Anyone in to RC cars? Good model for a beginner?

[JHZR2]

My 9yo saw some kids running RC cars at the park the other day, and now is interested in one.

My child can fly a small drone proficiently.

I kind of get that the sky’s the limit. I’m not interested in a modding money pit or something that goes 80MPH.

It would be used mostly on some back streets and in some of our nearby parks which have large expanses of cut grass.

I’m not really interested in spending $200. I’ve heard that traxxas is a good modular design, but they are pricy too. What’s a good option for a beginner?

 

[RooflessVW]

What size?

I'm really fond of the Kyosho Mini Z

 

[MrHorspwer]

Traxxas Stampede is probably one of the best beginner RC.

I'm not trying to sell you on Traxxas but nobody does RC better for the casual RC hobbyist and the Stampede ticks all the boxes for a 9 year old and parents.

It large enough to use anywhere. 1/10 monster trucks are king bashers. Anything smaller (smaller than 1/10 or 1/10 buggies, short course, or stadium trucks) and you'll have trouble on grass until you get into big power brushless motors.

It's fast enough to jump stuff and have fun. It's slow enough to be controllable.

It's durable. Bash it hard enough and you'll break it, sure, but the combination of slower speeds and durability makes that pretty rare. Electronics are also waterproof and warrantied.

Parts are available. This is key. Most inexpensive RC you'll find are gonna be one-off Chinese junk. Where do you find a control arm when it breaks? With a Traxxas, you go on Amazon and a new one shows up tomorrow (maybe you buy a stronger one because everyone sells hop-up parts for them too).

$200 is really about the entry to a hobbyist-level RC. Spend much less and you're buying a toy. Check Craigslist and FB Marketplace. I've had spotty success there but you may get lucky. Seems everything for sale has $hundreds in hop-up parts and the seller is trying to get every dime back they spent.

My kids have a Stampede they bomb around the backyard with. I've been in and out of the hobby for the better part of 20 years. I did on-road carpet racing for a while, got lightly into short course racing, and had a bunch of other vehicles (drift on-road car, Clodbuster-based crawler, multiple E-Maxx, E-Revo, etc.)

 

[Silver]

Traxxas is really a relatively good deal for durable, simpler models and their combos are good quality for the money too. The best thing about that is you don't have to figure out what motor, esc, battery, charger, connectors, etc work with the car. Most hobby shops support them as well in case you need help.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Yeah, you can't go wrong with Traxxas. They are probably the biggest player in the business nowadays if you want to go 1/10 scale off-road and have parts availability and support at most hobby shops.

 

[2010Civic]

I got a Traxxas Stampede 20 years ago. Still have it.

 

[HonorAndHonesty]

I also recommend the Traxxas Stampede. For 230 dollars you can get the Stampede with a NIMH battery and charger. Its relatively durable, parts are cheap and easy to get.

What kind of area do you plan on running it? Backyard?

 

[dlundblad]

I really want a Traxxas Slash.

An old co worker told me to buy a 2WD brushed motor model. The battery lasts longer than a 4WD (they’d have 2 motors), and you can buy many many brushes for what it costs to upgrade to a brushless motor.

Never really looked into it and just took his word for it. He could have been all wet. The guy has 2 RC tracks at his house and one consumes his entire back yard so I’m guessing he’s pretty serious about it.

 

[wings&wheels]

I'm an RC boat guy, scale mostly, and these folks are good to deal with and have a great selection; Motion RC.

One of their tracked vehicles is calling me for those cooped up snow days

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

My 9yo saw some kids running RC cars at the park the other day, and now is interested in one.

My child can fly a small drone proficiently.

I kind of get that the sky’s the limit. I’m not interested in a modding money pit or something that goes 80MPH.

It would be used mostly on some back streets and in some of our nearby parks which have large expanses of cut grass.

I’m not really interested in spending $200. I’ve heard that traxxas is a good modular design, but they are pricy too. What’s a good option for a beginner?

