Who's in to electric RC cars?

When I got back into RC I was tempted to use stick controllers as that's what I was used to, but I decided to try wheel controllers and stuck with them. You quickly become acostomed to them and a wheel is actually a much more natural way to control a car. I couldn't go back to sticks now :)
 
I am now on the point of buying an RC car but i am torn between two.

HPI E Firestorm 10T 2.4G FLUX Electric RC Stadium Truck - £239.99
or
Traxxas Rustler VXL Brushless Stadium Truck RC 2.4 - £289.99

I have read a few comments that the Firestorm is a better car out of the box to drive but there is a lack of hop ups and the Rustler has a lot of hop ups available but really requires a lot of modifying to start with which could get costly.

Also in reference to the couple of posts above, is the Revo VXL a contenter in this list. It looks fun but seems to be quite slow out of the box?
 
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Of the two above the Firestorm is the better truck out of the box, especially when it comes to durability, and HPI's customer service is fantastic. As for hop-ups, the ones that matter are available for both so that's not really an issue. The Revo is a different kettle of fish to the obove, it's 4wd and halfway between a Monster Truck and Truggy, whereas the Firestorm/Rustler are 2wd 'stadium trucks', as such offer a very different driving experience to the Revo.
 
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DreXel would you say the Firestorm is good enough out of the box and not something I would get bored of in time due to the lack of hop ups?

Also just reading that for the Firestorm to get top speed it requires 3 batteries, is that correct?
 
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Not sure what you're worried about when it comes to hop-ups, all the ones that matter (shocks, RPM arms, T-bone bumpers etc) are available for it. What hop-ups are you referring too?

As for the batteries, I think you are getting confused. What you are referring to is a 3s (3-cell) LiPo pack, not three seperate batteries. This will give you a lot more speed over a NiMH pack or a 2s LiPo, but to be honest they are quick enough for beginners on a 2s LiPo, then you could upgrade to 3s at a later date.
 
{{INX}} said:
Also in reference to the couple of posts above, is the Revo VXL a contenter in this list. It looks fun but seems to be quite slow out of the box?
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What did you want from this as well? Just for pure fun or to start getting into racing at a local club?

The bigger the truck, the faster you can go on rougher terrain which becomes a lot more entertaining imo. You could consider something like a Traxxas Stampede VXL 2.4 GHz RTR (Blue) http://www.modelsport.co.uk/traxxas-stampede-vxl-2.4-ghz-rtr-blue-/rc-car-products/35631 which, with the extra ground clearance will take a fair bit more abuse.

More of a halfway house between the firestorm and revo.
 
DreXel I am new to this and just picking up on things I have read on various forums and you tube comments over the past couple of days and As far as hop ups go, I am just going on an overall feel I got from posts but admit I don't fully understand.

Yes it appears I was getting confused over the battery situation, thanks for clearing it up for me. It did seem strange having three batteries and now makes better sense.
 
Take a look at the Modelsport UK forums, there are some excellent FAQs in the various sections :)

Sorry for the lack of links BTW, posting from my phone.
 
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There is a link to the modelsport forum on my last post. Im robj20 on there as well.
Currently saving up for another HPI Baja SS myself, had one when they first came out, great fun.
 
Bit of a bump here as I am having some difficulty.

I have a car which uses 3000mah 7.2v batteries. I've got an Ansmann delta charger which states it will charge up to 8.4v and 3500mah.
It charges the 3000mah battery fine but I have two Vapextech 8.4v 3700mah batteries which I'd hoped would be close enough to the limit of the charger for me to be able to get away with but they don't charge well at all. After a full charge (overnight) duration they only take a partial charge which lasts less than 2 minutes. The car ECU and motor are stated in the manual to handle the new batteries.

I know the reason is because they are over the rating of the charger, but I'd hoped the figures were being typically conservative, obviously not.

Can anyone recommend a cheap charger that will work with the more powerful batteries? It doesn't need to be a quick charger.

Cheers
 
wo wo wo , your kinda all over the place here.

First up if its an overnight jobbie it needs putting in the bin, the modern NIMH cells dont like trickle charges. You need a peak charger (thats one that stops when the pack is full) Something around £20-40 should do like this:

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/fusion-vector-nx85-delta-peak-ac-dc-charger/rc-car-products/37637

A rule of thimb is to charge at 1 x the capacity, so your 3700's at 3.7 or thereabouts, between 3 and 4 amps is fine. it'll take about an hour. The cars Electronic Speed Controller or ESC will handle anything, only issue you get sometimes is older speedo's dont have a low voltage cutoff, but this is only required if you are using LIPO cells, which you are not.

Also your batteries are not more powerful, just higher capacity, although you will notice a performance increase if they are new or of higher quality.
 
I have 2x 1/20th (I think) Scale Electric RC Cars, an Impreza and Baha Champ (Buggy) Both Tamiya kits. Boy I had some fun drifting and drilling them round fine gravel tracks! They'd need a Lipo conversion if they could handle it these days though.
I also have a CEN ATX in bits that needs lots of spares to get running... maybe someone can help?
 
Has anyone ever built their own RC car from scratch? Looks like it would be fairly easy to do. Obviously would need to buy the shocks and wheels and maybe a few other bits that would be hard to make.
 
Building Candy said:
wo wo wo , your kinda all over the place here.
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Quite possibly!

First up if its an overnight jobbie it needs putting in the bin, the modern NIMH cells dont like trickle charges. You need a peak charger (thats one that stops when the pack is full)
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The charger I have is this one: http://www.modelsport.co.uk/index.php?product_id=13082 which is a peak charger but isn't rated to the 3700mah my batteries are.

Also your batteries are not more powerful, just higher capacity, although you will notice a performance increase if they are new or of higher quality.
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My original battery was 7.2v whereas these are 8.4v. I would have though these made them more powerful as well as higher capacity at 3700mah?
 
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