What 10th scale rtr buggy for a 4 year old
 

I want to get my 4 year old an electric 10th buggy. Trucks are out of the question because he wants a buggy like me, but mine is an 8th scale nitro, and I'm not going to deal with a 4 year old and one of those.

I need something that is obviously super durable. I'm assuming that once he gets one, my friends will buy their kids one too, so I want a decent one. I know nothing about electric or 10th scale, so any advice will be helpful.

I know how these which buggy threads turn out. I'm not asking which one is the best, just which one would be a good starter for a little kid. The cheaper the better, but I don't want junk.

The traxxas bandit has an rtr version. I'm not a big fan of traxxas b/c it isn't real racer but this might be a good one for non-racers. I got the associated b4.1 brushless rtr and it has been great. It is more money than the traxxas. I don't really even know if the bandit is good or not. So wait and see what other people think.

The Bandit is a good starter he will be able to grow with it. I don't know about brushless for a 4yr old. Maybe the XL5 would be beter for him. He will grow out of the Bandit at some point. If you can find the B4 rtr with out the brushless look in to that as it will be upgradeable and it and him can grow together.

Just make sure your LHS has parts for what you buy.

Tamiya has some nice 4WD buggies that will be easier to handle than 2WD buggies (plus the Tamiyas have the slow silvercan motor for good run time.) Plus they are pretty bulletproof

The B4.1 is the one I am kind of looking at. I've got the RC8 so I thought about staying associated. Really though I'm open to anything. It's about what I was expecting to pay also, under 250$.

It definitely has plenty of power so you might want to gear it down for a 4 year old. And since you have cars i'm sure you know how to do that. Or you can just get the brushed version of it.

Yessssssss


http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...=LXTXT8**&P=ML


Parts are warrantied for a year!
My new b4.1 takes a beaaaaating with their plastic... i can only imagine what the durtrax plastic is like.

The Evader truck would be my first choice.. i have seen it drive on a track. and it is legit.

I forgot about that one. It seems really cheap though.

Nay!! ive seen the truck in person... cant speak for the buggy but do know they share most of the same parts. Im confident in their products tho i dont run them (except for their Ice Charger) ill be getting my 5 year old nephew the RTR truck for christmassssssss.

I can vouch for the bandit being tough as nails, good luck breaking one of those. The handles on the traxxas radios are kinda fat though so it might be a little big for a four year olds hands.

A Slashback maybe (a Traxxas Slash with a 1/8 buggy body, wing and wheels)

DURATRAX
 

hi from experience with my son, he had just turned 5 when i got his first rc, it was an evader rtr truck, we still talk fondly and laugh about the beating it took and the lessons he learnt. that was 6 yrs ago. looking back a truck was the best choice as they can be driven on grass with the larger wheels as well as gravel pits and parks, bmx tracks, the beach ,camping,the street . you name it. you can not do that with a buggy with the smaller wheels. the evader has moved on.he has been through a b4 , b44,t4 since. we share our cars now, as he is a good driver now and doesnt break anymore. he didnt want to race till he was seven , but it surprised me how welcoming everybody at the track were no one complained about him hacking them they only offered him encouragement. enjoy your son and dont stress when he breaks the can easily be fixed by him.

Tamiya Grasshopper XB. Cheap, and absolutely, and I mean ABSOLUTELY bombproof. Plus the 380 is plenty fast enough for a young kid and provides ridiculously long run time with a modern battery (prolly close to an hour).

Did I say it's bombproof?

Paul

My choice would be the slash for a 4 year old because it is really strong,water proof,and has an excellent warranty on top of that.And if it breaks,then you have rpm hops for like 5 bucks more and they will never break.You really can't go wrong with the slash.The slash is also programable to where you can cut the power in half so he can learn the basics first and than you can bump him up to full speed.If you want to stick with the associated than get the sc10.I bought mine about a month ago and love the thing.It is very durable but i doubt it can handle a 4 year old beating.I would go with the slash overall because it cost less and will be a stronger car for him.:nod:

this is what I had when I was 4:

http://www.kaleidoshop.de/produktkat...enkflitzer.jpg

Believe it or not, it was a ton of fun and I actually wore one out over the couple years and my parents had to get me a new one. Thousands of laps around my house . . . . . I guess that's why my carpet is so flat now.

As far as the Evader BX - a 4 year old will break it, trust me. Regardless if the parts are free for one year, it will have more down time than runtime.

My vote: XL5 Bandit, with training mode enabled to limit the throttle to 50%

Evader is junk, IMO a Bandit would work.

That's probably about what I had too, but with the way video games and things are now, I'm trying to find something that will get him outside, and something we can play with together. Playing army man, and transformers gets kind of boring for me pretty fast. I'm hoping we can both have fun and I can get him interested in my hobby. Something tells me though, that after chasing around a 4 year olds 30 mph car a few times, I'll be ready to go back to shooting decepticons.

You could put a crawler motor in the B4.1. Something like a 45-55t would let him get the feeling of driving without making you pullout your hair.

My two year old brings me his toy cars and says he needs a speed control.:nod:

I've been wanting to get my 5 yr old son involved in RC with me as well. I bought a used Tamiya Dark Impact 4wd buggy that I had him try out a few times, but it's way too fast for him right now as he doesn't have good throttle control yet. I would advise against a 2wd buggy just because it takes a lot more precision to drive it. If you want to stick with a buggy, get a 4wd rtr Kyosho ZX5 or the HPI Brama 10b rtr.

A slash 2wd. easy to get parts for, very durable..pep boys even caries parts..he would have a blast with one..:nod:

the precision thing though may be a benefit.

I think we need to keep in mind that kids today pick up things very fast if we let them.

I would say a 2wd vehicle will teach him some things that 4wd vehicles allow drivers to get bad habits in.

Also, its a bit easier to maintain since its only 2wd as well.

One recommendation though regardless of vehicle choice, so street tires go along way in saving your good track ones. :nod:

I would absolutely vote for a short course truck like slash or blitz or even sc10. At the local track they rent them (sc10), until now i saw a few kids and women drive them, usually driving anywhere but in a straight line hitting left and right, and no breakage until now! The slash could be driven on several surfaces and not too much maintenance for you.

And on top of everything else it's easier visually for kids to control. Larger..and the stock tires work ok for just about every surface..you can get them used for really cheap..ask your son which style he likes more..SC truck or buggy..I know what style my grandkids picked..everytime, but then again we would watch the real SC trucks race on tv..

+1000 definitely slash all the way! It has training mode so its not too fast to start out on!
Plus its very tough!