Lepin vs Lego Review: What You Should Buy and Why?

What is Lepin? It’s a brand name of Chinese toy manufacturer, which makes LEGO sets and MOCs copycats, and became very popular since the 2016 year by making a copy of LEGO Porsche 42056 set.

So, let’s kick things off with a brief discussion of the LEGO Technic series 42056 Porsche 911 GT3RS copied by Lepin. It’s a moment when everything started!

In June 2016, the set was produced as a collectible model with an original price of $300. At the time, it was the highest-priced LEGO Technic set ever produced! If it seems like a price too high to pay, you might be right because the set had no extra features, e.g. motorization system, pneumatics, or a large number of pieces. At only 2,700 parts, it pales in comparison with 42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator, which features impressive 4,000 parts + and electronics for a reasonable price of $200. To add insult to injury, the set is characterized by a flawed design. While the front and side of the set are fairly identical to its real-life prototype, the back of the set bears little resemblance to Porsche 911.

Another point worth noting is that the set designers intended to reproduce Porsche’s original double-clutch transmission – the branded PDK gearbox – by creating a sequential 6-speed gearbox. Unfortunately, LEGO failed to properly implement this idea. The building instructions had several errors in which 2 and 4 gears where mixed up. The mechanism itself had a bunch of issues including crunch of gears and inaccurate switching. Given that it is, arguably, the most important part in the set (occupying one-third of the car), the feasibility of its motorization comes into question. The bottom line is the kit is overhyped and overpriced.

One month later, Lepin enters the stage with an identical copy of the LEGO set. However, here’s the rub: the price is only $100 (currently, it’s even lower). The question then arises: Is there a reason to pay more? Do you really need to fork out for beautiful packaging and a booklet with the Porsche 911 history? Because the parts and assembly guides are pretty much the same.

There’s little surprise that some buyers opted for a Chinese knockoff. When Lepin’s popularity skyrocketed, the company included 50 more counterfeit LEGO sets in the range of its offerings. Since they were released under the Lepin brand, the LEGO fan base was livid. Their indignation was righteous as the high price in no way justifies copyright infringement. Nothing really does. Nonetheless, Chinese manufacturers are not renowned for their respectful approach to intellectual property, which makes their products cheaper.

1. Shady manufacturers don’t buy IP licenses;
2. No research expenses since products are copied rather than developed;
3. Counterfeit products have the inferior quality to cut prices. Raw materials and manufacturing processes rarely meet the quality standards of Western counterparts. Costs are cut further through mass manufacturing.

Given the massive demand for LEGO forgeries, other fake MOC models by LEGO designers have been produced: Madoca, paulvandebulk, stefan_betula_pendula, NKubate (Nathanaël Kuipers), LForces, JKBrickworks (Jason Allemann). Needless to say, the real IP owners got no royalties through product licensing.

The technician series is extremely popular among adults who use it to implement a wide range of technical solutions. Some even profit from selling instructions for their custom MOC models. If you are such a person, you are, no doubt, interested in the feasibility of using Lepin sets. Let’s find out how they stand against real LEGO sets.

In 2019, the brand “Lepin” changed his name to “Mould King”.
Official info: “LEPIN Blocks Set will temporary stop production from 01st May 2019. This notice is effective immediately upon request from the Chinese Government and Shanghai Police”.
However, you still can find a lot of unofficial reseller’s websites which sold this bricks under the old name. But on the Aliexpress and other Alibaba group Chinese websites now presented only the new brand name Mould King Brick.

LEPIN “Lego” Technic 20053

Let’s turn our critical gaze to the Lepin Technic 20053 set. The set can pique the interest of tech enthusiasts due to its low price and the abundance of electronics. It shamelessly imitates the creation of Madoka – one of the most talented Lego designers – MOC-6604 Hatchback Type R. As previously mentioned, Lepin has produced several dozens of sets it had copied from LEGO. Here they go further and make in production creation of Madoka’s’ MOC, who releases assembly instructions of his creation for other LEGO enthusiasts.

