Are MA helies getting a bit of a flogging on other Forums?

[Alfred]

Just seems to me that for a while now MA helies are getting a flogging around other Forum sites.

On lots of sites, if somebody asks for a 90 heli and asks what people think of a Stratus/Extreme etz, they get instant replies suggesting anything but MA helies.

In England, they seem to be soo expensive that nobody will touch them, specific due to horridly expensive spare parts prizes.

Maybe MA should start to do some R&R and look at their Distributors?

[ClayK]

I'm of the opinion you get what you pay for.

[DebianDog]

Well they can "flog" all they want but all you have to do is look at some of the GREAT flights put on by the MA pilots this year at IRCHA. MA does not advertise on some of the other sites either which helps the bias.

Even Miniature does not argue the "horridly expensive spares" but I know they have found some new suppliers when they designed the Razor. The "new generation MA helicopter" is supposed to be a little more affordable.

MA does not really have much of a West Coast following, in the USA, either. I would hope they would address that soon too.

-I- myself do not own any MA machines but have come to realize that the MA pilots do not seem to break or wear out things as fast. I am currently, and seriously, considering selling 2 of my other machines and going MA for that reason and a few other things I like about the aircraft.

[DavidH]

Alfred,
Exporting parts and kits outside the USA is expensive. You take away the VAT and shipping charges to the UK. Then parts are no more than they are here in the states. MA can't control the VAT or shipping charges. As for other brand heli part prices. I don't see that they are any less than MA. At least not for the helis that are in the same catergory.
As for MA helis. The problem they seem to be having. Is that they can't get them kitted fast enough for the demand.

Also MA customers can buy from anywhere they want in the world. MA does not dictate who ( or location) there dealers can sell to.

David

[rbort]

Debiandog:

Raja here. Man after going to that MHA FF and seeing all the Minair helis I was blown away with their popularity in your area. That FF was 90% Minair and those guys kept them in the air all weekend long! Minair does definately last a long time and my gasser is proof of that, being 9+ years old with over 1600 flights. My new Spectra is catching up with 228 flights so far and they certainly are nice quality machines. Maybe next year if I make it down to the MHA FF I'll see you with a Minair heli eh? :-)

-=>Raja.

[DebianDog]

Yeah that was an unbelievable THICK MA event. Thank heaven Chris Bergen showed up with some turbines and gassers to "mix it up a bit"

[ecofan_]

when the stratus first came out, i paid it 1350€ with Main and T/R blades (around 1250€ without blades, but I had a discount ) that was approx. $1500 (now it's $1630), and in the us it was $1400. The price was not different enough to order it from oversea, and to pay $75 of shipping charges plus the customs.
In France, there are plenty of r90, but it's very rare to find a stratus... why ? I don't know... nobody does represent the brand here !
poeple can't figure how well do those heli fly !

Nicolas

ps : a small vid here :wink: http://djeruiz.free.fr/videos/PICT0239.ASF
and http://djeruiz.free.fr/videos/PICT0240.ASF

[ClayK]

Nir Meiri represents pretty well over there

[sookainian]

Same here, i dont know why in Singapore, no one else is flying Stratus. Everyone is flying Raptors. I am the only one in SG own a Stratus

Luckly in this forum, there are lots of helpful guys to help me with my Stratus when i am stuck.

ps a shortclip:

Stratus @ Sentosa 20th Jan FreeStyle (5 min 21 sec)

[Mille aka Fredrik]

Nir Meiri represents pretty well over there

Hmm, hes from Israel and that not Europe, or is it...

More like middle east. Closest to Africa and Asia...

[Alfred]

David

The VAT would be the same for all the Manufacturers outside of the UK.
You are saying that MA can't keep up with the kit packaging, so am I to understand that they don't want to sell more, as they can't cope with the demand right now?
If that is the case, then fine, no problem. Although, I do believe that it will hurt them in the long run and once a Manufacturer gets a bad reputation, it's hard if not impossible to reverse.
Look at Quick helies, hardly anybody will touch them today.
Century helies as well. Their helies from what I have seen are quite good now, but they got themselves a bad reputation a few years ago about bad service and have never recovered from that. At least outside from the US.

As ecofan is saying, MA's are no go in France, because nobody actively promotes them.

Sookainian
Nice beach flying
Hope you are able to get all the sand and salt out of it.
I did a demo once years ago for the work XMAS party which we have annually here at the Beach.
I still have nightmares from the amount of cleaning that was required afterwards
By the way..that was an X-Cell40 at the time.
They ask me every year to do it again, but so far I have refrained.

I am more concerned about the negative comments thta have now become all too common when somebody talks about the X-Cells, Fury's etz.

[DebianDog]

I -think- what David is saying is that they did not expect the demand for the helicopters they are seeing and they are putting kits together as fast as they can. I KNOW folks are waiting on the Razor.

[Kinger]

I think the reason you just don't see as much hype on the MA's anymore is due to other kits recently released that offer VERY similar performance at the same price point. Competition for spending dollars in the high end heli market now have to be shared between many manufacturers.

[furyevo]

I KNOW folks are waiting on the Razor.

:wink: