My New Merv Review

[REVO-5309]

well i went to the post office today to pick up my merv before the courier got the chance to load it into his truck for the 10am drop off. i ordered mine last week on a Wednesday and it turned up this morning on a thur, bit annoyed that it took an extra day to get here compared to the other express parcels iv received from amain. but eh, what can you do.

i emailed one of the girls just after i order it and asked for a red one and also asked if there was a TQi model as they aren't listed on the site, she told me they didnt come with TQi. ended up receiving a silver one, but it was a TQi model, so I'm pretty happy about that and looking at getting the dock base for it to use with my iphone.

so last night i charged up all my batteries as i knew it was in town going through customs so next day delivery was going to happen

got my 2x2s and 1x3s batteries all charged up. took the revo out of the box. straight away i put 2 batteries in the revo and the suspension was way to soft. luckily i ordered the tanned and black springs, so i stuck them in before it got a chance to turn on.

so while i was doing this i chucked the nimh battery on charge as i wanted to see how it went. put my fully charged 2s batteries in parallel and went for a quick blat down the street. wowzers was it quick. half throttle and punching it it just wheel stands. very quick but one thing i changed straight away was the sport mode. i hate how when you brake if you touch the brake again to hold it in the same spot it smashes it into revers. so i put it into race mode as I'm use to not having reverse in my big revo.

after mucking around with that for a bit i decided to stupidly put in the 3s battery...... holly crappers..... i straight away noticed it had way more poke to it. so i went out to the street and went to do a high speed run..... well 1/2 speed and punching it to full is a very bad idea.... went straight over and skidded 20m down the street. now my new body is all scratched lol. so i try another pass, this time i tried to at least get to 3/4 throttle speed but by time i did the merv was half way down the street..... i still havent successfully been able to do a WOT pass and i still havent got the 50+mph gearing in it...

so next i put in the nimh battery and also tested the training more..... this makes it very very easy to drive. so much so i think the GF will get a drive.... might even let her drive it in race mode with the nimh ....

so over all i think this thing is awesome, i have a center alloy skid plate on its way too and a full set of bearings for future rebuilds, need to order a couple spur gears i think and get myself the dock base. the tanned and black shocks are a must, I'm also considering putting in 75wt shock oil in those little things they call shocks.... i can't think of much else to buy for it atm, maybe a dozen spare bodies for when i run a 3s pack.... i dont think ill ever run a full down down to empty....

one thing i did notice is the motor gets pretty warm, i can touch it but can't leave my fingers on it for more than 3-5sec. I'm not doing too much WOT only giving it blats here and there. I'm thinking ill have to get a heatsink for it and or make up a vent/duct to get some more direct air flow.

anyway here are some pics

these shocks are tiny

and just to get your head around the scale of it if you dont already own one... heres a pick to show you...

 

[chevymaxx]

Nice! I went with a 3s lipo in my 302 boss and thought the same thing. Stupid fast. Should have went with a 2s

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[tmaxxfreek]

I have never had my MERV to get hot, and it gets alot of WOT on 2s buy a temp gun and keep an eye on it, but the heatsink and possibly a fan should keep you in fine shape.

 

[HPIguy]

One thing to check, mine had the speed pinion installed out the box rather than the torque pinion, even though the manual says otherwise. Running on 3s on grass, even with the TQ pinion, I still need to gear down more. I have a 55T spur, just haven't put it on yet.

 

[hamz9561]

I came down a couple of teeth on teeth on the pinion from the Torque to keep the temps under control with a 3s battery and the heavier beadlocks and tires I run.

 

[REVO-5309]

well i just put the "high speed" pinion on, it has less teeth... that means that it will go slower yeh? i think i have that the right way around.

the one i just took off has more teeth than the "high speed" one...

 

[HPIguy]

well i just put the "high speed" pinion on, it has less teeth... that means that it will go slower yeh? i think i have that the right way around.

the one i just took off has more teeth than the "high speed" one...

Read my previous post. It's a typo in the manual, the speed pinion was already on it when you bought it, same as mine. No idea why it's setup that way out of the box though. You are correct though, the other pinion you put on is the TQ pinion. I run mine in the yard a lot, so the grass puts a lot of load on the motor / ESC.

 

[REVO-5309]

Ahh k. I run mine mostly on concrete, I might put the high speed pinion back on then. In the process of getting the traxxas heatsink with the thermal paste, that should help a lot I think.

 

[REVO-5309]

Rear diff = blown

3 days old, running 3s did 2 perfect back flips on the flat and yeh. A quick inspection and half the teeth are chipped. Kept running
It tho. Doing some high speed runs on 3s is fun when chasing it with a car

---------- Post added at 3:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 3:09 PM ----------

Btw it looks mad when there is a really light layer of dust on the road. The downforce created by the car/Wing pushes all the dust out
Of the way

 

[Jacks9930]

If you get the docking base get the RPM and temp sensors to use it to its full potencial.

 

[REVO-5309]

dont think I'm gonna get the dock base, once i get a heatsink etc i should be right, when the battery runs out I'm generally done, well with 3-4 batteries all up my day will end with time running out or something breaking before i drain all my batteries.

 

[REVO-5309]

can anyone recommend some cheap road tires/wheels for this?

I'm going to buy the green pushrods and toe links (do i need the toe links?) and the green springs. I'm thinking ill just leave the stock wheels on it to start with as i dont run on the smoothest of road surfaces so the extra cushion will prob be good.

 

[MudSlinger33]

My rear diff went within the first 10 packs. I was only running 2s but was landing jumps hard on the throttle.

 

[REVO-5309]

just put some road tyres on and the shock limiters. handles great.

---------- Post added at 5:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 5:20 PM ----------

also cut out the window and used that section to duct the air down. its just taped in for now but i think it will stay that way as its solid enough not to come out and provides some flex in case of a crash. seems to run a bit cooler that way. also have the heat sink on there too.