HobbyKing Jumps Sharks?

In todays hot news, Flite Test releases a video of them doing a “review” of a couple of the HobbyKing batteries vs a ThunderPower Lipo. Go ahead and watch the vid I’ll wait. To me it’s like watching Fonzie jump over all those sharks on his water skis. Why? Because I take the “Flite Test” show as being a thinly disguised HobbyKing advertisement (did they get this idea from Horizon or something? LOL). The “Flite Test” guys say their show is sponsored by HobbyKing, is HobbyKing their only “sponsor”? Do they actually work for HobbyKing? Do they ever “review” anything other than “HobbyKing” product? I’m sure one of our readers can fill in some of the blanks for us here.

Do you see Ford reviewing their own Mustang? Do you see Canon reviewing their new T3i? Do you see Torgoen reviewing one of their T01’s? Ummm, no, no you don’t.

Do you think Ford would ever give their Mustang a bad review? Would Canon ever trash their own T3i? Is Torgoen going to say their uber new T16 is a piece of crap? Nope. The buying public would not believe one word out of their mouths while reviewing their own product.

What the buying public respects is independent third party reviews/tests. Reviews done by people that don’t profit (or suffer a loss) from a good (or bad) review. When a company does a review of their own product they are implying two things to the buying public- “Hello potential customer, we think you are stupid enough to believe this!” and “Our product is soooooo bad we have to review it ourselves!”. Neither of those unsaid statements go over well with potential customers. Consumers in the internet age have an astutely accurate bulls#!% meter. When any company sets off that radar, watch out, it’s not going to end well. LOL

Sometimes the obvious must be said, so here it is. To the select few in the rc industry that chose to review your own products- you look like complete freak’n morons, and you instantly lose any and all respect with consumers (and the rest of the industry too!) by doing so.

Comments are on- GO!