Gratuitous action shot

Axial Wraith™ Ready-to-Run 1/10th Electric 4WD Rock Racer The Wraith™ Ready-to-Run 1/10th Scale Electric 4WD Rock Racer is another “FIRST” for Axial with the first and most realistic full tube-frame chassis design that is manufactured with high strength composite materials. The Wraith™ is built to go fast and is NOT JUST A LOW SPEED ROCK CRAWLER. The Axial Wraith™ changes the game with its impressive 1:1 scale looks, high-speed monster truck “bashability,” and technical “crawl” capabilities. The Wraith™ is the most versatile vehicle satisfying the needs of a wide range of enthusiasts! The realistic looks, drivability and ready-to-run ease make this vehicle the perfect blank canvas for the enthusiast looking for a vehicle to build upon. The Wraith™ can go in so many directions; desert sand, mountain trail runner, rock racer, mud bogger and any form of backyard bashing that can be dreamed up! 

via AX90018 Axial Wraith™ Ready-to-Run 1/10th Electric 4WD Rock Racer.

It seems like it was ages ago that the AR.Drone was first announced, but it’s finally here. Available online from the manufacturer or from HMV, it costs £299,so let’s see if it’s worth the wait.

Unlike most radio control toys, the AR.Drone doesn’t come with a remote control; you need an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. Rather than being a drawback, though, this is the drone’s selling point – it has two cameras which continuously beam video footage back to your iPhone so you get a pilot’s eye view of what the drone can see (one camera points forward, one downwards). This is done via an ad-hoc WiFi network, set up by the drone itself, so you don’t need to be in range of an existing WiFi network – your iPhone will just hook up to the drone’s own network and off you go.

Actually, I feel a bit bad referring to the drone as a “toy”, since it’s a pretty neat bit of kit that retails for £300 – but the drone (and the software to control it) are geared towards ease-of-use. There’s even a simple take-off/land button on the iPhone app that you touch to, you guessed it, take-off and land. And in the case of it all going wrong, you can simply shut the motors down and it will drop out of the sky. So, as impressive and pricey as it is, it does seem to be a toy, albeit a darned cool one.

So what else does this toy have going for it? Well, it’s designed for both indoor and outdoor flight. You get two shells inlcuded; one has protective bumpers around the four rotors for indoor flight, the other is slightly more streamlined and exposes the rotors for outdoor flight. The AR.Drone will also behave slightly differently depending on which shell is fitted. The website is a little vague on exactly what sort of control you have over the drone; but it looks like it behaves similarly to a three-channel heli with altitude, throttle and yaw control. It also has height detection so you can set a virtual ceiling that it won’t climb above, although it seems this might be a bit flakey according forum posts I’ve read. Speaking of which, it seems there is a healthy, and growing, community of AR.Drone users – http://www.ardrone-flyers.com is one website which holds quite a bit of info. A couple of additional iOS apps ahve been written by users, including the pretty neat-looking Flightrecord which records the video stream from your drone for later playback (something which doesn’t seem to be in the “official” app). There are also plans by Parrot to make the drone controllable from other platforms, such as Android, in the future. Finally, if you have a friend who also has £299 to spare, you can pit two AR.Drones against each other and have a dogfight!

However, as impressed as I am by it, I’m not sure it’s worth buying just yet. Or at least, not for £299. For starters, the WiFi range is only around 50m maximum; much less than most “normal” r/c helicopters. There’s also the price of spares – one replacement motor is £40 (it has 4, don’t forget), a new battery is £30. The body is £50 and the main “cross” is £25 – and given some of the reports of sudden loss of control that I’ve read about, it not only looks like crashing is a very real possibility, but it could also be very expensive. I’m also not really a fan of the fact you have to control it via an iOS device; as cool as the video is, touch-screen control can’t match a proper transmitter. I also can’t find any reference to what happens if a call comes in while you’re controlling the drone, or what happens if the control app quits – I would hope the drone just stops in place, but the FAQ doesn’t say.

