New to Electric

[3_Stroke_Motor]

I have yet to purchase an electric rig. But seriously considering trying electric. I have never run anything but Nitro for 5 years. The last electric I owned was a little K-Mart truck than ran on AAs when I was probably 12. I'm very familiar with the suspension and drive train of R/Cs so I don't think I need a beginners rig.

Could you guys recommend a good rig for me to get? One that I dont have to mix and match an ESC, battery and Motor together, RTR is preferred. Something under or close to 300 dollars, I dont want to get too far into this side of the hobby before I have tried it.

Furthermore, What is the typical run time of say a 6500 milli-amp LiPo or something of that nature. How long does it take to charge something like that? Whats the maintenance and upkeep of an electric? What should I buy? I already have a peak monitor/conditioner/charger (whatever you call it) for my plane and RC chopper and receiver pack in my nitro rigs.

Looking to get no more than 400 dollars into this, so If I don't like it I can get out of it with a small financial loss.

 

[Racer 1966]

I'd recommend a brushless 2wd(not 4wd due to your cost constraints)short course truck like a Slash.SC10,Blitz etc.. I don't know what charger you have but it must be LiPo compatible for LiPo charging and cell balancing. A 6500mAh LiPo will be a little more expensive,to cut cost drop back to a 5000mAh. We get 20-30 minutes on a battery and can recharge in an hour. The battery is usually warm right after a continuous run,a cool down time is recommended before charging. Also a LiPo fire-safe bag is recommended for charging and storage of the batteries.

 

[3_Stroke_Motor]

Is it just me or does that sound like more maintenance than nitro? haha, I'm sure once you get used to it its not that bad, I mean I see cleaning my nitro rigs with compressed air, clearing the tank, washing the air filter and lubricating with after run as low maintenance! That takes me like 15 minutes tops! Is the whole maintaining the LiPo batteries and conditioning them and charging them a big pain?

 

[Racer 1966]

No,it's simple. The charger does all the work for you. Vehicle maintenance is easy too,especially if it's waterproof like the slash. Spray it off with the hose and blow it dry with compressed air.

You must not get too dirty if you can clean your nitro that quick.

 

[3_Stroke_Motor]

I run with the top on it and in dry dust most of the time and that all comes off with compressed air.

 

[Greywolf74]

under $400 is a tight budget as electric RTRs are generally more expensive than nitro RTRs But Randy mentioned some good ones, You could also look at the Rustler its one of the few 2WD kits I like although I think I would also like a Blitz or SC10 as well. Really just about any 2WD kit that meets your budget will work. Youve been in nitro for a long time so you should already know the good brands to look at. in addition to the kit I would look at HobbyPartz.com for gensacearespammers Lipos and a lipo charger if your charger doesn't already do lipos. The gensacearespammers and the Thunder Ac6 or better yet the Thunder AC680 are about the best bang for the buck. If the gensacearespammers you want is out of stock then their Sky lipos are almost as good. The Thunder AC charger you will probably outgrow if you realy get into electrics but its a solid and cheap starter. a 5000mah will cost considerably less than anything in the 6000+ range. A 5000mah Gens for me I can get anywhere from 25-35 minutes of run time depending on the kit I'm using.

You might also want to check out my video series for beginners in electric RCs. Some topics may apply to both sides of the hobby and may not be of any use to you but a lot of them are electric specific and will

https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=100513

 

[3_Stroke_Motor]

I'm still not quite sure whether I want to get an Electric RTR yet or finally after all the years buy and build an HPI Savage kit for nitro. Or even maybe buy a competition Nitro buggy to build and possibly enter the world of Nitro racing part time just as a side thing. I'm not sure which way I want to go, I want to see what all the buzz is about electric, (or even if there is a real buzz), but I also want to build my own kit and get into racing instead of bashing. Obviously, I will end up having bought both at a certain point, but I'm leaning towards getting an electric, since there won't be much nitro racing going on after a month or two. (because It's gettin' chilly out there!) I'll probably run electric a bit over the winter to see what it's all about, and invest in a racing kit rig come spring time. Still love bashing on a cold winter day with Nitro! Higher performance and sooo much more exhaust smoke!

 

[REVO-5309]

have you had a look at the 1/16 e-revo brushless? its a touch out of your price range. i know i spend just under $500 sending to australia the 7107 e-revo, (the following from hobbyking) turnigy 80w lipo charger, 2x2s lipos, 1x3s lipo and the conections required to fit everything (2 series connectors and a parallel connector to use the 2s lipos in parallel for extra run time)

the awesome thing about the merv (mini e-revo) is that the 2200mah batteries get around 20-30min run time each, run two batteries and total of, you got it, 40-60min run time. the batteries are only $10 each which makes it extremely cheap. 50mph on 3s is pretty dam quick, i mean wheelies literally on demand, 3/4 throttle to full throttle lifts the front.

i just put some street wheels and tyres on it and the white springs with shock travel limiters and it handles extremely well on the flat. i think i will leave it like this as my cousin has a 1/10 nitro on-road car so we can kinda muck around more instead of me getting the lrp out and running over him.

i now have a 1/10 revo with an lrp 28 motor, and the merv. id have to say. the merv is more fun to drive. its also faster.... in saying that. when taking it off road. since the lrp revo is larger it handles terrain better, and that's where they differ.

if your going to run it on concret and dirt, merv is great. if your going full on off road, 1/10 would be the go.

 

[Non Crimen]

definatly the slash!!! dude the thing is sweet! if your gonna race its not the best but if you are just going to bash, nothing even comes close the the slash in durability.

 

[SMaxxin]

If your going to give electric a try and really want to see what the "buzz" is about your gonna have to come up with more than $300.00. When I had what I considered fast electrics I spent around $300.00 on a charger and battery. If you can get the cash together it's easy to get an electric set up that will smoke nitro in every way.

For $300 you can pick up a new 2wd Slash but then your gonna need a lipo and lipo charger. If you run electric on nimh batteries you won't be very impressed and you will most likely regret buying it....Just my honest opinion.

 

[3_Stroke_Motor]

If your going to give electric a try and really want to see what the "buzz" is about your gonna have to come up with more than $300.00. When I had what I considered fast electrics I spent around $300.00 on a charger and battery. If you can get the cash together it's easy to get an electric set up that will smoke nitro in every way.

For $300 you can pick up a new 2wd Slash but then your gonna need a lipo and lipo charger. If you run electric on nimh batteries you won't be very impressed and you will most likely regret buying it....Just my honest opinion.

I would never even consider trying running nicd or nimh in even a 300 dollar rig, even with no experience in electrics, those battery packs are jokes, I still wish I had a lipo receiver pack for my nitros. My main reason for going nitro was because I love to tinker, and, you can run a nitro for longer stints versus electric (provided you dont have another battery).

---------- Post added at 10:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 AM ----------

Perhaps I could squeeze out another 200 dollars to invest, hopefully getting some more hours at work.

 

[SMaxxin]

If you get to a point where you have to go cheap on something start with the cheaper batteries. Get the best charger you can afford, it will pay for itself by keeping your packs in good shape for a long time compared to a cheap charger which can ruin the best packs in one charge!

 

[Greywolf74]

If you want to race and do electrics and race buy a 2WD SCT like the Sc10, Losi 22SCT or the Blitz...I think you can pick up any of those up for between 300-400 bucks and they are completely race worthy.

 

[usv568]

I have a 2wd slash as a basher, rpm a arms, and a fuze esc and a 6800kv motor running on 2s. Its Bella fun. I have a losi scte for track duty which is a far better SC truck. And I also have a axial wraith for trail and rock crawling. They have different functions but fun just the same. I would go with any 2wd truck for mentioned would be a good bet. I run 5800 and 4000 mah 2s lipos and have enough power for my setups.

 

[cmzm]

HI guys i have a traxxas summit 1/10 since i got it i had many problems, with the servos and the evx2 at this time is being repaired by traxxas.
Is it a good truck?
I am currently thinking about selling it.
What do u guys think that i should do, i love the truck but is kind of pain in the neck, i got it 1 mount ago and i only used for 10 minutes.

 

[Non Crimen]

Dude make your own thread please. This totally different
The summit IMO sucks. It's a terrible crawler and has a top speed of like 20. If you bought it to do some crawling wrong decision. If you bought it to go fast, wrong again. I would get it repaired and sell it and if you wanna trail/crawl get an Axial Scx10 or Axial Wraith. But if you want decent speed and great durability get the traxxas slash VXL

Hope I could help you

 

[Zdragon71]

Not meaning to change the topic or crap in your thread but just wanted to mention that I've recently been thinking the same thing. About getting an electric rig of some sort myself. I'm not very familiar with them as i am nitro. I've considered the losi xxx-scb for $199 that comes rtr minus the battery pack. I would also need extra batteries and a charger. But now that I've read this thread i believe i will hold out until i can afford a brushless rig. The input you guys have posted in this thread has been helpful to me and i hope to the one who started it as well. The slash vxl is in stock at my lhs and it may even be the one i end up starting with now that I've learned a bit more about electrics. Thanks guys.

 

[Greywolf74]

For the same money as the 2WD VXL Slash you can get a Losi 22SCT which is 100% race worthy. If not I believe the Associated SC10 is also the same price or close to it and is also race worthy.

 

[usv568]

The losi scb is a great platform, there are some issues with it tho. First off change out the motor and esc to a brushless system. The stock brushed motor is crap, it's not if it will stop working it when. I have a vxl slash with a fuze set up in it and recently bought castle motor to put in it. Smaller IV, goings from a 6800kv to a 4600kv.

 

[Domijan91]

OK so I'm going to put my two cents in here, take it or leave it. i have a Traxxas Stampede with an electric Team Orion 16T motor. we bought the truck many years back but i know its still under $300 RTR, i think $250. the motor that come with it was like 20T. the motor i currently have was roughly $60-$80, although i just found one online for less than $40. anyways, the battery that comes with the truck would last me about 15-20 minutes. we ended up buying a second battery that was the same as the stock one that came with the truck and was $30-$40. i just got a new battery for $60 that last upwards of 30 minutes. i drive the truck on grass rocks and everything in between. there are other things i have bought for the truck to improve it and make it better and faster but you don't necessarily need. my old neighbor used to have a power stroke diesel that i used to race when he come home from work.(note: i wouldn't win as it was a bad ass truck but i could give him a run for his money) Now i know this isn't the ideal racing truck/car but this truck definitely has kept my interest for 10+ years and has kept me interested in RC's as it could DEFINITELY do for you.

So bottom line, $250-$350 could get you rolliin with an AWESOME truck that has great potential.

Oh and FYI: there is a Buzz about Electric RC's!