Nitro R/C Truck or Buggy?

[Richie]

Just look it up on YouTube.... A guy named squirrel does it best!

 

[westie06516]

Just look it up on YouTube.... A guy named squirrel does it best!

Interesting. I'll have to look into that. I was browsing tower hobbies and noticed they have an XL 5.9 and some new MT called the Flux. Any thoughts on those two? I know the XL is considered a hit or miss, but what about the XL 5.9? Just curious. Towers offers a Savage x 4.6 RTR for about $405...not shabby compared to the $700 something my LHS wants...

 

[Richie]

All original xls have the 5.9... The flux.... Dunno never heard anything about em.. Good or bad.. Looks like a smaller x to me...

 

[Metalhead Matt]

The flux is a beast. It has an esc/motor combo that's equal to the Momba Monster. I believe it's built on the x platform, but it may have the extended chassis of the xl. Not sure. One thing that is for sure is that it's bad to the bone. Not waterproof though. If waterproof is a big part of the buying decision, look at Traxxas's line of mt's.

 

[westie06516]

The flux is a beast. It has an esc/motor combo that's equal to the Momba Monster. I believe it's built on the x platform, but it may have the extended chassis of the xl. Not sure. One thing that is for sure is that it's bad to the bone. Not waterproof though. If waterproof is a big part of the buying decision, look at Traxxas's line of mt's.

I looked at Traxxas before but the only one I seem to like is the Stampede, but it looks pretty weak in the bashing/jumping department...looks like all it can do is wheelies and drive on street/dirt. I heard a lot of people trash the Revo and been told the Savage X 4.6 is the way to go (and cheaper than a Revo too) for a RTR kit.

With Traxxas it seems like your just paying for the name...I didn't see many good bashing videos or anything that made me take a double look at their line....

 

[Metalhead Matt]

I've been bashing a Stampede for 15 years. Tough, fun truck, with tons of cheap hop ups available. In my opinion, the new 4x4 Slash/Pede platform is the most versatile in RC history. Brushless, waterproof and tough. Your definitely not paying just for a name. But the Savage line is the king of bashers. I wouldn't get one wet without sealing all of the electronics first though...

 

[westie06516]

I've been bashing a Stampede for 15 years. Tough, fun truck, with tons of cheap hop ups available. In my opinion, the new 4x4 Slash/Pede platform is the most versatile in RC history. Brushless, waterproof and tough. Your definitely not paying just for a name. But the Savage line is the king of bashers. I wouldn't get one wet without sealing all of the electronics first though...

I did look into it the stampede some more. I found a nitro RTR kit from tower hobbies for under $300 with the EZ start system but the down side is it hits only 33mph. I looked for some nitro stampede vids on you tube and the majority of them where electric, which I want to stay away from, but did see a kid take one through a massive puddle of water...it stopped after a few feet lol. I saw only a few nitro ones and they where all RWD, doing wheelies on dirt or parking lots and not much in the ways of jumping, climbing, and ripping up dirt. Also it seems like the base engine that somes with it is weak and everyone modified theirs with a 3.3 or something bigger and added AWD and I don't want to do that. I'd rather pay for a RTR kit that has all these features, auto start, a bit more top speed, and can take a good bashing...because the way these people drove the stampede...it was like they where afraid to do more than wheelies or quick short accelerations in parking lots or grassy fields...I want something that can handle all surfaces and still run if it flips or rolls a few times if a don't nail a jump perfectly...and I don't want something that I will either be fixing constantly or wishing it came with a bigger engine, AWD, etc... just my thoughts...but it does seem more like a good starter kit for complete newbies to nitro r/c based anything since it seems to simple at the same time. I mean price wise it's great, but I wish it had AWD and was a bit faster without having to do the mods myself or buy the extra parts, and if it looks like a strong basher an is up there with the Savage...then maybe I'd consider it as my first MT before investing much more money into a savage...but I'm still all up in the air about it I guess...hard to make a good informed decision.

 

[Metalhead Matt]

I was talking about the brushless versions. If your only looking at nitros, Savage is the easy choice. But no nitro engine likes water...

