Good Crawler for 4 Year Old?

[hotrod6107]

I have been doing a bunch of reading and video watching on RC's in general since a LHS did a RC fest last summer. My son really enjoyed driving the rock crawlers they had there to demo, I had to pry the remote from his hand when it was time to go.

Since then I picked up a SCX24 and we have been having fun with it inside and outside a little. I am now looking for something that we can run outside and not mind a little dampness and bigger terrain.

I have narrowed it down to a Sendero or TRX4 Sport for me but feel that is a little much for a truck for him. I was looking at getting him a ECX Barrage Gen 2 but after reading on here it seems that it might not be that durable. Looking at the RedCat Everest Gen 7 Sport is only $20 more but the the Pro seems like a much better deal with better driveline components.

Would the RedCat driveline hold up to a 4 year old? Would I just be replacing parts to beef it up for him? Other trucks you would recommend?

[Jim85IROC]

Get him something that's got the same or similar capabilities to whatever you're using. If you're driving a full size rig and he's got a Barrage, he's not going to be able to do the same lines that you can, which will frustrate him. I don't think a Sendero or a TRX4 will be too much at all. Just make sure you run the slipper a tad loose and keep him on 2S. That should keep almost any truck in 1 piece, and it'll also teach him that just powering out of a jam isn't going to help.

The Enduro doesn't come with a slipper, but I believe that some of the Associated slippers can be easily adapted.

[JatoTheRipper]

I think it depends on whether you plan on staying in the hobby for a long time. If you do, get a high quality truck that is going to last and grow with him. I'm a huge fan of the Traxxas TRX-4 and it would be a perfect choice. There is no tougher scaler out of the box in my experience. The stock ESC also has a training mode where you can limit power for beginners which will be a great feature to have for your son.

[hotrod6107]

IROC- I hadn't thought about the slipper aspect of the driveline protection. Plus the Sendero and TRX4 transmission are more robust. Now I need to figure how to swing the extra cash. Thanks for the input.

[Bob_in az]

I have a different perspective. He's 4, not 14. I would get him something that's relatively inexpensive, slow & relatively durable. I would look at the Redcat Everest 10, ECX Temper 2 or the Redcat Gen 7. If he sticks with it, then you can upgrade. Personally, if I were in the same situation, I would get him an Everest 10. It's got that big monster truck look that most boys like, it's inexpensive, it's slow & it's a 2.2 tired truck so he won't need much skill to keep up with Dad. Parts are easy to find & cheap too.

[hotrod6107]

Jato- I didn't realize they did the 50% throttle on the crawler ESC with the Traxxas. Maybe what I will do is get a truck for me see how much he likes it and then get another.

[DeoreDX]

Our Exceed Mad Torque in stock form has proven to be quite reliable. And it's big and capable enough my son can drive over just about anything. He loves shooting up stuff that I struggle with on my 1.9 crawlers. After 5 years the only thing we've broken so far was the stock TX and the center link mount on the axle.

[turboturro88]

my kid started driving my scx10.2 when he was a little over 3 years old about a year and a half ago. its now his full time crawler as i have an old tlt based one and more recently a capra. i haven't had any problems with his and all that ive changed on it is the servo so far and put some better tires on it.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by hotrod6107

Jato- I didn't realize they did the 50% throttle on the crawler ESC with the Traxxas. Maybe what I will do is get a truck for me see how much he likes it and then get another.

I didn't realize it either. I looked it up before commenting. The TRX-4 manual goes into setting the Training Mode so that's how I confirmed the crawler ESC has it.

[rkj__]

If you are looking for something priced between a Redcat Gen 7 and a TRX4, consider the Vaterra Ascender Suburban.

[1RC]

Originally Posted by Bob_in az

I have a different perspective. He's 4, not 14. I would get him something that's relatively inexpensive, slow & relatively durable. I would look at the ECX Temper 2

I'd be very curious to see a TRX-4 vs Temper Gen 2 comparison. I only own the Temper Gen 2 but it seems very very good for its price.

[Derr429]

I agree get him a full size truck. I just got done building an SCX10 for my son’s 3rd birthday and we bought it used in pieces off of eBay and put some stuff on it to make it his own. All my other kids pitched in and wanted to help build it for him. He still can’t drive the best but he sure has fun out there. Normally he would just drive the red cat gen 8 but I thought it was time for him to get his own. You can scoop up some cheap used scx10 on eBay and then as his skills get better you guys can upgrade parts and he can see how it all works.

