rrb1399

iTrader: (12)

I’ve had great luck with some of the cheap lipos on Amazon

Herrsavage

So I went to the LHS today, and he said Horizon is having big problems with availability in Europe.. - i.e. Kraton not available.. (in addition to being overpriced..) And frankly I'm not a big Horizon fan anyway..

Which has me wondering - should I be considering the Hyper SST more seriously? It has a nice sub-€500 price... Is it up to par with a Kraton in terms of performance and durability? Part, spare, tuning etc availability is a clear no - but if it's as tough as a Kraton is meant to be, then apparently I shouldn't need too many..

Again, not jumping over houses. I just want a rock solid drivetrain and general overall toughness ala my old Hyper ST Pro, Associated cars, MT4 G3s, LST2s etc...

Herrsavage

Anybody know anything about the Absima Torch 6S?

https://www.modellbau-jung.de/RC-Car...=AB-13121&p=57

I suspect Absima is a cheapo brand ala Carson, but am not really sure. Maybe they are a rebrand of something decent.. Availability in Germany is pretty good I think..


Edit - Nevermind. Takes two batteries in parallel - deal breaker..

Just like the Serpent, which also seems fairly widely available over here. At least the whole car - not sure about parts..

"Team Corally" seems to have a bunch of new cars, kind of copied off Arrma... Not sure about them though - kind of steep prices too.. For a afaic no-name brand..(in 8th scale offroad anyway...)

Backyard RC

In my opinion you're going to get the best value with a kit. You already have the esc, motor, servo and tires so you can spend more on the chassis.
Is there a way to buy a used roller or slider where you live?

Herrsavage

I'm not going to spend €600-700 on a Mugen or Kyosho kit.. Or €550 for the Associated. I used to like Associated, but they changed too much so none of the new stuff is compatible with what I have, and I recall reading that the new truggy was not durable. And that's a cardinal sin IMO. Not sure if that still applies. In any case, I'm not spending €500+ on just a kit.

Right now I guess all I can do is wait two weeks and see if Kratons ever come back in stock. Or, just get the Hyper SS Truggy now, for €100 less...

Herrsavage

Well, I sent a couple mails to the shops listing the "lower" price for the Kraton at €539. They said they should be in at the end of the month.

I just looked, all shops now list the price at €589.

So screw Arrma and screw Horizon..

Going to consider a Hyper SS, or maybe just wait on a used RC8TE...

Horizon is the scummiest scumbag company in RC...

snowman49

i dont really know the specifics, but the hobby shops (here anyway) can list them at any price they want to, if they feel they can get more for it than MSRP, they can up it.
i will say i got really lucky with my LHS, if i can find it for cheaper on HH or amain website, they will price match it as long as it doesnt go below what they paid for it so they at least get their money back on it.

have seen quite a few happy with the Hobao SST in my FB groups.
have a friend in germany that has an Absima very similar to that one in the link, or may even be the same one. he loves his, but as you said split battery.

Herrsavage

Well, looks like I'm getting a brand new blue Kraton V4. Found a guy selling one which he bought six months ago but has never used... Comes with a T-bone bumper..

Just ordered two Turnigy HD 6S 4000 60C lipos from Hobbyking..

Herrsavage

Hooo-llllleeeee crap....So I just took my old MT4 G3 out for a test on 5S, after setting LVC on the ESC to 2.8 V per cell. Good god, That was a bigger difference from 4S compared to what I expected. I had tested it once or twice briefly on 5S in front of the house, but without much space so I never opened it up much. Just now I had it out on an open road and the tires were pizza cutters as soon as I laid into the gas.. 6S should be interesting indeed…

BTW, it sort of shut down after what seemed like a short run time. I assumed the battery was already empty but when I checked it on the checker it was 3.98 per cell or so. Maybe I need to set LVC to 2.6 or something?

Herrsavage

So I let it cool down and ran it again later. It had the mad power for a few seconds, then shut down again. I've never experienced this before, but am I right in assuming that this is basically due to lipo sag? That the lipo is sagging under load down below the 2.8 per cell or whatever? What if I reduced the LVC setting to 2.6 and just kept an eye on it? I generally have a pretty good feeling for run times - in planes, cars, drones, etc.., and would just keep an eye on it with the lipo checker...

Herrsavage

Short clip with my new Arrma Kraton, and old MT4 G3 on 5S. I had the pinion come loose, and saw that it wasn't a 14T in there like I thought, but a 15t.. Anyway, I REALLY, REALLY like the MT4 G3 on 5S. Hard to control.. Faster than the Arrma on 6S I think.

I like the Kraton, but I am worried about what kind of wear and tear 6S will bring. It already rounded out one MT4 G3 rim...(you can see in clip when it started having an issue. Was down to 3WD...) The Kraton seems like a great truck, but I can tell it's a pure jumper, and I don't know that I care to go for big jumps and deal with all the carnage, repariing, wrenching, upgrading, spare part buying, etc... I did spend €100+ on two 6S lipos, but I think I might prefer 5S and a different pinion maybe... I also wish it wasn't so dang loud with that metal SG... The MT4 G3 has a much less annoying sound - or put differently, it sounds much better. The Kraton I don't think I can run in front of my house much without annoying the neighbors... Anyway, both great trucks. It's amazing how awesome my 5+ year old MT4 G3 is on 5S.. Really dig it... (Had I waited and tested it on 5S a bit more, I might have just bought a third used MT4 G3 instead of the Kraton. They seem to come up for sale pretty regularly over here..)

So far for the Kraton it has a T-bone bumper(good and bad - protects, but the hinge pins slide right out..), GPM alu chassis braces, POS skid plate, and an RPM bumper on the way - to replace the T-bone... I did a few more jumps including flips, but didn't get video.. It almost doesn't seem worth videoing jumps anymore, or going for big ones.., if you're not going for the moon like all the Youtube showoffs do.. But oh well, I'm not in it for likes or subs or whatever, but just fun... And heck, I had fun just blasting back and forth on a gravel parking lot...

Herrsavage

So, just tested the Kraton with a 14T pinion.. Wowzers.

New problem - nowhere to really open it up.. An ordinary street is too narrow, and there just aren't that many fields around big enough and with grass cut short enough... Hmm..

My MT4 G3 is all over the freakin` place on 5s with a 15t pinion.. Probably about as fast though.. The truck is old and the front end has all kinds of slop.

Both these trucks (well and the DM-1..)are my only RCs with pillow ball front ends or whatever your call it... Never had to mess with that before. I guess they are known for developing slop... When I hit WOT with the MT4 G3, the front wheels just start doing their own thing.., and it can get pretty hairy...

JerryRigged

iTrader: (2)

On my V1 Kraton, (my son's truck, actually) - last fall we had to do a full arm and steering link transplant. After 4 years, we had only ever broken one suspension arm (4s mostly, though). All the rest were getting bad slop on the inner pin. Yes, this is a 4s only truck, but my teen son driver is not exactly easy on the truck... LOL

The pillow ball end, though, has not been an issue. It can be adjusted with the red cap screw if it starts to wear.

Other than when my son's truck was worn out, I have not has speed stability issues with my 6s cars. My Typhon is the same V1 vintage as the Kraton, and no slop issues. But it has been crashed a LOT less - My car. My Outcast is still new-ish, no chance for wear. The biggest speed issue for it is those big Backfilp tires get squirrely around 50mph.

Herrsavage

I did tighten up those end screws a couple days ago. But just now, taking a closer look, it seems the plastic of the upper arm itself has just become really soft... I can twist the whole hub around pretty easily..

Herrsavage