so , the RC hobby can get expensive , the temptation to buy from hong kong is difficult to avoid , i will admit i was very hesitant but after waiting six months for my LHS to get me a kit that they were telling was very difficult to obtain i called the UK distributor and they said they had it in stock continually since it was released and they actually had it on offer at the time, then i get a call from the LHS saying they can now get it, i asked how much and they tried to charge me full price when i knew they had got it cheap! it was this that tipped me over the edge and i decided to take the plunge , i use RCmart for the most part and they are always superb , you do have to watch the postage costs though, for instance if you are buying a kit then it will show you how much more you can add without  additional cost , build up your order and do fewer of them ,
this post is not to slag off the whole uk rc industry , the guys have to make a living , but, when a customer is coming weekly for several years and always buys then maybe that customer should start being looked after a bit better with a reasonable discount or five!
 rc mart also do a point reward system and although its not a massive return its worth keeping an eye on your points balance as it stacks up over a year ,
some words of caution! dont use speed post or such like, every time i have tried this my parcel has been subject to massive import duty because the shipping company work very closely with uk customs in return for 'special ta breaks that you are paying for, i dont know if the same in the U.S but i do know that UPS too although USPS doesnt! go figure, , use standard post and wait an extra week or two
i have also used Stella models and they were always great too,
Hobby king get slated a lot but they sell huge amounts of stuff and there is bound to be a few bad experiences , especially if you have just bought a fragile plane kit for example , if you have issue with an order you will get an automated response and will be expected to pay the return postage , if you have issue with this then use your LHS and save the hong kong shops for more robust stuff and smaller parts,
 one of the thing's i like about hobby king is that they seem to be very honest and have no issue in rejecting stuff , they all seem to be actual hobbyists and test the stuff they sell, their batteries for example dont carry over inflated 'C' ratings , their radio systems are cheap and cheaply made but 3 of my friends use their radio's on heli's and cars and have had no problems , they are a tenth of the price of my spektrum radio and do the same job day in day out ,  i have ordered 3 of the new orange gr300 receivers that are dsm2 compatible and will report back my findings of them,
 my spektrum sr3100 receivers cost over £60.00 at full retail , the gr300 costs £6.00 !! that means i can have 10 of them for the cost of one of the spektrums, dont get me wrong as i really like spektrum but they do need to consider their place in the market in these times , the sr3100 will cost a few dollars to make and then spektrum and the distributors and your LHS will all be making a handsome profit , i have over £1000.00 invested in spektrum radio gear but the sad truth is i cant afford to keep buying their stuff when i can get stuff that does the same job for a tenth of the price , why we dont see more companies selling direct at the price they give them to the distributor i dont know ,its as if the big companies think that we dont have Internet access , the LHS in its current form in the UK needs to die off completely and go over to Internet only companies that can truly save people money, the amount of people that have got into the RC hobby and then gave up because its too expensive are many, thats not good for the hobby , take a look at the far east and how many hobby shops have tracks in the shop as well as restaurants etc , how many of those do you see in the UK?? thats right none ,uk hobby shops say its because there are not enough customers to justify such establishments, i say "stop being so greedy and offer better value and advice and the number of hobbyists will grow", its as if they want the hobby to be elitist and for the special few that can afford to line LHS owners pockets !!
 the hong kong model shop deserves to exist and i have simply gave up on the piss poor UK hobby shops , i am sick of being ripped off as are many of you so use those far away hobby shops and let the greedy shops with lethargic staff that dont even want to help you in the UK die as they simply dont deserve to exist in today's global market ,
i will add to this post with positive and negative experiences i have as time goes by , i am not out to slag anyone off or promote certain companies , i will simply pass on my personal experience in complete honesty and without undue bias .

in case you were not aware ,Hobby King have warehouses in Germany, Holland, the USA and the UK, so check them out before you go dropping a fortune on something they may have cheaper.

the gr300 next to the sr3100

 the Orange RX gr300 receivers,
 they turned up,i got these from the hong kong Hobby King as the UK warehouse was out of stock, they arrived very well packed , they come in nice little brown cardboard boxes that can be easily recycled ,unlike the acre of plastic that the spektrum sr3100 comes in.
all three of the gr300's bound first time and work perfectly , they are about 4/5th the size of the sr3100 and weigh 5g each , the antenna can be easily replaced just like the spektrum  , when there is signal loss the gr300 goes into failsafe mode and flashes its orange LED to signify its still connected if you forget to disconnect the battery at the end of a run after turning off your transmitter for instance.
great purchase , i will report any issues i have with them but thus far ,they get a thumbs up

so , the gr300 receivers , still perfect , and i have been giving them a beating , i have been using them in my bashing cars , kyosho mini inferno st , ansmann mad rat, and one of my tamiya M-04 cars, one of the receivers has even been used in very wet conditions and got more than a few drops of water on it , i am not saying they are waterproof though!!!! , but, i have tested them quite thoroughly in all conditions and they perform flawlessly and supply plenty of power to the steering servos in all my 1:10 scale vehicles .

Turnigy trackstar motors.

i bought this from Hobby king , it cost around a third of of a reedy sonic motor and is very similar in construction with its vented can and adjustable timing , its an 8.5 turn that gives around 4650kv (revs per volt) , sadly they are not on the homologation list of the brca electric board so you will need to check with your local club to see if they will allow it in points series races ,

these really are great motors , very quiet and super quality ,bearings are super smooth and a very precise fit on the rotor shaft and in the can and end bell . the only issue i had was the solder tabs needed a light clean with emery paper before they would allow solder to flow .

the best part, it costs just over £20.00  , now that's good value and yet another example of why buying from hong kong hobby shops and hobby kings many warehouses is making the rc hobby far more accessible than ever before.