Guys,
I was almost sure I would be buying a traxxas e revo 1/16.Read lots of good reviews.And all of a sudden,I read bad reviews today .My other alternative was the Thuner Tiger Sparrowhawk XXT.But everyone says quality is a problem.Some say it is as good as the other big brands.So,with hop ups,it might be good.But at a budget of rs20,000,which one is good?I will practice with my truck first and I am planning to race at the track in Bangalore.Really,this is bugging me .which one is better for the money I am ready to pay and which one will serve my purpose the best?

Dude,
I was having the same options. The TT(Thunder Tiger) one is not fast as Revo is. With Revo i was told you cant race, with TT one well i have seen a lot of ppl race with it. TT has quality issues as the parts tend to break fast, revo has handling issues on the track. 1/16 scale is ment for indoor fun than outdoor. Pic a 1/10 scale for racing and bashing outdoors. I was about to buy 1/16 scale decided to go for Short course instead. Traxxas Slash 4x4 SCRT(short course truck) & Jammin scrt are the ones you should look out for.. In traxxas all the parts are plastic, u have various options to upgrade it, Jammin come ready for Race.

www.traxxas.in
www.brchobby.com

Any idea about the price of the jammin scrt?It must be a kit,so there won't be a radio,battery,charger right?the slash 4X4 is 25,000.A little too much I would say.For taht you can get the platinum edition the last time I checked amainhobbies.I want to get the best bang for my buck.All the traxxas guys I spoke to told me about the rustler.Does 4wd really help in handling off and on road in rc cars?I know it works well in full sized cars,but what about rc.You say the e revo has handling issues and still is 4wd?I read the same online that the e revo has handling issues.What about an equivalent model from HPI?

Now I really want to make a quick decision and me and my dad are on the line.Just when we were about to buy the TT,I said traxxas.Now that I am going to but the traxxas,I am thinking again.I will go crazy if I change my mind again.(You guys will go crazy too.Only questions and no decisions or pictures)

I say go for the E Revo... It can be upgraded to race later and is a lot more durable than a TT in my opinion...
2WD is a pain to control at the beginning but once you get used to it, I think it is more drivable... Still I think you should go for a 4WD...

Hey,nice to see you divyam.
And yeah,I forgot to mention that divyam gave me the idea to go for the e revo in the first place. So,I was told that maxxing it out would take about 24-25k.Now I am thinking seriously.This isfun.For the first time now,I have an idea.

Definately E-Revo 1/16. It has much more punch and definately better built than the TT. Have seen the e-revo run against my nitro buggy.

oh yeah.Imran, thanks man.Great to see all of you responding.So,did your friend's e revo compete against you in stock except the lipo and the a arms?

And yeah,if I can,should I go for the slash 4X4 bl for 25k?

Make sure the traxxas 4x4 has a brushless motor. Im sending you the no. of BRC hobby guy, his name is moiz. He is offering the same for Jammin SCRT with radio, brushless motor, lipo etc etc.. Speak to him and to the traxxas guy if you want and get your self a good deal bro.. I will be there at pitstop racing this sunday with my buggy.. Come and see the race if you want.
Why the revo 1/16 has handling issues is bcuz,
1. The car is too dam fast..
2. The tires on the revo are meant only for the tarmac.
3. The arms are not wide enough to handle turns.
4. On the track the revo will spin our if you accelerate alot.
5. You cannot take jumps if you havt upgraded the arms and few other parts.
6. Revo 1/16 is built fun than race. If you want race u ought to have 1/10 scale.

Things to look out in Jammin Scrt or Traxxas:
1. Make sure its has a brushless motor.
2. Good battery - Preferably lipos if you want to run it longer with gr8 power.
3. Make sure less plastics are used. Upgrading is good but can be annoying if you havnt got the parts on time. It is an expensive affair.
4. Read a lot of reviews & compare both cars.

Hope this is helpful for you.

* Never ever buy a 2wd.. Its a pain and Useless.. Some will try pushin you to buyl bcuz they havnt sold any..

No such thing called a pain to control a 2wd. It all depends on what you're driving and where you're driving them. Not everyone takes their cars to a track.

Absolute speed enthusiasts swear by 2wd vehicles, and generally use them on road. Offoraders of loose mud tracks are better raced with 4wd but a high traction track is great with a 2wd vehicle.

And its always suggested to stick to reputed brands for all types of vehicles, whether 2wd or 4wd.

Just for reference sake, the Slash 2wd paved way for the fastest growing category in the world, the short course truck racing.

