Rock Racer for a kid on a budget

[Magnusbk]

Hey all,

I´m new to this forum and to the RC world, I hope you can give me some advice. sorry for the long post.

My son, an 8 year old has been saving his pocket money for a long time for a first "real" RC rig which will be used for little bit of everything, crawling on rocks, riding in dirt & sand and what ever terrain he can find during camping trips.

I did order a RTR Vaterra Twin Hammers V2 of Amazon for him that came with a bad servo and got replaced with one that lost it´s transmission driving out of the parking lot and finally we got replacement no 2 which lasted almost one charge until the motor started smoking and burned up. So, after this bad experience of TH it kind of got me thinking if I made the wrong choice to go with the twin hammers or if we are just unlucky. There is no local shop close by so all my parts will have to come from online.

What would you recommend I do?
1. Repair the twin hammers, stick to it and stock on spare parts
2. Return it and order an Axial Bomber
3. Return and order something else at similar budget
4. Return it and buy a used but more high dollar rig?

Reliability and versatility is very important. (High speed for an 8 year old does not need to be very fast)

Thanks for reading and hope you can give me some advice.
Magnus

[xCoolHandLukex]

I've had the twin Hammers version 1 for a couple years with no major problems but I replaced the stock servo, ESC and motor. Most RTR vehicles don't have very good electronics. I personally would have picked the wraith as a first RC but the twin Hammers is a good rig I would stick with it. Next time the servo goes buy a good Hitec,Savox or something higher end. Make sure the end points are set and there's no binding in the steering. If the servo gets hot cause it's overworked it will fail no matter how quality it is. For an ESC I would recommend the castle SV3, very versatile if you get the castle link to program it. Then get a good brushed motor. Tons of options there Tekin, Brood, Holmes etc. Keep up on the general maintenance and you'll have a pretty reliable rig.


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[*Old*]

I don't know too much about the THammers, but hear they're pretty solid. If you are on a budget, would it make sense to get better electronics and possibly upgraded aftermarket parts for the tranny and go?

As CoolHand stated, stock electronics aren't that great.

The Bomber is a great versatile rig and has a lot of good quality parts stock, especially the kit version, but I don't know if you are talking kit or RTR?
If you're going RTR, I'm thinking you will be replacing those stock electronics sooner than later.

Good luck!

[Ninomaniac]

You didn't have bad luck. The Twin hammers is not a bad toy. That's just how this hobby is. And rock racers are probably the worst (ie most likely to break) "genre" of RC.

[crawlinwithacat]

I'd say find a used wraith. They are super reliable in stock form (minus a good motor and esc) and are pretty tough to break since they are light and only go about your 8yr olds idea of high speed .

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[JatoTheRipper]

I'd stick with the VH. It's odd for you to have that many issues with a Horizon Hobby product. They have the best customer service in the business so they should help you sort it out. You can also get good electronic upgrades for not much money.

An RTR Bomber needs a lot of upgrades because it has too many plastic parts and garbage electronics. The kit version of the Bomber is great, but it's going to cost a lot more to build since electronics are not included.

A Wraith is not a good suggestion IMO. They handle like crap at any kind of speed and they will constantly rollover.

[originalsledge]

I personally would stick with the TH too. They are known for being fairly reliable and there are some hop ups you can do to improve them. I am a fan of hobbywing as castle in not really budget friendly. As far as your servo goes, it sounds like something else may be wrong, binding, etc. search around there is tons of info on them.

Also I am not a fan of used rigs. there are to many instances where they will need a lot of work after being stated that they are in "great shape".

Good luck and welcome to the hobby.

[nightcrawler48]

Originally Posted by originalsledge

I personally would stick with the TH too. They are known for being fairly reliable and there are some hop ups you can do to improve them. I am a fan of hobbywing as castle in not really budget friendly. As far as your servo goes, it sounds like something else may be wrong, binding, etc. search around there is tons of info on them.

Also I am not a fan of used rigs. there are to many instances where they will need a lot of work after being stated that they are in "great shape".

Good luck and welcome to the hobby.

X2 - bought a few used rigs and every one of them needed something, minor or major.

Not really familiar with the Twin Hammers but sounds like your only issues are the electronics. Lots of info on the Hobbywing 1060 and 1080 ESCs in the electronics section. I've had reasonably good success with some of the cheap can brush motors in the $20 range. Again, lots of motor info throughout the forum. Servos seem more personal choice as long as you get quality, my preference is Hitec but I'm going to try some Solar D772 on the recommendation of a friend.

