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[pettyofficernick]

Here is an interesting article, apologies if this has been posted before.
How to spot a fake Futaba servo....
http://www.rcmodelreviews.com/fakefutabaservos.shtml

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

I've just rushed out to check my latest Chinese purchase of  4 Futaba servos.

......................   Guess what    ....................



They are FAKES as shown in your excellent article reference.


                                 




Ken

[pettyofficernick]

Hi Kenny, You could try threatening to expose the vendor to get your money back. I only found out because I have put a 40 meg Futaba radio on fleabay, I had the servo spare so I threw it in with the rest, within 12 hours of listing, I got a message saying it was a well known fake and a link to the article. I will have to go and buy a genuine one now to replace the fake one in the ebay listing......

[essex2visuvesi]

I checked my little stash of 3003s and they are fakes as well, even some purchased from a well known uk supplier!
Have to say tho, I have these servos fitted to most of the kids rc cars and they have so far given more than 2 years of trouble free service.
I remember selling a couple of spare servos on here some time ago 

[pettyofficernick]

According to the bloke who flagged this up, these servos are not consistent on centering, sometimes out by as much as 10 degrees. I have 2 of them in my Victoria, the regulator is fine, but, come to thinh of it, I do find myself constantly fiddling with the rudder trin, so poor quality control, or may be more than one manufacturer.....

[Netleyned]

I have a few and I replaced a burnt out genuine one
in my Marblehead two years ago.
No probs whatsoever and perfect centering.
As Nick says there may be more than one manufacturer
of these fakes.

Ned

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

Here's a picture of the real one on the left and the copy on the right, just so as you know what to look out for.

I shall not be pursuing a refund as it does actually work.

ken

[steamboatmodel]

I bought a brand new Futaba radio that has the ones shown on the right. Have had no problems with them.
Regards,
Gerald.

[tugmad]

Sorry Ken.  Cant tell if the one on the left is real or not as it has the mounting rubbers and grommets fitted.

[type82]

Thank you for sharing this i will check mine now

[inertia]

I wonder if the so-called "fake" servos are actually fakes after all. Futaba have many different factories in many different parts of the Far East. This being the case I think it's possible that Futaba themselves might be responsible for making different versions of the same servo; perhaps the cheaper versions are intended for the ready-built model market while others are for inclusion in their own branded sets or sold as individual units. It's only us fussy "proper" modellers who would appreciate or even notice the difference. It doesn't take much imagination to believe that some of the cheaper variety have crept out of the back door onto the market and are being sold as the expensive type or used to 'top up' where stocks of the expensive type are spent e.g. in that new set.
Alternatively it's possible that Futaba are changing over from one pattern to  the other and that both types are on the market at present.
If you're in the least bit concerned about performance or reliability then don't buy the budget standard servos at all; go for the slightly more expensive ball-raced S3004. I can also recommend these from Component Shop http://www.componentshop.co.uk/39g-twin-bearing-standard-servo.html  They're exactly the same price as the S3003 from Steve Webb and have twin ball races as standard.
DM

[phillnjack2]

well the article is a bit misleading.
I have bought several genuine futaba radios over the last 30 years and lots of the sets came with servos that have white shafts.
infact I don't think I have a black shaft on more than 4 servos and they are very old now.
futaba make expensive and also cheap sets of radio, my field force 7 came with the servos that have white shafts and are identical to those with a cheap 2 channel set I got a few months later.
when futaba was selling metal case radios maybe they were the black shafted ones ?
I do know that futaba have lots of radio sets made in china, Singapore, Taiwan and other far eastern countries under licence.
I think it depends where the radios are made as in colour of the shafts.
ive just looked and notice I have a Taiwan made futaba 3003 that is a good 20 year old and came with ripmax futaba set direct from their London factory.
the white shafts were not inferior in any way to the black ones and ive never had a problem with futaba servos, and believe me I have abused this stuff.
I have ripped sanwa servos and hitec and jr to bits, they have never been as solid and well built.

not all the white shaft servos are copies that's for sure, and even if they are, futaba only copied their stuff from uk stuff back in the 1970's anyway.
Futaba got popularity due to price dropping in about 1976 with their cheap plastic sets, their metal sets were too expensive..
Untill the medallion stuff came about the cheapest 2 channel radio was orange waltron and blue mcgreggor sets , even these came in metal cases.

so are the servos FAKE ? I don't know but I would buy a few if cheap enough and if I needed some.

[TheLongBuild]

In the press some years ago I am sure there was a case about a major retailer " Apprently " selling some clothing at a cheap price, with the brand name saying that they were fake as they were not produced for the UK Market, they were in fact legit but as they were produced for another country they were classed as fake.

[phillnjack2]

I think many items now days considered fake are like said above, meant to be for a different market.
we often hear people talk of cheap Chinese copy's, not realising the items are infact made in the same factory as the so called originals.

[tigertiger]

In Chinese factories, some OEM suppliers do make extra unapproved batches and sell them on cheap to the local market. However, the items are either identical in every respect, or may have labels changed.


If the item does not look the same physically, like the servos in the OP, they probably came out of a different factory and are not at all related to the original product.


Having said this, I see that I too have bought fake Futaba servos in China. One sail arm servo died, another regular servo is still going fine after 8 years.
From my experience, most Chinese stuff is now OK quality, probably better than the 1970s Made in Britain (being brutally honest). The issue is paying the brand premium for Futaba etc. when only getting lesser branded product, and you get no aftersales care.