Kraton Aliexpress/Hot Racing Comparison Spreadsheet

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cmoney

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Had some free time and made a spreadsheet comparing some of the hot racing products for arrma 6s to their aliexpress counterparts. As it shows, most that I found are exactly the same, except they’re being sold at even 20% of the HR price. There are some products that HR makes which are original and worth buying (eg. Locking Shock rod ends), but either way, it’s all such cheap metal likely from a single factory.

Products like their bulkheads or wing mounts or diff cases that can be found on aliexpress for so much cheaper make me detest the company. I’m all for the products that they come up with, but something doesn’t sit with me about selling a $22 (aliexpress price) bulkhead for $77. I’m sure most of you know this already, but I’m hoping it can show others how much they can save if they wait a week or two on the Chinese shipping. My Ali orders have been coming in 7-10 days, it’s really impressive. Of course, ADU is much higher quality. Most of these parts are sold by ADU and they’re so much higher quality, actually innovative, and often the same price.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/148Ce90yxCJPQTLiFlVqpZYjkNJfuat2SJBiiKv6VDMI/edit
 
Good information. The only thing that sucks is shipping time. Generally I can get Hot Racing in 1-3 days. Ali takes about 10. That’s an eternity in RC days 🤣😜
 
Thanks for this!

I have a couple of the 3S Metal Yokes that HR makes, very solid build with good tolerances (didn't even need shims).

There were reports of the ALI ones being very hit or miss, tolerances off, etc, etc. They look the same but I am guessing from a totally different factory.
 
Hot racing, Integy, Yeah Racing, and many more neither design nor manufacture RC parts. They buy them then rebrand them to themselves. It's called "spongeable". Because of this you can find the same part sold under a variety of names and for a variety of prices.
 
Had some free time and made a spreadsheet comparing some of the hot racing products for arrma 6s to their aliexpress counterparts. As it shows, most that I found are exactly the same, except they’re being sold at even 20% of the HR price. There are some products that HR makes which are original and worth buying (eg. Locking Shock rod ends), but either way, it’s all such cheap metal likely from a single factory.

Products like their bulkheads or wing mounts or diff cases that can be found on aliexpress for so much cheaper make me detest the company. I’m all for the products that they come up with, but something doesn’t sit with me about selling a $22 (aliexpress price) bulkhead for $77. I’m sure most of you know this already, but I’m hoping it can show others how much they can save if they wait a week or two on the Chinese shipping. My Ali orders have been coming in 7-10 days, it’s really impressive. Of course, ADU is much higher quality. Most of these parts are sold by ADU and they’re so much higher quality, actually innovative, and often the same price.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/148Ce90yxCJPQTLiFlVqpZYjkNJfuat2SJBiiKv6VDMI/edit

We have a thread somewhere around here about the Aliexpress gearbox cases. Not sure where it got buried though. 🤷‍♂️

I have a set of the Aliexpress aluminum hubs for the Arrma 6s coming in the mail even looking at the pictures I could tell they were 100% the same as the HR units.
 
We have a thread somewhere around here about the Aliexpress gearbox cases. Not sure where it got buried though. 🤷‍♂️

I have a set of the Aliexpress aluminum hubs for the Arrma 6s coming in the mail even looking at the pictures I could tell they were 100% the same as the HR units.
I have 4 of the gearboxes and they’ve all been great. I also doubt HR is scanning through each unit with precision measuring tools to ensure good QC, so it makes no sense that so many guys view the Ali stuff as junk and the HR stuff as decent.

You have a link to those hubs you got? The link in my spreadsheet goes to hubs that are the same in every way but their design styling (same bearing size, carbon fiber, but different edges and geometry)
 
I have 4 of the gearboxes and they’ve all been great. I also doubt HR is scanning through each unit with precision measuring tools to ensure good QC, so it makes no sense that so many guys view the Ali stuff as junk and the HR stuff as decent.

You have a link to those hubs you got? The link in my spreadsheet goes to hubs that are the same in every way but their design styling (same bearing size, carbon fiber, but different edges and geometry)

I bought these as they were the cheapest ones I could find. Wish I would have seen your list on Friday lol. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256...st_main.5.21ef1802oNl9sC&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa
 
thank you for teaching me a new word - identicality.

Owh, before I forget yes I used the servo mounts. I have 2 sets and one of them has a poorly tapped thread for the screw bush / standoff. Nothing a simple tap cannot solve.
 
thank you for teaching me a new word - identicality.

Owh, before I forget yes I used the servo mounts. I have 2 sets and one of them has a poorly tapped thread for the screw bush / standoff. Nothing a simple tap cannot solve.
No idea if it's actually a word or not. I'll have to add more items to this list soon.
 
The price differences are hilarious with these Chinese suppliers. You'll find something for $40 with $5 shipping on the first page then the exact same product for $30 and free shipping on the 7th aliexpress page :ROFLMAO:

Promoted pages..
AliExpress copied the marketing tactics of ebay, amazon, etc.
 
Promoted pages..
AliExpress copied the marketing tactics of ebay, amazon, etc.
eBay still seems to be the only one with decent search. I can never find what I am looking for on Ali or Amazon if I search for something starting with the lowest price. Ali and Amazon both give me things that are completely unrelated to what I was looking for.
 
I tried some of those $5 diff cases.
They are junk. They are not capable of handling 4s power and definitely not 6s.
They ripped apart. I have good experiences with the Arrma 220050 metal BLX cases and the GPM cases.
The gearboxes are great. I have 4 of them now im my Mojaves and fitment is fine.
Together with the crappy diff cases, i bought some of the cheap diff outdrives.
I bent a stock one and have replaced it with one of the Alis . I will let you guys know how they hold up.

IMG_20240327_132309202.webp
 
I tried some of those $5 diff cases.
They are junk. They are not capable of handling 4s power and definitely not 6s.
They ripped apart. I have good experiences with the Arrma 220050 metal BLX cases and the GPM cases.
The gearboxes are great. I have 4 of them now im my Mojaves and fitment is fine.
Together with the crappy diff cases, i bought some of the cheap diff outdrives.
I bent a stock one and have replaced it with one of the Alis . I will let you guys know how they hold up.

View attachment 400626

Those 1 piece diff cases are all garbage doesn't matter who makes them. And the Hot Racing ones just suck in general those orings can suck it.

What are we looking at in this picture?
 
Except that it's a two piece design.
What we're looking at, is that cheap Ali diff case with all the screws ripped out. A piece of a broken screw on the right next to it.
This is how i found it. It was held together by the tight shimming. It fell apart upon removing it from the gearbox.
Shavings from the gearbox everywhere.

IMG_20240327_132346994_HDR.webp
 
Except that it's a two piece design.
What we're looking at, is that cheap Ali diff case with all the screws ripped out. A piece of a broken screw on the right next to it.
This is how i found it. It was held together by the tight shimming. It fell apart upon removing it from the gearbox.
Shavings from the gearbox everywhere.

View attachment 400637

It's a terrible design using M2.5 screws on that side. The Arrma ones use M3 on both sides iirc.
 
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