loaba

iTrader: (1)

Look at www.hobbyking.com - they're Trackstar stuff is decent, if not glamorous, and fits within your budget nicely. If you're looking to go Reedy or some other name-brand, you'll need to double the budget. NIB Novak on eBay might come in at under $200.00

/ I failed to mention used. You can save some cash this way (my current rig was gently used by the previous owner)
// I do know the guy personally, which is an advantage.

fredygump

iTrader: (1)

Just be warned that the cheap brushless ESC may not prove to be durable.

To keep within your budget, you could try a brushed set-up? Controlling a brushless motor is actually quite complicated, which is why good ESCs are expensive. You can get a Tekin brushed motor + ESC for around your budget, and it'll run great and be much more reliable than a cheap brushless, in my opinion.



I just picked up a lightly used stadium truck with trackstar ESC and servo--the servo works fine, although it is a little weak, but the ESC died almost immediately.

So far I'm 100% for cheap brushless ESCs failing. You'll probably get a season's use out of it, maybe more? Just keep in mind that the cheap one is far more likely to fail than a higher quality one.

I replaced my junk trackstar with a lightly used tekin RSX, because I know it will last. It will last in this truck, the next truck, and the truck after that. And as a bonus, I get all kinds of great tuning options!

loaba

iTrader: (1)

No reason to go brushed. A budget Brushless ESC/ motor combo, coupled with an equally budget lipo will give you more power and more run-time. Don't buy into the prevalent Chinese hate, not if that's your budget anyway.

RockRunner

Remember that brushless ESC's generally fry the electronics like motor and battery when they let go...ask me how I know this...lol

If you get them too hot (weather hot, slow going etc which is far harder on the electronics that going fast) and they are a cheapie or simply underspec'd (i.e. too affordable) and it goes, then that is going to expensive...especially if you can't get the lipo out quick. A couple of mine fried so quick, if I hadn't had the lipo there able to pull in inside 3 seconds, I would have had a lipo fire. Truck stunk after the flames from the burnt out motor and ESCs. Brand new lipo got seriously hot in those 3 seconds.

A Bomber needs a sensored setup which is expensive. Do not get a 60A ESC! For crawling and bashing you realistically need an affordable 120+ amp ESC. A non sensored rig will be horrible for something that crawls even a bit...it'll be useless and you might as well get a Yeti or Rock Rey which are clearly better bashers.

Brushed on 3S with a 550 size motor is fun and a great all round water tolerant, affordable to replace setup. It's the best affordable setup by miles but it doesn't do Rock Rey fast...not even close. For $60 and a $15 3S 2200 lipo it's a bargain though and the Bomber won't even need HD diffs.

Throw a good brushless setup in a Bomber and instantly start spending up big to keep it together. The truck just isn't designed (like the Yeti) for 3S brushless usage which is why there are $1,000 Bombers and Yeti's going for $400 used. Guys get frustrated with them blowing stuff all the time and need to add lots of billet parts. They still don't go crazy fast with all the gear (my 3150kv 3S Yeti doesn't really go that fast either compared to the Rock Rey but it's fine for rock racing). They are crawlers and rock racers and not dedicated jumpers and bashers. Wrong truck for the job IMO but that doesn't mean they aren't lots of fun for their intended purpose. I love my Bomber. It doesn't need to go crazy fast to be great fun

boss_ben

well now im not sure if the bomber is the right truck for me.... I would be running on some trails in my woods and in grass and gravel. would a yeti kit be around the same price in the end or does it need beefier electronics the the bomber? i would be running it on 2s and come from a background of having a traxxas Stampede but wanted something 4wd and that could crawl. what 3s capble brushed ESC you recommend? and can any brushed motor handle a 3s lipo? brushed is sounding better and better but kinda clueless on what to look at.... i cant even find a brushed ESC thats 120 amps
thank you guys so much for the help so far.

loaba

iTrader: (1)

If you take care of your stuff then it shouldn't be a problem. A good 120a ESC from Hobbyking starts at $80.00. I'd look at that and then do some comparison shopping.

If this is your first RC, then yes, you will break stuff. That's just par for the course. But it does get better after time.

fredygump

iTrader: (1)

The one that died on me 3 weeks ago was the $80 120A trackstar from hobbyking. It was probably used for 1 hour before it died. The guy I bought it from said he ran it 10 min, and I believe him; there wasn't a scratch on the chassis!


Maybe try a slash 4x4? If you want something that does a little of everything, it'll do just fine. It is pretty fast stock, and can be very fast. It can be raced. It can be crawled, in the way that a real pick-up truck can be a rock crawler.

And back to brushed...if you are going to take it on a trail and do crawling, you want brushed! The brushed motors still available exist for crawling! And what, they're $15-$20 for a 13.5T?

