bmhicks78

So, finally convinced myself to go to a hobby shop and get into RC cars. Always loved them as a kid, just couldn't afford anything better than a Radio Shack special. I want to make sure I'm doing it right, so I'm looking to get a little guidance and advice and this forum was recommended to me by the Hobby Town guy.

So, to start off, absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I bought a remote control helicoptor to bide my time while I researched the cars. Right now I know batteries go in, cars go zoom, big smiles come along.

Also, I want to involve my son and get him some sort of car. He's only 4, so it needs to be something that I can limit speed, is somewhat easy to control, but I can easily repair and maintain. Don't want to go to the toy store and get him something that is trash the first time he hits a curb.

So, right now the hobby shop guy had me looking at a Stampede 4x4 for me, and the 2WD for my son. Price is about what I expected to spend up front, but again, no idea what I'm doing. I want something that is offroad, but not something soley built for climbing. I am not at all interested in a road car, too much speed, not enough fun.

I guess what I'm looking for:
-Advice on the Stampede
-Good starting price for mine, which I'll probably customize a bit
-What after-market parts are logical to start with? I've heard battery is essential, quick charger. Anything on the car that will make it more durable?
-What should I buy ahead of time as spares to carry with me?
-My total budget for both cars, slight upgrades and spares is about $1k. Is that realistic considering extra batteries too?

I guess any real advice would be great. The guy at the Hobby Store was great, but it seems like they mainly carried Traxxas brand, wanted to know if that was a good place to start.

Much appreciated in advance for any help anyone can give me. I'm going to spend some time tonight going through some of the other threads for answers as well.

Thanks!

huzzler

iTrader: (1)

Traxxas are very good cars any durable for beginning drivers. If that's mainly what your hobby store carries than that maybe what you want to go with considering parts availability. Most of the speed controls now have a "learning" mode where you can cut power in half. I believe the traxxas speed controls have this. As far as chargers and batteries Lipos really are the way to go. Easier to charge and you can charge them up right after you use them unlike the nimh. Just have to make sure speed controls lipo cutoff is on or you will destroy them as where nimh you can just run till they are dead. There is alot of upgrades you can do to a traxxas if that is what you want to down the road. Of you got $1000 to spend you can get some decent vehicles,batteries and charger. I'm sure hobby town carries Losi vehicles also which are very good vehicles also. My buddy has a 6 year old and he has the Losi xxxsct that he beats the heck out of. Of they got any experianced people at that hobby town have them explain differences in cars. Losi you really don't need to upgrade unless you just really want to.

hotrod87

iTrader: (252)

First on my mind is local support. Everybody carries traxxas it's a fact . I've had many stampede from mild to wild. It would be a great beginner car for your son . Install nimh battery set to training mode and he's off. They are very tough . If you break something buy rpm plastics a- arms etc to replace the stock ones . A 4wd stampede is a nice choice for dad .Vxl system seems pretty reliable if geared properly and 2s Lipo is used. I've overgeared and 3s pounded them also but.... Main thing is local support and just have fun. Ask however many questions you need to. If you don't feel good about the answer ask again. The only stupid question is the one you don't ask.

Tran901

iTrader: (97)

Do u wanna get into racing at all?

bmhicks78

While the initial goal is bonding with the boy and "playing", I certainly don't want to rule racing out.

bmhicks78

Posted a response last night, said it had to be approved by the moderators, not sure what I did wrong

I absolutely agree with the local support thing. If I'm going to use the local store to harvest knowledge about what I should be doing, I'm going to make sure to buy from them for a few purchases after that. Hell, they've already gotten me out of a couple hundred bucks on a small RC Helicoptor that I bought this weekend and keep crashing gloriously.

While this specific HobbyTown has a ton of Traxxas, there are quite a few good hobby stores in the Pittsburgh area that probably carry other brands, which is specifically why I was asking about the Stampede. I know I want electric to start off with, and I know I want truck, but those are pretty much the only things I know.

Huzzler mentioned "Speed control cutoff"...can you explain that? Sorry, there is a whole new world of vocabulary that I'm going to start needing to pick up on, not sure what that means.

I'll definitely check out the Losi xxxsct. I did some looking online last night and it looks like something he could get into.

Thanks so far for all the information everyone! Any other advice, please feel free to pile on!

jon c

iTrader: (11)

great hobby for father and son to enjoy. Imo the traxxas trucks will be perfect, also its nice to have those trucks around to just rip around the yard with. This whole lipo thing will take alittle time to grasp onto. 2s is the norm, voltage cut off= when the truck stops working because the voltage is to low to continue to operate safely. The best way to explain this is to watch youtube and search lipo fire, these batteries need to be respected. maybe start with nimh batteries and get the basics down for charging and storage, then move up to lipo, definatley spend the money up front on a radio, and a good charger. Enjoy these little toy trucks are a lot of fun.

huzzler

iTrader: (1)

If you got multiple hobby stores maybe you wanna go around to each and see what they each have to offer. Lipo cutoff on esc is to keep you from draining the battery below 6v. You don't want to drain them past that or they will be no good. They won't catch on fire don't worry. Here is a list of RC terminology hopefully this will help you understand a little more. http://www.towerhobbies.com/intros/introdictionary.html

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209187
One for lipo batteries also.

