Knock-off carbon fiber plate is simply the very heavy G10 polyester resin + fiberglass plate that is made to look like carbon fiber plate for cosmetic purposes only..... It is very heavy material and should be avoided.
Real carbon fiber plate is chosen for MRs because of the optimal strength to weight ratio needed to maximize flight time etc.
The only material that has a higher strength to weight ratio would be nanotube impregnated carbon fiber plate which is not commercially available at this time because of the extreme costs to manufacture.
Real carbon fiber plate can vary in quality, strength and weight according to the following:
The quality of the resin used in the carbon fiber + binder mix (typically epoxy is used instead of polyester resin)
Higher quality resins can require post curing in an autoclave which increases both strength and heat resistance of the final plate material.
Plain weave is a simple carbon fiber fabric weave that is best suited for flat carbon fiber plate
Twill weave is typically more expensive and best suited for curved surfaces as the weave allows some curving around corners (but it is cosmetically more appealing)
Uniplate is the cheapest and consists of straight carbon fiber strands in a single direction (no weave)
If you look very carefully at the end of a carbon fiber plate you can sometimes identify uniplate sandwiched between outer layers of plain or twill weave layers.
Ocassionally you may even find fiberglass sandwiched between outer layers of carbon fiber layers (in this case weight and strength have both been compromised to save manufacturing costs) coomonly used for after market vehicle hood manufacturing...
Birch or plywood core carbon fiber plate is about 30% lighter than solid carbon fiber plate and is more than adequate as a baseplate to hold electronics etc. but holes drilled thru it are subject to lateral tears if it is used for critical structural strength.
Most carbon fiber plate is transversely isotropic (often referred to as quasi-isotropic) meaning that the strength in all directions on one plane remain the same.
No such thing as knock off carbon fiber parts just because you GOT them from a specific sources! They are made from the same material cut with the same type of CNC MACHINE! Brushlessgimbal.ca quality is much hi yer than quadcopter.com I guarantee it. In adition you do not know where quadcopter dot com gets its parts