Ken448

Weight:
MERV: 3 lb 3.4oz with 2 NiMH 6 cell batteries installed
Flux XS: 5 lb 3.8oz with 2S LiPo

Bought the MERV first, but was torn between the two. Nephew showed up Christmas day with his Flux and I ordered one that night. Overall, I think I will be happier with the Flux than the MERV.
Likes (MERV)
Quick, true Revo based design, easy to work on, quick and crazy if you want it to be, or mild mannered for the kids to drive
Waterproof
Backflips are fun. How many you want to do!?!
Tires hook almost everywhere
True RTR (less radio batteries)
Dislikes (MERV)
Small
Jittery chassis (due to its size) Cant handle bumps well at speed
Diff mesh is terrible out of the box and needs to be shimmed after a couple packs
Steering servo lasted about 5 packs (TRX sent me a new one for my pit box) Upgraded to a HS 85MG
Arms are pretty weak (necessity to upgrade to RPM all around)
Chassis is paper thin in key areas and virtually requires extra bracing (T Bone Racing skid plate.. and new chassis purchased and installed after finding a crack in chassis under front shocks)
Too small for grass
(nit picking here) Programming the radio is like pulling teeth from a shark
Anything over 60-70wt shock oil and they will pop upper caps and lower seals off.

Likes (Flux)
Size
This thing is BEEFY!
Takes normal sized batteries
CC ESC and motor
Waterproof
Quick (2s in the Flux is close to 3s in the MERV)
Stable; have yet to cartwheel it for 150 ft. I think the MERV was designed to be a cartwheeling machine!
Goes good in grass
hhm It even came with Radio batteries
Dislikes (Flux)
Steering servo probably couldnt turn the MERVS tiny wheels at a standstill, let alone the much larger Flux wheels (didnt bother to run it with that. Upgraded to a HiTec HS 965MG I had laying around)
Difficult to work on (above servo change took 45 minutes)
Tires are too hard. Hopefully I can get them worn in some to be able to run on concrete if I choose. Right now, its a drifter on concrete but hey.. Thats fun too!
What is with the static gear mesh??
For some reason, HPI includes a full length antenna tube for a 2.4 system AND a hole in the body for it.
Sloppy wheels/arms. Had to shim each hub carrier to remove some of the slop, and probably will shim the arm pins as well
(not sure if this is a like or a dislike yet) Stock shocks react like they have diff oil in them! MUUUUUSHYYYYY! But overall decent ride so far

This is in no means to start a war, and is simply my observations and opinions. I have been in RC for over 25 yrs. Avid racer, mechanic and tinker-er. I am aware there ARE weaknesses not mentioned on both trucks both regarding drive shafts and or drive cups wearing.


Thats all, I have snow to go play in!!

SyCo_VeNoM

agree out of the box the merv is no that good, and requires quite a few mods to make it good.

you forgot the mervs shock springs suck out of the box, and it acts like it has water for shock fluid its so under dampened

Don't know what it is with companies giving crap servos with RTR's it seems like its some industry standard...

Also love how HPI does that with their models full AM length antenna tube for a 2.4ghz radio with the holes. remember seeing that on my recon and going ***, and how the tube was too skinny to even get the antenna in.

nitrosportsandrunner

I havent had either, but had a mini summit vxl.
I was all pumped when it arrived. slapped a 2s in it and took it out on hard packed snow.
It sucked, flipped onto its roof ever 10 feet.
I had tought that fancy suspension would soak up the rough stuff, but its small size meant that a standard 4wd 1/10 (like my redcat volcano epx pro) was way better.

Now, Ive also had a BRUSHED mini slash. That was kinda fun. The lean worked for that truck, and the smaller tires meant it would slide around instead of flip.

anything below 1/10 scale with brushless power jsut doesnt seem to work.

I havent driven a flux sx, but have seen one up close and it looks like its just large enough to handle 2s power without being on its roof all the time.
It is sad to hear it needed to be shimmed up everywhere. I had to do that recently to a esavage roller I bought, but that thing was many years old and had been abused. That shouldnt need to be done to a NIB truck.

Ken448

Well it didnt NEED to be shimmed up, but Since I was in tinker mode last night, I shimmed it up. For the price tag of the Lil Savage, I think its a good buy. The MERV has its place (and is a pretty good jumper) But its still pretty fragile without some key upgrades (about an extra 100 invested). As beefy as the Flux is, I dont think Ill be needing to sink all kinds of little upgrades into.