So, right now, I’d say that as neat as it is, I think it’s over priced by about £100-£150. I appreciate that it’s a lot more complex than a regular co-axial heli, but I feel the drawbacks outweigh the cool tech that’s in there. Hopefully once it’s more widely available the price will come down (and the price of spares too!), but until then, I can’t justify it.

Instead, I’d suggest having a look at the FlyCamOne 3 (or the new FlyCamOne HD) which can be fitted with a 5.8GHz video transmitter, and stick it on a Belt CP or Interceptor 400. If you really want to go wild, fit the FlyCamOne to a Gaui 330X, and use a pair of VR goggles for the full virtual reality experience! Ok, it’s about twice the price of the AR.Drone (three times if you add a set of VR goggles), but if a job’s worth doing…

Two years ago I bought my first r/c helicopter- a Blade 400. I set it up, I took it to the park, and promptly crashed it.

In fairness, I wasn’t totally to blame- I should have waited for a less windy day, and I shouldn’t have been so nervous on lift-off. But I’d probably still have crashed it.

Deciding I needed a but more practice, I looked for something I could fly indoors. Since I already had a Spektrum DX6i radio, all I needed was a bind’n'fly model- and the Blade mCX fit the bill perfectly.

You’ve probably seen plenty of little toy helicopters, such as the PicoZ – they’re about £30 and use an infra-red controller. Problem is, they really are toys – you have very basic control, and if you break it, that’s it. The Blade mCX, on the other hand, is slightly more serious. The first clue is the price – you’re looking at about £80 for a ready-to-fly model (this includes a transmitter) and about £60 for a bind’n'fly (without the transmitter, if you already have a compatible 2.4GHz transmitter of your own). The next clue is the fact that every part of the helicopter can be replaced or even upgraded, so if something goes wrong, you can rebuild it. Then there’s the fact that these are 4-channel helicopters – you can make them go slower/faster, up/down, spin, and slide left/right. The last clue is the technology being used in these models – replaceable LiPo batteries, 2.4GHz radio gear, a proper (albeit minute) gyroscope, linear servos and separate motors for the upper and lower blades.

So, we’ve established that these helis are a) more expensive than a PicoZ and b) more complicated. But what are they like to fly?

In a word – brilliant. They’re nothing like a “real” single-rotor helicopter, but they’re great for getting used to controlling a helicopter in the air. The mCX is amazingly stable; once you’ve adjusted the trims so it doesn’t drift around, it’ll pretty much stay where you put it. Not exactly where you put it, as it’s so light the slightest air movement will make it drift, but you can put the remote down and not worry that the mCX is going to hit something without you realising.

I found the hardest part of starting out with the mCX was getting used to giving it a fair bit of throttle to get it off the ground, then quickly throttling back before it went too high. The reason for this is that if you throttle up too slowly, the downwash from the rotors will make the heli slide across the floor and probably fall over, as it’s so light. Quickly getting it into the air reduces the ground effect from the lower blades and lets you keep control.

Once you’ve got the hang of getting it up in the air, you can start moving it around. Being a coaxial heli, it’s not the fastest in a straight line, but that’s fine if you’re a beginner! It’s also pretty handy for indoor flight – you’re not going to suddenly lose control and smack it into the telly. Thanks to the gyroscope, and the coaxial blades, when you stop moving forward (or backwards) it will kinda swing back into place; unlike a car or boat it won’t just keep on going until it slows down, it will pretty much just stop. You can also slide it left and right, and once you’ve got the hang of using both controller sticks, you’ll also be able to spin, which makes cornering much more realistic. With a bit of practice, you’ll soon be flying figure-of-eights around the lounge.

