Nitro or Electric? Which gets you more run time foe the money?

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JesseDayton

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So I am just a few weeks into R/C of any sort and nitro is where I started. Now I am wondering if you get more run time with less wrench? I know this is a pretty wide scoped question, but does anyone have any input on this?
 
Gas > Nitro & Electric. Getting 30 minute run times out of my Savage Octane and my Losi XXL2
 
i think its a matter of preferance. I know some people that can get a hour and a half run time with electric and get 15 with nitro but still go with nitro because of the appeal. I can do scale RC for an hour and a half without a charge
 
Just can't beat the realism of an actual engine on an rc, not to mention you can literally just run all day,....how many lipos would you have to buy to run all day,1,000 worth?a gallon of good fuel run about 30$...Idk I'm just a gearhead, lol
 
i agree rob. nitro all day
 
I prefer electric, I did enjoy nitro a lot I just don't have the time for it anymore. I also miss it too! Honestly electric is more expensive to get up and going initially, a high powered charger, power supply, good lipos, a good vehicle. It ends up being a good amount.

For the guys that have the time to run all day,I envy you. I'm lucky if I get 3-4 hours in every 2 weeks.
 
Lots of good advice above.

Gas. You will get long run times, but comes with problems. Gassers are loud, ridiculous loud. Draw's plenty of attention wanted or not. Heavy. To get full use of the gasser's you need a fairly good sized open area to run them. More so when you get up to the Baja or 5T size RC. Requires as much wrenching as anything else. Engine and ignition parts are expensive to replace when needed.

Nitro. Lots of wrenching. There's the time it takes to properly break in and tune. Messy. No matter how well tuned you are, there will always be left over exhaust residue to deal with. I love nitro and I love wrenching so for me nitro is fine. Run time can be what you want it to be. Most tanks only hold @5 ounces of fuel, so you have @ 10-15 minutes of run time to empty or practically limitless if you stop and top off the tank while still running. Always a good time to check temps at the same time anyway. Only real 'con' for me with nitro is the fuel costs. $30 a gallon for Byrons Gen2 25% is one small issue. Main issue is for me and the lack of an actual Local LHS, is that I am forced to make a half day run just to go purchase fuel.

Electric. With todays batteries and quality chargers there is a certain attraction for electric. No tuning. Just charge batteries, check radio settings and your RTR. But with electric, as mentioned, there is a far higher cost to have the convenience of that. Spend a little on 3000mah batteries and a wall wart charger and get fairly short run times along with slow charge times. Go lipo and you get longer run times, faster charging and huge power increase. But all that costs more as already mentioned above. With lipo, you can have some very serious cash invested in batteries and decent quality charger. Lipo's themselves do require extra attention and respect. You don't just put a lipo on the charger and 'set and forget'. You want to be right there making sure your not over heating the battery. Watching for the tell tale smoke that may precede a fire. Damage a lipo while running and they can smolder and cause a fire. Lipo do add to the fun factor as you go up in cell rating, as long as the ESC can handle the lipo can make acceleration and top speed crazy in comparison to nitro. But with those increases comes more wrenching from either the pure physical stress of the power there capable of, or from the increased potential of parts breakage that comes with high powered electrics.

So IMHO the best RC is what you want to run. All fuel types come with pro's and con's. All share some qualities. All have unique qualities. You really just need to weight out what would work out best for you. I have had a gas RC. I still have nitro and electrics. I love the sound of nitro. Electrics just don't inspire me to run them. I have a SCT and MT electric and am building a scaler. For the Scaler, electric is the only way to fly due to the fact that forcing a nitro to run slow is darn near impossible to do and still maintain slow course control. But speed of the SCT or MT without the buzz sound of the nitro just don't get me motivated to run them much. But that's my situation.
 
Lots of good advice above.

Gas. You will get long run times, but comes with problems. Gassers are loud, ridiculous loud. Draw's plenty of attention wanted or not. Heavy. To get full use of the gasser's you need a fairly good sized open area to run them. More so when you get up to the Baja or 5T size RC. Requires as much wrenching as anything else. Engine and ignition parts are expensive to replace when needed.

Nitro. Lots of wrenching. There's the time it takes to properly break in and tune. Messy. No matter how well tuned you are, there will always be left over exhaust residue to deal with. I love nitro and I love wrenching so for me nitro is fine. Run time can be what you want it to be. Most tanks only hold @5 ounces of fuel, so you have @ 10-15 minutes of run time to empty or practically limitless if you stop and top off the tank while still running. Always a good time to check temps at the same time anyway. Only real 'con' for me with nitro is the fuel costs. $30 a gallon for Byrons Gen2 25% is one small issue. Main issue is for me and the lack of an actual Local LHS, is that I am forced to make a half day run just to go purchase fuel.

Electric. With todays batteries and quality chargers there is a certain attraction for electric. No tuning. Just charge batteries, check radio settings and your RTR. But with electric, as mentioned, there is a far higher cost to have the convenience of that. Spend a little on 3000mah batteries and a wall wart charger and get fairly short run times along with slow charge times. Go lipo and you get longer run times, faster charging and huge power increase. But all that costs more as already mentioned above. With lipo, you can have some very serious cash invested in batteries and decent quality charger. Lipo's themselves do require extra attention and respect. You don't just put a lipo on the charger and 'set and forget'. You want to be right there making sure your not over heating the battery. Watching for the tell tale smoke that may precede a fire. Damage a lipo while running and they can smolder and cause a fire. Lipo do add to the fun factor as you go up in cell rating, as long as the ESC can handle the lipo can make acceleration and top speed crazy in comparison to nitro. But with those increases comes more wrenching from either the pure physical stress of the power there capable of, or from the increased potential of parts breakage that comes with high powered electrics.

