The slash will be a great basher, especially for your son, now on to the speed controll. Look on your ESC, look were it says WATERPROOF, if it is a black background with red waterproof print, the. It has low voltage cuttoff and you can run lipos. If it has a white background with red waterproof print, its dose not have low voltage cuttoff. If you have the older version you can still run lipos, just if you run the lipo till its dead you will destroy the battery