The final step to master is the landing. Fortunately, the Blade mCX is so light that even if you do get it wrong, you’re unlikely to break anything – especially if you follow Andy’s Top Tip and remove the screw holding in the weighted flybar – this will allow the flybar to simply pop out of the central shaft on impact and save you having to buy a new central shaft. As with take-off, I found the best way to land was to gradually drop down towards the landing zone, and just as the ground effect starts to kick in, almost drop the heli onto the deck.

Once you’ve got the hang of take-off, in-flight manoeuvring and landing, you can start mixing things up a bit by giving yourself targets – take off from a chair without falling off the side, fly around the chandelier at full throttle, and then land on the coffee table, for example. Or fly under the dining table then land on top of it! Or launch from the sideboard, lap the room, go through the doorway into the hall, up the stairs and land in the bathroom sink (haven’t mastered that one yet)…

You’ll have a fair bit of time to fly – each battery charge lasts for around 6-8 minutes; LiPo technology means the battery is featherweight but packs a lot of power for the size. Additional batteries are available, and you get a neat little AA-powered charger with the heli which charges a LiPo in about 20 minutes.

If you fancy something a little different, there is a dual-rotor version available (the Tandem Rescue) and once you’re ready to progress, the single-rotor Blade mSR awaits. My Dad has bought one of the Tandems, and I’m getting to grips with the mSR – I’ll post more on those another time.

Right, enough typing – I’m off to fly!

Opinion: Get it!

My local RC club, DMS Racing, has recently started regular heats for micro racers. Since I have been well and truly bitten by the RC racing bug, I caved in and got myself something to race. In this post I’ll be having a quick look at the Carisma GT14 1/14 scale touring car, and I’ll also be posting about the Team Associated SC18 short course truck later.

First, a bit of video. When I got my Gt14, there wasn’t much info about it, so I figured I might as well do one of those “unboxing” videos that seem to be quite popular these days…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Having spent a bit more time with it, I must say I’m really looking forward to racing this for the first time. I’m very impressed with the attention to detail of this car, especially considering it could so easily be mistaken for a toy. The shell alone is a work of art – I’ll try my best not to scratch it up too badly on its first outing, but no promises! Obviously a realistic shell isn’t super important on a car that’s going to get raced and see some hard times, but it looks like they’ve already thought of that – the wing is held in place by four body clips, and I was very surprised (and glad!) to discover that the wing mirrors can be easily removed. I had thought that the first thing to go would be the mirrors, because although they’re a lovely scale touch, they do look extremely vulnerable. However, undo a screw, and each mirror comes right off. Speaking of the shell, each shell is available as an option (see the list of Carisma GT14 bodyshells here), and there’s also a clear Mazda 6 shell for custom paint jobs.

Moving on to the chassis, it’s quite impressive how they’ve shrunk a regular 1/10 touring car down to 1/14 size. Everything you’d expect to see is right there – adjustable shocks, proper diffs, a servo saver, adjustable geometry, slipper  - there’s even mountings for anti roll bars. There are a number of upgrades available (and there’s also a “pro” spec chassis-only version, the GT14 Pro V-One) so some of the components are basic – the shocks are adjusted using clip-on rings, unlike the threaded body “Pro” shocks; it doesn’t have the aluminium adjustable turnbuckles, settling for threaded rods; the chassis isn’t carbon fibre; the tyres are scale treaded instead of slicks or foam; and the diffs are geared instead of ball. However, for a nice, easy, out-of-the-box racer, you’ve got everything you need to keep you occupied for a while.

Carisma GT14

The motor is a bog standard 370-size brushed unit, however even this has a couple of nice touches. First off, there’s a clip-on heatsink (which I’ll be swapping onto my SC18 next time I race it!), and secondly, replacement brushes are one of the option parts! I imagine a lot of racers will be wanting to swap a brushless system in, but it’s good to know that if you stick with the standard motor you’ll be able to maintain it. I wouldn’t be surprised if some clubs ran a controlled class of this car, to keep costs down and make it easier for people on a limited budget to get involved.