If I can offer you a recommendation, go ahead and build at least one set created by Madoca1977 –  you will love it!

I choose this model for my review because it’s very affordable, has a good price per parts ration, and last, but not least – there are no reviews on it on the WEB!

If you search for customers reviews about this model on Aliexpress – most of them are fake, without photos and untruly positive. No secrets here – sellers purchase fake reviews to make the product more appealing for customers.

Lepin Technic Price and First Impression

No doubts, the main reason to consider buying a Lepin – the price. The price range for this set is $35-45. The equivalent LEGO model will cost you at least $150-200 or even more if LEGO would produce it as an official set.

Delivery time. You can either go to the nearest local toy store and purchase any LEGO set immediately or order it online and wait for a few days for delivery. With Chinese fake Lego you should wait minimum of 10-14 days if you are lucky and maximum up to 2 months to get your bricks!

Packaging and first impressions. Nothing to say here about the LEGO – everything that you see and touch has premium quality: box design and packaging, instructions and stickers paper quality, and, of course, bricks! From Lepin you get opposite impressions  – poor quality from the beginning. Now box, hand-made packing of bricks and instructions into the bubble envelope.

Lepin vs Lego Bricks Quality

I read a dozen reviews before writing this one. A short conclusion what you can find on the web about fake LEGO reviews: “best value for money”, “almost like LEGO bricks quality”. These opinions definitely willing you to buy it! But is it the truth?

From youtube videos and photos everything looks pretty good. What about “first-hand” experience when you touch it and start building? The picture will be different here. The quality of the bricks are very poor in real. ABS plastic parts looks and feels much cheaper. Not glossy as the original Lego bricks. Parts molding shape, which are copied from the LEGO 1:1 are 90-95% the same. However, mold accuracy much lower compares to LEGO. You’ll find it when complete your model and all moving mechanisms like gears, clutch, differential, crankshafts do not work smoothly or even stuck. Rubber parts (soft axels, rubber bands, tires) are tough, less flexible. Wheels rubber isn’t so grippy and not so soft.

Real parts color that arrived can be different from the parts shown in the stores’ picture. For example in my model, the orange panels have 3 various tones.

Electric parts can be damaged or not working. Problems in most cases with Servo motor.

Missing parts issues often happen with the sets. Hopefully, you can request all missing parts from your seller. He likely sends them to you to prevent himself from the negative feedback about his store. The downside of this – you have to wait again around 20-40 days until missing bricks arrived.

For Technic connectors parts differences are clearly visible. Lepin parts have a little bit faded color, pin holes look bigger (actually, they are tighter), parts edges not so sharp and precise as in the LEGO.

Technic Panels have identical to the Lego shape. In black long panels (used for doors) surface has more matte finish, compared to the Lego. Interesting fact, panes in other colors (orange and purple) are glossy, but the same, not 1:1 like the LEGO finish. A few orange and black panels were scratched out of the packaging. One black panel was damaged, it was bent.

Pins, axles, frames, beams, have the best quality among other types of parts. Really close to the LEGO. But again, the plastic feels cheaper. I have problems with some axels and pins during assembly, some pins have weak fixation, some have very tight connection. Three axles I used from the LEGO, as I can’t connect properly Lepin axle, they were very tight, even with high-pressure assembling it was not possible.

System bricks that were used for the headlights and rear mirrors feels very cheap compare to the Technic parts and made from matte plastic.

Links and hubs from the front suspension suffer from the molding inaccuracy the most. Link falls deep in the hub ball. I replaced hubs with the LEGO, as Lepin hubs have the opposite effect – ball connection is a little bit bigger. So the link fits very tight which makes wheels turning more difficult and slower for the servo motor.

