I run my $2000 dollar rock crawler on a GT3C, and i trust the f**k out of it. Only other radio i might consider is a 4pks or one of the high end airtronics.

I don't race, the local track made it cost to much to go run...so i can't comment on racing, other than i know how to cut the lag by atleast 50% and make it so it doesn't infer with spektrum radios.

Sure i'd trust it too if my vehicle only went 5mph.
A 10+ pound vehicle @ 30mph and 7ft in th air is another story. There's a reason nobody's heard of a fatality due to an rc rock crawler.

if you have a glitch with a crawler, in the off chance it takes off at full throttle you would have to go after it at a brisk walking pace to catch it. i would, and have put the cheapest radios into a crawler. latency just isnt an issue and they arent likely to hurt anyone when something goes wrong

Thats the thing, ya'll think they are slow piles of shit...often times i'm crawlin on the edge of a 20-100ft cliff, a little glitch would send it crashing down. Or at competitions, it requires extremely precise navigation and often times if there is the slightess glitch while clearing a gate, you'll get penalized for touching the gate. So don't think a little glitch or wot glitch will be perfectly fine. And as for speed, ya'll are behind the times, courses are starting to be setup that require you to jump over a gap or off a ledge. I've got a 13.5t redline in my crawler, running 3s. Its geared REALLY low, but it would still require a good jogging pace to catch it, i've seen faster rigs too, wheel speed is extremely important along with massive amounts of low end torque.

As for the fatality comment, it would be alot safer for spectators(or drivers) to be standing around a track that have 30 people all up on the side of a 20-100ft cliff paying more attention to the crawler than their footing.

Now i can't comment on the lag, as i've never noticed it or care about it. If there is something that seems like lag, it can easily be written off as there is a wee bit of traction on the tires causing the servo to slow down.

As for the lag...i looked this up afew weeks ago for someone: The 4pks = 3.3ms and the 4pl = 6.8ms.

However, i'm not sure if this is between the time the throttle moves and when the rx sends the signal. Now the frsky in high speed mode, should be operating at about 10ms as its total response time, which cuts the lag you'll see out of the flysky module by more than 50%. I just started the frsky conversions, and i should have hard numbers on response time sometime in january when i get one tested. I've also never seen any sort of glitch out of my frsky unit (other than when my tx battery it low, but thats another story and fixable).

I'm running a micro rx, with its antenna cut off from usually 3 to 10 ft away. BUT i tested it one day, i sat in the house and had a friend run a video feed from his iphone as i drove it about 50 yards away from the house before it lost signal. Which when it did the failsafe worked perfect. No glitching, just went to neutral settings like you unplugged the battery. And the start up time is awesome, it binds/links up almost instantly it seems. as where it takes the flysky unit a second or so to link up. And if you run one of the telemetry rx's, the frsky module in your radio will beep at you when the signal quality is low.

Now a STOCK flysky radio is a huge pile of shit, but flash a new firmware on it, it becomes slightly faster and more reliable. Add a frsky unit to it, and you get alot faster and extremely reliable.

i did a similar upgrade with my power switch on the back of the wheel it weakened the brittle plastic and i dropped it it broke i have it shoe goed back together still works but just a warning

This isn't on the wheel housing itself though, its on the main radio housing.

Bottom line, you shouldn't have to do this much stuff to get a radio to work decent.

Then why do people run a slash?

Oh, you can by flyskys with new firmware and other mods ready to go at overkillrc.com

I just felt like stirring the pot today, i know i probably won't change your mind. But when people are researching for a new radio, i don't want them thinking the flysky is a HUGE pile of shit when it ain't with a few easy mods, or bought already modded. If your running a high end rig, and need the speed and higher resolution of a 4pks, then i say hell yeah get a 4pks...but for a 4pl, i don't see a huge advantage gain for the large price gap. The advantage the 4pl has in the racing world is larger than in the crawling world imo, which is why i market mostly in the crawler world, but its still a good contender in the racing world for entry level persons who won't notice an additional few ms of lag or the lower resolution.

