Upgrading from a 4PL. need some help.
 

Hi,

I have only been in the hobby for couple years and I mainly race 1/10 touring cars on a regular bi-weekly bases. The 4PL is my first transmitter. It's a great transmitter. I have absolutely no complain about it. The reason why I am even considering the upgrade is for the slight chance that a high end transmitter like the M12 or 4PK can help me improve lap times.

Now it's obviously a big investment. So I want some second opinion here on the forum. I am thinking may be some of you were in my shoes years ago. May be you were an intermediate skill level driver. Doing laps after laps within the 5 mins heats. But you were consistently 0.5 second behind the fastest guys in your club. And when the heat is over, you realized that you were a whole lap down.

So you went ahead and upgrade your mid grade transmitter (perhaps a 4PL) to a high end transmitter hoping to gain a tenth of a second. Did it actually help?

My personal experience with the 4PL has been great. It has all the major functions that we need for racing. I am not sure if a top end transmitter can provide more than what's already there in terms of software functions. For hardware quality, on paper the high end transmitter has faster response time. But seems like only top drivers can tell the difference.

So will upgrading the 4PL really help? I know there is probably no right answer for it. I might have to try it out myself. But still if there is any one on the forum that had similar experience, feel free to share it. Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks. :)

If you were upgrading from a lesser radio (27mhz or something) to a 4pk I could see there being a noticeable difference. The 4pl is not that bad of a radio so I don't think you will see any different going to anything else. I felt like I could feel a difference when I went from a 72mhz radio to a 2.4ghz M11 like six years ago. Recently switched to a 4pks because I was having issues with the spektrum module in the M11 and really couldn't tell a difference in the radios.

All the software features a higher-end radio has to offer will never really be used anyway. Unless you have money to burn for a 4pksr, I would say that you are fine with your current radio

Upgrading to a better radio is one of those things that so many consider non-glamorous (something new for the car will surely help more!) but it can be a significant upgrade, and *can* help shave time off of your laps. Well, that is, for people using entry-level radios. I tell people stepping up to the 4PL is a worthwhile move, and I can definitely feel the difference when I have to use a low-end radio. I have a 4PK which I bought before the 4PL was available, and I'm sure if the 4PL existed when I was shopping, that's what I would have bought.

I know that -- by the specs -- the 4PKS-R is faster than the 4PL. I don't know how the speed of the 4PL compares to the 4PK. I know that I can feel the speed difference between low-end radios and my 4PK, but I doubt an upgrade from the 4PL to the 4PKS-R would be noticeable for most, in most situations.

I'd stick with the 4PL.

spend your money on tires and practice.

I've been back into the hobby for about 3 years now. I bought the 4PL when I got back into it. I was racing SC mainly. I started running TC in the winters as well. I just upgraded my radio to the 4PKS-R. I did notice the difference between the two. Especially when running onroad. I even used them back to back. I found myself turning in to corners much too early with the 4PKS-R. With the 4PL I had to turn in earlier because it is a little slower. I also think the inputs just feel smoother with the 4PKS-R than the 4PL.

I don't think I would have noticed the difference when I first got back into RC's. But I do now for sure. Is it worth .5 seconds a lap? I doubt it. But I feel it was a worthwhile upgrade at this point for me. I think its helped me be more consistent by making it a little easier to drive the car. My daughter is using the 4PL now so I don't have to share with her anymore either. ;)

I'll also say I never believed a higher end radio was noticeably faster than radios like the 4PL. I was wrong.

If you want an all out, fast radio...Airtronics M12. And it's less expensive than futaba.

I upgraded from a Flysky GTb3 to a 4pl and definitely noticed a difference for the better: respsonse time.

Damn man...that's like going from a cassette to a cd ;)

So i guess a 4pk would be an MP3?

In my opinion, stick with the 4PL. Those guys are faster bc they drive cleaner lines than you do. I highly doubt the 4PL is limiting you. It's all mental.

How about vhs to dvd? 4PK would be blu ray. :D

Looks like we got mixed views about this issue with opinions on both sides of the table. I am still undecided. But I think I'll wait a bit more and think about this again by the end of the year. May be my skill gets better by then and my fingers demand faster response time from the radio.

I like the cassette -> cd -> mp3 analogy btw. :)

Stick with the 4pl. I love mine.

Me too, only downfall is no drop-down wheel option. Completely unacceptable for an sub $200 radio to not have that as an option, even if it had to be bought separately. Tried to see if a "company" would produce one, but they are too worried about it not selling well. :rolleyes: