IndyHobbies.com

Pro boat has a couple of new offerings that are just plain cool! Their IMPULSE 26 and IMPULSE 31 appear to be very well made and perfect to compete against the Supervee 27 and Traxxas Spartan.

I belong to the Indianapolis Admirals R/C Boat club and we have a new racing class that I think the IMPULSE 26 will be perfect for. At $170, the price is right, 2.4 radio system and single battery pack with 550 motor.

http://www.proboatmodels.com/Product...ProdID=PRB4200

http://www.proboatmodels.com/Product...ProdID=PRB4250

MrUnlimited

Ahaa a serious contender for the Traxxas Spartan.

IndyHobbies.com

Got a photo of the 31 at www.RCX.com this weekend. See below.

I've now purchased the Impulse 26 at my LHS. Its a cool boat and should be perfect for my use. I was disappointed in how it arrived however. All the stuff attached with double sided tape had come loose in shipping. So, I had to attach it all over again. The ESC, switch, and the RX. Also, the motor itself was loose. No problem for someone with experience to fix this stuff, but for someone new, it would have been a major source of frustration. Also, the magnetic hatch doesnt work. It can't quite make contact. So, I'm going to have to work on it to get it to click. Otherwise the top won't stay one when I'm running it.

Also, the little hull drain plug was missing. (Its aluminum which is a nice touch.) The Horizon guy in the booth at RCX Chicago was nice enough to give me the one off their display boat. Its no biggie in that I could have just plugged it with a bolt or something, but the fact that its a custom machined part, and was missing, well that bugged me.

Lastly, the bolts that needed tightening...well, there's no hex tools provided, so if those are loose on a new person's boat, it could be a real problem. Whoever is doing final assembly in the plant is a little sloppy. Either that, or they bounce around and vibrate a ton on the ship from overseas whereever they come from.

The 31 is gorgeous but of course comes at a much higher price tag with the fibergook hull and brushless motor system.

IndyHobbies.com

Got the Impulse out today finally for her maiden. Its not fast, but not too slow either. Just right for what I wanted. A boat that the family could run besides just me. The rudder seems WAY longer than it needs to be, but other than that it ran fine. I might shorten it, but if we do a "box stock" race class in the Indy Admirals (www.IndyAdmirals.org) then I will have to leave it as is. Doesn't slow the boat down any, just seems about an inch longer than it needs to be.

mugenmx5

Love the Gas all the way.......

IndyHobbies.com

I like gas too, but it severely limits where you can run and what hours you can run even in the places that allow it. And, electric is faster now.

I've flown R/C planes for many years, I have four-stokes and other glow engines. So, I get it. But, electric makes it easy with boats.

roadrashracing2

Just got one I think I am really going to like this over my spartan, wish it would have came out in spring.

Jsutherland8

Ya the Impulse 31" is nice with all "The Right Stuff", but it would have been nice to see the 26" with a water cooled BL system, not a brushed motor. For the price ~$ 170, you could add a WC ESC and Brushless motor, for ~$ 80, to the 26" Impulse. The Widowmaker has a nice BL system, but it is a bit smaller and more Dollars too.
I have seen too many of the PB universal prop, rudder steering combos break, so I an NOT a fan of that system. Like the good old Flex Shaft system, with a offset rudder.
It all comes down to $$$$, and how Fast and how Big.
I keep looking on Ebay for a cheap Used or Hobby-Mart parts boat to fix up, for a Recovery and Camera boat. Seen the odd Impulse, Blackjack, and ShockWave, plus some others that looked ok, but got outbid.
The 46" gas boat needs a overhaul, and it is too big and LOUD to go alot of places. My 32" Nitro boat needs a new 2.4G Radio, as the old 75 Mhz AM is not up to par, and starting it is messy, and a P.I.T.B. The cost of Nitro Fuel is not getting any cheaper too. The electric boats look like the way to go, and LED lights will make it fun at night.

IndyHobbies.com

I've run about 10 full 4200 mah packs through my Impulse 26 now. I'm delighted with the way it runs. On really large wave water, the cowl/cabin did come off once. That's the only negative on running so far.