 

[westie06516]

I was talking about the brushless versions. If your only looking at nitros, Savage is the easy choice. But no nitro engine likes water...

I think either or doesn't like water lol. I had horrible luck/time with brushless and electric cars....had a blast with my nitro street car, but it's shot, and nitro off roading has caught my attention as of late. So you think the nitro version of the Stampede is trash? The Revo's look nice, but I heard more negatives about them and they are like an extra $200+ over a savage x 4.6 RTR kit.

 

[hamz9561]

Those comparing the Savage X and the Revo are not correct. The Revo 3.3 is actually closer in the Traxxas model line to The Savage XL. The T-Maxx is more along the lines of the Savage X. The nice thing about Traxxas is the customer service and parts availability. Almost anywhere that you can buy Hobby-grade RC stuff you can find a bunch of Traxxas parts.

 

[RevoBigBlock]

truck...............................

 

[Metalhead Matt]

My brushless experience has been anything but trouble. Cheap or expensive. Plug in, go fast. This is for another thread though. Nitro+great basher out of the box= Savage X.

 

[westie06516]

Those comparing the Savage X and the Revo are not correct. The Revo 3.3 is actually closer in the Traxxas model line to The Savage XL. The T-Maxx is more along the lines of the Savage X. The nice thing about Traxxas is the customer service and parts availability. Almost anywhere that you can buy Hobby-grade RC stuff you can find a bunch of Traxxas parts.

I know there is a TON of parts out there for Traxxas, but from most of the reading, reviews, and forum surfing I've done, people kinda put down Traxxas in general for being expensive and they break easily. The only positive I hear about is the EZ start system. From all the info I gathered so far, people rave about the savage's as being great bashers and all around good nitro trucks to run and play/push hard without breaking down easily or frequently or cost you an arm and a leg lol

My brushless experience has been anything but trouble. Cheap or expensive. Plug in, go fast. This is for another thread though. Nitro+great basher out of the box= Savage X.

Did you have any nitro experience with the savage x or used a friends or something along those lines?

 

[Metalhead Matt]

I've never seen one in person. Watched plenty of videos. Most important is the experience of very respected members on here. Their word is all I need to hear. I notice that your in Connecticut? If you go with a new Savage, winter time engine break in is very ill-advised. Steady temps are vital to break in, which the cold weather wreaks havoc with.

 

[westie06516]

I've never seen one in person. Watched plenty of videos. Most important is the experience of very respected members on here. Their word is all I need to hear. I notice that your in Connecticut? If you go with a new Savage, winter time engine break in is very ill-advised. Steady temps are vital to break in, which the cold weather wreaks havoc with.

Yea. I wouldn't do a break in until the spring time, like mid to late March at the earliest. I plan on getting this in the mean time as a self gift/X-Mas present before I start putting money into wedding stuff in the spring lol. Plus I'd like to just take it out of the box, and maybe do some mods to it, like paint a custom body, change tires/rims, maybe lift it, install a full out roll cage, maybe add some lighting...just get stuff going in the works so I can then just start the proper break in and enjoy the spring and have some fun with this when I'm not involved in planning a wedding with the future wife lol.

 

[westie06516]

**BUMP**

Hey everyone, I'm back...well I've been lurking around and following posts.

So I'm still trying to get back into the hobby (if anyone participated in the posts to my original message back on page one) and still want a MT very badly. I was looking heavily into the Savage X, but at this time, it's too expensive for me...my fiancee and I just bought a car a few days ago, our wedding is coming up, and I'll be graduating this May as well, so my finances are going to things that need immediate attention.

However, I still WANT a MT very badly. Over the past few months I've been doing more searching all over the net, reading reviews, watching videos, etc and I think I found a good MT that is affordable and it can do what I want it to do for the time being and should last me for a while until I have more extra cash to buy a bigger and better MT.

The MT I currently have in my sights is the Traxxas Nitro Savage in the RTR package. I know it's RWD, only goes 33mph, but it seems like a good thing for me to pick up to get back into the hobby after a 3 to 4 year absence from the hobby...I'll admit...I've forgotten a lot of things like tuning, fixing things, modifying/building up, etc...so I think the Nitro Stampede is a good starting point for me at least and should hold me over for a year or so until I brush up on my fix it/tuning skills before dropping $500+ on a nice AWD MT.