SyCo_VeNoM

my recon was pretty stable with BL motor in it till the servo crapped out and it turned into a wrought iron gate and did like $100 in damage to it(If I bought stock HPI parts)
plan to put it in my RC18 if that things electronics crap out ever
but yea the merv VXL is a tad ludicrous on 2S seeing it don't have the weight to hold it down

was bored tonight so I figured ehh why not slap on the RPM rear A-arms I had sitting here like a year in the package...
My god could swapping an A-arm be made any harder? took me 15 screws, and 6 pins to get the arms off where every other RC I own its like 2-6 and 2 pins...

Edit I officially proclaim the merv the hardest RC to change arms on that I own... It took me about 40 minutes total where most my other RC's I could have dismantled almost completely and reassembled (including all 4 arms). Its not just the size either as I own smaller RC's like the recon RC18b, and a micro high roller (which was the previous record winner, but that was due to the micro sized parts)

Ken448

yup. The majority of the running I do is in front of our house with the kids up and down the street and hitting ramps I built. The merv will cartwheel or flip to its lid with very little effort (1/4" heaves between cement blocks, etc) The Lil Savage has the weight on its side, and laughs at them at any speed.

I DO still have a MLST2 that I fit a full sized servo into I can get out as well!

TheKennyKiller

I have the suspension on my mini e-revo set up really good, I also added a center diff. Now it won't flip unless I am trying, I took it out on the street the other day after some rain, I could turn the wheels at full throttle and all it would do is spin out, no more tip overs, you guys need to learn how to set up your trucks. If you're running summit tyres chuck them and get something else, no amount of tuning can make it handle good with those tyres.

Ken448

fyi. My Revo will corner (on cement) at about 25mph. With enough force to unglue the tires. Pretty sure I know how to set a truck up. You need to learn how to read because I was not talking about not being able to turn at speed, I was referring to a tiny bump upsetting the chassis enough to send it into a cartwheeling fit..

Not sure where you see the summit tires either.............

TheKennyKiller

Settle down Ken, I saw people in this thread talking about their merv or mini summit tipping over all the time.

SyCo_VeNoM

Yea added the center diff too. It made a huge difference. But I also went brushed at the same time(threw in a tamiya 540 silver can) which might have contributed a lot to the change.
Also still gotta get the springs as the hobby shops I order from never seem to have the 2 sets in at the same time, and I don't want to pay $5 shipping for $3 springs...

But lets face it this is sold RTR at newbies... It does tip all the time in stock form, and how many newbies know how to tune the suspension?
Hell changing the rear arms is even a nightmare. Also what is it with those stupid o-ring things that hold the ball suspension in place popping out? Took me like 6 mins to get it back in, but hey I figured out why last time I ran it why the rear wheel was wobbling at least.

TheKennyKiller

I agree with that, out of the box it's like tip over central. You shouldn't have to add a center diff and tune the suspension just to get it to handle but it can be done. I can easily see how someone new to the hobby would be discouraged after their first outing with this truck, the same could also be said of the XS which is a shame seeing as they are both aimed at the same people.

Ken448

true on both, BUT the price point has to be kept somewhere. People coming fresh from Nikko or Radio Shack rides will be ate awe with the speed. BUT overwhelmed with the adjustments they can make. Setting them up out of the bog for "general" handling is the ticket. All manufacturers are guilty of cheaping out on radio gear (including servos) and its typical. But. the size and speed of the Mini Revo just arent compatible out of the box without a little know how unless you go straight to training mode, that is. And who wants to go slow >:-]

CarGuy7a

Mine runs just fine in the grass even with the stock tires. It wasn't the best but it did work. Now it will go even better with other tires than stock. I run Pro line 2.2 buggy rear calibers (all 4 corners) on traxxas white dish MERV rims and it rips in the grass. You just have to cut the grass really short. But let's face it, I think everyone can agree that most tires that come on RTR's are pretty much sub par. I mean yeah they are ok but that's it, just "ok". There's only 2 vehicles I own that I actually liked the stock tires on and that's my Axial Exo Terra and my HPI 5b, those tires actually hook up very well. My Merv and Savage XS tires pretty much got ran on once and are now in my tire box and they got upgraded immediately.