Dgezzer

New to this and wondering which is better for a new person. Will be running on all types of surfaces. Looking for inexpensive 1st rc that will be great for learning. Have watched vidios of both and from them both look like they will be able to fill my need.

Dgezzer

Forgot I want to run 1/16 or 1/18 size.

Smiff 24

The 4 wd will be easiest to handle from the start and less likely to hang up on sticks and
other debris out in the yard.
With the 1/16 and 1/18 scale, most everything is gonna be 4wd anyway.
Theres a lot to choose from in this scale now, but I really like the short course trucks for there stability.
Good luck deciding !

Smiff 24

Check out this page of 1/18 scale trucks
https://www.amainhobbies.com/search?s=1%2F18+truck

just a few to look at and see a little of whats out there .

RustyUs

I have to ask why the mini size? Help me understand. If you didn't say anything about wanting a mini RC, I would have suggested a 1/10 scale 2wd truck.

What is inexpensive?

bill_delong

+1 for starting out with a 1/10 scale... especially for "all surface types"... the smaller 1/16-1/18 scales are more difficult to control and tend to overheat and have more durability problems than most quality 1/10 cars. For running a various surface conditions I would encourage you to buy appropriate tires for each surface, not only will this improve performance, but it will also save you money... there is no such thing as 1 tire that works excellent in all conditions because tire compounds vary for each surface, and tire selection for 1/10 will far out number what you can get in the mini's.

For a shoe string budget, I would first take a look at the ECX brand, by far the most durable brand for the price... you can cut some corners and go cheaper with brands like Exceed or RedCat, but those brands won't be as durable and will more than likely cost more in spares/upgrades before you know it. Just to give you a little perspective on pricing, the next level up in quality would be ARRMA or VATERRA and from there you start to get into race grade brands which include pretty much all the possible upgrades you would need... brands like TEKNO and XRAY will stand the test of time and won't nickle and dime you on upgrades.

Notice how I never mentioned Traxxas.... that brand is great for folks who really have no interest making their own repairs or becoming savvy... Traxxas is best for kids to take their broken cars into a local hobby shop and let them make the repairs for them as most local shops typically have plenty of Traxxas parts in stock... where Traxxas is more on par with durability from Exceed and RedCat, though Traxxas is priced in line with ARRMA and VATERRA because Traxxas is a more established brand that is entrenched with most hobby shops.

ican3d

Here are some pointer of 4WD vs 2WD.


4WD Pros:

• Excellent for beginners driver because driver has more control in straight line driving and cornering without slipping away from intended driving line.
• All 4 wheels rotate almost synchronized with each other to allow maximum amount of traction and straight line stability as mention previously.
• More grip over various terrains and in slippery situation, less likely to stuck on loose terrains

4WD Cons:

• Complicated drivetrains system, has more moving parts and gears to drive all the wheels. This also means more parts wear and tear and twice more expensive to replace parts than 2WD.
• Parts clean up after driving session can be a major headache because dirt/mud and gunk will stick between front and rear drivetrains and more likely to mess around with center spur gear. 50% of marketed 4WD models comes with open air mid chassis spur gear and pinion for easy maintenance but an invitation for trouble since it allow more dirt and debris to grind the gears off.
• Because all 4 wheels are connected to common drivetrain source and motor which allow more synchronized movement in all direction, this also leads to high amount of stress or should i say DISTRIBUTED LOAD STRESS especially during cornering and hard landing after major jumps. For example; when the 4WD buggy jumps and land the front wheels will hit the ground first will experience excessive impact or sudden jolt causing the stress load of both front wheel transferred to the front differential drive and then hit back to the spur gear and motor pinion gear within the gearbox unit causing excessive wear to the gear tooth and indirectly affect the rear wheel to dis-synchronized due to no-load as it was still in the air causing gearing slipping....so the back wheel couldn't catch what the front wheel does causing a slip and consequently will damaging the spur gear tooth or worn-out the pinion gear (force feedback i'd say). The difference between front and rear wheel "slip" load can be minimized by the use of "slipper clutch" which commonly found on high end 4WD racing platform especially with bigger models such as race grade 1/10, 1/8 and 1/5 scale but still the "slipper clutch" only minimized or dampen the stress load not as solution to the problem...inherently 4WD drivetrains parts will still wear out more than 2WD counter part. The most replaced part are likely the differential gear, differential cups, dogbone/CVDs and the least will be the slipper pads.
• 4WD platform are heavy! Even tough if you have a durable 4WD drivetrain the other parts outside the system may both able to handle its power especially during crashes. The crash inertial force weight of full 4WD chassis will more likely to torn the suspension "A" arms apart, break the chassis and squashed the bodyshell...and lastly you're more likely looking around for missing "dogbone"..its the shaft connected between the differential cup and the wheel hub drive cup.
• Of course 4WD more expensive to buy and they don't always looks as sexy and slender as 2WD because the front end nose chassis of 4WD houses bulky bulkhead of front differential gear. So they hardly seen designed to make it look as scale as classis real life dune/desert buggy appearance...nope, hardly.
• Not as fast or as powerful as 2WD because the torque power on 4WD are divided into two portion; half goes to the rear wheels and half goes to the front wheels. So the motors have to work harder to propel 4 wheels. ESC Amps rating spec is always much higher than 2WD.

2WD Pros:

• Cheaper to buy, affordable. They always looks good and simple in mechanical which makes it easier for maintenance and less spare parts to spend on.
• Ideal for speed, jumping and dirt/muddy bashing because there's not much drivetrains transmission stress between the front and rear wheels (not much drive sync involve). The front wheel can do what ever it wants or take the grunt of heavy impact, the rear wheel doesn't care what the front wheel does and doesn't get consequences what the front does. Both are very independent from each other drive load.
• 2WD makes cool "Donuts" and skilled "Power slides" around the dirt track for those drive who know how to do it. Skills!
• 2WD chassis is also lighter which makes it ideal for jumps, airborne and less likely to cause serious damages to other parts inside the buggy is crashed outside the track. Less inertial force on the weight. Which makes the a great fun dirt bashing.
• 2WD Sand/Desert style buggy always have their main gearbox unit and motors located far rear end of the chassis protected by tube cage which makes it easier for quick hands on maintenance without open and disassemble the whole body especially for quick pit stop maintenance and tuning at the race track.
• 100% motor torque/power are transferred directly to the 2x rear wheel. Which is why most 2WD models always and easily pull cool wheelies!..where 2 front wheels raise up in the air, super cool!.
• Not only they have torque power to wheelie but they also very fast and build up faster speed as it begins to rolls because both front and rear doesn't need to sync their wheel rotational speed parallel. The rear wheel just go rampage at max speed and front wheel just coast around with it.
• 2WD chassis can carry bigger and longer battery because there's nothing occupied much space around the chassis unlike 4WD where mid section occupied by drive shaft and front bulkhead gear differential case.

2WD Cons:

• 2WD slips and swings a lot at rear ends because of too much torque over traction and its hard to keep it driving straight line since the front wheel just coast freely. Will be a bit twitch for beginners to handle. Which is why most 2WD handlers are professional driver and you'll need to be extremely skillful to drive a 2WD.
• Stock plastic differential cup always gets stripped/snapped or wron off due to immense amount of torque applied between the differential unit and the wheels. A quick cheap upgrade to metal drive cup will permanently fix the problem for those who like to trigger happy the throttle stick.