It is finalized. I am getting the E revo PIMPED UP !!!!!

above the limit
I will try on sunday and thanks a lot.I think I will get the e revo upgraded and I will run mine on the track later.So with practice,I will manage it.And,does the bangalore track have huge jumps?Like, can my mini handle it?

@Traxxas India
Thanks a lot.Great advice from you man.  :salute:I sent the mail to the address you gave me.

Good luck with the Erevo.. Happy racing.. I havnt been to the track my self. This is the 1st time. I was told there are jumps.. Regular races happen at that track..

Hey my 1st time too!
I'll probably bring my year old TT Phoenix BX (2WD) to the track... It runs horrible because its my 1st car and I haven't been maintaining it at all...
Looking forward to seeing you guys at the track!

Hope to see you guys too.So,I will need better arms for better steering and sturdiness.

And divyam,try to keep your TT Phoenix good.You might be able to upgrade it to bl soon.

No not planning to... Bought a BL ESC for my RC18T2 already... That's gonna be my race car... TT is just a bash car because parts are also available in BLR itself...

Right, whatever you choose go for a decent brand. Avoid chinese knockoffs like plague. See that you have a brand that has online support on global forums and atleast minimum critical spares support in India.

On the Slash 2WD, it paved way for the fastest growing racing segment today, but it was beaten by the new comers like Jammin, Associated etc. But the bar has been raised by the Slash 4WD which is in a different league. Slash has the best free online support/hopups/mods etc today simply because of it popularity.

True, but I hear that traxxas India gives good support.

Like to meet you guys at JP Nagar race track as I stay close by (Jayanagar). I believe I might have met some of you at Jakkur.  

BTW is there a SIM for Buggys as well? 

Yes, its called RealRace G2 (I think that's the latest?)... There's also VirtualRC
Here's the link
http://www.virtualrc.com/

Well,guess there is no sim for buggies but it will be fun.Nice idea vinay.

Oh well,just when I thought that I answered my first question on the forum ,I was wrong.

As a Traxxaxs owner (who has had good experience with Traxxas India guy on the phone) I say e-revo. Saying it's too fast to race is a bit silly. Put 2 batteries to double run time (parallel instead of serial) instead of going overkill for speed if you can't control the throttle. The 1/16 e-revo is absolutely NOT an indoor car! I also have a 1/36 Losi Micro T that's stock and the thing is too fast for indoors at under 20kmph. The brushless e-revo can get close to 120kmph! Stock it will definitely bottom out on jumps but that's what skid plates are for

Thanks a lot man.But right now,I am thinking of the slash 4X4.Once my dad says it is fine for me(because I am in the tenth standard).My ride is assured,just a matter of when it will be assured.SO,the slash it is for racing.It costs sort of the same and is bigger,I will go with it.

Yeah I've actually raced a couple 2wd Slash's. The 10th scale is pretty fun, but it's way way way slower... but unless you're coming from something categorically faster (or racing someone faster) it's totally fun. I haven't seen the BL 4WD models irl so it should be good.

Are you referring to the 1/10 Scale E-Revo? I am yet to hear of a 1/16 Revo hitting that speed.

Also I hate these tall speed claims on RC cars. At 120km/hr, you are going only up and down. Hit half that speed on a track and you will know how difficult it is to see and control the car. Continuous high speed runs will see your power unit, tyres etc disintegrating soon.

+1 Mail4Ajo
My brushed motor wore out 2 months after running it up and down in the apartment complex... Also, that's nowhere as much fun as racing on a track...

The Mini Revo probably can hit that speed after major upgrades...

AFAIK, you don't need to upgrade very much to make the e-revo go stupidly fast (of course crash it once at high speed and you'll be doing a whole list of 'upgrades'). I pulled the 120 number out from memory. It's actually 131! 82mph = 131kmph.

Video below. Basically run 2x 3s Lipos in serial on the brushless motor and look out!

If I had it to do over, I'd have gone for the mini e-revo (or the big e-revo had funds permitted)... but I'd run 'em in parallel for double the runtimes.

Did you notice the Power unit in the video? Its the Mamba Max 9000 series. No car can go slow on that damn combo, it must be outlawed...... Too much power for a 1/10, upto 6 cell lipo....   Costs 190$.

Also the tyres are onroad foams possibly from a pan car. The stock tyres would have exploded at those speeds.

The only Traxxas stuff the car needs at those speeds are the suspension setup, gearing, wing and body to keep the car on the ground.

The max I heard the 1/16 is capable with stock power unit and optional gearing is around 80mph (as per rctech).

