Starter boxes, need recommendations.
 

What starter box are you guys using currently. I have been window shopping them and saw quite a few options.

Which ones are good and which ones to avoid?

I am not a fan of the Protek, the wheels are very soft, I wore thru them pretty quickly.

The LRP and Team Associated use a much harder wheel, and seem to last forever. If I were to purchase another box it would probably be one of those.

As stated above the Protek wheel wears fast. It’s a great box except for that factor but I ended up getting a mugen wheel for it and have had no wear issues with it.

If you can use a roto start system. Sullivan tiger drive or similar. That uses a 20-volt drill to start.

Ehm.... wasn't you told that this is more like a racers forum. Pull starters, Tiger drives, Roto starts etc is for competition engines for sure not possible. Beside that, some cars do not even have the space for it.

Roto starts are cool, have them on my bashers, Salvage and Nitro Rustler. But they don't really work for a racer setup. At least on the buggy Im building, there isnt room to accommodate one. In other words no wear to insert a starter shaft to spin the motor.

Was looking at the Protek one. The dual motor setup seemed interesting. If I go this route, I may change to a harder wheel as the other guy suggested for more life. Kind of like the LRP box.

The Sullivan tiger drive is the best and will work in any direction top, bottom and sideways. The other one I use works out direct from the back. I don't use a starter box as it is cheaper to use the roto start system.

Have had good luck with my dynamite starter, replacement wheels are easy to come by and it works with either 3s lipo or dual nimh sticks. Dual nimh stick setup works great.

The problem with starter boxs is that you need expensive batteries to run it. $60+ I run a lawn mower batteyr $35 Lasts longer

Yah Mugen or Twork's has a nice replacement wheel that fits.

So you want to throw away a good car and fast competition engine of a 1000 dollar value to get back some RTR crap so you can use a roto start......

Most starter boxes you find have the same internals(2 or 3 designs anyways). The box and alignment pins are what seem to differ the most. Ive had the blue OFNA knock off box and it worked well. That being said, the plastic brackets and alignment pins weren't my favorite. Ive since moved onto the ultimate racing boxes. The alignment tabs are aluminum and mount directly to the aluminum top and not to a plastic bracket. I will say, the wheel that came with it turned to dust instantly the first time I had a new engine stick at TDC. After that i replaced it with the protek wheel and have not had an issue since. Im wondering if there are just different runs of wheels that are slightly different material/hardness?

EDIT: probably self explanatory, but for simplicity, here are links to the boxes I'm talking about.
Ultimate Racing starter box

Blue OFNA style

I've heard good things about the Ultimate box but I've heard that it don't play well w/ Truggy. I still have my Ofna blue Truggy box and the only issue I have with it is the top plate touches the wheel belt if pressed down too hard.

I do know a guy that was using the ultimate box with the last model AE nitro truck. But I do not run truck so I dont have any personal experience. Good info to consider!