One Summit, or Two Other Rigs?

[MailManX]

As I posted in the Summit specific forum, I will most likely end up buying a Summit. The reason: I like it's general all-around usage because my property has a little something of everything from a long concrete driveway, to a large flat dirt field, to some crazy huge granite boulders. I don't need the rig to be extremely good at one one thing. I just want to have a little bit of fun on the whole property.

However, the Summit is a pretty expensive rig. By the time I pay potential tax and shipping, or pay for a few upgrades in lieu of those items, I'll be out $700.

So, my other option would be to buy TWO less expensive rigs: One that crawls nicely and one that I can bash with. Slowly. I don't want wild speed because I don't have that good of hand-eye coordination. 20-25 mph is fine for me. Therefore, an affordable "brushed" basher that is sturdy and has good aftermarket support would work for me. I am willing to put some time and money (within reason), to making each RTR just a little better.

CRAWLER: For an inexpensive slow crawler, I could potentially get something like the RTR Losi Night Crawler and fix it up a bit.

BASHER: For an inexpensive, slower "brushed" basher, I could potentially get something like the HPI Savage XS Flux 4WD and fix it up a bit. I'm not really sure on this one. Maybe a Traxxas Stampede XL-5 would be better for me. Or something else entirely? NOTE: I do want to stay electric. 1/8 scale is probably the most durable, but probably also above my price range.

So, with all that said, I'd be quite interested to know the wildly varied opinions I might get on...

ONE Traxxas Summit

or...

TWO separate rigs (One Crawler and One Basher) for about the price of ONE Summit.

Thanks!
Michael

[meatmonkey]

If you think the Summit's pricetag is high wait until you find out about upkeep (read: broken parts) costs!

I own a few SCX's and have driven a Nightcrawler. If you want outright crawlibility and capablity, then the Nightcrawler is right for you. It'll easily hang with my modified AX-10 or Wraith in the rocks.


I vote you pick up a Nightcrawler, or SCX, and an HPI Blitz to bash. If you leave it brushed it's practically indestructible. Mines grossly overpowered and still holds up extremely well to very harsh abuse. It's only got 33mm of chassis clearance, but it has no problem on BMX or motocross tracks, at skate parks, or sand pits. It'll go across moderately tall (about 4inches or less) or grass without much issue. Basically a scale Trophy truck.

The SCX is very durable right out of the box (well, once you put proper bolts in critical areas), and the bevel gear axles can go quite a while between servicing when compared to the Losi's worm gear style axles. The Losi axles offer superior gear reduction and ground clearance compared to the Axial so there's always a trade-off.

Plus, if one truck is broke then at least you can play with the other while you wait for parts. If you only have the Summit I think you'll do more waiting. Lol. Both rigs can share the same 5000mah or smaller batteries as well.


I have a stampede as well. It does wheelies which is cool looking but doesn't handle nearly as well as the Blitz. It's greater ground clearance, and much shorter wheelbase, opens up slightly more terrain choices for bashing. The design is fairly ancient and is plagued with many design flaws IMO, such as plastic axles, shouldered shock mounting bolts, plastic motor mounts, threaded-in soft-stainless hinge-pins, and a hybrid steel/plastic diff gear with a tiny planetary gearset inside that rides on undersized, incorrectly placed, output shaft bearings. I also have miserable luck with Traxxas electronics, but others seem to get by without issue.

[MailManX]

I appreciate the in-depth thoughtful reply. I have been reading about the many woes of the Summit differentials. I also like the point you made about having two rigs so that there is still one to run if one is down, or just being modified. I got essentially the same advice from someone on YouTube (ShawnRoy81) who's video I commented on. It makes a lot of sense, so I will start shopping with that in mind.

[creepinchevy69]

If I was you man I would definitely go with a wraith and a basher of your choice. Or just buy a wraith, make it bullet proof and by the time it's all said n done you'll have a badass crawler/basher/ and whatever else you can think of for about the price of a summit, AND it would be bulletproof but if your really leanin towards 2 GOOD rigs that fit your budget then yeah, I had a Losi night crawler at a point n time and it was unbelievable what it can do, also a 2wd traxxas slash isn't too bad of a basher either. Brushed motor, great wheel speed and it being 2wd is just a plus in my books!


