Sonor Safari Discontinued???

You'll get no argument from me there. I like my 18" kick a lot, and think I would most likely prefer it over a 16". And someone could drop a tom if they just have to have a 4 piece.

But it seems a fair amount of people think the Safari was just right, exactly the way it was.

There's also a price difference from about $340usd to about $499usd - not that that would be a big big deal breaker for most people.

I hear you on the 18". You are right.

About the price.. Let me ask you Bill. If you sell a brand new 12" tom, and ALL hardware, boom, cymbal, snare stand, hi hat , pedal. How much you think you would make off of all this brand new equipment. ???

Get it ?
 
Oops.. did not notice..... They even throw in that $80 Sonor drum throne with the 18" Force Kit.
 
... About the price.. Let me ask you Bill. If you sell a brand new 12" tom, and ALL hardware, boom, cymbal, snare stand, hi hat , pedal. How much you think you would make off of all this brand new equipment. ??? ...


Around these parts - very little. The market is pretty saturated.

But I understand what you're saying.

Another way to look at it, would be if you bought a 4 piece shell pack like the Safari, then how much extra does it cost to deck it out with those pieces you mentioned.
 
But I understand what you're saying.

Another way to look at it, would be if you bought a 4 piece shell pack like the Safari, then how much extra does it cost to deck it out with those pieces you mentioned.

Yeah exactly... and then you have that cool double braced throne also.
 
Lots of different aspects to it. And lots of alternatives. But whether or not that's the way someone would go, I guess the point is that a lot of people think the Safari is hot stuff.
And there's little denying that at that price, it's a pretty good deal.

It's a nice starter for someone just getting in. It makes a good 2nd (or 3rd or whatever) kit. It'd make a good practice kit, it's ideal for small venue gigs, and it would probably be pretty easy to convert to an e-kit if that's someone's interest.

And it serves a definite purpose in that it's small, compact, easy to transport, and probably sounds pretty good. On that last part, I can't say, because I haven't played one.
But I'm betting that tuned up, with good heads, it probably sounds real decent.

So it seems a shame if it's discontinued. Why mess with a good thing?
 
Sorry Guys, The Smart Force replacement just doesn't cut it for me.
Here is why,
No 16 x16 bass drum with really cool riser, spurs, and claws.
No Black Galaxy wrap! :(
I liked the 4 piece configuration with 8 x 10 hi tom and the 12 x 14 floor tom and the 5 x14 snare.
I put Gibraltar wood hoops on the snare and I grew to really like it.
I bought a Sonor 100 series hardware pack for mine for $150 USD so that my anal retentive brain would have everything matching.
I even bought Humes and Berg Galaxy bags for the kit.
My Safari is perfect just the way that it is.

The Safari kit is as cute as a button as they say.
 
I think I can come to terms if both the Safari and Bop are discontinued. If you look at the. Ew offerings from Sonor, they changed the lug design for 2012 as is evident with their Session and Arena kits, and that new little kit has the new lugs too, so it would make sense just to keeps the parts in order. Perhaps it might be ironic that maybe doesn't want to sell too many of their imports when they have their three big lines to sell, with the two big lines from Germany.
 
I can't see the difference in the lugs on the Smart Force kit Bo.
The lugs on the Safari are perfect, they even have the anti loosening feature.
 
Yes I also agree about the 18" bass drums, I love 18's, I have three...but as everyone is also saying, the Safari was perfect just the way it was...for less than $340!
There are plenty of other decent bop kits ( with 18" bass drums ) for little money out there.
But wow , that little 5 pc Force kit with all the hardware - that's a great deal!

Bo is eluding to lug designs- when my Canadian dealer told me the Safari kit was discontinued, one of the reasons he cited was that Sonor is wanting to phase out the older Safari/Force 500 style lugs and standardize the new lug look across the lIne,
not to mention saving manufacturing costs by standardizing one set of molds - don't know if I buy that, but I can see wanting the unified lugs as a branding thing.

Another thing , I bet the Safari kits were canniballizing sales of Jungle kits!
 
I have been noticing that some online retailers are claiming that these kits are "out of stock" and due in by X date.
I have also noticed that they are still on Sonor USAs webpage.
 
I just received my Safari today.. Was so looking forward to this.. kind of let down.

the kit came, as you may know in one large rectangular shaped box. the packing job was atrocious. The rack tom was packed in a plastic bag but left to flop around inside the bass drum causing 2 deep gouges in the inside of the kick drum shell. There were no spurs, no riser, no tension rods or claws in the box!
the edges are horrid! uneven in spots and very rough with glue oozing in areas.. just bad. The natural wrap finish is very cheap and textured feeling. Shelf contact paper would be an improvement.! The badge on the kick drum is also screwed on crooked.

I am not sure what wood this kit is made out of looking at the edges it looks to be some real crap mystery lumber.
My worst fears came to realization with this kit.. I think its going back tomorrow.

To this end, I say good riddance to Safari!
 
Just an on-topic update of sorts:

1) Natural is discontinued and there is no stock left at the US Sonor distributor

2) There is lots of Black Galaxy Sparkle available at the distributor, but it's not clear whether this is being discontinued or not.
 
