Red Cat's...?

[smittyd1]

Having zero experience with nitro but looking to get in. I know Red Cats are cheaper, but will they make a good intro truck? I am looking at the Caldera 1/10 truck. I can get one on Ebay shipped for 203, including a starter kit.

I know you get what you pay for, but the big names are more than twice that much...maybe someday.

Anyone out there with experience with the redcat line?

thanks a bunch

 

[hamz9561]

Replacement parts aren't easy to find for them and there is not a lot of aftermarket hop up parts available. I'd stick with the major brands such as Associated, Losi, HPI and Traxxas. Check and see what parts that your local hobby shop carries and let that guide your brand selection.

 

[cdc2711]

Having zero experience with nitro but looking to get in. I know Red Cats are cheaper, but will they make a good intro truck? I am looking at the Caldera 1/10 truck. I can get one on Ebay shipped for 203, including a starter kit.

I know you get what you pay for, but the big names are more than twice that much...maybe someday.

Anyone out there with experience with the redcat line?

thanks a bunch

I've had good bit of experience with red cat racing, I had the tornado xp buggy w/vx18 engine. First of all I'd say instead of buying from ebay probably coming from America you should use nitrotek because they have the same parts as hsp and I think acme.
But anyway they are good for first timers in the hobby because they're cheap in every way and you'll learn all the basics and pick up tricks on how to improvise with fixing things. I had it as my first nitro and I learned everything the hard way with it haha, but I did stupid things like never change, clean or oil the air filter, and tune the engine with full turns (don't do that) and it lasted a good couple of years for me so I suppose for what I put it through when starting off it was really good. Id say get one as your first but you would be better off going through nitrotek.co.uk

 

[smittyd1]

thanks for the heads-up on nitrtek, I'll take a look

 

[nitroRC]

hello, i also have a bit of experience with the redcats line of nitro rc cars, and i have to say, for the price, it's a great beginer car. I've been having lots of fun with it and just been learning as i go. eventually i will move on to a more expensive brand, but right now i have the redcat lightning STR, it has a .16 engine, came with 2.4ghz radio, starter kit, and it runs great! so dont get discouraged from getting a cheaper brand nitro rc car. especially if you're new to the hobby.

 

[smittyd1]

hello, i also have a bit of experience with the redcats line of nitro rc cars, and i have to say, for the price, it's a great beginer car. I've been having lots of fun with it and just been learning as i go. eventually i will move on to a more expensive brand, but right now i have the redcat lightning STR, it has a .16 engine, came with 2.4ghz radio, starter kit, and it runs great! so dont get discouraged from getting a cheaper brand nitro rc car. especially if you're new to the hobby.

Hey thanks for that, been waiting to hear some positive feedback.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

You get what you pay for. Good luck.

 

[Jeabajuice]

I don't recommend it because you won't be able to find too much parts for redcats. If you don;t have a lot of money to spend, I recommend either the HPI Firestorm 10t or the Traxxas nitro sport for around 250. If you do have the money to spend, I recommend the Team Associated GT2(which is what I have, it is awesome), or the Team Losi TenT Nitro which you can get for 350 and 500. Look them up.

 

[fescue101]

i have the tornado s30 and bought it for 175 but eveything went wrong from day one! i opened the box and tried to turn it on and the wire to the switch was not sotered so i had to do it my self.then ran it for a little bit and the servo when out. then the one way bearing went out and the pull start spring broke etc... all of this in about 4 weeks but only about an hour of run time because it took a week and 6$ shipping to get parts every time something broke! i spent almost as much on parts as i did on the car.then i bought a revo 3.3 and have had no problems.so save money and go to your lhs and ask them what car or truck is best for you and buy name brand

 

[CheckMyBrain]

I will buy another redcat before I ever buy another traxxas product. I have to baby the tmaxx to keep it from breaking something. Maybe I just got a good one but my earthquake 8e will take a helluva bashing compared to what my maxx can handle without breaking.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

I will buy another redcat before I ever buy another traxxas product. I have to baby the tmaxx to keep it from breaking something. Maybe I just got a good one but my earthquake 8e will take a helluva bashing compared to what my maxx can handle without breaking.

I actually lol'ed at this post. Thanks. I needed that this morning.

 

[DKnox]

Replacement parts aren't easy to find for them and there is not a lot of aftermarket hop up parts available. I'd stick with the major brands such as Associated, Losi, HPI and Traxxas. Check and see what parts that your local hobby shop carries and let that guide your brand selection.

Man I've only been on this forum for like 10 minutes and already over and over it's haters bashing Redcats. Specifically about lack of parts and support. You people should take the blinders off. Just because there isn't a dealer in your area doesn't mean there are no dealers. There are 3 Redcat dealers in my area and 1 of them is 10 minutes from my house.

Just because you live in the sticks with no options out side of Traxxas and HPI doesn't mean we're all have stuck with over priced junk with an expensive name!

 

[HPI-Killer]

I will buy another redcat before I ever buy another traxxas product. I have to baby the tmaxx to keep it from breaking something. Maybe I just got a good one but my earthquake 8e will take a helluva bashing compared to what my maxx can handle without breaking.