Even the radio is quite decent. I’ve opted for a 2.4GHz model – I really can’t be doing with crystals and frequency clashes and so on, so for the extra £20 or so, it’s worth going for.  In fact, it’s really the only one that makes sense – apparently the 27MHz models have a combined ESC and receiver, so if you ever did want to go to 2.4GHz you’d need to replace both the ESC and the receiver, which would cost you more than the extra for the 2.4GHz model in the first place. Just a 2.4GHz receiver would be at least £35, so it makes no sense at all to go for an FM model. Anyway, the radio gear is not bad at all – the transmitter takes four AA batteries (supplied!) unlike the SC18′s demand for eight, and as well as the usal throttle and steering trim, you’ve got end point adjustment AND a dual rate knob. Not bad for a kit radio. The only downside is that even though it’s a 2.4GHz system, the receiver’s aerial is just as long as any FM aerial – at least 30cm or so. Fortunately it doesn’t seem to mind being coiled up inside the shell, so I’ll be racing it like that.

Anyway, that’s my first impressions – I’ll post an update once I’ve given it a run around the track!

Little and large...

I’m thoroughly enjoying my Traxxas E-Revo. It’s stupid amounts of fun. The only slight problem is that it’s too big for me to run at home – the garden just isn’t big enough for a 1/8 scale RC monster truck. Especially not one that’s been upgraded to brushless – I pull the trigger and straight away, it’s in the geraniums.

Thankfully (for my wife’s herbacious borders) Traxxas recently released a 1/16 scale E-Revo, the E-Revo VXL, which is exactly half the size of the original. Not only that, but it has a water-resistant brushless motor and ESC. So, does half the size mean half the fun?

Er… no. If anything, it’s even more fun than the big brother! If I had to pick one drawback to the larger E-Revo (note that I said drawback, not flaw!) it’s the sheer size of it – you need a lot of space to run it. It’s also not the easiest thing to carry over long distances, like from a car park to a beach. Of course, the 1/16 E-Revo VXL doesn’t have those problems – it’s half as long, half as wide, half as tall. And of course it’s so much lighter to carry – the car, transmitter and spare batteries can be slipped into a small drawstring bag and slung over your shoulder.

So, apart from the obvious reduction in size, what else is different? Not much, actually. Traxxas have pretty much simply taken the big E-Revo, and made a smaller version. It’s got the same suspension layout, same drivetrain, same wheels and tyres… The only difference is the electronics package. The ESC in the E-Revo VXL is a water-resistant model (the brushless 1/8 E-Revo doesn’t have that), and of course there’s a 1/16-size brushless motor. The receiver and transmitter are the same as the big E-Revo, but I swapped the receiver out for a 2.4Ghz jobbie that mates with my Spektrum DX3S.

So, what’s it like to use? The first outing for mine was in the heavy snow we experienced in December. Since the electronics are water resistant, I took it out and gave it a good run in the snow and on the icy roads, and it didn’t miss a beat! Gentle throttle control was the order of the day, unsurprisngly. Due to the small size it could get grounded on packed snow quite easily, and it couldn’t plough through deep snow like the big one could, but it was still a blast. Back home, I took the shell off, disconnected the batteries, rinsed it under a hot tap to get rid of the worst of the snow that had built up under the shell, and left it to dry. It had a few more outings in the snow before it all thawed…

More recently, it’s also had a run on Highcliffe beach (near Bournemouth). This is where I normally run the big E-Revo, so I know where there are some fun places to go. Although the 1/16 car is too small to really go on the shingle beach (it’d just get hung up on the pebbles), it’s quite at home on the gravel paths and grassy bits. So far I’ve run it on single battery packs (LiPo and NiMH), which are pretty fast – Traxxas quote 30mph – so I haven’t felt the need to swap the pinion and run it on dual packs yet.

