Fast!, durable!, offroad!, brushless!, cheap?
 

Hi everybody.
I've been into RC a few months now, and have learnt a great deal.:rules:
I have a brushed E-Revo that I'm looking to sell (I love the E-Revo, not so much the motors...) to get a brushless car.

But there lies the problem, I'm a student and have a tight budget, so I wanted to ask advice on what car you guys think is right for me.

Here's the properties I'm looking for:
- Brushless, fast. wheelies on demand, nitro killing accelaration and top speed :party:
- Offroad, 1/10 or 1/8. I love MT's, truggy's, maybe buggy's, ...
- Durable. I live in Europe and don't want to have to order parts regularly. Again the budget doesn't like a vulnerable car either. I want to Bash pretty hard, and race a little.
- Cheap. The reason I'm posting this topic is to see if there are other options out there that I would like as much as an ERBE, but cheaper than it. :intello:



I've been looking at several truggy's, but I don't know enough about them to make a decision.
I hope you guys can give me some options in a broad price range.

I would go for a truggy. Do you have a preference of buying used or new? You can find some killer deals for used truggies now-a-days. If you only want a new one, the Hot Bodies D8T can be had for a good price on Tower Hobbies with the membership discount. Mike (site owner) sells a motor mount for it, and a battery tray. For electronics, to stay on the cheaper side, you can go with the Mamba Monster 2200 system with a 4s lipo pack.

You had me until you said cheap.

I'm not sure you're going to find a 'complete package' cheaper than the Revo Brushless Edition.

What equipment/components do you already have? Do you have a charger that can handle 6s Lipo? Do you have a Tx/Rx?

I sold a lot of my existing stuff to make this happen, but here's the rundown of my most recent build, 1/8 MBX5T:

The Parts Bought:
$215 MBX5T prospec roller(ebay):
$63Wheels and tires:
$127 (2x NeuEnergy 25c, 5000mah, 3s packs from Flydma.com)
$134 (servos, receiver)
$148 (charger, wire, connectors, etc etc)
$369 (Tekin combo + hotwire)
$75 (Motor mount, pinion, spacer for brakes)
Total: $1100

And I already had the radio...

EDIT:
You could get a cheap charger and save about $50, MMM is about $50-75 cheaper than the Tekin setup. A 4s Zippy pack would save maybe another $75. And if you get something that has wheels and tires already you save that $63.

When I sell my E-Revo, I'll have nothing left. No Tx/Rx, No charger/lipo.

I prefer used, just because it's cheaper. I can wait some time untill a great buy comes by...
I'm going to buy a charger and some lipo's from HC (probably the new Turnigy ones, or Zippy's).

Is there a RTR truggy, or do they all need to be converted to BL?

There is the RTR RC8Te that came out not very long ago. But it aint cheap. and I highly doubt it comes with battery/charger

For cheap go with a used 1/8 buggy. Nothing will be as durable or cheap to maintain as that.

A MMM 2650 combo on 4s will be the cheapest method to get it powered, plus 4s lipos will be the cheapest lipos.

Keep an eye out for lincpimp...he seems to always have some stuff for sale, motors, chargers, etc....you never know what he has, but he usually lists a FS thread w/each post

A buggy eh?
So are buggy's more durable than truggy's because they're lighter? (less force on impact of crashes and bashing)
And are truggy's more durable than MT's?

Is that about right? Or am I off?

Truggies are more durable than MT's IMO. A good...AE, Mugen, etc.. buggy and or truggy will last a good long time. Most of the major mans. put out v/good kits. I would buy a kit that I knew I could get parts locally and by the internet. Inevitably you run into a part or 2 you need and hate to pay an e-xtra 10- to ship it if you can buy it locally.

So what do you think is best for my purposes and demands, a truggy or a buggy? Or is there not much difference between them so they are both candidates?

I like the looks of a truggy more than a buggy, but that doesn't mean much to me, I care about durability and price. ;)

I would say a buggy as well if you are looking cheap as possible. Very tough, fast and not so demanding on the motors/esc. Cheaper tires, etc. Truggies are great as well, but do require a bit more $ to do as well. I have a hyper St trug that I've broken maybe 2 parts in a yr. Big in Europe as well.

A truggy will allow you to be used in more areas due to the increased ground clearance. As far as durability goes....stick w/a major mans. and you will be good. As far as price goes.. be patient and a good deal will come your way. Same thing goes for a charger and the other components you need

just buy a castle 2200 system and you have abrushless revo. just need lipos

Used buggy - 100 bucks

MMM/2650 combo - 250 bucks

4s lipo - 60 bucks

Charger/PS - 100 bucks

Battery tray and esc mount - make em yourself!

Motor mount - 60 bucks from Mike

Radio - 100 bucks

Assorted stuff - 60 bucks

700+ here... I would try to find a used roller with a rcm mount, and good tires. I think skellyo had a couple of rollers for sale that had mounts and battery trays already on them.