Buy what you like. Don't be discouraged by people who like something different! Crawling is slow, brushless buggies are fast. You will never get the best of both in the same vehicle.

boss_ben

i would like a solid rear axel car that's why I'm not going with Traxxas. im thinking either a brushed bomber or brushless yeti set up. does anyone know how fast a brushed bomber on 3s would go? plus the bomber and yeti look way nicer than a traxxas Slash also I can't even find a brushed 120 amp ESC lol
if I went with a Yeti kit would it be worth it? the rtr seems like it has decent electronics and would end up spending around $500 if i went with a kit

Thank you guy so much for helping a confused guy out

fredygump

iTrader: (1)

+ YouTube Video

Jump to 11:20 to see the 2S vs 3S driving comparison. The beginning is super dull unboxing and too much talking!

I agree that the solid axle thing is a cool look. But the Bomber is really a dedicated rock crawler. On 3S it isn't very fast, and at full throttle it contorts, like....for some reason it makes me think of tiny fluffy dog that pees on the floor when new people come over.

You can make it run better that what you see in the video. You can lower it (by turning the spring perches on the shocks) and dampen the suspension (add thicker shock oil to shocks) to make it drive like a real truck. And interestingly, the RTR comes with a 3 channel radio, which is handy because you can buy a 2 speed transmission that can be controlled by that third channel. But you need an extra servo in addition to the 2 speed kit to make it work.


But a Yeti would be more what you are looking for. To me it's more a short course truck with a solid rear axle, than it is a rock crawler. The two types of trucks are opposites, so you need to choose speed vs crawling.

Get on youtube and look at videos of these trucks. You can see what they are made for and see them in action.

RockRunner

Ok...long post...

Like I mentioned I own a brushed Bomber and SCX10, brushless Yeti and Rock Rey.

I think that vid was with the 35T motor on 3S...the RTR rig like that isn't really 3S ready and things will likely burn out (BEC will get the ESC too hot, ESC will cook, motor probably etc). Some may say different though...

Basher/trailer, get the Rock Rey as it's BY FAR the most affordable and fast and tough straight out of the box.

The Axials are tough when run within certain limits but need work when running faster than designed. The Yeti is not built to handle 3S no matter what people say. It needs HD gears, all metal links, metal rack/c hubs/knuckles/rear lockouts, beefy VP style lower trailing arms and a good servo horn simply to be reliable and take 3S power. The stock Yeti ESC is frankly pretty hopeless and gets incredibly hot going slow but a Hobbywing SCT MAX10 120A non sensored ESC is cheap and awesome with it. The stock motor is excellent.

Add all that up and you have about $500-600AUD on top of a truck that costs $650AUD. If you bought the kit, you still need to add about $500 worth of extras (motor/servo/ESC/RX/TX etc) regardless to get it running. I bought second hand and got all the metal bits and I installed all new bearings (only about $25), the ESC, HD diff gears all round and it's going great. Lots of fun and the total cost was about what a kit or RTR alone would cost. It's been very reliable with all this stuff. I am very impressed with the Yeti.

The Bomber as a rock bouncer/crawler and on 3S brushed is awesome fun and very capable. Plenty fast for trailing and zooming around. Drifts great on loose stuff and after 6 months of use, not a single thing has gone wrong with it. It's got a $6 metal servo horn on it and is totally RTR apart from that and the ESC/motor. I haven't put metal links on it because then I'll need metal everything as a chain reaction occurs that breaks everything including the servo. I'll need a few hundred dollars ready to do that so I haven't bothered...it's not exactly a precision device with the plastic links etc atm. Think of the Bomber as about Yeti strength stock.

The Bomber is my favourite all round truck because it's like a little mountain goat. The brushed motor is a big bonus as if it burns out, it's cheap to replace. I figure I'll replace one every 6-9 months and couldn't care less if it gets wet which makes the truck even more fun. I want to do river crossings and crazy stuff with it.

The Bomber needs a 2sp for seriously slow speed crawling or an expensive sensored setup. I'll go 2sp personally as over 15mph the truck would be a total pig so I'm loath to make it faster and have it constantly crash and tear off lights and wreck stuff. It doesn't handle at all well even now.

The RR would be awesome with locked front and centre diffs, drag brake and sensored setup, billet third member/rear axle and front gearbox housing. It would crawl and trail great but all that could easily cost $600 extra. Wide pan would limit proper crawling (it would also be geared too high) but it would definite be a cool trail truck like this and be so much more capable...nice cross over truck.

Speeds:

3S brushed Bomber ~15mph
3S 3150kv Yeti ~28mph
2S 2800kv Rock Rey ~28mph
3S 2800kv Rock Rey ~40mph

The Rock Rey totally stock is just as good as the modified Yeti for bashing and is a far better jumper. It is just as fast on 2S (Yeti on 3S) and totally reliable unlike a stock Yeti. Plus it comes with a cool light bar which is great for night driving. On 3S is seriously fast but realistically too fast for trailing and rock racing. 3S use is like running a Yeti on 4S and realistically needs some beef up parts for reliability. You're also far more likely to break it running it at high speed into solid objects too as it'll be out of control on bumpy stuff at those speeds. 2S for the RR is kind of perfect and 5000 2S 60C Turnigy hard pack batteries are dirt cheap (prob $20USD) and are excellent lipos. It's a load of fun at a loose surface BMX track as is the Yeti (if you can keep the Yeti from donkey kicking and crashing over jumps anyway).