The following review is the best I've found on the mini e-revo and the video (at the bottom of the page) shows how well it can handle in the right hands (clearly this driver is very skilled, I'm no where near as controlled as he is).

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=1165

Then we're agreed, as 80m/h is 128.7km/h. Did you mean 80km/h? Anyway you slice it, the e-revo is insanely fast, but handles great (see second video) and has lots of options (ie. running 2 batteries in parallel for double runtimes and controllable speeds).

Re-reading the review (months later) I see the advertised 50m/h (80km/h) with series Y-connector... but that's with two stock nimh batteries I believe. Run lipos in serial and watch out

How would the sparrowhawk fare against the slash 4x4 over time?(In terms of overall cost and performance)

You will end up wanting to upgrade your Sparrowhawk to get it to go ass fast and handle as well as the Slash..

Cost, sparrowhawk will win, because the spares are cheap and not many upgrades available. Slash spares will be more expensive and you will find yourself upgrading the car with the countless upgrades.

Performance should be almost the same since both are basic 4WD, both dont have advantage of a center diff. Slash will be faster, I guess with the nice power unit. I have driven the 2WD Slash and XXT, didnt like both.

Ajo,when you say that I will end up upgrading the slash,do you mean replacing broken parts or upgrading it performance wise?If I use 30C 5000mah 2s lipos,will I kill the XXT?I am pretty sure that the slash will be a monster with that setup.

And can  a guy with a stock XXT beat my slash if we take driving out of the equation?

And you said that the XXT will be cheaper overtime,if I do not do too many crazy things with the slash,would that be more economical?

And one more thing,what are the chances of resisting a 'fatal car killing'crash on the XXT and slash?I guess the slash will have a greater resistance to abuse.

So in short,could you just give me a total side-by-side review of the slash 4x4 and XXT in terms of costs,performance,service,customer support,longevity?Say x stars out of 10.

Hello everyone,

I recently bought the SparrowHawk XXT and I do love it!  I love the truggy idea where you can add street tires and get some good speed or add mud tires and sling some dirt. I upgraded the notor and servo to Castle Creations Sidewinder 5700kv and it is friggen rediculous.   HOWEVER............what I don't like is the limited hop ups and modifications available for it. With your other choice you have tons of cosmetic and performance upgrades available which is what having this hobby is all about....to make it your very own!  I do love it but if I had a "do-over" I would save for the E-REVO because it is already baddass out of the box and upgrades are limitless...check out www.youtube.com for videos

Thanks man.I've decided to let go of the XXT as of now.Maybe 2 years down the line,I might get its equivalent vehicle from TT.

i would say, get your sparrowhawk XT/XXT some new motor and ESC, New LiPo batteries, steel spur gear, lower gearings, alum. shocks and turn buckles and this thing is like a PRO..>!!!!!!!

Dear,
Spares/Upgrades all depends on where you live, traxxas is deeply rooted in USA, wherein India thunder tiger is the most common and popular brand which is not so in US.
Traxxas india on the other hand stocks only limited spares and almost no optional parts. Even the stock parts are difficult to find with them.

hmm.......you've got me thinking.My second car might be a TT in the next 2 years.But right now,due to quality I think I will go with traxxas.

after traxxas dont buy an electric TT,
Also TT electrics are a crap....with stock elec.
Sparrow's are the best TT electrics,capable of handlind the massive BL power and extra abuse but only after a little upgrade

My plan is to start with a slash and get an XT  or an equivalent brushed model.I'll try to get the sidewinder SCT for my slash and put the velineon in the XT.Then,the XT should be ready to go with 5000mah 2s 30c lipos.

velinion is not way much behind from sidewinder, just a little bit slower, but cn make you reach speeds of 70mph, while with the sidewinder you can do 80mph, so not much difference.

i would rather suggest you to buy a slash and a 3S lipo 5000mah 45C, buy a sparrow XT/XB, get a high quality ESC(around 100A), and a good motor (near to 4500kV) and put it up on a 3S.
Both will be rocket

I GOT THE SLASH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PICS?? VIDS??

little time

Good job with the slash!

thanks.

@ Arpit - Traxxas India and their dealers do stock most spares as well as optional parts now.

@ Ajo - The stock e-Revo vxl hits 84kph out of box with series connector and twin batteries. The 1/10 has been clocked at 123 Kph with diff gearing and 3s setup. but we landed up with 2 ripped tyres, broken arm, hinge pin and a revo which cartwheeled about 50 times.

We use a bushnell speed gun to determine top speed.