New Crawler/ Rock Racer for under $200

[gfmucci]

latainomanz said: "I guess it would not take all that sidewalk and rock crawling at 35 kmh (25mph)."

You might try a 1:1 scale tank. I'm not aware of any toy or hobby grade car or truck that "crawls" over rocks at 25 mph and survives for very long - especially for anything in your price range. It has better odds of survival flying off a roof.

I read through this entire thread. The insistence for a twin stick controller for an RC truck reminds me of another old expression: Adapt or perish. I've read through thousands of pages of hundreds of threads and this is the first I've heard of anyone insisting on a stick controller for RC cars. This is like insisting on tiller steering on a new full-sized Ford Mustang.

Some sacrifice of old preferences and youthful habits are needed when entering a new hobby.

Regarding Amazon: Before you actually "pull the trigger" on buying an RC car on Amazon, copy the heading for the description of the vehicle and do a Google search for other pricing. Then decide if the 10 to 20% higher cost on Amazon is worth their return privileges. And make sure it's a Prime offer. I've purchased non-Prime from Amazon and the return options are not nearly as good.

Don't some RC shops online have decent return options?

The folks on this thread are to be commended for their undying patience.

 

[Shinchu]

were you able to return the cheap one you broke?
if not, looks like you are out $200 that could have been spent on what we were trying to suggest.

and if you buy a high quality truck, you wont need to return it. there is a great deal on a used axial SCX10 here for just $250 and that happens quite a bit here.
who cares about amazon return policy if you don't need to return it???

im glad you have started to see the light, even if you had to break something to understand.
save up. buy something worth your money. if it breaks you can actually fix it, and we are here to help you with that.

when I bought mine, it took weeks of searching. I finally found a yeti used on ebay (could have been a horrible mistake but its fantastic) for $380, just needed a charger and 3s lipo battery (another $90 for QUALITY brands). guy was so nice he threw in an extra set of tires/wheels, included all electronics, had a handful of metal upgraded parts and he still threw in the stock stuff in little organized baggies.
was it $200? no. but i was patient and waited for the right deal.
all said and done I probably have well over $500 invested in that yeti now as I have upgraded a few more things like shocks, axle, steering knuckles. but I did it all in small steps after the initial purchase. sure there was down time and I broke stuff. fast RC trucks are not a cheap hobby. they really are like owning a real truck that is smaller and less expensive. try to remember that when gunning your rig at top speed and you are on concrete. these are designed to run on dirt. dirt will give better than concrete. what you are doing is more along the lines of bashing, and perhaps a stampede is better suited for your style of driving. maybe even a 2wd slash.

good luck.
last post from me too.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Ok, after this horrible experience, I have decided to buy a good car. Which one is a better multipurpose car regarless of the price, meaning good for bashing, off road, racing, jumping and of course crawling?

I have some options:

Twin hammers.
Traxxas Summit.
Traxxas Stampede.
Axial Wraith.
Axial Bomber.
Axial Yeti.
Ano other?

You didn't listen to suggestions the first time so why would people waste their time giving suggestions again? :lmao:

 

[badhoopty]

Masami Hirosaka uses a twin stick...

this is the newbie section. either be nice or gtfo. if somebody doesnt get it or refuses to take advice, move on.

 

[makya]

this newbie did one thing right, he posted in the right section.

Latinomanz, I think we've given you all the advice we can. Anything else at this point is just going to be a repeat of what's already been posted. Good luck to you.

 

[Mancub]

Just a small update, locked the front diff on the Helion Rock Rider and although performance was good, the motor got extremely hot very quickly. Would not recommend doing it unless it were upgraded or the pinion changed.

 

[latinomanz]

were you able to return the cheap one you broke?
if not, looks like you are out $200 that could have been spent on what we were trying to suggest.

and if you buy a high quality truck, you wont need to return it. there is a great deal on a used axial SCX10 here for just $250 and that happens quite a bit here.
who cares about amazon return policy if you don't need to return it???

im glad you have started to see the light, even if you had to break something to understand.
save up. buy something worth your money. if it breaks you can actually fix it, and we are here to help you with that.

when I bought mine, it took weeks of searching. I finally found a yeti used on ebay (could have been a horrible mistake but its fantastic) for $380, just needed a charger and 3s lipo battery (another $90 for QUALITY brands). guy was so nice he threw in an extra set of tires/wheels, included all electronics, had a handful of metal upgraded parts and he still threw in the stock stuff in little organized baggies.
was it $200? no. but i was patient and waited for the right deal.
all said and done I probably have well over $500 invested in that yeti now as I have upgraded a few more things like shocks, axle, steering knuckles. but I did it all in small steps after the initial purchase. sure there was down time and I broke stuff. fast RC trucks are not a cheap hobby. they really are like owning a real truck that is smaller and less expensive. try to remember that when gunning your rig at top speed and you are on concrete. these are designed to run on dirt. dirt will give better than concrete. what you are doing is more along the lines of bashing, and perhaps a stampede is better suited for your style of driving. maybe even a 2wd slash.

good luck.
last post from me too.

