I think that @smakmeharder is one person that would be able to review this and make a good comparison. He could do a build thread, examine the parts with reference to the Goblin parts in terms of quality and accurarcy, then give it the 300 beating flights. I think two weeks to get the kit, a night to build it, a week for 300 flights and we'd all know and have time to order one by Christmas if it's good. Sounds like a plan to me
Simon

 

Two weeks?? Oh, that's right, just a hop skip and jump across the Indian Ocean from China.

 

I like the quiet drive train. Definitely something to be said for belt drives.

 

LOL... yes @Beaver - no i feel for you actually... Have you considered buying another Gart locally at a slightly higher cost? One you can get withing a week or so? Your going to need spares regardless. And @simon i would bang the devil to see what it has in terms of reliability. Would need a few hundred flights for sure. But looking at the video these are my subjective observations....

1) The motor was bogging a bit and the rpm was not that high. Motor and speedy seem pretty average assuming a new pack.

2) The heli movement did not seem accurate (thought this could be due to the pilot) IE the ticktocks were going all over the place. Either pilot was new to the model or trying too hard. I dont know, it just did not seem to fly right. This would not be due to the frame/head, more than likely the electronics - ie the servos, gyro etc.

So yeah i would give it a go and provide as accruate feedback as possible. Would be interesting to try with the electronics provided..

 

You need to test it with the same electronics you fly in your 380 for a direct comparison - rule out the variables and be left with the kit -> then compare -> report -> conclusion . Given how we compare things we start with the H:0 that there is no significant difference between these kits (ie drawn from the same statistical distribution of attributes), if you can't prove that they are the same, then we accept H:1 (since we can't prove that they are the same, we accept the alternative hypothesis that there is a difference between the two). That's how we role. Almost worth approaching the company with your experimental design, I'm sure they would give you a kit for a fair and honest review - cheap publicity for them.
Simon

 

Given the two air frames are basically identical, I would expect the D380 to perform the same using the same electronics as on @smakmeharder's G380. I'm thinking the difference will be that the D380 wont survive the same 300+ hard smakings that @smakmeharder gave his G380 recently. I would wager that some flaw in the D380 would show itself before 150 smakings. (That's alot of smak!)

 

@simon says.. Clone kit with the same high end electronics!

To be honest.. There is not much that could wear out on this clone in my opinion. The plastic ball links, drive belts and bearings could be less reliable. And if you replace them in the beginning you spent a few dollars more.

The wierd flying style could come from the dude on the sticks. He is a clone of Kyle Stacy.

But there is only one way to find out. ...

 

Love it! Clone of kyle stacy... ha ha ...

 

Here's an interesting bit: it seems ALZRC might have actually made a few improvements. (Utrinque found it, I'm just sharing it)
http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_14463204532509&key=8a24c98a696b4e5723db293f62190b87&libId=igfhulon010004o4000MAqgtirbol&loc=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2013506&page=145#post33081384&v=1&out=http://www.helifreak.com/showpost.php?p=6712618&postcount=922&ref=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=33081226&title=Assault 700 DFC - Hobbyking's 700 size is HERE! - Page 145 - RC Groups&txt=http://www.helifreak.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=922

 

Nice find @Beaver !

Here is my take on the heli

380 Improvements
From an italian page I found some information about
Alzrc 380 improvements, compared with Goblin 380.
Some errors may come from translation from Italian.