However, it does need a more delicate hand – I’ve found it much easier to flip than the big one. It’s also more fragile – so far I’ve managed to break two hub carriers by doing unintended cartwheels! Fortunately, just like the big models, there are plenty of spares and hop-up parts available. I’ve fitted some red aluminium replacements from The Toyz (on eBay) which are much better. You do need to resist the temptation to fit every anodized part you can find – some parts, like the A-arms, need the flex that the pastic parts allow. I’ve also fitted the STRC aluminium front and rear skid plates – these don’t need to be plastic, and they do look quite nice… The next improvement I plan on making is some better shock absorbers;I could replace the oil and springs in the stock ones, but I might as well get some metal-bodied ones and keep the originals for spares.

So to sum up – the 1/16 Traxxas E-Revo is a top choice for a small, fun basher – plenty of spares and upgrades options, too!

Opinion: Get it!!

The Traxxas E-Revo is a pretty flexible truck when it comes to power sources. Out of the box, it can use 7.2v or 8.4v NiMh packs, but I’m fast becoming a LiPo convert, so I wanted to use LiPo with my E-Revo. Here’s how I did it.

First things first – out of the box, the normal E-Revo isn’t really suitable for LiPo batteries. The thing with LiPo batteries is that you musn’t let them discharge too much, unlike NiMh batteries which you can just keep using until they run down. If a LiPo battery drops below a certain voltage, it’s had it. Anyway, usually if you’re using LiPo you need an ESC which has “low voltage protection” built into it – this means the ESC will monitor the batteries, and when they start to get low it will shut down before they can be damaged. The E-Revo’s standard ESC, the Traxxas EVX-2, doesn’t have this feature, but fortunately, you can add it on yourself.

All you need is a “Novak Smart Stop LiPo Cut-off Module”, some Traxxas battery connectors and a bit of soldering, and you’re done. What you need to do is create a cable to connect the Smart Stop between one of the batteries and the ESC. I simply copied the photo that can be found in this thread over on the Traxxas forums. Then plug the ESC’s receiver cable into the Smart Stop, and the Smart Stop’s cable into the receiver instead, and you’re done.

You can now connect LiPo batteries quite happily, and when they start getting low, the car will “judder” as the Smart Stop interrupts the power. There’s also a bright blue LED that will start flashing.

Now all you need to do is pick up some cheap LiPos off the net and you’re away!

As blogged earlier, I’ve recently decided to give radio-controlled touring cars a try. I’m starting out with the Xray T2R Pro 1/10 Touring Car. I’m classing this as “a beginner’s experience” as I’ve never built one of these before – I’ve built a rock crawler recently, and a Tamiya kit many years ago, but this is in an altogether different league.

In the first of a short series of posts talking about how I built the kit, I’ll go over the stuff you need to buy to be able to build the kit.

Things to buy before starting

Ok, so before starting out, make sure you’ve got everything you need – the manual tells you what isn’t provided. If you’ve built kits before you might already have some or all of this, but then you probably won’t be reading this!

I ordered this graphite grease and this bearing oil. The really neat bit about that bearing lube is that it has a needlepoint dispenser, which means it’ll be a lot less messy when you’re using it – I definitely reccomend it.

In terms of tools, I’d avoid buying them from your model shop. Even the mailorder ones charge silly prices for tools – instead, check out Maplin. They’ve got some neat multi-purpose toolkits that are ideal – try this 33-Piece Precision Screwdriver Set for £21, or this Interchangeable Utility Set for £7. There’s loads of other sets to check out too, and of course if you’ve got a store nearby it’s worth going in to see if they’ve got anything else. I got a great little handle-and-bits set for about £9, but I can’t find it on the website. Anyway, these sort of sets are a much more sensible purchase.

In terms of optional upgrades, I found that the plastic servo mounts that come in the kit put the servo arm waaay too close to the top deck, so I’ve had to get the optional aluminium servo mount. I can understand Xray putting cheaper parts in this kit – so composite instead of carbon fibre etc, but the plastic mounts are a completely different design to the alu ones – very odd. Also, if you’re going for LiPo, the optional battery strap makes life a lot easier – no messing about with battery tape! It’s not cheap, though – would it kill them to do a cheaper version?