Traxxas or Kyosho are going to be your best bets. Tamiya had a flash in the pan but that is so late 80s early 90s I'll never mention them again. Team Losi also had some models but, again, my knowledge is dated to about 1991-1993 when I was into RC.

You're probably looking at 1/10 or 1/12th I forget.

Looking to build from scratch, or get something built and used? I will look at some listings now...

Oh and by the way, new transmitters are 2.4GHz. I upgraded mine.

I will re-read what you are looking for, to see if mine may be a good fit. I have it, I do not use it... might be, might not be.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

Well, that certainly did not take long..

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[road_rascal]

I really want a Traxxas Slash.

An old co worker told me to buy a 2WD brushed motor model. The battery lasts longer than a 4WD (they’d have 2 motors), and you can buy many many brushes for what it costs to upgrade to a brushless motor.

Never really looked into it and just took his word for it. He could have been all wet. The guy has 2 RC tracks at his house and one consumes his entire back yard so I’m guessing he’s pretty serious about it.

The 4wd Slash only has one motor. Brushed motors are ok but for speed you want brushless. I've been running RC trucks/crawlers for quite awhile now. My Slash is 2wd brushless and its fun blasting around the yard. Batteries last for about 15 minutes or so but they're inexpensive and will charge fairly quickly if you have a decent charger. My Axial rigs are mainly for rock crawling (brushed motors) but I can drive for over an hour before I need to swap the battery out. It's another money sucking hobby.

 

[dlundblad]

The 4wd Slash only has one motor. Brushed motors are ok but for speed you want brushless. I've been running RC trucks/crawlers for quite awhile now. My Slash is 2wd brushless and its fun blasting around the yard. Batteries last for about 15 minutes or so but they're inexpensive and will charge fairly quickly if you have a decent charger. My Axial rigs are mainly for rock crawling (brushed motors) but I can drive for over an hour before I need to swap the battery out. It's another money sucking hobby.

Apologies. I thought he said they had 2.

15 mins is great. I was under the impression they’d last about half that.

How much does something break on them?

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

Apologies. I thought he said they had 2.

15 mins is great. I was under the impression they’d last about half that.

How much does something break on them?

I have an old school MRC Quick Charger, AC and DC so you could charge it out of a cigarette lighter...... 7.2V 6-cell in a Tamiya used to last about 15 minutes, MAYBE 20 if you REALLY juiced them, as it was a manual charger. Used to get all excited about the different color battery packs and mAh ratings etc.

They get HOT!

I still have my RC truck I just dont use it....

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

It's amazing how much longer modern LiPo batteries last, especially on a vehicle that doesn't tax them too much. You'd probably get bored of driving it before the battery alarm goes off.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

 

[tom slick]

I, oops I mean my son, has a Traxxas LaTrax Teton that is 1/18 scale. It is a cheap, fun, and fast but is more difficult to drive than a 1/10 scale.

 

[road_rascal]

Apologies. I thought he said they had 2.

15 mins is great. I was under the impression they’d last about half that.

How much does something break on them?

On mine a huge crash (and I mean full throttle into a brick wall) generally costs under $50 to fix. Things like A-arms, caster blocks, shock mounts, etc. Over the years I've heavily upgraded mine and have taken it to skate parks and beat the begeezus out of it and it rarely breaks. Stuff only gets damaged if you hit a curb (offset 45-90 degrees) which usually cracks A-arms. As with any hobby I have a full box of spare parts. And Traxxas stuff can be found really cheap online, but the local hobby shop near me is pretty competitive. Go to the Traxxas site and download a parts manual. It's quite relaxing working on these little trucks, plus it's easy.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

That is Direct opposite to mine, got bagged up because it had to be (house fumigated) and never came back out, needs a control arm, never came out of the bag because it's a memento for me now..

 

[road_rascal]

That is Direct opposite to mine, got bagged up because it had to be (house fumigated) and never came back out, needs a control arm, never came out of the bag because it's a memento for me now..

Get that bad boy fixed up!