Supralover72 said:
. . . maybe I'm making a mistake getting a 1/8th scale buggy. I know from experience if you go cheap, it bites you in the you know what. It just looks like there is no cheap way to get into 1/8 scale buggys.
This may be the case. If you can't buy into the upper end of a class of R/C, it may be better to look into a class where you could.
Take the example of a Jammin X1 CR FTE buggy. If you buy that kit its on the order of 550 dollars. Yet when you buy the RTR which comes with a buggy, a radio/receiver, servos, an engine, its fully assembled, and painted, and it costs LESS than the kit?
There is a reason. To make up for the fact that they included all that extra (cheap) gear, built it and painted it for you, they have to cheapen the car. The buggy ships out with a 6061 chassis instead of the 7075, it has stamped aluminum upper plate, top plate, and radio plate instead of CNC or carbon fiber. It has cheaper shocks, driveshafts, tray supports, wing supports, plastic chassis braces instead of CNC, cast steering knuckles instead of CNC, the list goes on.
Basically they cheapen the materials of every load bearing part which makes the car weaker, heavier or both. To replace all that they cheapen acutally costs more in the case of the Jammin than the pro kit would have cost istelf to buy. So they get you two ways, you spend the money on their junky RTR, and then you go back and buy every part they would have given you in the kit. I used the Jammin as an example, but this is the way for all buggy RTRs.
EDIT: If you do go the RTR route, the three most important things I would have on the replacement list (if possible on order when you order the RTR itself) is a 12 volt heavy duty starter box such as OFNA 10250 (or 10253 with the included power panel for glow starting) which are designed to deal with big block .21+ engines. Trying to learn nitro with a pullstart may turn you off to the hobby before you even start.
The next would be a six volt ni-mh receiver pack to make sure your servos get enough power. The 4 cell AA holders that RTRs come with don't hack it when pushing an 8lb buggy at 40+ mph. The AA packs also die more suddenly than rechargables, which can lead to runaways. A decent peak charger comes in handy here too to make sure that you are getting the most from your rechargables in terms of runtime and power.
The third thing (and some will disagree with me) but I think a quality steering servo is one of the most important things for your buggy. First, the RTR units don't usually last more than a couple weeks or so before they give out on you. Usually, people rush out to buy a similar replacement. But the units that come with the car are acutally baseline models designed to handle the weight of a smaller, lighter 1/10th scale vehicle. For this type of heavy duty application, you want a servo that is coreless, 150+ in/oz torque, and .15 or faster reaction (in that order of importance) to really see the quick handling that these buggies have to offer.
