A.Wojtecki

I would stay away from Schumachers - I've had 2 (the Mi2 and then the Mi2 EC) and the word that I'd use to describe them is fragile. I went through countless wishbones and also I stripped out lots of screws in the bulkheads (not convinced about the quality of aluminium used). Obviously these are from a few years back, and with the strengthening of the Schumacher team I think that things wi'll probably have improved, however the wishbones still look pretty much the same in design and my other comment on the Mi4 is that it looks over complex to set up (no doubt that it's quick though when set up right).

darrenoakley

I have no doubt that the new cyclone is a good car as all of the top spec tourers are but HPI are not the best company for spares at the moment. I have heard nothing but bad reviews about guys trying to get hold of parts and waiting months. You only have to try and get hold of a set of pro4 blue/pink springs to see this.
I drive Photon but thats just a personal thing.

Good luck its a hard decision to make

M3Armand

Thanks for the insightful info Mark! This is exactly the type of input I was looking for. In your last sentence regarding the Yokomo, did you forget to type the rest of it?

Also, I was a huge Yokomo fan (ran the 4wd offroad YZ10 "Super Dog Fighter" for the longest time). Can someone out here tell me what ever happened to Masami Hirosaka? I.e. - is he not racing anymore since age has probably caught up with his skills?

Bishop

iTrader: (5)

Sorry for the late reply, but yeah the Ltd Edition Kit comes with two chassis plates in the box, the original 6 cell chassis, and the new LiPo chassis, very good value, although if your like me you may only use the LiPo.

jmellipse

Masami has a new talent to look after ;-)

A.Wojtecki

Funny that you say that - I'm currently looking for a pair of the blue and a pair of the pink HPI springs you mentioned for my TCX and absolutely nobody has them in stock anywhere (not even in the internet shops that i have to use in Hong Kong sometimes)!!! Does anybody have a clue where I might find some in the UK?

M3Armand

Some help since I'm coming back to this hobby... who is Masami showing the love to? That CAN'T be his kid. Masami is in his early 40's. So is Masami retired?

darrenoakley

There is a bike shop calledhttp://www.southwatercycles.com/prod..._Shock_Springs

I was ordering from them but cancelled as I got a second hand spare car and that came with 2 sets of each. Now I have three sets of each. It may be worth calling them to check there stock levels first mate.

jmellipse

That is Masami with Naoto Matsukura just after winning his second world championship 1:12 at age 16. He is the next Masami ;-)

A.Wojtecki

Thanks very much - I'll order from them; if they haven't got them in stock then it won't be different to any other shop and they can't charge me until they do, and if they have got them in stock then great!

M3Armand

All the TC's look awfuly alike. I think I'd have a hard time distinguishing them from each other except for the color of the anodized parts! I really had to study the pictures!!!

Regardless, I think I am leaning towards:

Associated TC6 - I'd like to see one in person
Hot Bodies TCX - I'm leaning towards this since I have a current HPI RS4 Pro (I wouldn't even have considered HB until I realized they were HPI). But I'd like to see how much it comes out for.
Xray T3 - I'd like to see one in person. It's a bit on the expensive end of things and my local hobby store doesn't stock parts for it.
TOP Photon - I'd like to see one in person and this looks like an awful good deal with all the parts they are throwing in for $390

pakk

iTrader: (80)

If you go to a track, I'm sure you would see all of those cars except for the TC6.

With the cars you have listed, you really can't go wrong with any of them.

Bishop

iTrader: (5)

They seem much alike until you take a closer look at some areas, layout is what seems all the same now, this is probably a good thing, like Nitro now, they have almost kind of settled on a layout that may not change for some time.


Out of what you listed, everyone tells me the Xray is expensive to buy then very expensive to maintain, it's argued they are very good, but some have also said build quality is not what it once was.

TCX has surprised some people with the release price, many thought it would be cheaper. New TC6 may be cheapest of the lot, hard to say just yet, could be a good buy if it is. Quality of my Photon I think is excellent, as good as anything else in my mind, but seeing I bought one I'll admit I'm biased.

Considering how good most of the newer models are, and that you have chosen to look at all the newer models which I think is smart, like pakk said it's hard to go real wrong with any of them.

darrenoakley

I agree with above they are all good the main thing I consider when choosing is how easy parts are to get hold of. You may not want to but you will need them sometime.
I bought the photon as my LHS drives one and always brings loads of spares for the Photon to any race meetings. (not that I need them )