Gears. Same as LEGO from the first look. But plastic is more fragile, worse is the accuracy and quality of the casting. The 12 teeth gear that turned with a servomotor for handling was broken after 5 turns by breaking one of the gear links. The gears in the gearbox and differential remained intact as the level of the load is less there, but you can see that moving plastic parts began to wear out and spot plastic dust on them.

By the way, the gears in the differential rotate with some pressure, not free as in LEGO. This works like an imitation of the limited-slip differential (LCD), which is good for drifting and speed turns but increase the load on the motor and gears in the gearbox.

Lepin Electronics: Motors and RC Control

Lepin Technic 20053 set attract me with an abundance of electronics and remote control system for a low price. Here is what you will get:

• 1x L-motor:
• 1x Servo motor;
• a pair of LEDs;
• 1x Remote with RC control, not IR like in LEGO Power Functions;
• 1x RC receiver;
• 1x Rechargeable battery box with a micro-USB output for charging (USB cable included).

For comparison. At this price level ($35-40), you only can buy a servo motor from LEGO. And that’s it! Here you get a complete set with a bunch of electronics and parts for assembling the RC model!

The servomotor had an unfastened case. In the photo you can see that there is no second latch in the design as in LEGO, so the case is not fixed properly.
As a result, servo didn’t work properly – there was no return to the center function, sometimes it didn’t work at all. Motor was tapping inside the case like it wasn’t fixed there. Then the motor stopped working at all – I had to completely disassemble servo and reassemble all the internal gears by myself. By the way, disassemble process was easy – Lepin servos’ case was glued with superglue (not snapped with latches like in LEGO), which under a little pressure dried up.

After all the manipulations I’ve done, the motor started to work smoothly and correctly, but it is better to glue the case after, as the Lepins’ servo case don’t have the second latch and it starts to collapse again.

Also, Servo does not support discreet adjustment – in another words – you can only turn it to the end positions (0 or 180 degrees). For a smooth adjustment of the wheels handling, or use turn limiter (for example, if control with SBrick) it is simply impossible! The motor does not react to an intermediate position and goes back either to zero or to the end position.

L-motor. There was immediately a worker, the body is almost completely identical to Lego, but without a logo. The only difference is in the back cover, where the wire comes from – it is white, not gray. In terms of power, the model went with a Chinese motor even 15% faster.

L-motor. It was instantly working, the body is almost identical to Lego, but without a logo. The only difference was in the back cover where the wire came out – it was white, not grey. In terms of power – the model went with a Chinese motor even 15-20% faster than with a LEGO motor. Half an hour later, the model started to make an unpleasant squeak when driving. There were suspicions that it was a squeak of gears in the gearbox of the electric motor. However, this sound is emitted by rubbing elements – axles and gears. The plastic is slightly worn off during long riding. But LEGO also sins with this, still ABC plastic is not designed for such loads.

L-motor gets very hot during the work ( it is enough to put a finger to the body to feel it), and after 10 minutes appears a smell of burnt wiring (in case of continuous operation). My guess on this is that the Chinese motor consumes more current than the Lego motor, which makes it more powerful, but at the same time heats up faster and puts the battery down very quickly. I should note that LEGO motors also heat up, but a slightly less, and do not emit a burning smell.

As a result, the engine is noticeably more powerful than Lego, in terms of reliability – so far no complaints. Fully compatible with LEGO PF, SBrick, BuWizz. Heating is not a critical issue and not affects the motor performance.

LEDs. There’s no complaints here. Light power same to the LEGO. Only the wires color is different (1 red, 1 black – in Lego both are black). Connectors are dark gray, in Lego – both black.

Battery. Apparently full copy of LEGO 8878, but completely in light gray color. On the photo you can see small scuffs and gray spots – yes, this is the way it came from the factory, in some “used” condition. It’s amazing that at such a low price set you’ll get a rechargeable battery and a wire to charge it from USB. But where’s the trick?