Finally, before starting, make sure you’ve got a reasonable amount of space to work in, and it’s somewhere that won’t be disturbed if you have to leave everything out overnight. I built my car one bag at a time, over the course of about a week. Make sure it’s well lit, and that the floor is clear – when you drop the screws or washers on the floor, it’ll be much easier to find them!

Ok, so that’s the preparation out of the way – come back soon for more notes on the actual build!

Spektrum DX3S transmitter

After unpacking, charging up the batteries and checking everything worked, the first thing I wanted to do with my new E-Revo was replace the radio gear. Don’t get me wrong – the transmitter and receiver that come with the model are fine, and I’ve not read any complaints about them, but since I bought a Spektrum DX3S for my touring car, I’d much rather use that.

The main benefit of using the DX3S is that it’s a 2.4GHz system – so it should have a greater range, and no risk of interference from other transmitters. There are other benefits too – it only needs 4 batteries, not 8, and since has a 10-model memory, I can set it up to work with the E-Revo and the T2R Pro straight away using the two receivers it came with, and by picking up another receiver I can  control the AX10 with it as well. I might even use it for the boat – one transmitter for all my non-flying models…

Anyway, the point of this post is to describe how I got everything set up to use the DX3S with the Traxxas E-Revo, so let’s crack on.

I’m choosing to use the SPM SR300 receiver in the E-Revo. You could use the SR3300T receiver which also comes with the DX3S, but as that is the one with the telemetry options I’ve put it in the Xray. The Spektrum receivers are nice and small, so should fit quite nicely.

1 - Open up the receiver box and note which wires are throttle and steering

The first thing we need to do is check everything works happily with the new receiver, so open up the receiver box and make a note of which wires go into which socket – two are for the steering servos (labelled CH1) and one is for the ESC (CH2). Fortunatly, the DX3S is a three-channel transmitter with matching receivers, so the presence of two steering servos isn’t a problem.

Next, you’ll need to trim off the tabs on the plugs so that they’ll fit into the Spektrum receiver. Use a sharp knife of a pair of snips, and be careful not to break the plugs. Once you’ve trimmed the plugs, fit one of the steering servo wires into the Aux port on the servo. On the DX3S transmitter, enable the Aux channel. Plug the batteries into the ESC and turn it on – now test that the steering works. If it does, you’ve successfully set up the second servo on the Aux channel.

2 - Check it all works

Next, unplug the batteries, plug the throttle plug and the other steering servo into the throttle and steering ports on the receiver, and unplug the Aux servo. Turn on the transmitter, plug the batteries in to the ESC and turn on the ESC – blip the throttle trigger on the DX3S and the wheels should spin, turn the wheel and the steering should work (this proves that both steering channels are working, and you’re not just using the one). Next, disconnect the batteries, plug the Aux servo back in and you’ve got everything working. If anything hasn’t worked, check it’s all plugged in the right way around and in the right ports. If at any point you can’t turn on the ESC, chances are you’ve got a steering servo plugged in to the throttle port.

3 - Remove Traxxas receiver and replace with Spektrum receiver

Next, you’ll need to remove the old receiver – first, loosen the screw you can get to on the cable-holding box alongside the receiver box. This is a neat little device that keeps the receiver box waterproof – the cable are fed through some foam inside it, which keeps moisture out. You’ll only need to undo the one screw, and then you can pull the aerial lead out from the receiver box. The 2.4GHz aerials are very short, so don’t bother trying to feed the new one through – it should be fine just tucked inside the receiver box. With the old aerial lead free, you can gently (but firmly) lever up the Traxxas receiver. Use a bit of servo tape on the new one to stick it in place, carefully replace the blue waterproofing ring around the edge of the box, and screw the top back into place.

That’s it – job done!

