8ight-e

iTrader: (58)

The losi 8ight 2.0 is one of the best out now and will be competative for years and years to come and will have plenty of parts available. I'm still running a 8ight 1.0 and can beat and hang with all but pro's reguardless of what they drive. I may push my 8ight 1.0 1 more season after this as well, I have enough spares for a full rebuild but parts are starting to dry up on ebay (cheapest way to buy) but still this 1.0 is a flippin TANK, I mean wow can it take a BEATING. In two years I've broken 1 part.. LOL and I'm not nice, I race pretty hard on a track with HUGE jumps..

CrunchyMaster5K

I've got a friend with a MacBook that consistently says 2+2=3.999999, its calculator also says 60 minutes equals 3 hours and it couldn't do any conversions right.

JSR

iTrader: (18)

Most of the current 1/8 buggies are about 1.5 years old now. The latest are the Ve8 and Hyper9e, both of which are the only ones I consider really designed for electric. Many consider ones like Caster designed for electric, but a conversion kit can be made to be the exact same way with trays on each side (not saying Casters aren't good, but their design to me is still a converted nitro design). The Ve8 and Hyper9e have chassis, layout, and components designed specifically to account for the power and drivetrain layout of an electric setup. However, both have their weaknesses right now and that likely means newer, revised versions in the future to address or improve upon these shortcomings. While these are the latest and greatest and really purpose-designed, the 1.5yr old buggies aren't really falling behind in competitiveness, nor are the ones from 6-7yrs ago. There's still people running Kyosho MP7.5s competitively, and even the Ultra LX-1es are pretty competitive at the club level. Unless you're a pro, you won't be able to extract all the possible performance out of any of them. One might suit your driving style more, but that's about it. As for durability, I haven't had long term experience with the Mugen or XRays, but their reputation is known. From my experience (owning both), Losi's aren't any more durable than AEs. The Losi plastics give MUCH more than AEs, leading to more and more slop as usage goes on. Some say it makes them easier to drive. I find it negates your alignments since the dynamic alignment is now different from the static one you set and with more play comes more alignment changes under varying road conditions. AE's plastic tends to be a bit stiffer, which may mean they break more (though, they're still durable), but I find they don't slop up nearly as fast.

Spoold97

iTrader: (25)

Kevin if I know you well enough...the Ve8 is perfect. Our driving styles/preferences are similar which is what im going off of. Ill let you take a couple laps Friday night.

alpine

Buy the spare parts ahead of time then. Haha.

I have a while before I'm buying anything I think, maybe end of third/fourth quarter of the year.

scwrod

iTrader: (2)

If you think your computer is future proof you are gonna be real disappointed with your future proof RC.
It is good to dream !

I have found that selling your ride after a race season is best. Then just build a fresh one during off season.

hakmazter

JSR, just an honest question.

How do you see the VE8 as being truly electric in design? They flipped the motor around like Caster and are running the battery and motor on the same side. Other than that, making the chassis out of plastic is not an electric specific trait is it?

Everything front and rear suspensionwise and the center diff are the exact same as the nitro car.

Hyper 9e I guess you could say is unique because they put the diff at the back of the car and use a really long front center shaft, but other than that, it also not a reinvention of the wheel.

The Caster was badged as an actual electric because it did have a new chassis plate and it was radically different from the current nitro cars/conversion cars, while Caster offered the regular platform nitro versions.

Everyone has their opinions, but the Caster "looks" the most electric in most peoples opinions when you compare the nitro version vs the electric version. Ultimately, manufacturers want to use as many parts as they can that are the same to keep costs down which ultimately means a better value for the consumer.

Zerodefect

Just curious. Deos Caster have a version with the motor on one side and the battery on the other? Everyone I've seen has had forward motor and two rear batteries.

They run really impressively, so deos the VE8, I just prefere the E8 layout.

hakmazter

The car has been designed as a 2 pack setup. If a person wanted to, they could just remove a tray and run a 4s pack on the side of their choice. We have had a few people try it out, but it sort of defeats the purpose of the design and then it becomes like all the others in regards to side to side balance, but with the motor pushed farther forward, there is usually better steering.

There is no production version though.

Hope it helps.

fallguy

iTrader: (3)

thats the same way i think, the Ve8 and Hyper9e are the most advanced IMO. they have some outside the box thinking in them.

Most new truggys and buggys try to keep the weight centered and up front.. i dont think the caster does this at all.. with the lipos way at the back and seperated to the outside.

The Hyper9e with the rear center diff that lets the lipo get closer to the center, that sense to me.


that being said i think the 1/8 brushless stuff is just geting going, and will be out dated faster than the nitro 1/8th.. mugen, xray ect dont even have kits out yet.

fallguy

iTrader: (3)

look how close the weight is to the center

JSR

iTrader: (18)

Mike, by no means am I saying the Caster is not a good buggy. In fact, I wouldn't mind getting one myself because it seems to have less weaknesses than the others. However, I don't see the Caster as an electric design. The layout of components is identical to a nitro buggy with holes in the chassis to mount battery trays on each side of the buggy. I feel the Ve8 is more a electric design because the layout of components is made specifically to be closer to the centerline, something that could not be done with a conversion (or at least much more difficult than your standard conversion). I don't consider the use of a plastic chassis as being electric specific and feel HB didn't R&D enough (or at least model enough) to see where the weak points were before releasing to the public. The Hyper 9e is the most electric-based design to date. There is NO way to accomplish the same design with a nitro conversion unless you essentially machine a ton of custom parts yourself. The layout is made specifically for electric. With all that said, I think people place too much importance on center of gravity, centerline weight distribution, etc. The Caster with the heaviest parts (batteries) placed pretty far from the centerline and the ESC placed on a plate at a higher point (raising the CoG) suffers no balance issues. And the Ve8, the design that everyone jumped on before it was released saying that it will be unbalanced, has proven itself to handle extremely well. In the end, I believe the capabilities of the driver overshadow any supposed advantages one buggy has over the other, especially when considering the latest vehicles available.

Zerodefect

The Casters are an all electric design, that's for sure. Remind me off giant 1/10th 4wd cars with saddle packs.

I run Turnigy Lipos and need about 5000-5800 mah depending on the track/race I go to. The VE8 deosn't look to friendly. I'd rather convert a nitro D8 to electric.

When I converted my 808 over, I checked balence and moved my battery box and Rx box placement until everything was just right. There is absolutely no way I could fit a 1900 Tekin and my battery on the same side of the chassis without balence issues. Noway deos servo+rx+Esc= the same weight as battery+motor.

In fact the battery side of my car is still a bit heavier than the motor side. And thats with just a 4500 Turnigy hardpack and Tekin RX8 (not heavy) on that side. My car balences exactly the same side to side as it did nitro.

It sits .5mm to 1mm lower on the right rear just like it did nitro. I put an extra 1/2 to 1 turn in the right rear preload to fix that. Hudy setup stations make it easy to catch such things. Allthough It really deosn't matter, the pros are rarely this picky, or at least they don't admit it.

Even though the Losi E8 is nearly the same as the nitro, you can't argue that that thing isn't balenced perfect. With the long offset drive trains the E8 and 808 are perfect for electric setups.

rc everywhere

what is a 1/8 buggy ???

Yosh70

iTrader: (17)

What, you just fell off the turnip truck?



Just smaller.