Royalty1

Ok, so I'm gonna try this again. I tried posting last night but my browser blipped-out on me and I lost it all, so here we go again...

To start off, I'd like to say that I am not an expert on anything RC yet as I just started the hobby myself a few months ago, but I have learned a thing or two in that time that I think should help you out in making your decision.

-My advice on the stampede is to buy it. It is a good solid running truck and should last you a long time. The losi might be good as well but it will probably take more parts to get it to where you can just bash it like the stampede. (bashing is basically doing anything with your RC except for racing and speed runs) There are some good reviews on bigsquidrc on both the losi and stampede that I think it would help that you read, the links are here:

The Losi: I'll pm it 2 U

The Stampede 4x4 vxl: I'll pm i 2 U

-As far as a good starting price point for the stampede I'd look on ebay and amazon and compare prices. Chances are that you'll find what you need for less that what you'd pay at your LHS (Local Hobby Shop) but the trade-off is waiting for shipping. Personally I would try and find a new stampede for a good price that doesn't come with a charger or battery and I'd get my batts at hobbyking and a good charger to go with them. Which leads me to the next point...

-What aftermarket parts are logical to start with? Well, as I just mentioned, I would try get a stampede without a battery or charger and get my own setup. I have been doing some research into lipo batteries recently and I would like to share what I've found so you can make an informed decision. To start here is a link to the thread I started on traxxas' forums on what lipo batts and chargers are good quality:

apparantly I can't post Url cause I haven't reached a certain No. of posts so I'll pm them 2 U.

Here is another link to an amazing lipo introduction article that I found amazingly well put together and informative:

I'll pm it 2 U

I would reccomend going with lipo batteries because the can be charged fast, are lighter (in general) than the nimh batts, and you can typically find a good lipo battery for less $ than the same spec of nimh battery. the only 'downside' is they could be a bit tricky to take care of, but if you read that Intro to lipo batteries article I linked you to you should be able to handle them without any hitches. As far as buying lipos goes I am going to be buying some Turnigy Nano-Tech lipo batteries from hobbyking soon and they are reputed to be good quality batts and at hobbyking they extremely affordable. (compare $70 for one to $40) So that's my speech on batteries, chargers I haven't set my heart on yet, but be prepared to spend around $100 to $250 on a good quality charger/balancer/discharger/etc (that's all in one, not seperate FYI) As far as parts the go on the truck, I'd get rpm bumpers right off (especially for your son's) as they are great quality parts and rpm will replace them if they break under normal use. Other than that I'd probably just set aside around $75 dollars to get rpm replacement parts for the ones that break because everyone's driving style is different and so different parts break for different people. If you go with the pedes (traxxas forum slang for stampedes) you should be able to get just about any part you need just about anywhere, that's one of the benefits of going traxxas. The ony other thing you might want to upgrade is the tires but that depends on where and how your driving and I'm no tire expert.

-As far as spares go, it just depends on how you drive, like I said different thing break for different people so I'm not much help there.

-With your budget of $1k I think it is reasonable to be able to get everything you need to be setup for at least a little while, especially if you go with the stampedes and do the battery thing like I said. But again, I'm not the expert, I've just learned a few things.

-Some other notes: If they don't sell the stampedes just by themselves without the battery and charger like I was saying then you could probably save some money getting them with nimh batts and having your son use those, the really good chargers will charge both lipo and nimh batteries and some will even be able to charge multiple batts at a time, the only thing is the multi-battery charger can be real expensive so there's kinda a trade-off. Also, I believe that the traxxas RCs all have the training mode which limits the power to the motor to half so it'll keep the speed down but still have enough power for youor son to have fun with it. (at least I know the vxl models have it)

I hope I didn't confuse you more instead of answer your questions (just tell me if I did) I just had to get that lot off my chest so I can have sleep better knowing I at least tried.

Anyway, good luck with your decision and have fun! If you have more questions please post them as there a lots of people here whoo should know the answers. Have a great day!

huzzler

iTrader: (1)

^^WTH^^ you pretty much said what has allready been explained. He said he didn't want to rule out racing also. If you are gonna start racing which alot of people do eventually the Losi will be better in the long run.

lbenton

iTrader: (48)

Traxxas is great for the neighborhood, but not such a dominant force on the track.

Losi would be my suggestion for a track worthy but bashable ride.

As for a 4 year old, you might look at the smaller crawlers... they are slow, can be enjoyed indoors and I am sure he would have fun.

Royalty1

Ok, your probably partly right Huzzler, but I did give resources as far as where to look, where to buy, and where to do research which I think is helpful. I was making my reccomendation from a more short term, low cost point of view. I'll post the links soon as I can.
Have a great day!

huzzler

iTrader: (1)

I DID read the whole thing unlike you I guess. You would have read that he wanted to buy local and didn't want to rule out racing. But good job on the post. Maybe he will find something useful that hasn't ALREADY been said.

huzzler

iTrader: (1)

Nice edit

Royalty1

Sorry, everyone. Just trying to be helpful. I did forget the bit about wanting to still do racing so, kudos to you Huzzler for remembering that. I'm not a racer so I'm not very helpful here I guess. Oh, well, I tried.