I just received my Safari today.. Was so looking forward to this.. kind of let down.

the kit came, as you may know in one large rectangular shaped box. the packing job was atrocious. The rack tom was packed in a plastic bag but left to flop around inside the bass drum causing 2 deep gouges in the inside of the kick drum shell. There were no spurs, no riser, no tension rods or claws in the box!
the edges are horrid! uneven in spots and very rough with glue oozing in areas.. just bad. The natural wrap finish is very cheap and textured feeling. Shelf contact paper would be an improvement.! The badge on the kick drum is also screwed on crooked.

I am not sure what wood this kit is made out of looking at the edges it looks to be some real crap mystery lumber.
My worst fears came to realization with this kit.. I think its going back tomorrow.

To this end, I say good riddance to Safari!
What happened to you is that there were no more natural finish kits left so you got the bottom of the barrel.
They wrapped up what they had and they sent it out.
They shouldn't have done that.
 
I just received my Safari today.. Was so looking forward to this.. kind of let down.

the kit came, as you may know in one large rectangular shaped box. the packing job was atrocious. The rack tom was packed in a plastic bag but left to flop around inside the bass drum causing 2 deep gouges in the inside of the kick drum shell. There were no spurs, no riser, no tension rods or claws in the box!
the edges are horrid! uneven in spots and very rough with glue oozing in areas.. just bad. The natural wrap finish is very cheap and textured feeling. Shelf contact paper would be an improvement.! The badge on the kick drum is also screwed on crooked.

I am not sure what wood this kit is made out of looking at the edges it looks to be some real crap mystery lumber.
My worst fears came to realization with this kit.. I think its going back tomorrow.

To this end, I say good riddance to Safari!

Ha ! That's what you get Pearly !!!! Just kidding. Look.. call KHS/Mapex and ask WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON ??

Also.. you should go ahead and get the updated Smart Force with the 18" kick.. These feature the NEW UPDATED 100% Poplar shells.
 
I just received my Safari today.. Was so looking forward to this.. kind of let down.

the kit came, as you may know in one large rectangular shaped box. the packing job was atrocious. The rack tom was packed in a plastic bag but left to flop around inside the bass drum causing 2 deep gouges in the inside of the kick drum shell. There were no spurs, no riser, no tension rods or claws in the box!
the edges are horrid! uneven in spots and very rough with glue oozing in areas.. just bad. The natural wrap finish is very cheap and textured feeling. Shelf contact paper would be an improvement.! The badge on the kick drum is also screwed on crooked.

I am not sure what wood this kit is made out of looking at the edges it looks to be some real crap mystery lumber.
My worst fears came to realization with this kit.. I think its going back tomorrow.

To this end, I say good riddance to Safari!

Yikes,sorry to hear that Pearly - that's not good and certainly not a common experience with these kits (guys?). I had a rubber foot missing and a missing wing nut on the kit I had ordered but that was because it was a demo kit and/or wasn't packed up properly - my local dealer gave me the missing parts.
 
What happened to you is that there were no more natural finish kits left so you got the bottom of the barrel.
They wrapped up what they had and they sent it out.
They shouldn't have done that.
That is indeed exactly what they did to me! I called the store I had the kit shipped from this morning and the drum dept. mgr. swears that Sonor was letting these kits be shipped from the KHS factory with little or no padding between shells and potential projectiles inside the box. I didn't buy it for a second. I asked the dude what the packing peanuts were all about and he tells me that story. So where was the hardware for the kick drum??
He says they opened the box in the warehouse just to make sure everything was intact before they shipped it and forgot to put the little box with the kick claws, rods, spurs and riser back in. I pretty much demanded my money back. I was being cool about this because as we know, the squeaky wheel ain't always gonna get greased. Then dude tells me that I will be responsible for return shipping!!!??? I told him that it was their shoddy pack job and his misrepresentation of what I was getting that caused the damage and my now growing anger. I kept it cool, still..as is my nature. Not the case with the wife who had overheard the conversation (ain't wives amazing that way?) She blew a gasket! Kept trying to get me to 'let her talk to this @*%$!'
The end result, after I calmed her down was they sent a return shipping label, and are shipping me a new kit, unopened (Black Galaxy) and refunding $40 to my plastic.
Final cost $300 and a little aggravation.

I am chalking this up to an isolated incident and hoping for the best. I just cant believe that this is common on an instrument that Sonor would put their name on.

Ha ! That's what you get Pearly !!!! Just kidding. Look.. call KHS/Mapex and ask WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON ??

Also.. you should go ahead and get the updated Smart Force with the 18" kick.. These feature the NEW UPDATED 100% Poplar shells.

Yeah..hahahaha.. I looked at the smart force kit, but I think this shell pack fits into what I am looking for a tad better as I have hardware and really like the 16" kick and price.

Yikes,sorry to hear that Pearly - that's not good and certainly not a common experience with these kits (guys?). I had a rubber foot missing and a missing wing nut on the kit I had ordered but that was because it was a demo kit and/or wasn't packed up properly - my local dealer gave me the missing parts.

That's what I was thinking regarding this incident being isolated.
Hopefully everything will be alright in a few days!
 
I really hope everything works out to your satisfaction. Peace, love, and blues.
 
He says they opened the box in the warehouse just to make sure everything was intact before they shipped it and forgot to put the little box with the kick claws, rods, spurs and riser back in. !

WTF ?? Yeah right.. No way.

You will get it worked out.
 
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