Deciding on Gift for 6 Year Old's Birthday

[jdtree]

Howdy!

I've been crawling with my son for about the past 2 years with his Everest 10. I purchased and SCX10.2 (SCX 10 ii - not sure the best label for this) about 6 months ago. We've been having fun crawling together, but he's been more concerned about speed lately. (We also have a Traxxas Stampede which he LOVES because it's really fast).

I was trying to decide what to get him for his birthday, either upgrades to the E10 (I already upgraded the ESC and Motor to a 35T) or a new rig. Here's what I'm trying to accomplish.

- Waterproof
- Faster
- Price is somewhat of an issue (ideally < $300)
- Time is somewhat of an issue (not looking for a month-long project)

The E10 will need significant time (I believe) to truly waterproof. Also, I'm not sure if a 27T will give him the speed he's looking for - not sure about what it would take to increase speed from a drivetrain standpoint (still a bit of a noob in this arena)

A "new" rig sounds appealing - something with 2 speeds possibly, and already mostly waterproof. Used is fine.

My other thought would be to shell out $250 for a Traxxas Slash (there's a stock class at the local RC track), so we can both have faster rigs. My preference is to keep ourselves in the crawling world, though...

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!

[MasteroFlego]

If you don't mind building one, or finding electronics that are waterproof, the Losi Rock Rey kit should be in your price range. It can be fast, it can crawl, and it doesn't need too many upgrades out of the box (AFAIK the kit comes with some extras the rtr doesn't have)

Or, you could get one of the flavors of TRX-4.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[jdtree]

I hadn't seen the Rock Rey before... hadn't even considered a rock racer as an option... I think that style of vehicle is right up his alley! I'm going to research some more - thanks for the suggestion...

[Jim85IROC]

making a fast, durable multipurpose vehicle (read: rock rey, Yeti, etc) is going to be very expensive. One possible exception is with the Clone Hammers WLToys vehicles, but they're mostly crap out of the box and require extensive upgrades of their own.

My recommendation would be to just get him something faster for when he wants something faster. I started both of my kids on 2wd ECX vehicles, and those things are a GREAT entry point for bashing. They're dirt cheap (Under $150 for the Amp MT), extremely upgradable, and super durable. I started my son at age 3 or 4 with a stock brushed Circuit and he loved it. He's 9 now, it's a 30mph missile, and he still loves it. My daughter has a stock Amp MT and she enjoys it.

No matter how badly you may want it to, a Rock Rey or Yeti isn't going to handle like a Slash or Circuit, so your son will crash it all the time, and unlike the Slash or Circuit, those crashes are going to result in expensive breakages.

Get a go-fast vehicle for going fast. In the long run not only will it be way more fun, but it'll end up being way cheaper.

[jdtree]

Thanks for the response! FWIW, we do have a Stampede (an older one) that gets a lot of play time. I got a cheap controller that allows me to adjust the power to 50%, 75% or 100%. This has been really helpful in "staging" his ability to control the truck. We take 2 minute turns bashing around in the driveway, front yard, neighbor's yard, etc.... if he's able to control it without having to do the "walk of shame," he can bump the power up. We make a little game of it - silly father / son stuff .

Anyway, ideally, I'd get him a crawler with a 2 speed tranny, but it just isn't in the cards budget-wise... I am hoping to get something that will allow me to chase him around with the Stampede, and something that he can push a little bit when we go trailing. The Rock Rey kit (currently $250) plus some spare parts I have lying around, sounds like it would fit the bill... or maybe I'm just way out on a limb

[UncleJohn]

In your original post you listed waterproof as one of the things you are considering. There is a lot of work to do making a R/C waterproof. Parts are more expensive and the vehicle requires thorough maintenance after each outing. For example, the tires and/or wheels have holes in them so that they can "breathe" during use. In the water they start to fill with water. Ideally they should be disassembled and dried out after using them in water. There are many other jobs to do after running in the water.

A birthday present would be best if it was usable on the birthday. I wouldn't recommend getting a kit and then having to say, "here's your present, now we have to assemble it in the next week".

Since you already have a Stampede, perhaps a solution would be to get another Stampede. You and your son would have evenly matched vehicles to run at the same time. My sons and I ran Associated RC10s, RC10Ls and RC10Ts back in the day. We always had plenty of parts to keep running and we always had a lot of fun together.

The bottom line is, have fun with your son, he won't forget it!