Hi,

Yes, I have been able to return like 10 different cars ha ha, I even got a Stampede but it won't crawl good so I returned it, I want the Axial Wraith but it is out of stock and the Twin Hammers is too complex for newbies I read. The Wraith sounds like a versatile car, it can crawl and with a 3S lipo reaches good speed for bashing.

 

[latinomanz]

I will be moving to NY, so I need something that can do well in snow too.

Now I have a Traxxas Teton but I cannot find good batteries for it, they are all too big and they run out of power after 20 minutes, so I cannot pop in a 8000mAh lipo.

 

[clm]

I will be moving to NY, so I need something that can do well in snow too.

Now I have a Traxxas Teton but I cannot find good batteries for it, they are all too big and they run out of power after 20 minutes, so I cannot pop in a 8000mAh lipo.

Bad flashbacks to the 90's and being happy you could get 5 minutes of run time... Now I don't last long enough to dump the 3000mah nimh battery in my TRX-4, how times have changed.

 

[Rotare]

Hi,

the Twin Hammers is too complex for newbies I read.

Really? In what way? Kinda thought the Twin Hammers set up would have been pretty typical of many other similar rock racer style RC buggies. Is it because it has a few extra screws holding the body to the chassis that makes it more 'complex'?

 

[latinomanz]

Really? In what way? Kinda thought the Twin Hammers set up would have been pretty typical of many other similar rock racer style RC buggies. Is it because it has a few extra screws holding the body to the chassis that makes it more 'complex'?

Yes, I read it has more screws, also the setup is a bit tight to work with and the wheels wobble, I read that the Wraith is better value for the same price.

Anyway, I have seen a drastic drop in price between the TH v1 and v2, is there a big difference between them? I kinda like the headlights the TH v2 has.

 

[latinomanz]

What about the Axial Bomber? is it better than the Wraith?

 

[clm]

What about the Axial Bomber? is it better than the Wraith?

It is newer, and newer is supposed to be better. But it's far over $200.

 

[latinomanz]

Hello all,

To update you all on what RC car I got.

I moved to another city and there are not too many places to crawl around here but my new house has HUGE backyard, front yard and side yards, the total space combined is around the size of 3 soccer fields with grass and some minor hills, so I decided to get something good for bashing instead but I kept in my some of the advices posted here and instead of getting a toy grade truck, I got a hobby grade one, a Traxxas Stampede 4x4 and I got a 8000mAh 2S lipo for it.

May the best bashing days come!

 

[StomperCrawler]

Good job going hobby grade! You won't be disappointed.

 

[latinomanz]

Good job going hobby grade! You won't be disappointed.

Thanks.

By any chance do you know how to plug lights to the power source of a Traxxas Stampede? I installed them but I do not seem to find where I can plug in the connector so that the truck powers them, do I need an additional cable?

Thanks.

 

[StomperCrawler]

Thanks.

By any chance do you know how to plug lights to the power source of a Traxxas Stampede? I installed them but I do not seem to find where I can plug in the connector so that the truck powers them, do I need an additional cable?

Thanks.

Can you show me a picture of what you've got?

 

[Jim85IROC]

I installed a Traxxas light kit made for the Stampede on mine. It comes with the wiring necessary to plug it into an unused port on the receiver, which is hidden inside a waterproof box. Take the lid off that box and you'll see the receiver with a couple unused ports. You can plug into any of them. If you're using some sort of aftermarket wiring kit, you can duplicate the same thing by buying/building an adapter that terminates in a JR servo-style plug.

 

[latinomanz]

Hello,

My lights kit is not Traxxas, it is universal. This is it:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013SSO70Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And a Traxxas Stampede VXL 4x4.

If I take off that box to plug it in, will I void the waterproofness or will it still be waterproof after I put it back on?

 

[Jim85IROC]

That kit already has the plug you need, so you're good.

To answer your question, no and yes. when you open the receiver box you'll understand. There's a small window that the wires pass through, and a lid for that window with a foam backing that conforms to the wires. It'll be fine as long as you take your time installing everything and you make sure that the wires aren't overlapping or twisted.