iplayloud

I usually order from Tower Hobbies, they have the Duratrax, HPI, Ofna and Atomik.

Super_Dave

You can't beat raytek temp guns so if you find one get it. Stay away from the duratrax one it goes out of adjustment all the time but I don't know anything about the others.

WalawalaStore

Hi,

Those selling on towers are within 40.00. They all work good but non is accurate, up to +/- 10 degrees celcius. The one from Duratrax has many different companies carrying them. I bought a big one from Raytek and about 90.00 but still not accurate comparing to my friend's prefessional device (about US$400.00 by Paris). All you need to do it is to find anyone with an expensive and accurate one (trust their money spent as you never know what is really accurate) and get the difference. Trustable ones are usually expensive and too big for your pit box.

Find the difference, live with the cheap and small ones, my suggestion.

Thx

Joaquim

darthballs

i would just say don't get one. i have had way more success without one than with. tune by sound and feel.

Hincappe

just use your saliva. if it sizzles away its too hot. if you can hold the head with hand for more than 5 seconds its prob too cool.


just tune to smoke and sound. its hard if your just starting out, prob best you hit the track and find someone to teach you to tune. Sometimes people just help you tune but doesnt tell you why, make sure they actually tell you why to lean it or why to richen it.

cheers[8D]

JDRACING

You should only tune using performance and sound. Smoke is not a good way to tune as all fuels emit different levels of smoke.

flatlander_14

When I had my first nitro RC(Tmaxx) I first tuned it by sound and smoke etc etc. Then I eventually got a temp monitor. While it was cool, I noticed after a while that when you have that extra tuning aid you'll find yourself messing around with the needles a lot more than necessary.

I'm not buying another one.

slodsm

My Feedback: (1)

Ditto, tune by sound and performance. I have a raytec and a duratrash and they just sit in my shop. I bought them 4 or 5 years ago when I thought temps were important.

Temps will just have you chasing the perfect temp for 30 minutes when you can actually get the perfect TUNE in 5 minutes by ear.

SportCrystals

Can't resist! Check out our temp gun at www.performancedevices.com and buy at www.buyrccrystals.com for $17.95. It's a great little gun, kind of an egg shape that is REAL comfortable! It features 3:1 optics, spot or scan checking, switchable from F to C, spec'd at +/-2oF from 0 to 400oF. Comes with a battery and belt clip. The retail is $39.95, so this is a very good value for RCU members only. BTW, it's made for us by Fluke, so you know the quality is awesome! You can buy the EXACT same unit at Radio Shack for $49.95!

RCtruckRacer

Ditch the temp gun. I only use mine for break in's and big races where I need to communicate with my pitman.

SManMTB

Can you adjust the emissivity on that one?

Kemo

I thought 6:1 optics is the way to go?

Anywho, temp is VERY important on heat cycling.

vti-chris

Guys a temp gun it's not for tuning that's true BUT it will let you know whether you have pushed it too far.
It's very easy to have an engine running above 300F without knowing it and that's not a good thing for your engine.
The LSN can be tuned by almost everyone,the HSN though it's the hard part and here is where everyone can make a mistake.
It might not get above 300 in one tank of fuel BUT try and put it on a race with 45-60 mins finals...especialy when the ambient temps are above 80F...like here in my country!
If i tune for performance i'm at 300F mark...!!BUT i have it at 230-250 F just to be safe...as long as it's not gurgling...!

46u

My Feedback: (3)

I totaly agree!

SportCrystals

No

SportCrystals

Between 3:1 to 8:1 is good (And probably unoticeable over 6:1)

PalmBayRC

Tune by performance, use spit, and after a tank of fuel check with temp gun to be safe. You can also lick the top of the cooling head, if you get second to third degree burns on your tounge most likely running too lean.

RCtruckRacer

I wish I could stand next to you when you are tuning... I've never had an engine where the sweet spot was over 260-270 regardless of the ambient conditions (we often race in temps close to 100 degrees F here in OR in the summer). Not sure what more to say about that.

I can always tell when I am lean or rich, I guess becuase I have literally ran my trucks for hundreds, maybe thousands of hours. As stated previously, a temp gun is important for break ins, if you are heat cycling - and you should be. Other than that, the only time I EVER use one is at a big race. Once I get my tune down in the morning, I can estimate where my engine is at when my pit man tells me the temp on my warm up laps. Based on current performance, and what my pit man tells me my temp is, I can compare those to where I was at in the morning and give tuning instructions from the drivers stand. At club races, or practice, I am TOTALLY unconcerned about what temperature my engine is at: This is because I have tuned it to the sweet spot - just slightly rich enough to not get the absolute highest RPMS I can out of the engine. When you are at that point, its almost impossible to damage an engine. However, using your temp gun to tune usually results in settings that are rich enough to stress the conrod. Everytime I read about someone who has thrown a rod or busted the bushing I think to myself: Another guy that tunes by temp. It sucks being that guy. Don't be that guy!!!!

SManMTB

Too bad. The $25 Duratrax have that option.

94corvette

i used a Nomadio,

Kemo

i've used those venom on board temp gauges. GARBAGE lol. I stuffed 3 of them on there, all in the same direction. They were all about 20-40 degrees DIFFERENT from each other.

Ive used 2 different 3:1 optic guns, both about 10-12 degrees off from each other. I'll stick to raytek.

I can keep track of temps with my fluke meter, and its more accurate than their one at radioshack lol.

JJJEEEFFFFFF

i use a bit of everything to tune, but i mainly tune by performance. What i mean is if for the first half of the straight its not blowing any smoke and then as it hits the top it blows lots of smoke (or vice versa) your probably doing something wrong. And if its a bit slugish and there is no smoke and your at 300 you really shouldn't be leaning it to make it go faster.

I think the most important thing to do is make sure every thing is in good working order first, know dodgey bearing, clutch is fine, pipe is fine and sealed properly, fuel system is sealed and know air leaks and then try and tune by performance and sound (make sure your up to temp before you start tunning also).While your doing this (especialy if your inexperienced) pay attention to the temps and the smoke as a guide. The other thing that i've heard is people saying that running rich wont hurt your engine. running rich is better then lean but its still bad.

tonytiger

ditto................................you beat me to it dude .......yep i started doing alot better at racing when i stopped temping my car i tune to performance more than anything the sound the feel tell all for me......i do use a spectrum telemetry unit just as a back up but i use it to know when to pit because the temp creeps up about 15 degrees when its time to pit.....

Kemo

Well i received the Performance Devices temp gun. I put it up to a test with a fluke gun i have at work, and a bluepoint rebadged raytek gun. On every item I checked for temps, the Performance Devices was either dead on, or .5 degrees off.

Not bad compared to the duratrax one I have which was about 5 degrees off.

Rs43EVOman

Guys temp guns are very very useful for breaking in your engine apart from that just use it to make sure your not running way too hot, and are in the reasnoble range. Yes we all know tune for performance but a temp gun is still very useful