Originally Posted by Razathorn

I speed all the time, and I've never got a speeding ticket. Everyone should speed.


It's your fault your $1k car just blew up -- obviously, cause it burst into flames. I mean, everyone does everything perfect. Mistakes should cost you your entire setup. As an added bonus, if you're unsure what you did wrong, the evidence will be incinerated -- don't worry though, everyone will blame you because lipos only go when people do DumbThings(tm)... unless of course you bought the brand lipo they don't care for, in which case, that was the problem, and you got what you paid for, which was also your fault.

Bottom line: car on fire = your fault, not stupid incendiary battery on hair trigger.

I'm being quite over the top here, and I realize it. I am just playing devil's advocate here because there is a disproportionate amount of people on rctech that advocate lipo for everything, lipo or nothing, and ItWorksForMe(tm). The OP is trying to decide whether to get into nitro or electric -- and part of that decision will be based on the current state of electric. The problem with that is asking on rctech gets you the following:

1. NIMH is dead and worthless.
2. Lipo is perfect and never fails.
3. Lipo is dramatically better than NIMH.

And it's simply not true. I saw a puffed pack last race night that people were trying to figure out how on earth it happened. Nobody could figure it out, guy just had to suck it up, buy another pack, and hope it didn't happen again.

The Truth is that:

1. NIMH is still used in competition and is still the choice of some very fast individuals.
2. Lipo is not perfect, but it is getting there every day, but sometimes still fails and it can happen to you.
3. Lipo is marginally better than NIMH in certain areas.
   • The capacities are slightly higher.
   • They weigh less (but you have to weigh in heavy enough regardless with weight trays).
   • They offer a little more punch near the end of their useful charge.
   • They don't self discharge like nickle cells.
   • They don't go flat like nickle cells if not run soon after they are charged.
   • They have a slightly higher voltage, which gives you like a 3% advantage in spec classes.

So, obviously lipo is better over all, but it's not like night and day. You can get 6 600+ second NIMH matched cells for 27 bucks and use any old charger to chage them, even a good linear nicad charger if you ensure it doesn't overcharge or watch them yourself. If you make a mistake and over gear your car or short it out for a second, or blow up a motor or esc, your battery is probably going to be just fine -- it will take out your wires before it damages the battery. If it does damage your battery, damn, a whole $27 bucks.

Pros, cons, I want the op to know the whole story -- not the "rctech.net lipos are your only option" story.