I actually enjoy getting all the spam emails from Aliexpress. They show all sorts of weird things - electronic, mechanical, spare parts, sex toys, trinkets, household gadgets. I often see things that I cannot identify and I click on the item to find out what the heck it is. What I learned
- the Chinese are not afraid to make something, no matter how crazy.
- documentation and descriptions are not a strong point and are often funny
- the price of some stuff is incredibly low, how do they do it?
- they are definitely the manufacturer to the world

Hi Lew to go full circle, I visit Australia for 5/6 weeks Feb/March time to see our son and it is also my annual holiday. As you say the news is done reasonably well but there are so many adverts!!!!

I am afraid Planet America was our favourite program and the Oz take on it. Otherwise the entertainment TV was zilch.

I should also add I have a few younger family members (via my wife) in the Vancouver area, so interested in Canada as well.

all the best,
Roy

Way to go Roy😁🇨🇦

It’s interesting how many of us Canadians liked your comment.

Roy we also watch CNN balanced with the BBC. The journalists have excellent learned guests on their programs and commentary following.

Well I always try to buy British where I can - if you don’t the retailers will disappear completely.

For speed controllers I always use mtroniks - excellent bits of kit and are only manufactured just down the road - on the rare occasion on goes uk I ring them up and a new one arrives next day

As regards quality I believe you get what you pay for but my biggest gripe about AliExpress is delivery time - I ordered batteries and they literally took 3 months to arrive to me that is totally unexceptable

Roy, It looks like you watch the same CNN based on the names you listed. I supposed we both have different wiews politically. That's OK, we do have similar views on model boats.
We actually enjoy watching Skynews from Australia. Wow, talk about news for your own country coming from another part of the earth!
Lew

Hi Lew further to views on world events, I get CNN on my TV i/p they are 7 hours behind us in time so it is late night for me. Also their daily emails. The newscasters and pundits seem to have a very balanced view in general although 'you know who' is dominating the agenda for many reasons.
I also look forward to the US elections to see what happens next. I like Wolf Blltzer, Kaitlan Collins, Erin Burnet and Abby Phillips, all competent interviewers and presenters.

What is definitely needed in US Politics is the likes of our late 'Screaming Lord Such' a clown who kept us laughing during our elections. Our No. 3 party adopted his mantle with doing daft things and doubled the number of members of Parliament from last time.
Roy

Hi Pat, I use Aliexpress, I look for what I want and then the other offers included. The arrival time often ties in with the price with the cheaper the price the longer delay. Never been disappointed with the transactions and a bit of planning ahead often pays off.
I thought I would feel guilty buying from China, but buying in the UK often involves purchasing imports from the same.

I used to design (in a small way) my own electronic circuits and buy kits for assembly, but now it is not worth my while in time apart from cost! I use esc's for about 25 Watts, 4 - 8 volts which cost less that £2 each. I could spend 20 times that amount for a similar UK made one, but why would I?

I still have my go-to shops like Components Shop, Howes of Oxford and a few more and if they have what I want, I buy.

I did buy 32 off NiMh cells from Aliexpress but at 4/5ths sub-C 2800mAh, they are not available here. They are good and reliable as well. This makes use of my newly purchased mini-welder and of course battery wrap, still getting the hang of this!

My experience is good and their reputation for me is excellent.

Roy

Thanks to both of you. I agree with you Roy about world problems. Too much bad stuff going on. I always look at your interesting posts in this hobby that we both enjoy.
Lew

Apologies if I got hold of the wrong end of the stick !!!

Sorry Lew, I agree it is presumtuous to have critical views of another country I apologise. We have our own problems in the UK which I accept as similar populist politicians can so easily call the narrative.

Roy

I was talking about Roy's comments, which surprised me.
Lew

Thought we were talking about the performance of a retailer - does not matter what country he comes from - either he is excellent - just OK or bloody crap - what's wrong with saying it as it is.

I would hope politics would not be mentioned again ont this site, even much less than criticism of another country. I have much to say about other countries as well as defending my own.
Lew
USA 😍

Its the prolonged delivery time that I find frustrating, also I see on some items the expected delivery time has changed to expected dispatch time.

I think two weeks is excessive to wait for a product that you find you need urgently but for a few products I have had to wait months.

Hi Whittonm, all rather sad with the current US administration. I was looking at an article making a good case for the 10 US states that border Canada who share like thinking people apart from families from both sides of the border, to secede from the USA.
I think if one state went many would follow, but is there any legal reason why they should stay with the USA?

The refineries in the USA are adapted to use the exported oil from Canada and could not easily buy similar from the rest of the world. I gather Cananda is already sourcing new markets for their oil which could really hit the USA or more particularly POTUS!

On the East side, New York etc rely almost entirely for electrical power from Canada and as Mark Carny says he is in a position to turn out Trumps lights if need arises at any time.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
Roy

I have bought things from Ali Express in the past and now find my inbox bombarded with so called special offers from them.

What annoys me the most is that their mail shot pictures things that they have obviously targeted towards things that interest me and have very tempting prices - but when I click on them to find out more, the price has INCREASED and is higher than the mail shot price,

Also, many items that are advertised as being POST FREE suddenly gain postage costs during check-out - and sometimes these are quite a substantial percentage of the purchase price.

They also can be quilty of not being too accurate or clear about small parts quantities. I have bought 10 pairs of gold connectors - and received only one pair ! Again not a unique experience.

I have found the need to be very ALERT when buying from Ali Express, but for all their problems and faults, as long as I check everything (every detail) at least twice, and also check their various suppliers of the same products (they often have a choice of the same products at different prices) some good prices can be found.

All this takes a lot more time than it should - if we still had a good choice of model shops to buy from here in the UK, I would rather support them and pay a little extra...... but we don’t, so sometimes (when I have a lot of time to spare) I will venture into the world of Ali Express and hope it works out OK.

Pat

I feel the same way about shopping but we are in the minority, most people want to have stuff delivered to their doors
A sad state for the small independent shops

Ed ☹️

Out of choice I prefer to go in a shop and browse for what I want unfortunately the vast majority of model shops have closed in the uk

I am in Canada and use them for small stuff and difficult to source pieces. Prices seem a little higher but its hard to tell because you have so many vendors selling the same thing. Delivery is quite fast (1-2 weeks) as they seem to have set up some kind of local delivery service in my city. I have stopped sourcing anything from the USA as they are waging economic war to absorb Canada - this is clearly stated by Trump.