If he already has a Slash, get him a Stampede 4x4 because they have a lot of interchangeable parts.

I ended up buying a Stampede 4x4 XL5 for him.

The more I read about Arrma's brushed version of the Granite Mega the more issues and complaints I found. The Stampede 4x4 also seems to have less cost cutting measures compared to VXL specs than the brushed Granite Mega does compared to its brushless sibling.

I also like that my LHS has Traxxas parts out the wazoo. Traxxas also has more aftermarket support than Arrma.

Lastly, fyrstormer pointed out, it's also nice to have part interchangeability.

Both are good. I think the Arrma is easier to work on. But it really comes down to looks after that.

I have moved on since, as I stated, I already made the choice.

The only thing Proline is "best" at is early discontinuation of their vehicle kits. About five years or so after the release of the kit they discontinue it and the replacement parts. Then when you break something you have to go on eBay and hope the auction doesn't go up to $100 when the parts supply has dried up.

I'd never buy a Proline kit until they stop doing that.

Pro-Line is best at making tires. They're among the worst at making RCs, though. They should stick to doing what they're good at.

You made a good choice in the Stampede. That platform may not be the newest, nor the most reliable anymore, but with a couple aftermarket upgrades, it can survive a bomb blast. My Stampede is now a Slash MT and runs a 1/8 scale motor & esc. It's got too much power for me to control it, and I still don't break anything because I made a few smart upgrades.

The Stampede's one biggest detriment is also it's most redeeming quality: It handles awful, but that makes it a lot of fun.

The center diff makes an immense improvement in the 4Pede's handling. It actually got so boring and predictable that I stopped driving mine after a couple years, and eventually took it apart to move the upgrades to other vehicles. It turns out that it is, in fact, possible for a monster truck to drive too well.

Nowadays my Electric T-Maxx serves the same purpose, but because it's bigger and substantially heavier, I'm a little more on-edge when driving it close to top speed, which makes the driving experience more entertaining.

At some point you improve the handling to where it just winds up being a bad truggy instead of a good monster truck. I never put a center diff into my Stampede (which I then turned into a Slash MT), because I don't really want it to handle better. I'll use my good handling vehicles when I want that. The Stampede's purpose in life is for doing dumb stuff.

Good to see you over here! I respect your opinion so I am glad to hear you say this about the Stampede!


I had no idea you could get the center diff for the Stampede! I'll have to look into that.

Honestly, I've kinda been wanting to build one for myself now that Traxxas offers the assembly kit. I want to support this and let Traxxas know, with my dollars, that there are a lot of us that still love kits. Also, JConcepts has a cool MT conversion I'd like to try. We shall see...

Yeah, the drivetrain is 99% the same between the Slash 4x4 and Stampede 4x4. The only difference is the length of the center driveshaft; everything else is interchangeable between the two vehicles.

I second the center diff. Made the 4Pede actually manageable on the 3660 3100kv motor.

When I spoke to Pro-Line 12 months ago, they told me they were coming out with several new tire designs for 1/8 monster and more sometime mid 2019. Nothing happened but one belted tire off the same design

So far I have seen 3.
The belted Trenchers, Street Fighters HP and the Avenger HPs.

I have to say I truly believe the Stampede 4x4 was the right choice. Obviously, my nephew was so excited to receive the truck and after driving it he loves it. The truck was faster and better handling than I expected. I was worried it would be too slow to jump on 2S which isn't the case. I was also worried that it would rollover too much and that also isn't the case. He loves this truck and now I really want to build one for myself.