Kit or RTR? I have some old electronics

[TroySmith80]

I've been out of the RC hobby for quite a while, but i still have an old Losi XXT from way back when. I got it out of storage the other day and it still works. Of course the old nicad pack is good for about a 30 second (literally) run time now, but i'm amazed it works at all.

Anyway, should i bother trying to use the radio, motor and steering servo from that truck? I know the ESC won't do me any good because it doesn't have reverse (too bad, it's a nice quality one).

I see the RTR SCX10s are only about $100 more than the kits, seems like a pretty decent deal.

Can i piece together a batch of electronics of equal or better performance for close to the same price as the RTR, or should i just get the RTR?

 

[TroySmith80]

I noticed also that the kits come with some upgraded parts, that's nice.

 

[1dmaxpwr]

I defiantly suggest the kit, it has some better components. The $100 saved could be used for a new ESC and then use toe old Losi motor, servo & radio. The best part is that you get to build it yourself.

 

[TacoCrawler]

I'd go with the RTR
and use the upgraded radio/system that comes with it.

The original RTR electronics work well
and will hold up well... until you wish to upgrade those.

and use LiPo batteries...

preferably a 3s ;-)

^ volt up... gear down ~ jm $ .02 ~

you can easily upgrade your RTR
to even better then what is offered in the factory kits

 

[Calderwood]

I hate spending money twice and know I could never stand using a rtr radio so a kit is the only way to go IMO.

Edit: I miss my XXT

 

[Jcplante]

Its a hard choice for sure. I think the kit is a better option tho. After you build it you will have a much better understanding of how it all works. That way when something breaks it won't be a big deal to fix it. Also you will get extra parts in the kit that can come in handy for a quick fix instead of being down waiting for parts. With the extra $100 you save you should be able to get used electronics in the classifieds. There are even places like hobby king where you can get everything you need to get it running under $100. You will want to upgrade pretty quick but its a start. There is a brushed ESC on there for $12 and it actually works OK. Flysky radios they have will be better then the (I'm assuming) 27mhz one you have now. A few 2s batts and a cheap lipo charger. Grab a 27 turn axial motor for about $10 on eBay a tpro servo for $12 and ur running

Sent from my ALCATEL ONE TOUCH Fierce using Tapatalk

 

[1santaever]

I would go with a kit and use what you can and use the savings for esc and upgrades

 

[TroySmith80]

Yeah, i like the idea of building it and then knowing how everything works and how to fix it all.

 

[Bad Example]

Go for the new kit with the new gearbox and driveshafts, you can skip the garbage ESC and use that savings for something that wasn't made by kids in a sweatshop.

 

[theTman]

I would only go with the kit if you are willing to buy new electronics. Your old XXT servo will not have nearly enough torque for this application. The motor will also be no good if it is anything faster than a 27 turn motor unless you want another speed truck and not a trail runner, and even then only if it is still in good shape and isn't corroding internally.

The radio should also be dumped unless it is an expensive FM radio. I'm guessing you have an old RTR AM radio. You can get a decent 2.4 GHZ radio/receiver combos for about $80-$100 dollars.

Honestly, the only real upgrades that come with the kit are the metal lower links, metal steering link, and the aluminum shocks. You can get an upgrade kit made by axial for 60$ that gives you metal lower and steering links like the kits have, and also metal upper links which are not included in the kit. Also I hear the aluminum shocks are not all that great and are not a very big step up from the RTR plastic ones.

I would suggest you get the new Axial SCX10 Deadbolt: Axial Racing - SCX10

It has upgraded drive shafts that you can't get in any other kit or RTR that are more robust than the previous versions. It's also only 300$ because they didn't tack on all that name branded crap that hikes the prices up on the jeeps, and it doesn't have a light kit like the Honcho does. It also has a waterproof ESC which is probably cheaper for them as Castle Creations didn't make it, but the new ESC appears to be made by HobbyWing which although it is a Chinese company it has a good track record according to users on here and also the racers they sponsor that use their ESCs. If you ever hear about really bad ESCs from them it's because someone bought a knockoff lookalike off of Ebay for 20-30$.

