stokestack

Hi all.

Looking to get my nephew a toy RC boat to use on a man-made pond in a housing development. He's only 8, but quite smart.

I'm looking for something around $100 that will be reasonably robust and offer decent running time. In a general Web search, I'm seeing a lot of crap with poor reviews and rechargeable batteries that run for single-digit minutes and then take two hours to recharge. That's not going to fly.

Is this even a reasonable quest?

Thanks!

mfr02

Stop looking for racers. I haven't looked for a while, but things like the "Smasher Destroyer" spring to mind, along with a couple of similarly themed battleships. Not strictly scale models, but near enough.

stokestack

Thanks for the reply. I'm not looking for racers, or any other particular type (except non-sailboat). I started looking for a tugboat, in fact.

So you're saying battleship-type models tend to be better for the money?

ob nut

My Feedback: (1)

Take a look at the ZippKits Tugster. The basic kit is $30 bucks. The little man may enjoy building the boat also. With the ultimate running hardware, you'll be just over that $100 you were looking to spend. Still have to buy a rx/tx, but the basic setup can be had for $30. And it should give you plenty of run time, not single digit minutes.

stokestack

Thanks for the recommendation!

Do you have an RX/TX suggestion that's a good bang for the buck?

Hydro Junkie

If you want a project, you could go with the Dumas Carol Moran, or two. It would be a good project for both of you as detailing wouldn't be needed for his boat. Obviously, they would have to be built and outfitted with radio, motor and running gear The kit, not counting running gear, is $110


Another option would be the Aquacraft Atlantic II tug. it's a RTR tug that you only need to buy batteries and a charger for. It is, however, well over three times your $100 or so price goal. The nice part about the Atlantic II is that it is good size, has a fairly long run time, weighs in at around 8lbs and is stable on the water.

mfr02

The examples I was looking at were RTS and in the price range and had good run time. At the price, as you might expect, something had to give, and turned out to be the radio and controls. The models themselves, once the dud marketing was stripped off, were good and sound, and many have had simple conversions and appeared exhibited at shows.
https://www.amazon.com/Smasher-Destr.../dp/B002G4TN5Q
Other similar sized and priced examples on the page.
Once you move to less popular types with probably smaller production runs, the price rises, as noted in other posts. The same applies to projects, but there you get the benefit of "proper" radio.

Hydro Junkie

The issue I have with that "Smasher Destroyer" is that it's not going to handle well. It's long and the props are very close and that normally means wide turning circles. If a rudder was added instead of trying to turn with the props, that would be a whole different ball game. That wouldn't be a hard to do upgrade, just a bit tedious.

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

Go with more hobby grade than toy grade as with the toy grade, once something happens to them you might as well toss it in the trash. Hobby grade you can get replacement parts for if or when needed. They'll also be much faster and quality a lot better.
Don't underestimate 8 year-old's. My son was racing and winning at 6 in RC trucks in the Novice class against people closer to my age then. Now that he's all grown up at 30 he's still racing gas boats with dad. Look at Pro Boat or AquaCraft as they both have hobby grade boats for a little more than $100.00 as it'll be worth it in the long run.

stokestack

Cool, thanks for all that, guys.

RCypher

We have a pair of UDI001 boats at our cottage that the kids love. we've only had them for one summer and they are pretty fun. we bought the 1100mAh batteries for them and get about 15min of run time on each. they were about $60usd each with the battery and shipping.

Regards,
RCypher