We do all of our own electronic and mechanical design. This case design---tub with the HS screwed into place---is extremely rugged and we designed a seal that makes it water resistant.

No wonder they copied it---these clone makers have no shame about knocking off American proprietary ideas. We design and mfg our products here in CA---no Chinese company is licensed to use our designs.

Our customers love our Trade-In programs, so we receive a lot of items back for upgrade. Over the years, we have noticed that many racers purchasing used equipment through Ebay, etc, were unhappy when their electronics were defective.

We figured that many racers would prefer to buy factory-RMF items with new warranties from us than take a chance with used stuff. So our RMF system is a win-win---we can recycle returned items and Novak customers get a good deal!

Dude I am so applauding this post!!you just described my situation to a T..My income has decreased by 40% over the last 5-6 years, and on top of that I have 2 other racers being supported by my budget as both my boys are now racing too.I started investigating the cost effective electronics just due to my budget constraints.Not saying there better than the big names, but they are just as competitive at a club level.I am 1st in points in buggy and my oldest is 3rd in points in mod sc at our club track.We are doing it with rigs that cost in whole less than most of the guys we are running against spend on a radio alone.Without products like Gens Ace li-pos, hobbywing speedos, tacon motors,and flysky radios there is no way I would be able to support the race budget of 3 people on my now reduced wages.So without them there is no way at this time I could continue to enjoy the hobby I have loved for 26 yrs now.

I believe that purchasing American-made products actually costs the racer less over the lifetime of the product. The initial price you pay for a Chinese knock-off may by less than purchasing---for example---a Novak controller. But here is a scenario:

You have a Novak GTB purchased 2years ago--the wires are messed up and something seems to be wrong. You can Trade it in (anytime) for our newest version, a GTB2 with many cool, new features: price $59. Can you keep replacing your clone with newly-designed escs for a Lifetime?

If you don't want the GTB2, you can exchange for any other Novak esc you want. Can you send back your clone and pick out a completely different controller?

Same with our BL motors; if you bought the wrong wind ( or want to change events), you could either return it for trade or exchange or you could buy a new wound stator and transform it yourself. If you have an old SS Pro, you can get a Ballistic---any size or wind in exchange. Does your clone motor MFG give you an option to swap out your motor for newer versions whenever you want?

Over the lifetime of your item, purchasing a Novak product would be your thriftiest option always allowing you to exchange into our newest products at a significantly reduced price.

Good point. One could buy and old kit and trade in the old electronics. Its a great loyalty program. I'm surprised more manufacturers don't cash in on this idea. I wish LRP would do that.

Programs like ours---both the Trade-Ins and RMF store---require a great deal of management skill and over-sight. We must have each, and every item offered in these programs available at all times.

It is only because we manufacture everything here, that we have all components and sub-assemblies available to maintain the necessary inventories and fulfill orders in 5-7 working days. If we had to wait for "that slow boat from China", we couldn't offer either benefit.

We believe that this offers our customers tremendous advantages over other companies; so, we have maintained various versions of these programs for many years. In addition, we have a fully staffed (and well informed) customer service and tech support group to help our customers with their questions.

PS: I would have to challenge the "cashing in" part....

been running the hk 100a a while now, no issues once i got the program card.

Thank you, I am having a browse. I kind of assumed American even if it didn't register in my head. What counts is support, not nationality... the world is round. You came back to the thread and opened a dialogue, that says a lot.

Sorry I was short.

bit late , i'm using 1.37 , works a treat

Cloned nothing, I've had both on the bench and opened them both up, besides the stickers and heatsink colors, they are the same down to the conformal coating on the pcb.

To be fair to Novak, my first brushless combo was a GTB and Velocity 5.5 took it out first run the sensor wire broke at the plug (before the sensor wires were separate units) I recall the store owner having to fight tooth and nail with the distributor (or at least thats what they told me) in Australia to get it warrantied, it took 3 weeks for them to begrudgingly give me one by which time I'd gone back to a brushed set up. That was 4 or 5 years ago and since that experience I have not bought a Novak item since.

I had basically the same thing happen, but in my case the store owner was a close personal friend. Have never bought Novak since.

That ESC is manufactured by ZTW and has been available for 4-5 years now. My guess would be ZTW manufactured the speedo's for SP and HK.

Can u post a link

We make all of our escs here in California---no Chinese mfg is licensed to re-produce our products regardless of what you say. We do not purchase either Brushless motors or any of our controllers from Chinese manufacturers.

We handle all warranty and non-warranty service directly with the customer. I have been a member of this forum for 6 years assisting our customers whenever they need help or have questions. Novak also has a full customer service and tech support department.

Whenever i have contemporaneous information, I can respond to any issues that arise. I apologize for any of the past incidents mentioned above, but we could have quickly resolved them if we were contacted directly for assistance. We have no control over the day-to-day policies and procedures of international distributors, but when problems are called to our attention we can intervene and make sure that our warranties are enforced.