|
This week we're going to have a little 'chat' about Estes. What is it with this company and how on earth do they manage to stay in business? Well, probably for the same reason eskimos eat whale blubber...because it's the only thing available at the artic buffet.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm not totally anti-Estes. In fact every rocket I have was manufactured by them. I just have a big problem with their attitude towards their customer base.
To start with, why is there no Estes home page on the web? If I have a problem with my kit or it's contents, I usually have to find help online from some other group or hobby shop.
You would think that a company that makes it's living selling rockets and rocketry supplies to the public and educators alike, would be interested in selling as many of them as possible. With Estes however, this does not seem to be the case.
Secondly, Estes RTF series of rockets are so often poorly built they only make one flight, which just so happens to be it's last as well. I bought three Quicksilver RTF's to test for this article and each of them fried the shock cord, leaving you with fins and body. Nose cones? Forget it - long gone. Major flaw from my point of view.
While the fact that 3 nose cones got lost, it doesn't bother me to replace them...after all, it's part of the hobby. My question though, is how many families have been turned off of the hobby because these RTF kits they picked, simply were built to a substandard level?
Estes should set the benchmark with their RTF kits - after all, if the people who design and build them can put out a solid well built product, wouldn't it stand to reason that the people who buy them would buy more? Saying that, families who enjoy a satisfying first flight experience are far more likely to go beyond the threshold of a simple RTF kit.
|
|