[twade984]

Take my opinion for what it’s worth, I’m newer to the hobby (1 year) and have owned an scx10.2, a barrage assembly kit, a Trx4 sport kit, and a trx4 chassis kit (in that order).

I dumped over $300 trying to make that barrage not be a turd. Maybe it’s my driving type or terrain, but I twisted every axle in that thing the second time out. All my other rigs have been fine. Besides plastic gear servos. I could have built my sport for what I wasted on the barrage.

The axial was good, but was a deadbolt rtr and I also dumped a lot of money getting it to perform how i wanted.

Both Trx’s are so far really good out of the box. The stock servo is weak, but I’m impressed with quality, and capability. I would have the most confidence handing over a trx to a kid.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by twade984

Take my opinion for what it’s worth, I’m newer to the hobby (1 year) and have owned an scx10.2, a barrage assembly kit, a Trx4 sport kit, and a trx4 chassis kit (in that order).

I dumped over $300 trying to make that barrage not be a turd. Maybe it’s my driving type or terrain, but I twisted every axle in that thing the second time out. All my other rigs have been fine. Besides plastic gear servos. I could have built my sport for what I wasted on the barrage.

The axial was good, but was a deadbolt rtr and I also dumped a lot of money getting it to perform how i wanted.

Both Trx’s are so far really good out of the box. The stock servo is weak, but I’m impressed with quality, and capability. I would have the most confidence handing over a trx to a kid.

I think that's a very educated summary and most veterans would agree with you.

[hotrod6107]

Bob-That is an interesting recommendation. I had not consider the Everest 10, watching a few videos it seems like it would be slow enough that he would not get into trouble.

[Bob_in az]

Originally Posted by hotrod6107

Bob-That is an interesting recommendation. I had not consider the Everest 10, watching a few videos it seems like it would be slow enough that he would not get into trouble.

It's a good, budget friendly option for a kid. He can learn the basics on it & then if he sticks with it, you could make something like a trx4 be a goal for him to reach.

[Jim85IROC]

The E10 seems like a solid entry level choice. Just plan on buying a pair of aluminum lockers (HSP 180009) with the truck. The stock plastic lockers are doomed to fail.

$20 for a pair on the slow boat from China, about 2x as much stateside under the Redcat name.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/RC-HSP-1800...EAAOSwmLdddEmc

Order the chinese pair, and chances are they'll get here just around the time Junior strips the first plastic one.

[UB83]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I didn't realize it either. I looked it up before commenting. The TRX-4 manual goes into setting the Training Mode so that's how I confirmed the crawler ESC has it.

My son is 4 1/2 and I had the same question this past fall when he showed interest in RC crawlers from youtube videos. I Went with the TRX-4 Sports as it is much simpler than the full-blown TRX-4. No locking/unlocking servos, one-speed transmission, and like it was said earlier you can set the ESC to 50% speed for 'training'.

My son loves the truck and has been a great fit for us.

[Shinchu]

my son started at 8 years old with a barrage gen1. he has since only cartwheeled it ONCE, it bent the rear axle stub, i gently and slowly bent it back its been fine. no other damage other than the known issue of the servo quitting.
he had pitbull growler 1.55 tires on there as the ONLY upgrade. he was pulling lines at proline BTF 2018 that adults with 1.9 rigs couldn't pull.

he has since graduated to an ascender 1.9 that was very generously donated by CODYBOY, and i got him an RC4WD blazer body and cut the back to convert to a K10 cab. he's 11 now and LOVES IT.

get whatever works for your budget, just be prepared for repairs and teach him to be GENTLE. my son learned with the throttle trim turned almost all the way down on his barrage, worked perfectly.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by rkj__

If you are looking for something priced between a Redcat Gen 7 and a TRX4, consider the Vaterra Ascender Suburban.

X2

Originally Posted by Shinchu

my son started at 8 years old with a barrage gen1. he has since only cartwheeled it ONCE, it bent the rear axle stub, i gently and slowly bent it back its been fine. no other damage other than the known issue of the servo quitting.
he had pitbull growler 1.55 tires on there as the ONLY upgrade. he was pulling lines at proline BTF 2018 that adults with 1.9 rigs couldn't pull.

he has since graduated to an ascender 1.9 that was very generously donated by CODYBOY, and i got him an RC4WD blazer body and cut the back to convert to a K10 cab. he's 11 now and LOVES IT.

get whatever works for your budget, just be prepared for repairs and teach him to be GENTLE. my son learned with the throttle trim turned almost all the way down on his barrage, worked perfectly.

Yes, he did well crawling with us!