Don't Support MEPSKING
And how not to run a new company
I usually don’t have a strong opinion on these things, let alone post it publically. Covering stuff like this will at best just come off as cheap and kinda trashy, at worst it will just lead to more drama and possibly even give the described party more publicity.
But this hit awfully close to home for me, I’ve talked about it before here and there, and I want to put all the sources and info together into this article, to hopefully let people know. Sorry if it’s a bit long, but I want to be as thorough as possible.
Who is MEPSKING?
MEPSKING is a relatively new manufacturer, making one of their first appearances on Instagram on the 6th of December 2022, releasing their first product, a line of 2207 motors just three days later. They have since expanded to tinywhoop and macro quad motors, as well as FC and ESC electronics and props.
On 22nd December, a (seemingly) ex-employee of T-Motor announced on Facebook that he is now operating MEPSKING. So we can speculate that they likely have some of the same people working on their products, possibly having some of the same IP, and maybe even using the same factories.
How did I come across them?
This is where most of my personal experience began. Around the first week of March, someone in a Discord server posted a pic of their newly built quad, and I noticed some motors that I have never seen before. I asked about the motors and found out that they were made by MEPSKING. I write about new products here on this site, and it seemed like a good opportunity to write about something new, so I and some others tried to look them up.
I finally got a hold of their website and had a look around. Poking fun at the person who posted the build for selling out when I basically immediately found multiple pages describing different marketing advances like affiliate programs, free “review” units for an “influencer program”, and sponsorship stuff.
Just as an aside, I found it very amusing that the influencer page was just made entirely of images. What a web design nightmare right there.
Of course who wouldn’t mind free motors? This very site has a large enough audience to be considered under their program. I almost applied, but I decided to look around a bit more first.
Their content
Apart from their main site which is pretty much just a store page, they also have a forum and blog:
Forum
At first glance it just looked like any other forum, just a bit odd for a hardware manufacturer to run a forum. The posts were a bit odd, mostly just random questions about unrelated products and some user posts that just screamed “AI-Generated”. Just a little weird. Also for some reason, there is a category called “Female Pilots” which is kinda weird, and I mean just look at it!
Forum aside, it’s just kinda weird and lacking in moderation. Generally not a big deal.
Blog
This is where things get a bit more interesting. The blog features articles that are more than likely “official” posts - written by employees, and presented as official company statements, announcements, and tutorials. I’ll list all the articles in the order they were posted, and then go through the offending ones one by one.
Stolen Content
F1, F3, G4, F4, F7 And H7 Flight Controller
- Link
- Archive
- Original: ProFPV - MCU полетного контроллера, разновидности: F1, F3, G4, F4, F7 и H7
- Original posted on 6.10.2021
- MEPS posted on 23.3.2023 by “Byron”
Literally the first article, and already an insight into what’s to come. The excerpt shown is written in Russian, and the entire article seems to be a direct translation of the original source, a Russian FPV site. Pictured is the excerpt shown on the blog, and a comparison between the two articles, one translated by DeepL giving basically the same exact result as the MEPSKING article:
So we have a first article that is just a direct translation of another article, and it’s not even credited. Not a great start.
What is FPV VTX
Here we have an article written by the official MEPS account for their blog site. It’s a direct copy of the WikiFPV article. And when I say direct, I mean that the links in the MEPS article are still linking to the WikiFPV site. Like come on at least steal properly 🙄.
What is FPV Radios
Same thing as the previous article, just a direct copy of the WikiFPV article. Again, the links are still navigating to the WikiFPV site. It’s embarrassing at this point.
What is FPV Motors
I’ll give them some credit here, they at least bothered to change the images, and added their own motor specs… But it is still a copy of the WikiFPV article. No links to the original article this time, but still no crediting.
How To Build A 6S FPV Racing Drone
- Link
- Archive
- Original: RotorBuilds - TransTEC Laser S - How to build a 6S FPV Racer - by Whiffles
- Original posted on 31.5.2019
- MEPS posted on 27.3.2023 by “Luis”
Here we get into an interesting situation. This article is still copied word for word from the RotorBuilds Build. But they do have a little thing at the bottom of the article:
Note: This article is from RotorBulids
This was not originally there. I sadly didn’t think to make an archive page back then, I didn’t even think it would go this far. But why would they all of a sudden start “crediting” the original source (even though it’s basically useless)?
