA brand does not have the advantage at the fields there that they do in NA. On an equal playing field, it is quite a different story.

So when we see the Fury priced similarly to the Freya, one must understand that MA is seeing a much greater profit per unit sold then does Altech on the Freya for example.

As this site is dominated by US members it is easy to understand their feeling that the USA is the world. It is their world. They do not realize that it may not be the rael world in other parts of the globe.

03-13-2002 Over year old.

HelicopterJohn
Key Veteran
Location: Seffner, Florida (Just East of Tampa, Florida)

Gary,

Congratulations on your new association with Minature Aircraft. Tim is lucky to have you on his team.

Hope everything goes well for you. We all enjoyed your great demonstration flights with Hank Kings Nova.

I know his Nova will really miss your thumbs and flying expertise.

Good Luck,

John Clark

OC Bob's Gathering #2 was a Premiere Event. Pictures in my Gallery

03-13-2002 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

SemiArticulate
Veteran
Location: On Location

oldfart, you make a good point about the US market.

But while I hope MA sees a larger profit they also seem to have some expensive looking parts on it as well as US manufacturing costs. I don't have much feel for what it costs to produce a kit but I am impressed with what $800 can buy. It doesn't seem like you can really go wrong with any of the kits in this price range.

03-13-2002 Over year old.

MitchD
Senior Heliman
Location: Antioch TN USA

4 easy payments of 250.00 comes w carbon wheels and hand brake upgrade.
[BREAK]

03-13-2002 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

3 pages [ << < ( 1 ) 2 3 NEXT >> ]

4429 views

POST REPLY

JR-Spektrum	.	Gyro Hobbies	.	E-flite
	.		.

Main Discussion > Gary Wright goes to Miniature

PRINT TOPIC

Advertisers

Subscribe to This Topic