In 2001, I was part of a purchase of an Ikarus Bleriot III and related kit from Hobby-Lobby. The kit, which was put together by Hobby Lobby, contained a battery pack in a bad configuration (the batteries were in a squarish block but they should have been all in a row). We dealt with it, but it sucked.
I received a Zagi 400x and radio set from Atlanta Hobby in 2002. The motor had it's wires attached incorrectly from the Zagi factory. Cliff from Atlanta Hobby was -very- quick and friendly when resolving the problem.
In May 2003 I bought an Astro 110D charger from Atlanta Hobby. It was performing a little strangely so I wrote to Cliff. He very quickly spoke with the manufacturer and got back to me with an answer to my question.
The Atlanta Hobby website and all my communications there have been very personable. :-)
I've been into Kenvil Hobbies a few times and bought a couple things. The owner is nice, he stocks a wide array of products, and although he's not into flying himself (and doesn't know that merchandise completely), he's good in my book. My local hobby shop! :-)
I bought a set of 4 4amp/hr 6 volt batteries for my UPS from Battery Mart in May 2003. They were cheap, shipping was very reasonable and the batteries are good.
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I've been thinking about getting a lead-acid battery electronic desulfater. It sounded a bit like voodoo or fodder for a late-night infomercial so I asked around for a review. I got back this very positive response from one person about the Powerpulse. (he asked that I edit out his name and company)
Hi,Lee,
Several years ago I persuaded the company to donate a set of the units to the
Science Museum of [removed] for use in our electric car, but they never got
installed. A couple of years later, the car's new batteries sat unused and
uncharged for about a year, and got pretty badly sulfated. We then installed the
PowerPulse units and charged the batteries and checked them for capacity -- the
car's range was about 10 miles. A week later the batteries would support a range
of about 30 miles, and a couple of weeks after that they seemed to be back to
full capacity. So I think the units work. It does seem like hocus-pocus to some
folks, but I believe the theory of their function is logical.
Hope that helps.
Regards, Bob [removed], Science Museum of [removed]