*Chrominator*

iTrader: (19)

Has anyone seen a Magazine shoot out of the latest 8th scale buggy's, IE. Kyosho, Mugen, Xray,Losi, AE, Jammin ?

If so which Magazine and when.

What was the conclusion ?

I was just curious.

Jesse

One of the more accurate shootouts were from RC CAR magazine last year, I heard they might be conducting the next 1/8 buggy shootout here in the near future, exactly when? i am not even sure...

But i will say this, the last shootout they did was insane! I happened to witness a short view of what exactly goes on...they went into great detail and gallons of testing, it was quite impressive for sure. I cant imagine how the next shootout will turn out, a TON of great buggies out as of right now...

I too am dead curious, and excited to find out who will take the crown in 2009!

If you want a killer shootout, they would be the magazine to produce such results without a doubt in my mind!

Momo5

iTrader: (21)

Do you think the magazines are completely honest about reveiws and shootouts? Im just curious because I dont really read any of them, but years ago when I did...sometimes it seemed they never came came out and said when something was crap...not in so many words, you know what I mean. I imagine if thats the case it has to do with revenue from advertising. Just wondering what you guys thought of that....

Jesse

in many cases with various magazines, that is the case believe it or not.

However, in this situation they couldn't lie...they had reps from each manufacturer for each specific buggy to provide their respectable setups. I believe from last year, one manufacturer flipped over the results...and they still didnt back down!

this is what i saw when i was there, they rotated tires so each buggy was tested on either used and new tires...each buggy was tested by a set of different drivers, to include a non pro driver, each would provide feedback on what they experienced and they all compared times..

how do i know this is true? i was there lol

they went in strong detail in their 1/10 electric buggy shootout as well.

you can see all of them run the buggies on just about any so cal track as of right now...it is almost sickning considering who wouldnt want to run all of the latest and greatest 1/8 scale buggies LOL

If they were to conduct another shootout, it would be awesome...I just hope they could, in order to do it right, it takes a ton of time and money from what it seems,.

Knock on wood, cause i am just as eager and i have driven some and seen just about all of them track side, but shootouts are very controversial and a ton of work for those guys, but entertaining none the less! we shall see i guess.

kevinmajor

iTrader: (3)

The problem with magazine reviews is that the magazine isn't going to bash a product that pays advertising dollars. Just like a pro driver isn't going to say his ride sucks and advise you to buy a different car by another company.

I find it better to talk to the people that own and use the product I am interested in and make my own educated choice.



To answer your original question: RC Car Action December 08 does a buggy blitz review with the O'donnell z01b, Kyosho MP9, and Z-car ZMXB-8. It's not a head to head comparison, just indivual reviews.

rcg33k

I'm with Jesse on this one. I read all the magazines because I'm an info whore, but my opinion is that RC Car offers the most pointed and valid criticism of the products they test. I'm sure advertisers attempt to apply pressure for a better result but it's clear to me that there are some magazines that cave to this and others (read "other") that don't. I would like to see RC Car do another shootout with the latest buggies. One that puts a little mileage on the cars so we can see how well they hold up.

hakmazter

I would love for a Caster to be put in the mix.....

pdmustgt

Most magazine reviews are paid by the manufacture to make there product look good and to help sell R/C's and magazines.

captain america

iTrader: (12)

That just about sums it up. I like to pick up the odd magazine myself, but I know better than to expect the honest-to-goodness, unbiased truth. Manufacturers spend big money to advertise with a given magazine, so right there you have a conflict of interest.

I think the only way you'd ever get a truly unbiased review would be if a bunch of us guys here would do it. Ideally, cars would be lent to a number of testers for the review; granted, people could use their own cars, but when you spend a few hundred $ on your ride, you also tend to favor it, and the whole point would be to have NO bias from the testers whatsoever.

You'd also need control engines, tyres, electronics; the brand wouldn't really matter that much, so long as everything is equal. Definitely not a small undertaking

Charles Charron

As an advertising executive for R/C CAR Magazine I can tell you that a company only buys ad space in R/C CAR, they have no control over the review of any product...at least its that way with our magazine.

The others?

C Branch

iTrader: (21)

Hey Charles!!! Keep up the great work!!!

Colin

Charles Charron

Thanks man...

captain america

iTrader: (12)

Are the cars that you review purchased off the shelf by the magazine, or are they provided by the manufacturers themselves?

They may not have a direct say in the review, but a given company's spending power does, even if you choose not to admit it, have an effect on what gets published. There are likely no expressed rules for a review, but more than likely a certain standard of conduct is implied. Let's take Losi for example (merely for the sake of argument.) Let's say someone at the magazine does a review of the 8ight 2.0 and unabashedly and openly criticizes Losi for the poor quality of materials used, the car's propensity to go sloppy from premature parts wear, unjustifiable price tag for a product made in China, etc, etc.

Let's say, just hypothetically, that this would get published. Would anyone be foolish enough to think that this would NOT have a negative effect on how much Horizon spends on advertising with the magazine?

For what it's worth, I used to review anime video releases for a north-American anime publication back in the early nineties. Some of the stuff was great, some was all-out garbage, and I expressed it as such in my reviews. That lasted for about 3 weeks until the boss came to see me and told me that I needed to "concentrate on the positive aspects" and downplay the things I didn't enjoy because he was getting heat from one of the main advertisers regarding my reviews.

He said that ultimately, I could write whatever I wanted, but that he might just decide NOT to publish it. What? Me censored?

Marcus Falconie

iTrader: (1)

I can tell you that Tom A. that races at the Nitro Pit (One Hobbies) did his own test on just about every Buggy out there and when it was all done he sold every thing and races the Losi 2.0

Charles Charron

Are the cars that you review purchased off the shelf by the magazine, or are they provided by the manufacturers themselves?

They may not have a direct say in the review, but a given company's spending power does, even if you choose not to admit it, have an effect on what gets published. There are likely no expressed rules for a review, but more than likely a certain standard of conduct is implied. Let's take Losi for example (merely for the sake of argument.) Let's say someone at the magazine does a review of the 8ight 2.0 and unabashedly and openly criticizes Losi for the poor quality of materials used, the car's propensity to go sloppy from premature parts wear, unjustifiable price tag for a product made in China, etc, etc.

Let's say, just hypothetically, that this would get published. Would anyone be foolish enough to think that this would NOT have a negative effect on how much Horizon spends on advertising with the magazine?

For what it's worth, I used to review anime video releases for a north-American anime publication back in the early nineties. Some of the stuff was great, some was all-out garbage, and I expressed it as such in my reviews. That lasted for about 3 weeks until the boss came to see me and told me that I needed to "concentrate on the positive aspects" and downplay the things I didn't enjoy because he was getting heat from one of the main advertisers regarding my reviews.

He said that ultimately, I could write whatever I wanted, but that he might just decide NOT to publish it. What? Me censored?

I will not debate this or get into details, but we have lost ads due to reviews, and all of this companys magazines share the same veiw...we review products as they perform, the publisher is well known for this position.
Honda, Suzuki and many others have pulled ads due to a review of their products, and they all came back after time.

ask around, read our reviews, our ad space is for sale, not our editorial.

We took lots of heat for our 1/8 shoot out, but it was mostly from the fan boys, and the company that placed last is our biggest advertiser, and they didnt say a word.

I know what you are saying, but its not the case here.