P1Fanatic

Fellow SN RC’ers. It’s about that time where I think of buying another toy. I bought a HPI Savage Nitro truck on a whim about 5-6 years ago which was pretty mental but noisy and I never got into it enough to get the engine running smoothly so that it wouldn’t stall when not moving. So I ended up selling it.

Thinking of buying an electric RTR offroad car just to burn around the local rugby fields during the spring / summer. So will mostly be used on grass with the odd bit of gravel and tarmac. Was realistically looking at spending £200 on the car itself as know I will need a charger, spare battery etc.

What are the must have options at that price range for my anticapated usage? I see all the flashy ads mentioning 2.4ghz, brushless motors, Lipo batteries etc but I have been out of the loop for a while. Is 4wd cost prohibitive or not even worth considering for an occasional toy?

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers
Simon

cjquicksilver

iTrader: (23)

Hi mate it's not battery but I have a large scale 1/5th off road buggy, rwd, it's 23cc 2 stroke petrol about 3/4hp, so runs on unleaded /2stroke oil mix, and comes with a 2.4 ghz radio gear all r2r
She'll is tatty as used as a basher,

Ill let it go for £200

Matteeboy

I bought one of those "deals" for £120 from Oz. ended spending almost twice the price again on replacement parts! But now it's a very quick, brushless 4wd buggy that goes like stink. But I'm always worried about breaking it!

Good fun but possibly more of a headache than expected.

Mine is on 11.1v lipos and does 40ish. Plenty for a 1/10th scale car! It will also flip if accelerated on full blast.

If I bought again, I would buy a known make from the Uk.

P1Fanatic

Thanks but I didn’t get on that well with Nitro from new and that is pre mixed. I can’t be bothered mixing 2 stroke and was looking for a new car anyway so I can batter it myself!

P1Fanatic

Mattee I know what you mean. Fast is all well and good but increases the chance of heavy damage. The truck I had was top heavy so used to roll quite easy if you took a corner too fast. I was always tempted to try jumping it over the stream between two playing fields but never had the ***** as just pictured it landing and parts flying off in multiple directions.

HPI seem like a good make and always offer all the spares you will ever need. I have a good model shop (Apex Models) not too far from me so will pop down there for a chat at some point. Just wanted to get some tips first so I am prepared for any sales patter. The “trucky” style looks a good compromise between centre of gravity and ground clearance.

P1Fanatic

2.4ghz just means that if it detects interference it will automatically retune controller and receiver to a different frequency? Rather than the old days of changing chrystals to adjust frequency manually?

SirFozzalot

Traxxas do some good RTR electric stuff. Not the cheapest but it's good stuff.

billythekid

REVO VXL

P1Fanatic

Just checked the Revo out looks very nippy! Whats the crack with these Lipo batteries as seems almost like strapping a turbo to it? With a Nimh battery they quote 30-35 mph top speed and Lipo is 50mph! Crazy. Maybe I should stick with Nimh until I get up to speed (pardon the pun) and then upgrade when I want to go faster. Although that would mean new charger as well I guess.

Graz

Li-Po can deliver more amps than NiMh. Also very lightweight compared to Ni-Mh and can also be charged a lot quicker without damage using the right charger.

Downsides are a tendency to catch fire in a big way in extreme circumstances if over discharged or over charged, most of the time though the just stop working. Most speed controllers designed for use with Li-Po will have a configurable low voltage cut-off to prevent over discharge. No problems with a car not so great if flying a helicopter

SirFozzalot

The REVO is a great car. I've got the 3.3 Nitro version and it ran rings around some of the guys using the equivalent type of thing from HPi. Very reliable as well from my experience. Many a time the Traxxas guys were racing while the HPi guys were still trying to get their cars running properly Became a bit of a standing joke actually that there was a group buy on knee pads for the HPi runners

This is my Nitro REVO.







If im honest and I was going to do it all again, I would probably go electric version. The LiPo stuff was in its infancy when I got my Nitro car otherwise I think I would have gone for the E-REVO.

richieh

Some decent cheap cars to be found here http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...-Electric.html
I've got the 1/16 SCT the 2wd SCT kit and the 1/5 trailblazer xt.
The UK warehouse is also an excellent source for batteries,chargers and pretty much
anything else you need at Hong Kong prices but with 48 hr delivery and no
customs charges or taxes on top .

Cheers Richie
Just to add - click on the UK warehouse tab or it shows HK warehouse

P1Fanatic

Thanks for the info. That Revo VXL does look the ticket. Have read a fair online reviews now and compared with the HPI Savage SS Flux which is similar price & spec. Traxxas seem to have a better rep for quality and the VXL comes with options to run single or double 7.2 NiMh or Lipo’s. Not as fast as the Savage (65mph) but I think 50mph is more than enough for me tbh. And the Revo comes with charger and battery as standard. Looks like its takes some serious abuse. I like the beginner option to reduce power to 50% whilst learning the controls as it has been a while.

Any recommended online model shops? Apex Models near me doesn’t appear to stock much Traxxas stuff. I found the Revo VXL brushless for £258 on a site called Wheelspin which looks good?
Thanks for the info. That Revo VXL does look the ticket. Have read a fair online reviews now and compared with the HPI Savage SS Flux which is similar price & spec. Traxxas seem to have a better rep for quality and the VXL comes with options to run single or double 7.2 NiMh or Lipo’s. Not as fast as the Savage (65mph) but I think 50mph is more than enough for me tbh. And the Revo comes with charger and battery as standard. Looks like its takes some serious abuse. I like the beginner option to reduce power to 50% whilst learning the controls as it has been a while.

Any recommended online model shops? Apex Models near me doesn’t appear to stock much Traxxas stuff. I found the Revo VXL brushless for £258 on a site called Wheelspin which looks good?

Graz

You know the VXL is 1/16 size?

The bigger 1/10 would be my preference but it's quite a bit more: http://traxxas.com/products/models/e...erevobrushless

I've got a 1/16 (or 1/18, can't remember) truck, a Losi Mini-LST. Not as much fun as the bigger machines in my opinion.

Graz

Please stop posting pictures of these as I can't afford (i.e. justify to the wife) one but I want

Tidgy

take 50% of the cost and tell her thats how much it cost, you a man or under the thumb?

P1Fanatic

It is 1/16th but some of the reviews I read state it doesn’t appear that small - http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...rticle_id=1165 “When I took the E-Revo out of the box I discovered it's not as small as I was expecting. At 13 inches long, its not a lot smaller than a 1/10 scale buggy, and definitely seems more substantial than the usual 1/18 scale machines.”

Tbh for something that will only be a minor hobby initially I think it is fine for me and my budget. Will try and see one in the flesh first though as won’t be buying just yet.