The drain plug on the stern is nice. I'll post a picture of it. Its in just the right place.

One other assembly issue I discovered was that the cooling coil came from the factory mounted in a location that completely covered the vents on the motor. Again, I saw that it was an issue, but a newcomer, which I beat 1/2 the buyers are, would not know this is a problem.

Pro Boat, great product, but its needs QC out the door and maybe a single sheet of pointers for new people.

IndyHobbies.com

I also tried a plastic prop from Pro Boat as well. I did get slightly better performance out of the boat with this prop. I'd still use the S/S one for areas where you have weeds, etc. But for where I was, it was open water and clean. So, perfect for the PRB0151 Prop. Its 1.6" x 2.5" composite the label says.

I stuffed the boat into a large wave off of a passing pontoon boat. The top came off and the tupperware lid did as well. So, she was about half full of water! I popped the drain plug and carefully opened the RX so that it could air dry. The ESC is sealed. No problem and ready to run again.

A close up of the connector between the shaft and motor. Works just fine.

Jsutherland8

Well, I now have 2 nice Electric Boats. The Promise Hobby 25" Fibreglass w/ WC brushless motor and 60 Amp ESC. It has good hardware, but has NO plans, so it is NOT a good first Electric Boat. It is the Best KIT BOAT I have seen, in the 24 to 30" size, with all the right stuff. I will try to post some drawings and detail pictures of the inner and outer setup.
I also have a Impulse 26, that will soon get a water cooled 120 Amp brushless upgrade with a Hobbywing Combo for ~$ 60. I have seen other stock RTR Impulse 26's running, and it is a good boat for what it has for the price. I will run it this Fall with the stock brushed system, and do the upgrade over the Winter, so it is ready for Spring. This one will get some LED NAV lights and a Camera mount for a MD80 mini HD video camera, inside a water tight pill bottle.
My local Hobby Shop was a good place to get The RTR PRO BOATS, as they had a selection and ok price.

Jsutherland8

Nice clean design, and internal setup. Just add a battery and a charger, BIND the radio, greas the flex shaft, and off to the pond, for some fun. Only some small adjustments needed to be ready for running. Check the magnet position for a good strong latch, adjust if nessary. Check that cooling coil on motor does not block vent holes, move cooler down if needed. Check all screws, use waterproof thread lock compound on all bolts that do not go into nylock nuts. Antenna tube could be 3" longer. Check Z bend direction through servo horn so pushrod moves centered through exit hole. Check glue seal around top and bottom halves of the hull, reglue any gaps. Some small ss washers would be nice on the trin tabs. Heat from the ESC will cause velcro to fall off, reposition velcro and power switch on servo strap away from the arm. Found my prop out shaft to be 3 mm off center to right side, does not seem to affect running. Good starter boat and good price.

IndyHobbies.com

Mine was too. I wonder if it was on purpose to help prevent chine walk? I started thinking about that and started getting a brain cramp, so I stopped.

IndyHobbies.com

I ran a 7 cell/8.4 volt pack on the Impulse 26 for about 2 minutes. It gave it a very noticable speed increase!

I can't find anything in the directions (poor) or on the website that says I can run 8.4 volts. Anyone know what the limits of that motor/ESC would be?

Thanks in advance.

At the iHobby Show in Chicago last month, they Sunshine Designs people had and Impulse all sparkled up with their LED's. It looked kind of cool!

Ron Olson

When I came in here just nosing around, I figured that I'd find a biased review and am happy that it wasn't!
The offset prop is there for a reason so don't cramp the grey matter. Yes, it's for offsetting torque and helps to put more prop in the water when making right turns. Hard lefts may result in some cavitation. Chine walk usually can come from several other places like the CG being off or the strut being slightly too high or low. Sometimes propping down can help to cure that.
I passed on iHobby this year and haven't been there since it was the RCHTA. Now I see they're going to move it to Cleveland starting next year. The only big trade show that I attend now is the Toledo show but usually not a lot of boats there but getting better. ProBoat hasn't been there in a few years.