At the full charge, the battery is charged to 8.5 volts level. This is quite a good result, at the level of Li-Po from LEGO, but the former gives a little more – about 9V. In general, the model drove fast, but not for a very long time. The battery discharges quickly – in 10 minutes of continuous driving the voltage has dropped to 8 volts. In 20 minutes – to 7.5V, after half an hour – to 7V. After an hour of “torment”, the car was still driving but very slow. The voltage dropped to 6.7V.

Battery charge lasts approximately 3 hours. It was charged from the power adapter at 5V and 1A. I did not risk to give higher charging current and decided to charge in a safe mode, as there is no label or specification on the case. By the way, the weight of the battery is very light, about 50 grams, which indicates the low density of electrolyte and battery capacity. At a glance, I can guess that the capacity is about 500-700 mAh.

Remote control. That’s exactly what surprised me a lot. Lepin utilizes RC system with a range of 20-30 meters, which is even out of range of sight. It’s a much better than LEGO Power Functions outdated IR system. Lepin RC works perfectly and without any problems.

Lepin Assembly

The assembly process of the model is interesting and exciting, each part is used with maximum functionality. There are solutions with custom applications for parts. The minimum number of beams and frames is used, with a maximum of connectors and small parts. Good playability and well-designed model. The minus of the set is probably the lack of suspension. But again, I would like to emphasize that the model design is the work done by Madoka, not by Lepin.

Overall, the building of the model is acceptable, but there are certain peculiarities because of the quality of parts. In the end, I had to replace two gears that go from the servomotor to the steering rack, both links from the steering mechanism. The rear wheels are also from Lego, as they have more grippy. All axles with the lengths of 6, 8, 10, 12 were replaced, because the parts were put on the Lepin axles simply with tremendous force, or they could not be connected at all.

Lepin instruction example

Instruction. If LEGO has 1-2 build steps on a page, the Chinese manual have merged up to 4-5 build steps in 1 page to avoid wasting paper and ink. Economy even here! If you are an experienced builder it will not be a issue to handle, but for a kid it is extremely difficult instruction.

While the set is bought new, the components look like second-hand. All rubbed, with small scratches. It is particularly visible in black pieces, panels and beams. I don’t know why this is the case. Most likely the parts go through a long packing phase, or were damaged during delivery. But the fact remains. My 1998 LEGO kits look newer than brand new LEPIN.

Is it worth buying a Lepin?

Is Lepin worth their money? Is it really an economy?
If you wish to buy a construction toy for your child to build a model for once, play for 30 minutes and that’s it – I suppose so. Lepin is your choice. But if you are a collector or MOC builder – you won’t be satisfied.

First of all LEGO is a brick constructor. It means the possibility of multiple assemblies, variation, and flight of imagination for the designer. Endless versatility. Buying one set you can assemble up to 3-5 fully functional models from absolutely the same parts by showing ingenuity.

Does Lepin live hundreds of builds? Does electronics survive after hundreds of hours? I don’t think so. But LEGO will do that. And if anything goes wrong, you can order any part for free through LEGO Service with delivery. By the way, LEGO is positioning its product as a toy with a lifetime warranty!

Chinese kit requires some parts to be replacement directly after purchase. There is a fairly high percentage of defective servomotors, axles and gears, but if you fix that, you get a good kit for the game for its price. As for MOC builders, Lepin is still not the best choice, the pleasure of assembling is less than from the original LEGO, everything is not connected so well as it should, the quality of plastic is worse. Everything costs its money, magic does not happen. Perhaps the most affordable option would be to take electronics from Lepin, but to assemble the model from original LEGO parts.

For this reason, if you buy a construction toy for a long time, LEGO is the best solution, even at not so attractive prices. For a reason you want to get rid of your bricks collection, you won’t sell used Lepin sets for a good price, at best for 1/3 of the paid price (if nothing is broken). Cost of used LEGO is 20-30% cheaper than a new set, but after 3-5 years, as the set will not be released anymore, even used sets in good condition can cost in 1.5-2 times more expensive than at the time of production. So, LEGO is also a good investment!