Because this is one of the articles I publically called them out on! You can see the comment and their reply in this Reddit thread. I mentioned only some of the articles they copied, not giving them an easy way out. If you don’t want to read the whole thread, here’s their reply:
We apologize for any inconvenience caused by our blog content. We understand and respect the time and effort that independent creators put into their articles, and we are sorry if it appears that we have copied their work without permission or credit. We will investigate this matter thoroughly and if necessary, we will take down any articles that are found to be infringing on others’ intellectual property rights. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
They claim that the articles would be taken down if they were found to be copied. But they are still up, just a single line of credit to no one in particular.
How To Build A FPV Freestyle Drone
- Link
- Archive
- Original: RotorBuilds - Wizard Killer X220HV Mark IV - 6S Freestyle on a Budget - by Whiffles
- Original posted on 17.4.2019
- MEPS posted on 27.3.2023 by “Luis”
Pretty much the same thing as the previous article, just re-purposing an even older source. But this time they went as far as to put words into the original author’s mouth - they replaced the recommended motors with their own:
Original:
Here are some of the improvements:
- Higher quality EMAX ECO 2306 1700kv motors
- Foxeer’s top-of-the-line Falkor mini camera
- Eachine 25mw-1000mw Leaf VTX with microphone
MEPS:
Here are some of the improvements:
- Higher quality MEPSKING SZ 2306 1750kv motors
- Foxeer’s top-of-the-line Falkor mini camera
- Eachine 25mw-1000mw Leaf VTX with microphone
Like it’s one thing to copy the entire article, but to change the original author’s recommendations to your own is just way worse. They know damn well what they are doing.
3″ Build Naked Vista, Super-Low Filters
- Link
- Archive
- Original: RotorBuilds - Li’l Grim Reaper SR — 4S, 3” Build - Naked Vista, super-low filters - by MamaJOE
- Original posted on 11.1.2023
- MEPS posted on 27.3.2023 by “Luis”
The same thing, they just removed the original author’s video showcase.
Radiomaster Zorro Max: Facelift or True Upgrade?
- Link
- Archive
- Original: FirstQuadcopter - Radiomaster Zorro Max: Facelift or True Upgrade?
- Original posted on 17.3.2023
- MEPS posted on 28.3.2023 by “Luis”
This is a weird middle ground. FirstQuadcopter is apparently a MEPSKING partner. MEPS has copied other articles from their site as well. But those were posted by people within the FirstQuadcopter staff. So I’ll assume they got official permission for that, even though there was no credit given. But the original article that they copied here was written by a seemingly third-party author posting on FirstQuadcopter. Doubt they got permission for this one.
AI and Misinformation
After I called them out on copying other articles, it seemed like they were writing their own articles for a while. But after looking through their recent ones, some are most likely just AI generated… and they don’t even check if it’s correct! On more than one occasion, the articles contain wrong info that can lead to people damaging their hardware, and spending over $800 on incompatible parts.
What’s Best FPV Drone Simulator for Beginner 2023
The article lists different simulators, with mostly accurate, subjective, and maybe questionable info. But of course, it’s not without obvious flaws:
Betaflight Simulator:
- Pros: A free FPV drone simulator with stable performance and a realistic physics simulation engine. Offers a wide selection of aircraft and scenarios, allowing users to practice and test basic flights.
- Cons: Graphics are relatively rudimentary, not as high quality as other high-end simulators with high-quality graphics and scenarios. Limited to basic flight practice and testing, lacks the variety of flight scenarios and drone options of other high-end simulators. Does not offer multiplayer online games.
There is no such thing as a “Betaflight Simulator”. The closest thing that may even come close would be SITL (Software In The Loop) is a system to simulate crafts without real hardware. It’s generally only used for development.
Best FPV Goggles 2023 Buyer’s Guide
On the surface this article already stands out, just by having a semblance of structure, and actually good English. It may look ok at first, but then we see things like:
brands such as Orqa, Skyzone, Eachine and Caddx have made some progress in the digital FPV field, offering some more affordable digital FPV Goggles products.
