Well for whatever its worth...Ive read most of this thread and like what i hear on these packs...And after going to the website and seeing the prices i will be purchasing some shorty packs in the near future.

Move it along....no need for trolling!

And now we know what kind of person you are...I would never buy from a company if I knew they were breaking the law.

But are you? Is it essentially the same product?

It's an open question, and while I haven't bought any SMC packs having read how Danny is approaching this business I don't think they are the same.

You're right- it's your money and you can do what you wish. SMC's international shipping is real money; not arguing.

But you're not in a position to assert that the HK/HP batteries are the same. Pay your money, make your choice.

It's easy to take a moral high ground and cry foul when you don't have to triple the battery's price for shipping. Something tells me you all would dance to a slightly different tune if our geographic locations were reversed.

True...but I wouldn't come on this thread complain about shipping charges, especially if I've never tried the product. Danny is just trying to run a honest and customer friendly business. He does what he can to help us rc racer's out!

Not to make anyone mad, but here is my opinion on so things that have been discussed here:
-International Shipping:
I dont know how many people realize this, but shipping outside of the US is very expensive, especially for something as dangerous as a lipo battery (not to mention many inside one box. I have dealt with every single packaging/shipping company many times through ebay and whatnot, and no matter which you choose it is always expensive. Thats not even taking into account how much larger Hobbyking and Maxamps are than SMC; you cant expect a company based in the U.S. of that size to compete with shipping rates with the Chinese Hobbyking in Fiji or where ever.

-Batteries are not all equal
Being involved with Hobbywing on many levels, i have literally used 80% of all batteries out there. I have a list of batteries that feel exactly the same, graphed discharge loads, weights of the cells, IR, among other other things and now i know which batteries are manufactured by which companies (the BIG companies,the factories) through countless email and just using my eyeballs.

I have great respect for Hobbyking and how quickly they took hold of the battery market. That said, i do feel the quality of the packs they offer is less consistant than SMC, Thunder Power, Orion, and Trakpower. What i mean by that is if you buy 5 batts from Orion, they will feel more similar than 5 turnigy packs, sometimes by a very large amount. Personally once i figure out which pack suits me, i keep buying that same pack. So far SMC 5000mah 50c/40cs have been great for me depending on the class (higher C for 1/8th scale). I have a friend who has ran an SMC pack for over 3 years and it feels the same as a brand new gens ace a friend just bought. THAT is reliability.

The only thing we can be compared to is other US businesses. To compare us to an online shop in HK who doesn't play by the rules then we can't be compared to this.

In the end we can't please everyone and I guess for customers in other countries they can buy from HK if pricing is the only important thing to them.

If you want to compare SMC to other US online shops then do so as we are as competitive as anyone of them. For example 7000-100C-2S pack is 129.99 from A Main. Shipping is 46.99 for 2 packs. Give me 250.00 for 2 of our 7200-70C-2S packs and I will ship them UPS Express at that price free of charge.

I'm not complaining because I have nothing to complain about. I have already found a supplier which has great choice of products as well as great prices, so I couldn't be happier. I was just stating the facts about shipping costs because another European asked about it, and I told him what I know. It was Dan who decided to take a defensive stance.

As for international shipping in general... Like you americans like to say, your mileage may vary. AMain's cheapest international shipping is UPS Mail Innovations and costs $0.69 (though it only works for smaller packages). That gets a product to my door in approximately 8-10 business days. I love it, and consider AMain the best place to get spares, minor hop-ups, screws, and other hardware. I almost always buy RC cars from my local Norwegian shops because it costs about the same as what I would pay had I ordered from US. And for batteries there is no place like HobbyKing.

For those who think all Lipos are the same you may want to check out this thread I did last year. You may find it interesting and one of these packs is Hobby King.

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=362697

I've used both... nano techs are no where close to the same quality as the SMC packs.
You may not notice it as much in a low power setup like 1:10 buggy or ST but my 6.8lb SCT shows the true colors of a pack and the nanos just don't come close in comparison.

Placed my second order on 50c shorty's. Good packs so far!

I bought three 7200 packs a few weeks ago. It was an easy online experience with no issues what so ever and shipping was quick. And, the packs work great, for a great price. Online USA shopping as it should be.

Thanks

Jeff

i dont get why they would charge that much i just did the check from smc and it said 6 dollars for two batterys is that right cause if i have to pay more than that i would like to know i even put in my zip code.

Just ordered a set of the 7200mah packs this weekend. Now I guess I have to create an account on hobbytalk so I can really check out those graphs. Anyways look forward to trying out some of your packs.