Axial Ridgecrest versus Losi Night Crawler

[vhawk12]

Hi guys, new to the board. My 9yr old son is going to buy a crawler (hopefully this evening) with his birthday money. He'll mostly mess around with in the backyard and camping, etc. It will start out as stock and we'll slowly upgrade things as he saves money up (and breaks stuff).

I'm curious as to why I don't see any comparisons between the Ridgecrest and the Night Crawler. My LHS has both in stock, similar price, etc. Can anyone make some comments regarding each?

Thanks.

[Gravebane525]

for a campground crawler I'd recomend the ridgecrest. a few free mods and it gets alot better then stock. I made the choice not that long ago. main reason I made the choice is the night crawlers were discontinued. I planned to use my car at the campground (lots of big rocks and boulders at the campground). the losi is smaller, the ridgecrest feels alittle big to me, but it still feels smaller then the wraith and the scale cars. the nightcrawler was more apealign for its size and look to me.


what I know..

the losi is alot slower out of the box. from reading here it claims a 55t motor but really has around a 35t. the ridgecrest comes with a 20t and has a fair bit of speed (just enough that I was at first worried that the kids might break it if they hit somethign so I switched to a axial 27t for 16 bucks).

the losi has worm gears, and while I don;t know what that means exactly the effect it seams to have is the wheels will not turn unless you are working the controller. this can help on steep inclines where the ridgecrest may roll backward or forward if you let it.

the night cralwer also has lights which could help at night.

I think when it comes down to it the nightcrawler comes out the box set up to be closer to a real crawler. like I said I got the ridgecrest and I've had a blast with it at the campground. with the 27t motor its has just enough speed and with some free/cheap mods is a good crawler (though I'm not sure how good it would be in a comp against cars build specifically for comps). one thing I will say... I haven't gotten my ridgecrest to climb stairs yet... I've seen some crawlers that could. though any slower top speed then my ridgecrest with the 27t motor and me and the kids would prolly lose interest alot faster. they will run this thing from the time they wake up till the time they go to sleep. we've even attached some glowing rings to the bodyclips so we could see it in the dark.

think about the areas you will be camping. if your looking for more of a trail runner / woods basher the ridgecrest is the better choice. if your looking for a pure crawler the losi would be a better choice. though the ridgeccrest can make as good a crawler I think if you put enough money into it, but doign so you lose the trail / wood basher ability I think.

[1r3land]

For a younger one, and for playin around the yard and camping I'd recommend the axial, both are good crawlers but overall I think the axial would suit him better! Losi is good as well, but as mentioned above, the worm gears require more maintenance, it's slower than the axial I believe.
I have had a couple losi's and tons of axials.
I'm just an Axial fan, you can't go wrong!

Good luck on whatever you decide!

[1r3land]

Both are great rigs though!!

Night crawler is more for just rock crawling
Ridgecrest is still real good at crawling but has a little more speed so u can bash around too!

[vhawk12]

Since I'm at work, mom took him to the LHS and he picked up the Ridgecrest....now I can't wait to get home to try it out....

I think I'll eventually get a SCX10 because I like the scaler look/idea a bit better and we can rip it up together.

Thanks, I'm sure he and I will be researching on here for mods!

[1r3land]

Originally Posted by vhawk12

Since I'm at work, mom took him to the LHS and he picked up the Ridgecrest....now I can't wait to get home to try it out....

I think I'll eventually get a SCX10 because I like the scaler look/idea a bit better and we can rip it up together.

Thanks, I'm sure he and I will be researching on here for mods!

Good choice!!
Tons of great info here, and tons of upgrades avail!

Y'all two have fun!!!! ;)

[Gravebane525]

search for the ridgecrest stage 1, its on axials site somewhere. minimal cost (think the servo extension cable is the only actual cost) changes that make a huge difference in how the car performs

[Olle P]

For later readers asking the same (or similar) question...

Originally Posted by Gravebane525

the losi is a lot slower out of the box. from reading here it claims a 55t motor but really has around a 35t.

The motor is exactly 35T. (I've unwound one myself to find out.)

Originally Posted by Gravebane525

the losi has worm gears, and while I don't know what that means exactly the effect it seams to have is the wheels will not turn unless you are working the controller. ...

Worm drive technically means that the pinion is a screw instead of a cog wheel.

The advantages of this are:
- Large gearing rate in a small package at the axles: No big pumpkin, no torque twist.
- The drive shaft is connected above the axle, increasing clearance below.
- It locks movement axle to drive shaft. No need for motor brake.

Disadvantage:
- The worm drive transfer power through a sliding motion instead of rolling. This means more friction and thus less power efficiency.
The drive heats up while in use, even if properly lubricated. The faster you run the hotter it gets.

The low power efficiency makes worm drive crawlers slower than crawlers with cog wheel diffs using the same motor and battery.
Worm drives can't be run at high speed over extended time without overheating. (At least not without proper cooling. An oil bath with the oil being circulated through a radiator is fine.)

[ik632]

I'd recommend the Axial, there's still current support for it. I'm seeing less and less support for Losi. It seems that they are slowly withdrawing from the crawler scene. That may not be 100% true, but I see zero Losi parts for crawlers at the LHS. You'll want something that you can get parts for easily. I like the Ridgecrest because it's pretty reliable with basic mods and is a decent price. Find a used one or a Wraith kit and build up from there and you'll be happy. The stock one with 20t motor is a bit fast and geared a bit too high to start, but great to build off of.

[Tortured Witt]

I know the purchese has been made but the LNC will out crawl the ridge crest out of the box with no upgrades. My 8 year old nephew drives my LNC like a pro. Maybe slower is better.

[vhawk12]

So far we've done a few of the upgrades that don't involve extra parts because I haven't had time to get to the shop. I did watch an Ultimate RC vid on YouTube where the guy recommended loosening a couple screws just a bit so that the steering linkages swing freely, thus less friction and less stress on the stock servo. I had one shock binding so I took it apart and sure enough, there was a little piece of plastic sticking out. Since I didn't have any extra oil to put in there, I attempted to reuse the oil and I think that one may be a bit low, so I have to get to the shop and get some more.

I think the Ridgecrest is perfect for my son because although he does like to crawl, he definately likes the fact that it goes pretty fast and can be a decent basher as well. We've got to flip the suspension linkages over tonight, I want him to do it so that he gets into fixing/modding it himself, but right now he's mostly just interested in driving it.