mkoresh12

I agree there are some out there. ( I have a TA05) I'm just saying that the local hobby stores(at least in my area) just don't have them. My local hobby shop has had exactly 3 kits stocked for the past 10 mos. 1 Tamiya hornet, 1 nitro RS4 kit and the TC5 the rest is all RTR or you have to order it. Many people still like to see what they are getting before they buy and if the store or a freind doesn't have it they may settle for something else. Believe it or not, not everyone trusts buying online. Most local shops just don't have great selection in house(cost is probably why).
Yes, MOST RTRs are downgraded, but thats the point. They may be downgraded and thats just fine for bashers and others. Most are of decent quality as well. The point is that why cant that downgraded vehicle be a kit as well instead of RTR. AE use to have the TC4 in a kit that was not the factory team kit. They still have the buggies and truck in a more basic kit form I believe.
The other problem is parts support. I bought the TA05 because thats what I wanted but to get parts I have to order online because the local hobby store carries nothing for it.

techrtr

I've built kits and I've bought RTRs. I love the fact that I can pop down to my hobby shop, drop a couple of hundred bucks, and pick up something that I can be ripping around with half an hour later. If anything, RTRs have brought a lot more people into the hobby. Not everyone wants to spend the time building a kit or sourcing all of the other stuff that you have to add on. Nothing wrong with that. If people didn't want RTRs, the manufacturers wouldn't be marketing them.

ty2000

i understand what you're saying and i agree but what i don't agree with is the fact that RTR'S are everywhere and is seems like they are taking over or might i say watering down the hobby with these ILL handeling, slow and all plastic cars. but i will say this, the LOSI 8 & 8T AND the associated RC 8 have set the bar for so called RTR'R or race rollers..

The Mad Modder

Having many rtrs give beginners a good selection of choices without making them have to resort to a "walmart special" in order to get the style they like. However I do agree that there should be more kits for those who like building them.

surjer

Well, I fly airplanes and around here its starting to get really really windy all the time. I cant really fly in the wind due to flying only foamy EDF's and they are really light. I have a couple of radio shak cars but lost interest in them because well, I cant tinker with them. I decided to get a better RC car so I went to the LHS. I was looking for a scale looking "on road" car. I like the looks of them and thought it would be fun to play around with in my parking lot. I looked at the kits and I had the store open one of the boxes for me and OMG a bag of parts. It looked REALLY complicated but appeared to be around a 1 to 2 week project. I then started to look at the RTR cars. There were some pretty cool ones there as well. I ended up picking up a Losi Drift-R car for around 350.00+ dollars. I then tried to run it with my radio shak battery but that didnt provide ANY performance at all. So I went BACK to the LHS and got a couple of good NiMH's. WOW what an improvement. I then got online and bought a RTR TA-04s from a guy on here. So all together I have spent over 500 bucks to company's that make your kits. My cars came with the FULL instructions on how to build them as if it were a kit but it was just already assembled. So when it breaks I have the instructions right there that say exactly how to put it back together. If I want to hop it up guess what?? Instructions are there. Why would I frustrate myself trying to learn how to put a box of parts together when I can learn in due time. Not like im going to a track and claiming I ahve the best car? Why do YOU care where MY car comes from? I would think the more money sunk into the hobby would lead to more money to the company's that build your high end parts.

Ohh and lets not forget that we have these awesome forums with people that are willing to help us new guys out. Lets say I break something tonight and just cant seam to figure out how it goes together. I bet you someone on here knows how. I bet someone on here is willing to post up an answer. I bet I can search on here and find 100 posts on the same question? But still there will be that person on here that says (See. newb - should have bought a kit so you know how it works) Well, If I cant figure it out this time I would have had the same question with the kit right?

Wheel_E

I know this discussion has been sitting dormant for a while, but a lot of interesting things have been said.