So IMHO the best RC is what you want to run. All fuel types come with pro's and con's. All share some qualities. All have unique qualities. You really just need to weight out what would work out best for you. I have had a gas RC. I still have nitro and electrics. I love the sound of nitro. Electrics just don't inspire me to run them. I have a SCT and MT electric and am building a scaler. For the Scaler, electric is the only way to fly due to the fact that forcing a nitro to run slow is darn near impossible to do and still maintain slow course control. But speed of the SCT or MT without the buzz sound of the nitro just don't get me motivated to run them much. But that's my situation.

Unfortunately you're giving some incorrect information on gas. They are no louder than your average chainsaw or weed eater (same engines) and they actually tend to be a bit quieter than a nitro.
 
Unfortunately you're giving some incorrect information on gas. They are no louder than your average chainsaw or weed eater (same engines) and they actually tend to be a bit quieter than a nitro.

AND, you can repair or replace the engine cheaper than a nitro. And fuel is $4 a gallon.
 
You all have brought up great points. This helped me to look at my own situation and focus on what motivates me. Honestly ay this point, if I upgrade to all that Lipo powered stuff, I can bet it will be a "yard sale" of parts from the looks of what kind of speed you ca make with them. I don't know,I feel that Nitro is where it's at for me. Maybe I just need a modern Traxxas Jato 3.3 to see what I can do. The Evader is sweet but lacking that special something, maybe that new car smell HAHA!
So now i have to ask, does anyone run Nitro in the snow?
 
run my savage in the snow every chance i get! its a blast seeing the whole entire thing packed up like a big snowball
 
What's snow? Seriously, though, I never owned a nitro when I lived where it snows, but the early NiCad-powered electric buggies were a hoot.
 
Right on, I figure that as long as servos, etc... are proteceted that Missouri winter should be fun. Usually it's cold and snowy for a few days, then sunny and warm. Or mabye just up here to the north. Any how, I think I have just bought another Evader with several upgrades that will give me a chance to really trick out dad's truck and then proudly display it,and for a great deal I might add. Should keep me busy long enough to get new Jato. I still can't get my mind off of those 1/8 NHRA Funny Car that Traxxas has. MAN! They look crazy fast and to my surprise, very controllable. Take care guys, I will keep you posted on my projects,and look forward to any and all input.
 
wwit, all your info has broke down the basics for me. Thank you for taking the time.

---------- Post added at 9:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 9:53 PM ----------

hamz9561, do you get similar speeds out of gas rides, granted the space to open them up?

---------- Post added at 9:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 9:55 PM ----------

LOL,now I have to research 2 more rides!!!

---------- Post added at 9:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 9:58 PM ----------

I'm totally addicted now too! I hope you get more time.

---------- Post added at 10:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 9:59 PM ----------

I can't wait for snow! well yeah I can, but ya know HAHA!!!
 
It's like the nitros. Gearing and tuning. I've had my Baja-5b up to 43 mph verified by radar( the local police were bored that day) on the 100 yd straight in front of the house I was living in at the time. My mERV (1/16 eRevo VXL) is quicker off the line (have to be careful not to do a flip on take off) but it isn't as fast on the top end due to gearing. My Revo 3.3 is comparable in acceleration to the Baja and has a similar top end on big block power.
 
Part of cars and racing and horsepower, is the sounds and smells! NITRO GEARHEAD!!!WHOO HOO. Sorry, I will calm down in a few months, maybe. These cars are more fun than I ever thought and cheap therapy for sure. Honestly I hope to never loose the excitement.
 
Unfortunately you're giving some incorrect information on gas. They are no louder than your average chainsaw or weed eater (same engines) and they actually tend to be a bit quieter than a nitro.

I'm not incorrect at all. Just because you don't agree, doesn't make me 'incorrect'.

Of all the fuel based RC's I have ever owned, my Baja 5B was the loudest one I ever heard. Nasty Obnoxious Loud. The DDM Dom pipe with the built in muffler was really loud. Stupid loud. With the aluminum stinger pipe it was even worse. I own 5 different pieces of yard equipment that all use the same basic type and size engines at @23-25cc's. None of them are even close to as loud as the Baja was.

And yeah you can replace the Baja type engine with some Brand X no name for cheap. But other than stock, I had engines built by O'neil and DDM that went for $400-500. So blows that incorrect theory out the window too. From my wallets point of view :p:
 
You're talking aftermarket parts and I'm talking stock. And in stock form my nitros were louder than my gas. I'm also willing to bet that my current nitro with its aftermarket pipe is as loud as if not louder than a gas with a DDM pipe.
 
@jesse, main thing to consider when choosing a car is location and terrain you'll be running your car primarily, not so much which is most economical.
If you're thick in the suburbs like me, nitro may not be the best option unless you have a remote location you can go to.
My nitros are pretty loud even with stock exhaust, and I can hear the sound reflect off the surrounding houses and buildings. So That means the people in those surrounding houses and buildings can hear me too.
You don't want to piss your neighbors off, it's bad for you, bad for them, bad for the hobby.
 
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