Kiwi's XPS test results are up.

[Woketman]

Well, I agree with Sweetpea. But in this case I don't think JD is spending any $$$ on advertising in any magazines. So I would like to see a mag do an honest review of XPS. But I won't hold my breath.

[klhoard]

R/C Report magazine out of Huntsville, AL always "Tells it like it is". . . .

[Woketman]

Have they reviewed XPS? If not, can anyone who knows the staff ask them to?

[XJet]

	Quote: Originally Posted by sweetpea
	None of them debunk or tell you not to buy something. Not good business for them to do so as that would pull advertising from that company and most likely other companies. It would have to be a rag that didn't rely on R/C advertising to keep its profit margin. I put no faith in any review I see from an R/C rag.

That's why I launched RC Model Reviews which is now getting very good traffic.

Interestingly enough, advertisers are a little slow in coming out of the woodwork -- perhaps because when they ask if they can advertise alongside a review of their product I tell them "no they can't".

Likewise I've had a lot of manufacturers offer me product "for review" but I've told them that I only review stuff I've bought and paid for myself so that there's no question about the integrity and objectivity of the reviews.

Of course this leaves me reliant on donations and generic advertising in order to fund the purchase of review products and to run the site -- which isn't exactly making life easy and certainly not covering the costs right now.

But the RC public deserve some reality rather than advertorial reviews

[Simpleton]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Woketman
	Have they reviewed XPS? If not, can anyone who knows the staff ask them to?

Would they have the gear to do an expose' style review, or just hook it and say if it worked or not? If they hooked it up and it worked fine for them, it might lend credibility to XPS that was unwarranted. I don't remember seeing many "radio reviews" in the past that looked into the inner working nuts and bolts, just the features.

[Kiwi]

The problem is guys there's no real benefit to anyone to go and spend a wad of dollars to test the system unless it becomes a consumer or legal issue. Then, and only then will some one with the budget and equipment required do a thorough totally indisputable test do so.

But then again I am sure JD would find a way to rebuff even the most independent and thorough tests anyway. Thats not banging on him either, its his business so he is going to try and defend it to the death.

I get the feeling that the European consumer complaint may have the best result as far as functionality to see if it does what is advertised. Apart from that no matter what we do as individuals we will never get 100% acceptance from the doubters. Thats human nature.

[easytiger]

	Quote: Originally Posted by klhoard
	R/C Report magazine out of Huntsville, AL always "Tells it like it is". . . .

Or...that's what they want you to think. That's their "schtick", cheap paper and the rep that they "tell it like it is" as opposed to the glossy magazines. Sure.

[klhoard]

Careful, I'll forward this thread to Gordon. . .

[cptsnoopy]

	Quote: Originally Posted by jonkoppisch
	Surprisingly switches etc don't seem to be a problem for fasst and spektrum....

I have had great luck with spectrum. Only lost one heli in the last two years using it and that failure was attributed to a bad motor bearing. The statement you made above is absolutely incorrect as switches have caused problems well before 2.4ghz was a dream for r/c use. I did see first hand an airplane crash using spectrum equipment (not an AR6100 either) on its maiden flight. The problem was a switch that was intermittent. Once the switch was out of the loop the radio equipment has not failed since then. (over 3 months ago) I was surprised to see someone of your caliber and background making such an absurd statement. It looks like you're being affected by JD's rhetoric.

[jonkoppisch]

I was posting that in context that jd faults a majority of the problems with xps to faulty switches, regulators, li ions, li pos, wet grass, whatever... I thought it was interesting that all of these things seem to work fine with the other brands of 2.4. Has a switch or regulator ever failed causing a crash? Yes. As a matter of fact, that's one REASON THAT I USE 2 SWITCHES AND BATTERIES. For redundancy in case 1 or the other failed, there would be a backup.

[capgains]

	Quote: Originally Posted by easytiger
	Or...that's what they want you to think. That's their "schtick", cheap paper and the rep that they "tell it like it is" as opposed to the glossy magazines. Sure.

Good grief... does everyone have a motive in your world? Ever think that something is the way it is... because it is? Lighten up Francis...

[easytiger]

	Quote: Originally Posted by capgains
	Good grief... does everyone have a motive in your world? Ever think that something is the way it is... because it is? Lighten up Francis...

Because it ain't?

Like "sperical radiation technology"?

Like "all the magazines are conspiring with the manufacturers to make bad products look good?"

Like "you have to go on the INTERNET to get the REAL scoop!"


Whatever. I know how this argument goes on the internet. It's old. It's like talking to the AMA bashers. No matter what you say, what evidence you show to the contrary, AMA is just a bunch of old boy network guys getting rich off our dues who have never paid out an insurance claim. It's like talking to XPS fanboys, no matter what, even if their own plane crashes immediately upon putting in the XPS receiver, it;'s sunspot activity or Paul Beard hiding in the bushes with a jammer, whatever. Same with the magazines. The magazines are simply ruled by the advertisers, and spend most of their time trying to make completely defective products look totally awesome, so they can get more advertising. Except for ol' Gordon, who likes pizza, unlike them glossy magazine editors, who are all eatin' lobster and caviar with the Horizon executives. Besides which, who cares about the magazines anyway? The internets are ten times more powerful anyways, nobody reads magazines anymore. Right?
I've heard all this before. It's a classic internet argument. And it goes nowhere. It's the ego of the internet talking: "oh, me and my five friends are chatting about it, so the WHOLE WORLD is talking about it!" I know, the internet dominates public opinion, and everybody reads it. So how come when I go down to the field, not one in twenty people has even HEARD about, say, XPS?

Ahhhhhhh....nothing like a nice precaffinated early morning rant....one that is perfectly true, but one that you know in advance is not going to penetrate even one skull that is preloaded with a preconceived notion, and I'm secure in the knowledge that my words are completely wasted, no matter how true they are. Pearls before swine, as always, when you go out and start playing chicken on the electronic highways.

Okay, you win. RCreport goes to 11. It has Sperical Radiation Technology, too. It's built into that cheap rag paper stock.