Improvements:
1. Servo holder metal (in plastic on G380) (not good! Steel will break servos every time - i actually use thinner nylons - std bk horns to try and save gears in crash)
2. Carbon frame by 1.6mm (1.2mm on G380) IMO not needed becase frame is tough
3. Motor plate: 5 fixing points (4 points on 380 G) Dont know if thats better.
4. Tail Rotor Hub: overall split Dont know if thats better.
5. Main Linkage Rod Set: Turnbuckle is standard (good can make setup easier)
6. Canopy Mounting Bolt: Quick Release (screw on G380) (Definitely good)
7. Tail Boom: More rigid. Full carbon (is it real carbon? awesome if it is)
8. Gyro mount - metal. (no difference)

On the same page there is some price comparison, on spares:
SAB/Alzrc
Swashplate: 38/23 EURO Quality?
Pliers key: 36/24 EURO
Tree home: 13/6 EURO
Spindle head: 7/4 EURO
Side 23/13 EURO (SAB: 1.2mm Alzrc: 1.6mm) def good but weight?
Motor belt: 19/9 EURO The belts on the original are high quality. I wonder if these belts will do 400ish fights
Tail belt: 14/6 EURO

So some things are definitely good (IE carbon boom? - is it cheaper, stronger and lighter?) Some things are yet to be determined - ie the quality of some goods. So yes its a good find for sure. Thanks!..

 

The model will be plagued with many quality controls issues that will never be fixed. Cheap weak material's, Bad castings, horrible paint jobs, that will flake off, sloppy tolerances.. And all of this and more is already showing up on the net..

What i have found so far... Google translate from Asian sites doing build threads.

1: Blades quality, Poor. Very very flexible and weak and not well balanced.
2: Bent main and feathering shafts supplied in kits
3: Notchy bearings
4: Paint flaking off the canopy and booms
5: Splits , cracks and big chips in the canopy and booms
6: The belts they are using are really bad quality, the have the shiny outside surface, There have already been a few snap ! (there's $150 - $200 in repairs already, due to shiz materials)
7: Lumpy and distorted plastic parts, like the tail servo mounting tray
8: The pitch arm that come off the main grip's several issues,with fitment and alignment, some don't even have thread in the screw holes
9: The main plate that the servo mounts screw to , one was distorted, Twisted... And several others have had holes missing, so you cant screw the frame on, one even had screws broken off in the holes that where there, COME ON , REALLY !!!
10: Sloppy shiz tail , fitment is off, slider is grabbing badly on the tail shaft, screws failing and the whole tail is flying off.
11: Blots stripping in the cast aluminum parts and screw heads breaking off with little pressure applied
12: after 20 or so flights, there is a lot of slop creeping into all the parts, (I expected this)

There is more, but after a few days of reading i cant remember it all, stupid shiz like main gears not running true and being out of round and lots of vibration issues.

My main gripe from day one has been the cast aluminum parts, The Matt finish is indicative of this, You can get a Matt finish on CNC machined also , But casting is cheaper and you can see from pictures of broken parts floating around on the Asian forums that the material is very porous. The grain structure of casting parts is crappy. All billet steel or aluminum you buy has been rolled, meaning it's been cold-worked. Without getting into the particulars, this increases the yield strength. You'll never get that grain refinement in a cast part. Hence cast parts are cheap, weak and do not have the correct tolerance or hold the tolerance for this application.

Why would you buy this shiz .... Sure SAB and most other RC Heli manufactures have there stuff made in Vietnam, BUT it's made by iso accredited supplies who just do things right and use quality materials, with CNC MACHINING, Hence you pay what you should do for good quality materials..

Final thoughts, I have an award for the DEvil 380 :

 

Apply liberally to effected areas !!!!

 

Hmmmm another view. Maybe its an asian SAB importer writing the reviews? But yes i noticed the tiny pits as well on the blade grips. But what about the true carbon boom?

 

There true carbon = composite glass fiber weave ... same as stock 380 unless you buy the real carbon boom

 

They even CLONE chairs by the looks !!

 

Careful...

Confucius say.... Man who make big dent in chair may also make big dent in body! Maybe thats the clone engineers chair!

 

There are other videos of it, the posted is rubbish. It looks no diff in the air than the real biscuit

 

Could be! There is only one way of really knowing...... Buy one @joffa13

 

Lol.. buy one then and prove me wrong

 

with your glowing passion about clones I believe you should prove yourself wrong / right lol.