i decided to go with this, Turnigy 5000mAh 4S 25C Lipo Pack and Rhino 4900mAh 5S1P 20C for $157.34, thats the only 5s that i could find on hobby city that was in stock, should be ok dont ya think? What other SITES are good for buying Lipos Cheap besides Ebay

Those should be just fine. For bang-for-the-buck, hobbycity is your best bet. Let us know how those turnigy packs do!

How long does it take for Hobby City to Ship to the US? Also anything else i should know about Running lipo? i know once i get the kit putting it together is the easy part, what about the settings? Monster Mamba 2200kv. Should i use mechanical brakes or not? What other things do i need to know?

I've never ordered from them directly, I don't know but I hear about 8-10 days.

How will i be able to tell what version of the Monster Mamba I will have? I heard V2 was bad. Is there a good way to tell?

If you buy a new one it will be V3. V1 and V2 are discontinued

I would suggest skipping mechanical brakes and using motor brakes, much simpler and once your used to it I think just as good. IMO 5s is to much for your combination. I have found that gearing for low 30's (aprox 33MPH) has best overall performance on the track. I can still outrun the nitros on the long straight with this gearing, as well as being more driveable on the rest of the track and get great runtimes. On 5s it may not be possible to gear a 2200kv low enough to have usable speeds on your track. The 4s should be a perfect setup.

On that note your 4s pack is a decent choice. I have no experience with HobbyCity but I have heard their lipos live up to their ratings. A 5000mah 25C lipo can provide 125 amps (5000mah = 5A x 25C = 125A) That should be adequate to get a truggy around the track. I will estimate aprox 14min runtime on the track, but that depends on your driving too.

My setup is a RC8T truggy w/ LPR tires, 5s 4500mah 25C with a 1650kv motor, 50/14 gearing. I can make a 16min main without swapping batteries.

I usually drive lightly as to not waste my packs- hanging around in 2nd or 3rd- then turn the gas on for the last couple laps...

See the problem here is i know nothing about the KV rating on motors. I was under the impression that the 2200kv motor that came with my combo would be all i ever needed, but now i see guys with 1650kv motor and am wondering wtf? I just need a crash course in brushless is all i guess. so what do i need to know? :whistle:

2200kv is good for lower volt operation, while lower kv is good for HV. Shoot for about 35000rpm. You get rpm like this: rpm=kv*battery voltage (not amt. of cells) each cell is 3.7v, so for a 4s pack the voltage would be 14.8v and for a 5s it would be 18.5v. Got it?

so shoot for 35k rpm i got that and seems easy. so can i use any brushless KV motor with my setup?

For 4s-5s 2300-2000kv...