I said nothing about vehicles. I did get what you saying though, i'll tell you why, because they think if they cheap out on a vehicle then it will be perfect out of the box, and they have no idea how many upgrades it needs to be what you should have bought in the first place. Skip the headache with the cheap stuff, and buy the good stuff right from the start, and not spend more in the long run. The slash is a good kit, but if you try to race it, you're gonna hate it. Same with the flysky, only the flysky is a piece 'o' crap right from the start. I have owned a 2wd slash and it's a great kit, but on a racetrack, it's joke.

I thought the slash was a good comparison. I don't know much about whats good and whats bad, or what needs to be done on a short course rig, as i've never owned one. I know when i was considering getting into short course though, i ran some laps with a slash and a losi, and well the losi worked alot better and seemed very predictable.

And, they are both built similar (in a basic sense). However, for the slash to be competitive with the losi it needs to be tuned quite abit and some hardware upgrades.

Now, to put this in terms of radios. Flysky is alot like a slash. It gets the job done, but its far from something you can compete with. Also like the slash, if you tune it you can get something that works descent, and would be a good entry level rig. Well, the flysky, do a little work, flash it with a new firmware. And its a decent, budget friendly, radio. But the physical hardware is not of the same quality as the higher end radios, just as the slash vs a losi.

Now, do afew hardware upgrades to the flysky, like replacing the FLYsky 2.4ghz module with a FRsky 2.4ghz module. And you get closer to the higher end stuff. And from your post, this is where the difference between a slash and flysky radio is...its cheap to upgrade a flysky radio.

Going from a GT3B to a GT3C is also a good leap in getting better hardware. As its more comfortable in the hand, and overall build quality (minus the power switch) is better than the gt3b.

And I agree with the statement "and buy the good stuff right from the start"...IF it costs more to build up the cheap stuff in the long run.

But you know what they say, built not bought If people can build up their rc car, why can't they build up their remote? I'm a firm believer in built not bought.

Don't get me wrong, the futaba's are a solid radio, nothing wrong with them, excellent build quality and design. And a flysky radio is far from perfect. I just disagree with the thought that the flysky w/ new firmware is not even worthy as a entry level radio. And can grow into a moderate level radio

This is exactly why I blew out my FS and bought a real radio. My time is worth WAY more than the price differential between the FS and my MT4. Sliced bread? Hell no- canned cheese.

I bought my FlySky GT3B to be used as a basher radio. I ruined my high end Futaba by leaving it in the trunk of my car on a hot summer day after bashing. Something I would never do with my race gear. I now have a Futaba 4PL I use as my race radio. I love it. But I did not want to worry about ruining it with my bashing stuff. I have boats as well. So the possibility of it being dropped in the water is there too. I needed a 4 channel radio as my T-maxx has an on board starter. Hit a button on the radio and the ez start and glow plug do their thing, others only three are needed. Not too many low end 4 channels out there! So with less than $65, including radio, my GT3B was a 4 channel. Could be up to 6 channels. And I run a FlySky 6 channel RX in the T-max. It is also very nice that the RX’s are $7. If I sink my boat I’m out $7 on the RX. Beats a $50 to $100 Futaba RX. As for gliching I have the GT3B set up with 6 different R/C’s. Gas, electric and boats and a Kyosho Blizzard. I have not had one RX fail or glitch!!! Knock on wood. And the rang is incredible. I also make sure to set my fail safe!!!!! I do not run any high power servos with this radio though. Futaba 9402 is about the strongest. So I wonder if the RX cannot handle the high current of high power servos???
Also, I like to tinker with stuff. So reprogramming this radio was fun for me.

Have you ever heard of a lanyard? Attach one to your 4pl and use hat radio for all of your vehicles. But you say "where would i attach a lanyard?" if your so good at tinkering, it wouldn't be that hard to find a mounting spot. With a lanyard, dropping it in water wouldn't be an issue.

UPDATE: GT3B vs. 4PL

i got my 4PL yesterday and got it all set up. I slapped some road tires on my rc8be and hit the street. just the over all feel of the radio seems solid. the wheel is very sturdy and smooth. It for sure responds quicker and the range is no problem(gt3b has great range as well). after thumbing thru the manual for 10min it was easy to figure out the functions and screen. i only run ebuugy and 2wd buggy so theres more funtions on this radio i wont use than do use. but if i add to the fleet they would come in handy. i did not have a chance to run with other radios around but will be racing sat and give another update. so far so good and happy i bought it.