niznai

I think you need to read what I wrote first, otherwise you are running the risk of having just a speculative opinion about what I actually said.

Oh, and please note, I am the one who had a potshot taken at him, not the other way around. Please try not to embarass yourself, especially when giving uninvited opinions.

I am just enthusiastic as anyone else here, but I forsee some potential risks, i.e. I am realistic. If you don't like my posts, you can do what I've done with the other haploid prokaryote, see above. This is a public forum, not your backyard sandpit where you can throw a tantrum and order out whomever you like.

Grow up.

Play nice.

snoopyrc

iTrader: (2)

As soon as its common knowlege that the car performs well and drivers are not having any problems getting parts, Serpent will truly be past this. I have no doubt that the engineers at Serpent will deliver a gem. If the production unit is on par with the plan and parts supply is good then we will be good to go. Even doubtful former owners will come back to drive the Pheonix.

olhipster1

iTrader: (102)

This thread was pretty good 'till you starting your shizzz...that is my uninvited opinion.
If you guys have something to say to each...either do on PM or face to face....I don't really care...

topic is S411...
here let me help you see that again, in case if anyone is visually or just intelligence impaired..
Topic is S411

I personally like the way the car looks...and from what I know at this time..Serpent appears to be making strides in market.
any other pics released? want more eye candy Please

Pattojnr

iTrader: (19)

not sure what pics you have seen ? http://www.rctech.net/forum/australi...rt-thread.html
but have a look at these, they look good.

as for Niznai, better give him a break. he is starting to speculate about all the speculation goin on. he may take his bag of lollies and bat and ball and ignore everyone !

scoyle

I drove for Serpent, here in the UK, when the S400 was on the go. The quality of their cars is still fantastic (I have just built an s120). Looking at the new 411 it ticks all the boxes for an up-to-date touring car and things like the cross chassis mounted servo look very nice.

The bad, back in the day, as already discussed here was the unfortunate problems that they had with parts supply late on. Serpent are a company continuing on in the current dodgey world economic climate so they will know that they cannot afford to drop the ball on keeping customers happy so here's hoping that they have everything sorted - let's give them a chance to prove themselves and leave the past behind them.

I race for Schumacher now and the Mi4CX is the best car I have ever driven... but the S411 could be a temptation when it arrives

Jo90uk

I was one of the Team Serpent UK Drivers back when the S400 was released. The car itself was brilliant in build and finish. Weak points where -

The diff (ended up modding it by using Centax3 clutch thrust race, removing the balls out of that and using them as the trust race in the diff, fine after that).

Roll Centre - this seemed to be all wrong. Team drivers ended up having to mod suspension hangers, dremeling them to fit to get the right roll centre

Top Deck - Didn't give enough handling. The car suffered alot of understeer, maybe due to the geometry.

Parts - towards the end of the first year the parts all dried up. It was rumered that the stockist of plastics etc where failing to meet demand. either way it became hard to source parts.

Shocks - Hard to build all 4 the same, first time, everytime. The way they built was kack handed loading the cartridge in the bottom. You couldn't clean the air out the shock oil properly. A few swapped to Tamiya units.

Driving the car was always hard work. I managed to place it in 99% of A final's I went to, but I was never at the front. On carpet the car was harder to drive. It seemed to lack any corner speed, and would burn up the rear tyres quickly if you got a setup on the car to make it do what you wanted. Other drivers DID have more success than I did, im by no means a brilliant driver, but I had come from the older Schumacher Mi2EC and so wanted to go back to it. I gave up racing at the end of the season as I felt so frustrated with the car, and where I had no backup bar a couple of people in the team trying to help from afar (i was based approx 150 miles from other team drivers, so a lone drievr at most events).

I hope Serpent have sorted out the issues thwe S400 had, in the main part that they arent just releasing another white elephant that will crawl off and die in 12 months time. there are alotm, and I meen ALOT of drivers who trusted in the Serpent product who will never go back to them. For me im glad Serpent are trying again, but i'd never use any EP 1/10th product of theirs again. They are here to stay in GAS, but EP is an off shoot they are trying to break into with an already very strong makeup of TCX's, T3's, TC6's etc.

I will keep an eye on Serpents progress this year, but I believe it will be progress more overseas in the US/Asia than here in the UK.

