Upgrading my son's transmitter / receiver

[AK KRAWLER]

Hello all -

Looking for some input on upgrading the transmitter for my son's SCX10 Deadbolt. Keeping in mind, he is an 11 year old boy that is not always the easiest on things, so I will be looking for something on the more durable side.

I plan to do some upgrading on his rig this year, adding a new motor, ESC and possibly lights. Something in the 3-4 channel range, that can also bind to more that one vehicle (for future rigs).

One other thing I was not sure of. My Gen8 AXE came with the FlySky GT-5 and I want to make sure whatever I get for him, will not cause any interference issues for either of us. Possibly not really an issue anymore, as all my previous experience was with transmitters/receivers with crystals...

What are the popular options, or the not so popular options that might work well?

[Jboucher]

I really like my RC4GS, it's 4 channel, cheap (50$us), covers 95% of all high end features and the receivers cost like 10$ on banggood.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[xjman]

The most durable transmitter I've ever had was my futaba 3 channel from years back. I believe spektrum make some now that are designed specifically to be rugged but you may pay for that.

[nzrc]

Another FlySky FS-GT5? My son and I both run them and it's all good. If you want to spend more and have something a bit more durable then the Spektrum DX5 Rugged might be worth looking at.

[AK KRAWLER]

Thanks JBoucher - The RC4GS was one of the models I was looking at pretty closely.

The only concern I have with it it the antenna. Not sure how fragile it is.
And this is not even a major concern, just something I was looking at.

eBay $46.62 (ships from overseas)
USA.Banggood $49.01
Amazon $59.99

[Jboucher]

Originally Posted by AK KRAWLER

Thanks JBoucher - The RC4GS was one of the models I was looking at pretty closely.

The only concern I have with it it the antenna. Not sure how fragile it is.
And this is not even a major concern, just something I was looking at.

eBay $46.62 (ships from overseas)
USA.Banggood $49.01
Amazon $59.99

I let my 4y old son play with my bomber and the RC4GS, never broke the antenna.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Jim85IROC]

I have a couple of the Radiolink controllers, but I wouldn't consider them to be among the most durable. They're pretty thin, cheap plastic. My son dropped one of them without damage, but I think I got lucky. I'm going to add a wrist strap or neck strap before my luck runs out.

Potential fragility aside, I really like the Radiolinks.

[AK KRAWLER]

The Spektrum is out of my price range, although it does look like a nice unit.

I have also considered another GT5, looks like they are starting around $61.

EDIT - If I went with another GT5, I could bind his vehicles to my transmitter and really mess with him

Originally Posted by Jboucher

I let my 4y old son play with my bomber and the RC4GS, never broke the antenna.

Good to know, thanks man.

[AK KRAWLER]

Originally Posted by Jim85IROC

I'm going to add a wrist strap or neck strap before my luck runs out.

This is probably something I should consider as well... For both of us

[JatoTheRipper]

I loved my Radiolink RC4GS, but they aren't durable so I moved on. I tripped while crawling and the radio was in my hand. I caught myself with the hand holding the radio and the throttle would never center after that. Now you could argue that other radios would have been damaged after that, but I know my Spektrum took much more of a beating and it still works fine.

The FlySky GT5 is also a great choice, especially since you already have one.

FlySky on FlySky shouldn't cause interference. FlySky doesn't play well with Spetrum, but that may or may not have changed.

[AK KRAWLER]

So, I decided to get a GT5, I submitted an offer to an eBay seller and we'll see what comes of it.

Thanks for everyone's input, much appreciated.

EDIT - I ended up getting it for $59, not a steal, but not a bad deal either. He'll be stoked when he gets it.
I'll put it away for a rainy day.