carjunkie

I am in need of some advice. It’s that time of year when our hearts grow merry and our wallets grow weary. My son has exclaimed “I want that!” to every Tyco R/C commercial on the SpongeBob channel… I mean Nickelodeon. I’m not going to sink $90+ into a disposable toy when I can get him something that can be worked on and upgraded as he gets older. I’ve done quite a bit of reading on the subject and notice that the current trend seems to be in the mini (1/18th, 1/20th) arena. I had also considered a Traxxas Stampede since I have batteries, charger, etc. (I used to race dirt oval R/C back in the 80’s and I still have a couple cheap Tamiya kits I tinker around with). Here is what I’m looking for:

1. Electric
2. Upgradeable / fixable / parts relatively easy to come by
3. Durable (he’s only 5, a very responsible and well behaved 5 year old, but 5 none the less)
4. It has to run in the grass, leaves, etc of the backyard. I don’t want something that would only run on a dirt track surface. I lean toward the monster trucks because of this… and the fact that a 5 year old loves monster trucks.
5. It has to be slow enough for a 5 year old to learn to control. Now I know this will be the hardest part for most of you who’s first thought is ‘How can I shoehorn the biggest motor in there?’. This could be remedied by changing the gearing also I am assuming.

My LHS suggested the Mini Mauler. It looks nice and from what I’ve read is very durable but it’s so small I’m not sure it’s up to the task of running through grass. The Mini-T again looks good but being a stadium truck again I’m not sure of it being able to run in anything above a dirt surface. I’ve read about Mini-T, Mini Mauler, Mini Quake, Minizilla, Mini Madness and many others until I’m mini-ed out. I like the idea of the small scale trucks since he would be able to run it indoors if the weather is bad but larger trucks are being considered as well.

Anybody have any suggestions / comments?

Thanks,
Dave

Engrose

Any r/c model can be made slow enough for a five year old to handle. I know a boy about that age that drives his daddys nitro buggie.

The trick is to limit the throttle on the transmitter. That way it can gradually be set to higher speeds when he learns to drive better.

walkerNCST

I have a mini-T and unless your yard is equivalent to a golf course's fairway then it isn't going to work that great. Now, with that being said... I love my Mini-T! It takes one heck of a beating and just keeps running. I've had mine for over a year and I have slammed it at full speed into everything in my basement without breaking a single part (knock on wood). It's great for the house and the driveway, but for everything else I grab my larger nitros.

Anyways, back to your question at hand. To meet all of your needs I would suggest 2 trucks. A mini will not be satisfying outside and I wouldn't want to be around when a 5 year old starts driving a monster truck indoors. So, go to [link=http://www.ultimatehobbies.com//c484.html]Ultimate Hobbies[/link] the Mini-T is down to around $89 the last i heard and the Stampede is $129 (free shipping and no sales tax).

Also, I was the kid with the tyco cars as a child. It took me until I was 24 and married before I finally got a real r/c for christmas. So keep up the good work.

chase044

My Feedback: (1)

the hot bodies minizilla is pretty nice and it drives through grass good, seince its a monster truck 1/18th. like Engrose you could just limit the throtle so he cant drive it too fast.

MBX5T Maniac

My Feedback: (-1)

The mini-LST would probably be a nice little car for him.

If you want a mini that can tackle grass, that would be the minizilla, the mini inferno, and most likely the mini-LST, which is much much larger than any other mini out ther. It's a whooping 10.6 inches longer, bigger than any other mini