I think you could probably put the electronics together for around $100 depending on where you purchase from. Probably the least expensive solution.

Good luck and try not to get discouraged.

[CoolRunning]

The requirements are definitely more rock crawler/bouncer than racer.

Bomber is VERY tough on 2S stock RTR but slow. It's affordable to make it 50% faster but you have to watch heat in hot weather when crawling.

Bomber is a great truck but I've read plenty of reports from happy TH owners.

All the toys need mods to handle speed or powerful motors.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I'd stick with the VH. It's odd for you to have that many issues with a Horizon Hobby product. They have the best customer service in the business so they should help you sort it out. You can also get good electronic upgrades for not much money.

An RTR Bomber needs a lot of upgrades because it has too many plastic parts and garbage electronics. The kit version of the Bomber is great, but it's going to cost a lot more to build since electronics are not included.

A Wraith is not a good suggestion IMO. They handle like crap at any kind of speed and they will constantly rollover.

Yes, stick with Twin Hammers. Buy a good replacement servo, metal transmission gears from Horizon Hobby, inexpensive motor replacements start about $10, gotta watch motor temperature and gearing no matter what you run or you'll burn up a good expensive motor too.

Bomber is nice, but RTR electronics in it are ready to replace, plus it needs a few other hopups right away.

Wraith requires several hundred dollars in hop-ups just to be durable and then you'll want a really good servo which is even more money. RTR motor is over-geared (and undersized) for the job, ESC is not much better, servo is ready to replace before you even drive it.

Originally Posted by originalsledge

I personally would stick with the TH too. They are known for being fairly reliable and there are some hop ups you can do to improve them. I am a fan of hobbywing as castle in not really budget friendly. As far as your servo goes, it sounds like something else may be wrong, binding, etc. search around there is tons of info on them.

Also I am not a fan of used rigs. there are to many instances where they will need a lot of work after being stated that they are in "great shape".

Good luck and welcome to the hobby.

Yes, X2.

Originally Posted by CoolRunning

Bomber is VERY tough on 2S stock RTR but slow. It's affordable to make it 50% faster but you have to watch heat in hot weather when crawling.

Bomber is a great truck but I've read plenty of reports from happy TH owners.

All the toys need mods to handle speed or powerful motors.

Yes.

[Shinchu]

For the love of god dont get him a yeti on 3s!
My son is 8 and wiskey throttled his grandpas castle sidewinder powered 3s yeti straight into the biggest bolder in the whole area lol i mean like 15mph impact!
Lucky for me, grandpas yeti is a stock kit version and still supple plastic.

Rebuild that twin hammers. A slower motor and beefed up gears would be perfect. Oh and figure out the servo issue.
Im about to get my son a barrage/rgt crawler. Whiskey throttle with that will be like the steam roller scene in austin powers.
Have fun! Thats most important.

[CoolRunning]

My 7yo runs a 3S 3150kv Yeti. Got it cheap with enough beef up mods and added some extras to keep it reliable. It's going great as whilst he's happy to drag race the wheels of it and it often lives at near max velocity for a pack, he's actually overall really careful and conscientious with it. It's been a great truck thus far.

Originally Posted by Shinchu

For the love of god dont get him a yeti on 3s!
My son is 8 and wiskey throttled his grandpas castle sidewinder powered 3s yeti straight into the biggest bolder in the whole area lol i mean like 15mph impact!
Lucky for me, grandpas yeti is a stock kit version and still supple plastic.

Rebuild that twin hammers. A slower motor and beefed up gears would be perfect. Oh and figure out the servo issue.
Im about to get my son a barrage/rgt crawler. Whiskey throttle with that will be like the steam roller scene in austin powers.
Have fun! Thats most important.

[Adidas4275]

my 3yo is a champ with my Yeti XL and bomber (running the yeti 1/10 ESC and Motor on 2s)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXndRtzznhg

The Yeti XL makes for a great kid truck, just turn down throttle dual rates. on 4s and going slow it still can run over almost anything and is HUGE, hard to break stuff going fairly slow.

My son likes driving the bomber on 2s better than the yeti, but I am not 100% sure why

[Shinchu]

I dunno... my kiddo loves cars. Plays forza all the time on xbox. Has a few $20 walmart rc trucks. I guess its a pretty sharp learning curve going from a truck that goes that slow with a throttle that is just an on/off swit h, to a digital proportional monster like the yeti.
Im getting nim an rgt (barrage clone) soon. He can learn on that and all i really expect to damage is the servo.