Go for the new kit with the new gearbox and driveshafts, you can skip the garbage ESC and use that savings for something that wasn't made by kids in a sweatshop.

So, you say that simply because the ESC is Chinese that it must be crappy and made by kids in a sweat shop? I've seen many people saying that they make great stuff for a great price, and the only bad stuff I've heard about them was from idiots who bought knockoffs on Ebay thinking it was legit. Try going off a products track record rather than basing your opinion purely on where the thing was made. Times are changing and there are some decent things coming out of China, though I won't deny they don't have the greatest history of quality and that there is still a lot of crap coming from them.

 

[johnnyluv]

I recently acquired the JK Rubicon kit, as I also already had some brushed electronics I could use, although mine were a little more current (Traxxas XL-5/Titan 12T, and 2.4ghz Spektrum DX2L radio), but here's something I didn't consider, which makes me glad I went with the kit...Uniqueness in the build. Check out these pics from an Axial demo, at a Jeep event, down in Moab, UT. Just seeing all those silver RTR's made me think about how it might have turned out, if I hooked up with a group of scalers, where several of them had the same silver RTR. "Which one's mine???" Hahaha... I know you can add a little customization to an RTR, to set it apart, but I'd rather be able to do that at the outset, with my own choice of body paint color.

Although, if you get that Deadbolt SCX10, you'll be one of the first few, and that'll carry a little uniqueness, for awhile. Still, I got my JK for < $250, through Tower, which allowed me to use the savings to get a Castle BEC and USB link, so I can supply a steady 6 volts to the servo I'll be using. "thumbsup"

 

[theTman]

I recently acquired the JK Rubicon kit, as I also already had some brushed electronics I could use, although mine were a little more current (Traxxas XL-5/Titan 12T, and 2.4ghz Spektrum DX2L radio), but here's something I didn't consider, which makes me glad I went with the kit...Uniqueness in the build. Check out these pics from an Axial demo, at a Jeep event, down in Moab, UT. Just seeing all those silver RTR's made me think about how it might have turned out, if I hooked up with a group of scalers, where several of them had the same silver RTR. "Which one's mine???" Hahaha... I know you can add a little customization to an RTR, to set it apart, but I'd rather be able to do that at the outset, with my own choice of body paint color.

Although, if you get that Deadbolt SCX10, you'll be one of the first few, and that'll carry a little uniqueness, for awhile. Still, I got my JK for < $250, through Tower, which allowed me to use the savings to get a Castle BEC and USB link, so I can supply a steady 6 volts to the servo I'll be using. "thumbsup"

The new Deadbolt SCX10 is actually the same wheelbase as the Jeep G6 at 12 inches even (the listed 12.3 originally on axials website was a misprint according to one of Axial's guys that's on here) The roll cage from the deadbolt is the same as the one that goes with the G6 body. You could buy the Deadbolt and then if you really wanted to you could get a clear G6 body, give it a custom paint job, and then use the rollcage you already have on the new body rather than buying a whole rollcage and body combo .

 

[Bad Example]

So, you say that simply because the ESC is Chinese that it must be crappy

What I'm saying is there's no quality control. When buying from china you need to have someone literally tearing your product apart on a daily basis because chinese factories are notoriously unscrupulous.

Allowing a company to get away with slowly switching to inferior chinese parts will result in a lower quality product, and it's not going to stop here. WE made Axial what it is today, and they're basically saying "we've reached the point where money is more important to us than our userbase."

But hey, it's your money. When your rig bursts into flames because you took it out on a day that was a few degrees too hot outside, you can tell me they make great stuff for a great price.

 

[Jcplante]

Sorry to break it to you but a lot of castle escs are also made in China. Most everything you buy is made there or has parts in it that were made there. Its true that a lot of junk comes out of China, but I have had good luck with a lot of things too. You have to understand that as a company grows, they tend to outsource to save money. Its just business. It doesn't mean they don't care about the consumer. They could be doing their own quality control here before they put trucks on the shelf. If they want to keep growing it means trying to get a lower price. Sure there are many of us that have no prob forking over the cash but most of us already own more than one axial product. They can't expect that the same group of people will just keep buying new trucks. Lower price means new customers.