This is not a cheap hobby...as many people can tell you, you can reduce cost in some areas, but 1/8 performance electric- truggy, buggy can beat the hell out of a credit card...good luck

Used buggy, used electrics, used everything. I buy alot of used stuff, as that is the only way I can afford to grow the fleet! You may also find deals on lots of rc parts. Buy it all cheap and sell off what you do not need. Often I can do this and effectively get what I wanted out of the deal for free (I have a fair amount of my time in it though). I once bought 3 rustlers, inc a new vxl and managed to sell the other 2 for just shy of what I paid for all 3. So I got a new vxl rustler for 20 bucks plus my time. I have done this a few times with lipos (thanks to everyone who buys them from me!) and got a free pack out of it. If you can save a decent chunk of money to have available you can jump on deals. I try to keep 500 bucks handy to do this, and be prepared to sit on some stuff for a few weeks while it sells.

Skellyo is selling a jammin CR buggy

I think I'm going to try a truggy.
But I'm still not sure which one, could you give me a top5 or so of the best truggy's, with pro's and con's if you've got them?

Just so I can do some comparison and see what's the best bang for the buck, and can start preying on the bay...

Make sure to consider a 2wd vehicle like a rustler or evader, but I'm not sure you'll like going from 4wd to 2wd unless you drive on pavement.

Anything 4wd 8th scale is going to be expensive. Just look around for something used. I got an 8ight roller for 125 shipped.

Hobao (ST Pro) and Hong Nor (X2 CRT) has cheap spare parts and they are durable, Xray is european but has expensive spares.
I recommend truggy as basher and racer, it has more ground clearance than buggy, its bit more expensive than buggy but can be used more wider than buggy.
For lipos and charges, look for Turnigy from HC.
Battery trays can be done by self.
Motormount from RCM.
As you live in europe, its easier to buy from EU country if you live in one.
www.jespares.com has some great deals, like Ansmann W3 2.4GHz radio, looks like Sanwa MX-3.
I prefer 4wd cars only (1:10, 1:8, 1:1).

If there is some hobby store nearby, then i would buy brand that they sell spare parts, so you dont have to order every single part from other side of world.

Thanks,
I agree it's easier to buy from Europe, but sometimes it's just so much cheaper in the US... I had to pay 150$ taxes on my E-Revo I bought on ebay in the US, and it was still cheaper than buying it here :(

Anyway, do you know more stores that sell RC stuff in Europe?
Are there brands that are more popular (read: cheaper) in Europe than others?

And I agree on the HC charger and lipo's. And the DIY battery tray.
If I can save some € by DIY-ing, I won't thinks twice ;)

Just type exc. "Hobao spares" in google and you will find lots of european shops.
Those two brands are cheap everywhere, you just have to find "your model" and do little search that how are spares priced and where you can find em.
You can find few Hobao Hyper ST builds on these forums, including mine.
Btw. Hobao is sold as Ofna in US and i think Hong Nor is sold as Jammin.
There is other great brands also, but i think those have cheapest spares.

The Thunder Tiger ST-1 isn't too bad for the price. It's not the latest and greatest racing truggy, but it's pretty tough, and I've found it's still pretty competitive against some of the newer cars, close enough that it won't matter for bashing http://www.amainhobbies.com/index.ph...&filter_mfr=41
I've been racing and bashing the Pro version since October 07. I have broken almost no parts on it, and although it's a year or more older than the truggys I usually race with I can still be around the front of the pack if I'm driving ok.
There's only a couple of them around here, Joeling has one of them.

What would be cheapest?
- Buy a roller on the bay, buy a RCM motor mount, buy a motor and ESC on the bay.
- Buy a converted roller (with motor mounts and battery trays already on it) on the bay.
- Buy a RTR converted truggy on the bay.

Or is there no option that will be cheaper than another most of the time?

Also,
Could someone please give a top 5 of the best truggy's around? Don't care about the price too much, what I meant with "cheap" is the best bang for the buck. I'm still willing to spend 500$ or so...

And with the best 5 truggy's I mean the most durable, the most durable drivetrain, sturdy, ... So I can run(read: bash) a great powerplant like the MMM 2200 combo, without worrying about the drivetrain or the rest of the parts breaking.

thanks!

If you buy used, prices will go down dramatically. Check the revo in my sig.

I'm planning to buy used on ebay, or from a forum.
What of those three options would typically be cheaper?

And what are the best truggy's around in terms of durablility and sturdyness?

btw, great post count Metallover! (1337):party:

i'd prefer 1664 - Durability wise Hyper ST Pro, CRT and MBX5T seem to always be at the top of the list

Thanks, I'll look into those.

btw,
four more post for you and you'll have 4444 :lol:

You say in your original post that you want a 1/10 or 1/8 buggy/truggy.

Have a look at the CRT.5. It is ~ the same size as a 1/10 scale buggy, but much stronger (the drivetrain is 1/8 based), and the suspension is a bit stronger too. They aren't that expensive, conversions of them are easy to come by, they have the truggy look you're after, and the electrics will be cheaper - you could run them on 3S Lipo, which means the ESC will be cheaper, you don't need such a decent charger, or if you have a 6S charger, you could charge 2 at once, and the 3S lipo would be cheaper than the 4S (or more) ones. Also you don't need a really big/powerful motor as they are much lighter than an 1/8 scaler.