mel_russ615

iTrader: (3)

i remember the days when there used to be shootouts from the magazines. we need a new 2wd buggy shootout between the b4.2, 22, rb6, the xfactory cubed (when released), the schumacher cougar sv2 pro, the yokomo b-max 2,
and the durango dex210. same esc, batteries, servos, motor, tires. all on the same layout on the same day. have a defined set of attributes. what are the pros and cons of each one? forget about brand loyalty just the facts. i always found these articles very interesting and informative and i'm sure i'm not the only one. comments?

samuelsonmark71

iTrader: (22)

Because not all brands will pay to be a part of the shoot-out.agazibes want a lot of bill for a small article

ifuonlyknew

iTrader: (7)

Simple, printed media is dead, and anyone can start a website. I don't know if any of the remaining R/C magazines have their publication available in a digital format. That is the future, and a magazine is about the only guys with the clout to get all the cars for free to test. If you had a bunch of money you could start a site and review all of them yourself. RCTech, or amain are probably the only two groups within the industry that could pull off something like that. Why do you want that anyway? Just do some research via the internet, and you can get a much more accurate view of how the cars really perform. Magazines can be biased towards companies with advertising money. Remember those 20 page long Traxxas ads? Just imagine the results if the Traxxas Bandit was included in the review. Do you think that the magazine is going to want to bad mouth the "Ready to Race" 2wd buggy of their largest financial contributor?

VegasHB

I think it's bizarre there's no website dedicated to RC testing like a Motor Trend for cars. Skid pad tests for cars and/or tires, dyno runs for motors (real dyno run with loads to at least get consistency), pro driver test run Top Gear UK style. RC Stig . I don't see it being all that difficult to pull off aside from having the time to do it.

The telemetry systems are there, hell even new iphones have the capability to put some pretty good g force data together (more for onroad without the jarring offroad action), GPS data and the whole bit.

wrightcs77

iTrader: (551)

cost........

when a magazine did a shoot out with 8th scale nitro, it was over $14,000 in stuff plus the time to get all the drivers/testers to test things. Then add the time to do the editing, photography and printing.

turners dad

iTrader: (43)

Rcsoup did one a year ago for lcg slash conversions, wmd,Strc and slice chassis if I remember correctly. Not a magazine but it was a shoot out none the less.

MOmo

iTrader: (2)

To some extent, Brian and the boys from bigsquidrc do that, but It's more about bashers than racing.

Ultimate Rc is another with lots of youtube vids about testing etc.

Most of the publications have some form of digital media, velocity is only online.


It seems to me, there are more cars on the market and now could be a good time to do a large comparison, but when it was the big 5 or so BITD, it was a bit easier. Think about all the companies now, and how do you differentiate those main 5 or 6 from the others out there that could be competitive, but might be more sport than race.

When You factor in clones, off brand or less popular, like say Redcat, or racers edge, or the ecx or arrma brands. Some would argue, if It's not AE, Losi, Kyosho, Yokomo, Durango, or Schumacher, It's not popular, but team c, Atomik, x factory, Tamiya etc could all argue for position as well. Plus, consider brands that run in Europe or Asia that You don't hear about here, atomic carbon, vega, kawada, etc.

It's great that's options are there, and giving the old guard a run for their money is great, but It's Def not like it used to be. It was bad enough trying to narrow down 5 or 6, but Damn, You take in the others plus others I didn't mention, holy s#%!, that's a serious mind trip trying to take it all in, plus, even if someone wins, It's a score based on opinions from several drivers on one track that doesn't match your personal driving conditions. What then, You choose based on that test score, or another criteria. If handling is important, then You choose A. If ease of tunability is crucial, You choose B. If maintenance and access to things like diffs are important You choose C. Or if You want to go way out in left field and be unique, You choose Q.

It's not a simple debate.


Silvercan motors and mechanical Escs. FTW!




Momo

ScottKelly911

iTrader: (9)

I remember those shootouts a long time ago back in the 90's and honestly, I read everyone of them and felt cheated at the end of the article. They NEVER had a clear and concise winner. They always would end with something lame like "Can't go wrong with any of the contenders" or "each car is capable in the right hands". Total cop out to appease their advertisers. Ironically, I think that line of thinking is what also helped put most of themselves out of business. For better reviews, UltimateRC's Jang is very good and unbiased. But he does mostly reviews not shootouts. The internet's reach is so vast now and much more information is available than there ever was with magazines.

markt311

iTrader: (34)

It would be awesome, but look at the logistics: figure 5 drivers 5 or 6 runs each car

Add the Venom and VP Pro Proken car
List: AE B4.2
TLR 22
Kyosho RB6
X-Factory X6 Cubed
Schumacher SVR
Yokomo BMax2MR
Durango DEX210
VP Pro S2
Venom buggy

That's 9 cars, so 9 drivers, 9 identical setups.

How do you make them equal? 17.5? 8.5? Some cars work better with stock motor and shorty. Some cars work better mod/full battery. Some cars work better mod/shorty.

It would take a while to figure out the best setup for each car to be equal, and then every person would call foul for any miniscule difference even though that setup works best for that particular situation.

Let's assume 8.5/fullsize is our standard, ok where do we test? OCRC or WCRC is completely different from LIR or Mike's or the tracks in FL

Anyway on to cost of setups:
ESC/motor: Tekin RS Gen2/Gen2 8.5 $250
Servo: Protek speed $50
Battery: Protek 4300MAH 100C $90
Tires: Rear AKA SS Handlebars $20.50
Front AKA SS Handlebars+inserts $11.25+$6.50=$17.75
Paintjobs: $50x9

Per car= $478.25+price of car
Total=$4304.25+cars

That's a big project to put together, and a lot of cooperation from manufacturers that don't want their stuff bad mouthed when they pay $5,000 or more in marketing every month. Not worth the risk to participate.

Momo5

iTrader: (21)

I loved the old shootouts. My guess is the dont do shootouts anymore because they dont want to piss off any manufactures by saying anything negitive about a perticular RC. Although I do understand why they wouldnt want to say anything negitive about a RC because thats where the money comes from, it sucks when you read a review and hardly no negitives are pointed out. Thats why we have these forums I guess, so we can really get the dirt!

DerekB

Shootouts are a logistical nightmare as many pointed out. We are working on a way to have more of them...it's just really hard to do when you have 5-10 cars and each needing setup and tuning.

30Tooth

iTrader: (1)

Can I give a thought I just had?Instead of shootout one could do something like this:"follow" some average drivers that travel around,they would have a form where it explained what the car needed when going to track,setup changes made,how it felt,other drivers opinions on the car,etc...It would take the leveling out but at least I know what works where with a certain driving style.

jonzee

Personally I don't think anyone would care about what some "average" guy did, and/or the questions that would arise as a result of what they did wrong or just didn't do would make it more trouble than it was worth.

And there already are sites that do nothing but reviews, and their content is rather laughable.
Perhaps it is that they're geared more toward the basher crowd, but the days of factual rc reporting is behind us like like parachute pants and hairbands. Thank God!

ScottKelly911

iTrader: (9)

Jonzee, wait parachute pants and headbands arent cool anymore? Sheesh next ur gonna say topsiders without socks and stringbean ties are out too! At least wearing one mesh glove will never go out of style

duuuuuuuude

I remember a 1:1 magazine a few years ago thumbed their noses at their advertisers and did a completely unbiased, fact filled head-to-head shootout with a clear winner. Two months later (give or take) and they were out of print.

Now, it could be that they were already going under and this was a last chance effort to steer their readers in the right direction, but the more I read the more I realized that they were very likely slitting their own throats.