Miller_Time

iTrader: (11)

I've never seen an RC magazine give a negative review to any chassis. That alone tells the tale about unbiased. Instead nearly every review has some line about how "This new buggy should turn the RC world on it's head!".

Jesse

I do assessments on people all the time, it all depends how you explain the situation or assessment, you just cant write all bad and ignore the good....

it also depends how the individual takes the criticism, some may take the advice or take the information given and try and improve their products, others may take the info and get all disgruntled and never deal with the magazine ever again....and thats fine.

look at most Auto manufacturer magazines....they do product reviews every issue, and car manufacturers would either boast about their reviews or harness the information to knock it out of the park next issue.

same thing when the new york times does reviews on restaurants, give it 1 2 3 or even 4 stars at times...people take the assessments seriously, its ther lively hood...it can be beneficial to the customer, after all that is who everybody is trying to please correct? If not, its just a bunch of adds that you can get for free on the internet or talk to the local fan boy.

have you read their most current issue? Feb 09? if you did, you would see that they are actually reviewing their products!

customers first man...and yes ad space pays the bills, but so do the millions of people who are willing to pay the annual fees to read such information, Is Losi, Mugen, or Kyosho not targeting their customers? so why get upset about a review?

Most of the people who question such magazine dont even read the mag...so its an endless discussion i guess lol

JAMMINKRAZY

iTrader: (17)

what issue was the original RC Car shootout in???

captain america

iTrader: (12)

Hi Charles.

If your publisher's policy is indeed as described by you above, then let me be the first to tip my hat to them; it takes guts to stand on principle, especially when large sums of money are involved. I must confess that I probably haven't picked up an issue of RC/CAR since 2003 or so, it's surprisingly difficult to get at any of my local newsstands. Perhaps I should look into a subscription.

Jesse

Check out April 2007 for the last shootout.

JAMMINKRAZY

iTrader: (17)

thanks. I know I still have the mag still but I have so many its really hard to figure out what contains what. I subscribe to all 4(RC Car, xtreme rc, RC driver and RC car action) so I have probably hundreds of magazines.

Jesse

I do the same! I enjoy reading just about anything pertaining to RC lol But this mag in particular seem to be one of the top. jmho.

glolar

Then you obviously haven't read the recent review of the new Tamiya truggy .... Don't remember which magazine it was, but they pretty much said that Tamiya got it wrong. Based on a review like that, I certainly wouldn't buy one.

markhat250

iTrader: (65)

You would need the same motor and pipe to get swaped to the next car, so you were very familiar with the consistancy of the engine.

------

I've done my own just from owning a few. Here is JUST the positive's I saw:

Jammin X2=Really planted predictable easy car. Takes a beating.

Losi 1.0=Excellent slicer and dicer for smaller tracks. Very decisive in where you point it. Parts are very abundent. Proven winner.

RC8=Great steering AND stability (is that possible?). Best shocks on market (the BBores). Nice looking car underneath the body. Nice brakes.

I didn't want to go into detail, or start product bashing, but that's my "positive" view from owning each car.

SirKarnage

iTrader: (123)

I Don't know if this has been mentioned.. but my take on the monthly reviews, or my dislike I should say.. would be any and all sections, comments dealing with the "speed" and or "power" which is based on the engine, not neccessarily the vehicle itself. I would much prefer they use the same engine for a given time period in every vehicle... DO NOT name it.. black it out like they do new 1:1 pre-production test vehicles..

I see so many times how powerfull buggy X or Truggy Y is .. based on the powerplant they chose to run in it.
Do you think that GRP $$$$ equiped Losi 2.0 in the latest XRC review would have been so fast and strong if it had a __insert no named low cost mill here__ in it?

and my next observation, some times they get a vehicle shipped to them (they say so) .. THEY set it up on reccomendations, their knowledge (some have it, some don't-- they say that too alot of times) ... and other times they have the manufacturer sent driver/tech/rep etc come with a vehicle all nice and prepped..
HUGE difference..

TRCRacer24

Glolar,
I read this review and was really surprised as I'm sure you were. I also think this was the first time i've seen a "less than positive" review of a vehicle in an R/C magazine.

HOWEVER - Having run the truck I honestly think the review was wrong and I'm completely intent on proving it. (They used the kit set-up which honestly isn't great, especially the diff fluids and it didn't seem like they changed them to enhance the performance like any racer would normally do.) If I'm ever at an event that your at please feel free to stop by and say Hello and if practice time allows I will be more than happy to go over the truck with you and allow you to test drive it. Whether or not you ever would think of buying one is totally up to you but I'm willing to put my honest word out there to show how it works for me!
The Offers on the table,
-The Lutzinator

Owen RaCing

iTrader: (17)

Magazine shoot outs are hit and miss. The previous RC Car one was by far the best ive read, and the older XRC one was really good also. But the "8ight era" cars were far from even close to players in that one. The 8ight was in the RC Car shootout.

Oasis

iTrader: (38)

Right now the BEST magazine is RC CAR..Stephen Bess is one of the best editors and he is actually really fast, Aaron Waldron works for RC CAR also..He's really fast also..Charles is fast also..I have met and raced with all 3 and from what I know about them is their NOT going to sugar coat a review..most buggies/truggies are really good nowadays and for the most, problems are not really going to show up in a short term review (3 or 4 races) and not every car fits everyone's driving style..so in some reviews what "they" think is the "best" might be the worst for you..

Jesse

That's an excellent idea about blacking out the engine so the entire subject is about the kit itself, you should email your ideas to the editors at RC car magazine, they are always open to new ideas and are always down to help anybody out.....

Ryan, I am sure what you are driving is probably a killer running kit, but I think they conducted their test with what they had available to them at the time, also, will the average driver who knows little about dialing in a kit, will he or she be as dialed as what you have? I doubt it.... Im not trying to discredit anything or anybody, but I think they targeted what the average joe can actually do with the kit. You are like a machine LOL I could never wheel a truggy like you! It's awesome. I bet you probably got something brewing for tamiya, so should be exciting either way.

But that's my guess why you probably think the review is nothing like what you experienced.....

rcg33k

Perhaps they're selling out...

It would be foolish to assume that manufacturers don't try to influence magazines with their advertising dollars, but it's equally or more foolish to assume that because some magazines cave to that pressure, that they all do the same. In spite of the growing popularity of the internet, magazines are still a very important source of information as long as you can trust that the information you're fed is genuine and honest. I've been in RC for longer than any of these magazines have been in business and I have enough experience with many of the vehicles they test, so I have a good idea of which ones are calling it straight and which ones are licking taint to avoid the "call." RC Car has earned my trust as a magazine that still puts the reader first.

Forums like this one and others are strong evidence that magazines like RC Car still provide an essential service. Ask about the pros and cons of a product on any forum and the nut swingers show up in force to tell you that the product they own or the one that sponsors them is the best thing on the planet and that everything else is junk. Imagine being someone that's looking for solid advice on a forum?! Your head would be spinning from the 62 different answers to your question and the 478 pieces of advice that you didn't ask for. It's rare to find someone on a forum that has an ounce of objectivity. At least with a magazine that's earned your trust, you know what to expect and can be reasonably assured that what they're saying is based on a pretty broad knowledge base.

Mine is just another internet opinion, so take it for what it's worth. I like to think that my time and experience in the hobby puts me in a better position than most to judge which magazines are doing it right - it's a short list.