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Just wondering why this brand radio is always so expensive compared to Futaba and Airtronics. There radios have a unique design, but I have not seen many locally.

Thanks Limestang

some say they are hands down the best radios on the market. i've never used one.
i do see a few guys locally with them. they have been a main radio player for decades. their biggest market is their back yard, asia.

They basically have invented the "modern" pistol radio (EX1)... They don't play the entry-level segment but cater to the racer only, and they are car-only, so their volumes are low in the end. This probably explains most of the high price...

... And masami has been their face for three decades now

Somehow, KO radios and servos are those I trust the most... I'm a good sheep

Paul

Simple. Who is gonna to pay Masami salary ? It is the consumers who buy the KO.

KO only do surface radio and made in Japan...which could explain the high prices

uzzi wrote:KO only do surface radio and made in Japan...which could explain the high prices

not only do they do only surface, but they specialize in cars AND they only have high-end... so very niche market in the end. That's the point I was making above

Paul

I own and have owned a pile of KO PROPO gear. I always liked the EX5, EX7 and EX9 radios back in the day plus their CX1 and CX3 esc's.
I still use an EX10 radio for all my cars. Really nice stuff.

I'll throw this out there and probably get a few stones thrown back but I don't think KO servos are all that great. I've seen quite a few failures from respected local drivers, enough to make me not buy one. Maybe it was just a phase or particular servo at the time. The same could be said about hitec but I've seen less of them fail. Of course they might not be as precise or center as well, but a failure is worse.

I still prefer JR servos (funny how the JR radio is a rebranded KO though)

Excellent info - Thanks!!!

Limestang

Here's my spanner in the story.... don't forget the KO Trendy radio gear set. About as entry-level as you can get... the look, the name, those servos


(image grabbed from the 'net, as I couldn't keep one of these in my collection!)

Alex

Incredible_Serious wrote:Here's my spanner in the story.... don't forget the KO Trendy radio gear set. About as entry-level as you can get... the look, the name, those servos

Trendy.jpg

(image grabbed from the 'net, as I couldn't keep one of these in my collection!)

Alex

True... forgot about the KO Trendy! I had one. I suspect it wasn't really made by KO

About seeing KO servo fail and Hitec survive... I have the exact opposite experience, personnally, and at the track...

Paul

I'm not saying Hitecs don't fail, I've seen them fail too

RC10th wrote:
I still prefer JR servos (funny how the JR radio is a rebranded KO though)

Sanwa, actually.

I've always been curious about this "strange" (to me at least) brand since I grew up with Futaba all the way.

I went over to their site and had a look at this EX-1 transmitter. I couldn't take myself seriously if I was holding this thing!

http://www.kopropo.com/america/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=22&Itemid=115

All I could think of was this from Robocop.

Love the brand, great looking and always cutting edge