Looks like a fair bit of traffic hitting my site from people Googling “T2R Pro”, but getting the main page instead of the posts being referenced. So here’s links to the relevant posts – there’s more to come now I’ve built it and got some pointers, so check back soon!

Getting into r/c touring cars
General musings about how to go about starting in 1/10 touring car racing

Which radio control touring car for a beginner? Pt 1
Should you buy a ready-to-run car, or build a kit?

Which radio control touring car for a beginner? Pt 2
Choosing the chassis, motor and speed controller

Which radio control touring car for a beginner? Pt 3
Batteries, charger and radio decisions

Traxxas E-Revo

Over the last year or so I’ve been getting back into radio controlled stuff , and have been building up a collection of helicopters and cars that I never could have managed when I was a kid.

As you might be able to tell from other posts on this blog, I already have an Axial AX10 Scorpion rock crawler, and an Xray T2R Pro 1/10 touring car. But… I wanted another one. Why? Put simply, I want one for bashing. The T2R is only usable on a racetrack, and although the AX10 is great fun on rocks, it’s a bit too slow for any other scenario. For general messing around in the garden or elsewhere, I wanted something with a bit more grunt, so I started looking around.

What to choose?

There were a number of factors I took into consideration when deciding what to buy. Bashing will likely result in damage, so I wanted something with good spares availability and optional parts – so something from a big manufacturer like Traxxas, Losi or HPI was an obvious choice. So was four-wheel drive and decent ground clearance – meaning some sort of monster truck chassis instead of a buggy or truggy. In the end, I narrowed it down to things like the Traxxas E-Maxx, Traxxas E-Revo and HPI E-Savage. The E-Maxx is currently £269 from Modelsport (not including batteries).

HPI E-Savage

However, a bit of research suggested that owners considered the E-Maxx to be weaker and more prone to breakages than the E-Revo, and currently the E-Revo is only £299. So, the E-Maxx is out – no point saving £30 if I’m just going to end up spending it on replacement parts, I figure. The E-Savage is a tempting choice, at the same price as the E-Revo, and this is even including two battery packs and a charger that can charge them both at once. However, more forum surfing suggested that the E-Savage wasn’t quite as good as the E-Revo – here’s an example. So the E-Savage offers better value-for-money with it’s included charger and batteries – it really is a proper “ready to run” package – but again, the E-Revo seems to come out on top in forum discussions for general strength, reliability and, well, fun. Plus, I dunno, I think the E-Revo looks better…

There was one last option I considered – a Traxxas Summit. The Summit is basically a cross between the E-Revo and a rock crawler, with some pretty cool capabilities- it’s got remote locking/unlocking differentials, and a remote selectable high/low ratio gearbox. This means that it’ll run around at speed just fine (not as fast as a proper E-Revo but not exactly slow), but then when you fancy tackling some obstacles, you can lock the diffs, select the low ratio and off you go. A normal monster truck without locked diffs wouldn’t be very good at climbing – the diffs would just send all the power to whichever wheel(s) didn’t have any grip and you’d go nowhere. So, all the fun of a crawler and most of the speed of an E-Revo. Where’s the catch? Well, two things put me off. First, all that remote-locking and remote selecting of ratios. I can’t help but feel it’s going to be a bit fragile in that respect, and I don’t want to be replacing servo linkages and whatnot when a crawling expedition results in a roll down a hillside. Secondly, the price – currently it’s coming in at £449 – that’s 50% more than the E-Revo. Sure, it’s effectively 50% more capable, but still…

So, E-Revo it is, then!

Now it’s arrived, the first thing I’ll be doing is swapping out the receiver for the spare one from my Spektrum DX3S – the Traxxas radio gear is 27MHz, not 2.4GHz, and it’s easier to have the one transmitter and not have to worry about loads of batteries. I’ll be putting up some info on the swap out when I’ve done it.

Some photos of the E-Revo:

[nggallery id=1]

…and some video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.