- Richard

[GRIMGREG]

I'd say buy a Wraith and upgrade it. You'll probably still end up around $700 dumped into it, but you can pick your options. You'll also have the all around you are looking for.

[slim_chance]

I would go with either a heavily upgraded bullet proof wraith for the money or the losi nightcrawler and less expensive traxxas based basher slash, rustler, stampede, or 4x4 stampede. The summit is cool but like you found out exspensive to buy and maintain.

[OregonCrawlerKing]

I have had all these suggested rigs and a Summit as well. I loved the Summit for the exact same reason you mentioned, a great all around basher. I agree that having 2 rigs would be good when something DOES break and you have to wait for parts but if I can't crawl, I'm not really having fun. A basher truck is only fun for so long crawling is fun for hours upon hours. I would look for a used one for around $300. Buy a couple extra parts and go have fun. You start putting hundreds of dollars and time into something else, like a lot of us have, then you won't want to drive it in fear of breaking those expensive parts and then having to wait for more expensive replacements.
I sold my Summit just for the fact that I had too many dang rigs and I played with that one the least, need to fund my other projects, and it was just too big for the terrain that I had to work with. It IS a beast. But if I could I would still have one. It really is a fun truck. You can't jump a Wraith like a Summit, you CAN jump a Slash but a Slash, even a 4x4, cannot crawl. It really depends on what you want to be able to do. It's a tough choice, its an addiction. Once you start, you can't stop.

[MailManX]

Waitress, I'll take one of everything, please. Do you want my platinum card now, or later?

[spookyseven]

What kind of terrain do you have available to run it on? For example, in my area I have places with medium sized boulders and big open grassy areas such as parks. The 2.2 wraith might not look as good as a super detailed 1.9 but its much more fun to drive on the medium sized boulders I have in my area. In contrast, with a 2 hour drive I can go to a place that looks like a 1/10 scale moab and is a ton of fun for 1.9 rigs.

For the high speed, jumping, bashing type of driving I do I picked up a short course 4x4. The terrian I can run on is relatively flat grass, pavement, sand and a few jumps. A summit or monster truck would do much better for areas like rutted up gravel pit hill climbing, but since I don't have a place like that in my area to drive, I don't really have a use for the more expensive truck.

I personally chose the Jammin scrt-10 because it has an aluminum "lcg" style chassis, simple drive train layout, steel driveshafts and aluminum shocks. I run a vxl on 3s and it's enough power to have fun. It seems like many people who recommend traxxas products usually follow it with something like "yeah dood, when you pick up your slash 4x4, make sure to pick up hop up a-arms, new driveshafts, new hinge pins yadda yadda yadda." I tried a 2wd slash but for me the 4x4 handles soo much better in the grass. One advantage the shortcourse trucks have is the big bumpers and big bodies which help protect the wheels and suspension parts from breaking. The downside to the big body is they have some of a parachute effect which makes them jump kinda funny.

The last piece of advice is given with a little bit of caution because you have to so some research for what you are actually getting. Have you though of looking for a used monster truck for bashing? You might be able to find something like a savage roller and hobbywing esc/motor combo.

I guess through my rambleing, the point I'm trying to make is factor in what you have to drive on.

[filotr14lsdude]

I got into the Rc hobby by buying a summit as my first car, same as the reason your thinking about. It worked ok for both crawling and bashing.
As said ok.

When I went drinking with my mate he had a crawler and a slash4x4. We use to rail around the bush together and crawl around. The problems I has was the summit wasn't fast enough and didn't crawl good enough.
It does both ok, doesn't really excel at either.

I ended up selling that and buying a crawler and a go fast rig. I still stand by my choice and don't regret it one bit.

[MailManX]

I thought I'd get back to y'all and let you know what I finally did. I covered my bases and bought THREE used rigs: Summit, Ridgecrest and Night Crawler. They sure are all very different from each other!

I shopped carefully and am happy with the prices and condition of each. I've been experimenting with them for a few days now and like each of them for very different reasons. Luckily, I have places on my property that fit the personality of each rig. Having three of them gives me a chance to share this new hobby with my 9-year old grandson who lives with my wife and I. He's gonna love it. We already share a passion for RC helicopters and each own several.

As I learn to drive these rigs better and get to know each of them, I will start slowly modding them to better fit what I expect out of each one. I am so happy that I found this forum. You are a great bunch of people. THANKS!