I went with all these trucks because they have solid axles. Love this stuff and it's WAY easier to work on. Love the scale stuff and have no interest in the non scale trucks like independent front/rear bashers like Traxxas and Arrma even though I know they are cool trucks and built tough for bashing. The Rock Rey is a pain to work on compared to the Axials but I've barely needed to touch it; just greasing diffs and installing a $6 centre gearbox locker.

I don't personally believe you can get crawling AND speed in the one truck without major dollars and huge compromises which is why I have rock racers and rock crawlers; my son and I trail/crawl together so we constantly can compare our trucks. Heat issues, drag brake, locked diffs, solid axles and crawler suspension make terrible high speed trucks and vice versa. A fast brushless SCT which great at a track, crawls and likely trails like a two legged dog dragging it's belly and might easily overheat doing it.

boss_ben

thank you so much!^
I'm definitely going with a yeti kit now it will have some beefed up parts already and I have a TX/RX already. the rock Ray is also very tempting but I want a kit and love the look of the yeti and ease off working on it is nice
ESC- trackstar 1/8 120 amp
motor-Turnigy XK2845-3650KV Brushless Inrunner
servo-SAVOX SW-0231MG
all of this would be powered by a SPC 2s 70c lipo
will those parts be compatible with each other? also what does a inrunner motor mean?

RockRunner

The Yeti is definitely a cool truck and is easy to work on (get HD front gears if the kit doesn't have them as it's a bit of a pain to work on the front - you won't need to do it often hopefully anyway).

I'd personally go a Hobbywing SCT MAX10 120 as the ESC is kind of the cornerstone of your system and skimping here can be bad news. A Turnigy motor is probably fine though and might be made by Hobbywing anyway for Hobbyking. HK Turnigy batteries are excellent.

Get 3300 or 5000 3S packs as 2S is far too slow IMO for a Yeti rock racer. It's certainly be reliable on 2S but it's just not fast enough.

Around that 3000kv - 3500kv range with appropriate gearing and you'll be fine heat wise. Adjust your pinion to keep things happy. Higher kv, reduce the teeth on the pinion.

Savox sounds great; just make sure it's waterproof.

Inrunner is the type of motor design; that is correct - just make sure the motor is sealed so it doesn't get filled up with junk. Brushless motors are not water proof but are tolerant of water...you may need to lube bearings etc.

Just remember to read up on the beef up bits and don't go crazy with cheap aluminium parts as they can bend and fitment can be iffy. Plastic is fine like housings if you're not a hardcore basher. Our Yeti has had a hard life and hit tree roots at speed and crashed badly many times. The most annoying thing was the tyres coming off the bedlocks so I am progressively gluing them as it's simpler.

Keep an eye on the driveshaft pins as they like to undo regularly even with 243 Loctite but apart from that, the trucks a trooper. I'm not sure I'd run it on the road though...lots of reports of these locked diff trucks tearing up axles etc when a wheel cannot unload like a loose surface allows them too. SCT is better for road usage.

boss_ben

I guess I was comparing the yeti rtr vs the rock ray. but is the yeti kit better than the rock rey? i figured the cheapest I could get the yeti kit is $520 so for $70 less is the rock ray rtr better?

RockRunner

IMO, the RR kills the Yeti dollar for dollar...it's a noticeable difference in reliability out of the gate.

The kit Yeti still needs motor, ESC, servo, RX, TX, light bar etc and still isn't as tough or as fast. The Yeti cannot run 4.5S to be as fast and hope to survive long with a 3150kv motor to get a similar speed.

Now, whilst the RR 'can' tolerate 3S usage out of the box and do 40mph, it's only if you don't run it on grippy surfaces. The RR is plenty fast on 2S so you may have no use for 3S and the crazy fast speeds it produces...I don't anyway as I know it's just asking for problems and I LOVE the robustness of the setup on 2S.

If you have no plans to spend $1500 on a truck with billet axle housings and custom everything (either because you want it to survive lots of abuse or you like spending up on a crazy truck), the RR is IMHO, the clear pick.

You can spend a bit on the RR and make is a fantastic bouncer and in the future is may be very tolerant to high speed 3S bashing (as the aftermarket are getting on board and it only has a couple of obvious issues that the hardcore guys have found wanting...unlike the Yeti that is well documented).

JatoTheRipper

iTrader: (11)

Bomber KIT! End of story.

The Bomber kit is best bang for your buck Axial product. It has the most upgrades and is the most durable out of the box. It's worth the extra money. Besides, the RTR comes with garbage electronics.

The Yeti is not a great vehicle. The designed is flawed from the start.

You can get reliable, inexpensive brushless systems from HobbyKing or HobbyWing.