X2 on the lol'ed part, you obviously dont know how to drive your MAXX because they are built hella tuff, thats why the TMAXX has been around for over 10 years

 

[cwal1774]

DKnox there is no reason to insult people. There is nothing JUNK about HPI or Traxxas. Not all of us live in the sticks and if you have a computer and internet access which obviously we all do, then we all have more options outside of Traxxas and HPI. Most of us prefer those brands because of their quality and aftermarket and lhs support. We aren't haters as you so stated we are just relaying our experience and knowlegde that we have accqired over the years. I would suggest you check your attitude

 

[Greywolf74]

You get what you pay for. Good luck.

+100

This statement is one to live by. It applies not only to RCs but to life in general. That being said I'm quite often looking for the balance between quality and price. There are good bargains out there that are also good or at least decent quality. Red Cat is not one of those bargains.

Now I am not a Traxxas fan by any means. I personally find Traxxas to be the good beginner brand to recommend because I feel that even though they don't have the same level of quality as Losi, Mugen, HPI, or Associated I do feel that they are good quality for the price you pay for them. At least most of them. I have owned a few different Traxxas kits and the only ones I kept were my Nitro Rusty and my VXL Rusty. For some reason I really dig the Rustys. Seems like they've kinda been replaced by the Jato but now I'm just getting side tracked from my point.

Getting back to my point. If you take a Red Cat, Exceed, HSP, or any of the other "Cheap" brands and put them side by side with a comparable Traxxas you can see the difference in quality just by looking at them. My own personal opinion is these brands are a waste of money.

As for parts support, yes some LHS actually do carry Red Cat parts but 95% of the time they don't and 95% of the time if they do carry them its usually a pretty limited selection. Even if your LHS has a good selection of Red Cat parts guess what brand that they will have the most support for 99% of the time? That's right Traxxas. Every single hobby store, in America at least, stocks tons of Traxxas parts.

That being said if you want something that has a lower cost but will be a decent kit with tons of parts support Id suggest Traxxas as your starter kit. When you say you were looking at the Caldera 1/10 truck I'm assuming you mean the monster truck as they have a Caldera named kit for every class of car and truck out there. If your looking for a good starter Monster truck Id suggest the Traxxas Stampede. They have 3 different models of Stampede. One for $200, one for $339, and one for $400 depending on what you want. If you only have 200 bucks I would strongly suggest patience and save up until you can afford the Traxxas kit you want if you want say the $400 kit for example. In the long run you most likely will not only have more fun with it but when it does break it will be very easy to get cheaply priced parts for it.

This is my opinion. I know not everyone will agree with it but I'll leave you with one final thought to ponder. If you start a thread and ask about red cats/exceed/HSP etc you will get exactly what you have here. A ton of mixed opinions. If you started the same thread and asked about Traxxas, Losi, HPI, or Associated virtually everyone would agree that those are good brands. You wont see a lot of varied opinions and people arguing back and forth. That right there says a lot IMO.

 

[HPI-Killer]

Man I've only been on this forum for like 10 minutes and already over and over it's haters bashing Redcats. Specifically about lack of parts and support. You people should take the blinders off. Just because there isn't a dealer in your area doesn't mean there are no dealers. There are 3 Redcat dealers in my area and 1 of them is 10 minutes from my house.

Just because you live in the sticks with no options out side of Traxxas and HPI doesn't mean we're all have stuck with over priced junk with an expensive name!

Okay okay, just so you know, Toys R Us isnt a hobby shop.


If the names like HPI and Traxxas were crap, they wouldnt be one of the most popular names in the hobby, and the fact I had NEVER heard of Redcat until this site, means Redcat has to suck bawls because nobody here likes them, and this site is LOADED with RC Gurus...

If you have such a problem with what were telling you, go to a Redcat forum..,.:\

 

[cwal1774]

^^ Agreed 100% ^^

 

[hamz9561]

I have been into many hobby shops since I got back into the hobby and I have never seen any of them carry parts for Redcat products!

 

[Mastio]

I would even say find something used if your on a budget! Stick to trying to find something on here though, you'll find the rigs are maintained very well, and the sellers can offer a good amount of info.

Sent from my SCH-R720 using Tapatalk

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Man I've only been on this forum for like 10 minutes and already over and over it's haters bashing Redcats. Specifically about lack of parts and support. You people should take the blinders off. Just because there isn't a dealer in your area doesn't mean there are no dealers. There are 3 Redcat dealers in my area and 1 of them is 10 minutes from my house.

Just because you live in the sticks with no options out side of Traxxas and HPI doesn't mean we're all have stuck with over priced junk with an expensive name!

What blinders? redcat just makes a crappy inferior product. I live in one of the biggest citys in the south, and have 4 nice well stocked hobby shops within 20 minutes of my house, and not one carries any of that crap. And if you ask them behind the counter why they dont stock it, they will all tell you that its because they are crap. My (as well as 90% of the people on this and many other forums) reason behind the "redcat sucks" fanclub is not because the parts arent available, but because they suck. Dont be a douche bag....... That crap may fly on the traxxas forums, or all the super cool redcat forums that apparently the cool kids hang out on, but here the mods or more seasoned members wont put up with it.

DKnox there is no reason to insult people. There is nothing JUNK about HPI or Traxxas. Not all of us live in the sticks and if you have a computer and internet access which obviously we all do, then we all have more options outside of Traxxas and HPI. Most of us prefer those brands because of their quality and aftermarket and lhs support. We aren't haters as you so stated we are just relaying our experience and knowlegde that we have accqired over the years. I would suggest you check your attitude

Ill be a hater. I dont really like anyone.