To my knowledge, Eachine and Skyzone have no digital FPV products of their own.
Currently, the HDZero series HDZero Explorer also supports direct connection to the DJI O3 Digital Graphic Air Unit.
HDZero doesn’t have any goggles named “Explorer”, and they DEFINITELY don’t work with DJI O3.
[Analog] is more resistant to signal interference and distortion, making it more reliable than digital systems in some scenarios with harsher environments.
Interference is much more noticeable on analog systems, DJI and Walksnail systems handle interference much better.
[Analog] Can generally only operate one UAV on the same frequency band, so it is not possible to control multiple UAVs at the same time.
Analog video allows multiple pilots in the air, generally even more than most digital systems do.
Digital systems use digital signals to transmit video and audio signals, which are less sensitive to signal interference and loss and have higher immunity to interference.
[Digital has] Lower resistance to signal interference and distortion, and therefore more prone to problems than analog systems in some scenarios with harsher environments.
Not more than 3 sentences apart, they contradict themselves.
Recommended model: HDZero Explorer: This product has a screen resolution of 1280×960, is equipped with a 5.8GHz digital receiver, and supports DJI digital map transmission.
Again, there are no “HDZero Explorer” goggles. The regular HDZero goggles have 1920x1080 screens, and they don’t have anything to do with DJI. Also, no idea what “digital map transmission” is.
[DJI goggles pros:] Video signal can be output through HDMI interface, which can be connected to external monitors for viewing.
DJI goggles don’t have an HDMI output.
Overall, the straight-up misinformation in this article is just insane and can lead to over $800 in wasted money just from their claimed compatibility.
How to Pick the Best 5inch FPV Racing Drone Kit
Not a lot in here, I’ll just point out this:
When referring to a 5″ fpv racing drone, it is usually referring to a small drone with a frame size of 5 inches (approximately 127mm)
5″ (motor-to-motor distance) racing drone usually use an X-axis frame, and they usually weigh between 250 grams and 400 grams, depending on the components and configuration used
5” refers to the propeller size, not the frame size. 5” frames are usually 220-250mm motor to motor. 127mm is a 3” frame. This is basic stuff, come on.
Influencer Contracts
Recently, this video from Chris Rosser has gotten a lot of feedback about how MEPSKING handles the contract work with influencers and all the different things they require. I talked to multiple people who have received this contract, and they all had similar experiences:
- The creator is to provide MEPS with the review media before release
- MEPS requests the right to influence the content of the review
- The creator cannot post the piece of media without approval from MEPS
- The creator cannot “damage the reputation” - the review must be positive
- MEPS would own of the rights to the review media
And these are only some of the different requirements. Overall, it’s seemingly very restritve compared to most other maufacturers I’ve seen.
Conclusion
In over 4 years of being in the hobby, I haven’t ever seen a company that is so blatant in their attempts to copy, steal, and just not care about the actual community. I have been managing this site for over 2 years now, writing a lot of educational content out of my own time and wallet. It just hits really hard, as I know how much work goes into making content like this. And to see it stolen for SEO and false advertising really sucks.
There are good ways to operate as a new manufacturer, there’s no need for any of this. There are other brands that were once in the same situation as MEPS - AxisFlying and FlyFish immediately come to mind. Axis split from T-Motor much like MEPS did, and FlyFish has at least one person from iFlight.
But both of these companies went with a much “calmer” approach, and now at this point, they’re both pretty well known and have a good reputation. The actual hardware that MEPS is making seems to be at least somewhat ok, as seen in Chris’ video. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, I’m sure they could’ve gotten a lot of traction if they just went with a more honest approach.
What can we do?
As I just said above… word of mouth can be very powerful. They clearly care at least a little bit, since they did make a little change (as insignificant as it may be) when I called them out. If we can get actual attention to this, maybe they’ll actually do something about it, and fix their ways. But I hope this stays as a warning to other companies, that this is not the way to go. Be genuine with what you’re doing, and you’ll get a lot more respect from the community.