Pattojnr

iTrader: (19)

i did read all your post, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, i have no problem with that, you experienced the problem first hand, so therefore it did effect you. thats fine. i know the happy camper that i am having an issue with, its not the first time, but it got to me, he purchased a different brand of car, then decides to come on here and tarnish or label the 411 which is yet to be released, and class it in the same class as the Junk he just baught. sorry but that doesnt stick with me. if i didnt respond when i did, i am sure some one else would have.

i do know that late last year, there were a couple of 411 prototypes kicking around, and i do believe , by their progress, that was mostly done in Europe.
anyone ready to market a new chassis will always try to get the car to work in that part of the world, and in the US. those are the biggest regions for sales. i feel a revised or different kit as Xray has previously done for all variations of the market. i think what they have now may work well in the US, but info shared at this point in time, may not work in OZ nor in track conditions with low grip. as the car is the prototype, we are all hoping for a chassis that will work here, so we wait for the specs to come out for the first generation kits. and prey there is a nice option for us here.

defcone

iTrader: (15)

Any reason why you didn't run the gear diff? I thought that was one of the strong points of the car?

As for the issues regarding cars with production being outsourced being inferior to "European" cars, I remember reading about a problem about the new t3. However the company provided excellent backup and support for everyone who bought the product. Thus, imo it really does come down to whether the company is willing to back up the product which they sell. As for serpent, my s120L is the most detailed and finest piece of rc equipment I have owned. Right down to the front end ,rear diff and shock design, I don't see any traits of "outsourced" problems in the car. Heck if outsourcing manufacturing can provide the end user with quality similar to what serpent offers, I'd buy any car which was produced "outsourced".

housey

iTrader: (1)

There is nothing at all wrong with outsourcing manufacturing. Its really common.

If anything it can increase quality and decrease cost, depending on who you outsource too. Think about it, the design company doesn't have the experience with manufacture and it would cost a lot of money to buy the equipment, which would get past on to you and me. The outsource company will obviously be experts in manufacturing so quality should be impressive and if you work on a long term production program costs should be good.

The ideal situation is for the one company to already have the design talent, equipment and experience in manufacturing. But not many have all three so you outsource to get the very best, simple.

So I would say that outsourced cars are probably the norm, not something to be scared of.

Jo90uk

Would have IF you had been able to get one !!

Pattojnr. Im in no way slating the new car, im pointing out the clear faults that Serpent had previously to detail further a past post about how Serpent came into the EP touring section of our sport. I do hope their act is alot better this time, and hope the car is also alot better this time to. If it isn't , well, it wont need a forum of people saying anything, it will have done enough to secure it's death in EP touring.

As for parts etc, serpent are one of the greats at parts. they are well manufactured and fairly priced (wishbones where cheap as where knuckles and blocks, bulkheads cost a bit, but that was to be expected).

I am eagerly waiting to see how the 411 runs only due to my past history with Serpent. With regards to it being more based in the US/Asia. to be fair i'll stand by that. The Serpent UK team was only about 15 strong I believe from what I was told. Going to race meets I was either the lone Serpent, or lucky to find maybe one or two others using them. Again, i'll like to see if Serpent will change this.

snoopyrc

iTrader: (2)

I got my S400 from one of the faster local racers he came from Schumacher to Serpent and after selling it to me he went to Corally. His experience was that the Mi3 was frustrating to set up compared to the Serpent. He was one of those that changed cars frequently anyway.

So I got the car from him and loved how neutral it was. No understeer, it just went where I pointed it. All I had to worry about was me, which was hard enough to correct.

G WESTWOOD

hi guys .
in 2007-2008 i was sponsored by serpent uk to drive the s400 .
as stated the parts availability was a nightmare . we were told that serpent were moving premises and they were un able to produce the stock .
we had some awesome results 1,2,3 at the 10.5 brca national and various other wins and podiums . the kit top deck wasnt great so i designed the narrow one and also redrilled the steering post further back in the chassis .
we all used the gear diff as the kit ball diff wasnt consistent enough to warrant using . i feel the gear diff gives a much more consistent feel and the power on acceleration was just sweet .
serpent have been around for years and they will be looking to hit the top with the latest car .

RC MARKET

iTrader: (12)

I'm last week had saw sample ,
i'm think around APR to MAY release !
after will have some update !

wstuart

iTrader: (117)

anyone know how much this will cost - Im really having to fight the urge to buy a tc6 for $350 right now

JayBee

iTrader: (31)

I'm loving it!!!