From all the reviews I've read over the past 2 months since I've been really thinking about getting this, the reviews have pros and cons. Most of the pros are that its a good beginner MT, easy/fun to operate, tuning/repairs are pretty simple, and it can take a decent amount of bashing and parts are easy to find/order and replace for the most part. Cons seem to be the lack of AWD, it's top speed, and that after a while it can run too hot which can be resolved by buying a cheap cooling head and installing it.

So I'm leaning on getting it within a few weeks perhaps, but I thought I'd ask you all on your thoughts and opinions. In the previous posts, many of you provided me with great insight and help and I thank you again. I'd like to hear what you guys think of the nitro Stampede and if there are any current owners/drivers who might share their experiences with it.

As always, your thoughts and feedback are greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

-Westie

 

[Greywolf74]

Someone on here was selling a TMAXX roller and someone else is selling an OS .30 engine I think both of them combined are about $300-$325? If your trying to go budget thats probably what I would look at instead of going with a stampede. If you were still inclinded to get a stampede then I would suggest going for the 4WD version of it, they do have one, It is electric however and its about $425.

Most stock nitro MTs arent going to go more than 35-40MPH anyway so 33MPH isnt terrible. The main thing thats gonna suck to some degree is the 2WD.

*EDIT* It just ooccured to me that I dont believe a TMAXX (never own one so I'm not 100% sure) takes a big block engine. I think it uses a small block 3.3? Not sure if you can buy an adapter for the kit to run a big block in it or not. Even if you could a .30 is probably gonna be to big for the TMAXX. Id check around and see if anyone has a good roller and get FreakinJoeys .30 OS engine to put in it if I was trying to do something on a budget.

 

[westie06516]

Someone on here was selling a TMAXX roller and someone else is selling an OS .30 engine I think both of them combined are about $300-$325? If your trying to go budget thats probably what I would look at instead of going with a stampede. If you were still inclinded to get a stampede then I would suggest going for the 4WD version of it, they do have one, It is electric however and its about $425.

Most stock nitro MTs arent going to go more than 35-40MPH anyway so 33MPH isnt terrible. The main thing thats gonna suck to some degree is the 2WD.

*EDIT* It just ooccured to me that I dont believe a TMAXX (never own one so I'm not 100% sure) takes a big block engine. I think it uses a small block 3.3? Not sure if you can buy an adapter for the kit to run a big block in it or not. Even if you could a .30 is probably gonna be to big for the TMAXX. Id check around and see if anyone has a good roller and get FreakinJoeys .30 OS engine to put in it if I was trying to do something on a budget.

I don't think I would mind the RWD. When it comes to this hobby, well the majority of my hobbies, I prefer to buy new if I can...I like to unbox things that are sealed rather than take a gamble on something that someone might have used and abused (learned that the hard way when I bought my first nitro RC street car 7 years ago and thought by saving a 100 bucks I was winning, but it took more than a 100 bucks plus a new motor to get it to run...)

I have seen a few YouTube videos of people removing the .15 motor and putting in the traxxas 3.3 motor on the stampede and it moves faster. I think I saw some people also convert it into AWD too if I remember correctly.

I basically wanna get something new that isn't gonna cost me an arm and a leg to get back into the hobby and will help me get back into the flow of things, like tuning, repairing, modifying, etc before I move onto to something more expensive and complex. That's my rational/outlook.

-Westie

 

[Greywolf74]

well if thats what your set on you could do worse than a Stampede.

 

[smkynutz]

well if thats what your set on you could do worse than a Stampede.

Not much worse. My cousin has a nitro stampede, and I am in no way impressed. Granite i started with a Revo 3.3. The engine on the stampede seems to be more unforgiving. The tuning is much more touchy due to the small size. If it were me I'd wait the extra time till i could afford the better product, i.e. the revo or the savage or something to that scale. I noticed you live in New England, so you wont be able to break the stampede in till late spring anyways due to the cold weather. You've got some time. It's hard to wait, I know, but you'd be further ahead if you did.