I consider myself a rookie or as most here refer to it, "newbie", but I have been trying to adopt this hobby since 2002.
Back then I tried to jump right in with both feet and purchased an HPI RS4 Pro3 and a Losi XXX-S. Both were kits as I thought like many the best way to understand it would be to build it. I started with the HPI but had some trouble so a small LHS owner offered to help. He ended up finishing the build and handed me a fully functioning car. I know I missed out on alot of the learning process, but I was psyched that I actually got to play.

However, I found myself getting increasing busy at work and with family. I barely drove the car and didn't even get a chance to assemble the Losi. The stuff just sat in storage for years until I managed to sell it.

Flash forward to the present, I decided to visit a hobby shop for the first time in years after last Christmas. I was amazed at how things had changed and at what was available. I caught the RC bug again and bought a RTR E-Savage. With family and work taking up most of my time, I knew I would never be able to complete a kit. The RTR's were perfect for me and seemed way better in quality than what was offered back in '02. It allowed be to actually focus on driving the car and having fun. RTR are perfect for me so I also picked up a Sprint 2 Flux.

I have to say, I was a little shocked at some of the attitudes expressed by some of the contributors of this thread. The whole, "I'm a kit guy" mentality seems to perpetuate a divide within the hobby which cannot be healthy. I am not trying to bash anyone, I just want to express how I perceived these comments. It almost has an elitist connotation that since someone didn't build their car, they are not fit to be in the hobby or shouldn't be taken seriously at the LHS. It is intimidating enough for a newbie to walk into a shop completely clueless about the hobby without thinking if the guy behind the counter or the regular customer considers him a second class citizen. I have to admit I felt this way when I returned to the hobby but the shop staff were very nice and supportive.

Now if the hobby is suffering due to other modes of entertainment (video games, internet...) shouldn't RC Hobbyists be sticking together instead of creating a social divide?
(I have a dream...)

Willystylz

the bottom line is that if RTR's did not exist, this hobby wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is today. I myself buy only RTR's. If RTR's weren't available I simply wouldn't be in this hobby. Also if something breaks on me I figure out how to fix it.....usually isn't rocket science. I'm not one to go into the local hobby store and have the guy fix everything for me. Also isn't this good business for LHS's?? Like don't they charge hourly rates and the money they make for selling parts?

basically RTR's is what's keeping the hobby what it is today with all the kit, motor, electronics, hop-up parts options that are available out there. If RTR's weren't around I'd be willing to bet the hobby would be 1/2 of what it is now. My 2 cents anyways.

CAClark

I got 4 cars, one built from kit, 3 rtr's.

It's all good, I can fix anything much on any of them, but some people aren't so hot with that stuff, and this they wouldn't possibly have been able to build a kit, so I see it better they have rtr to get in to RC with than just not be able to get in to it at all.

Cheers!

Troggie

Just getting back into RC after almost a 16 year absence.. I found that the RTR was a nice way to go to get back into it. I have since purchased a fixer upper that I am rebuilding for the fun of building one again.

As far as race spec rtrs AE now has the TC4 as an RTR sure it doesn't come brushless but that chassis is pretty much race ready out of the box for on road 1/10. Would you lose if you took one to a roar event without tuning it sure.. but if you pop it out of the box toss a nice NiMH in it at the local track you can be competitive in the stock classes right away.

Access

One thing I've found is that many RTR's aren't. I've got RTRs where the dual steering servos fight each other, where the camber and toe adjustments are totally off from what the manual claims they are and what is adviseable (rear toe-out for instance), where the ESC was supposedly already calibrated (according to the manual) but really wasn't, where the shocks had nothing but air in them, where gear mesh was too tight, where the support rods were installed backwards, and so on. A newbie who just took the truck out of the box and ran it wouldn't notice any of these things, and likely would end up breaking the vehicle b'cos of it. Companies need to pay more attention to quality control on their RTRs if they are really going to be touted as 'gateway vehicles' where a newbie to the hobby can drive it out of the box without any setup of their own.

austin150

you guys make me want to build a kit now i want the HPI E10 and im not sure how to build it and yes i am intimidatid becuase im not sure how to build a kit i know you have to buy the car assembled without electrics but then what what else do you need please include absoulutly everthing i would need to get it to run im planning on getting a 17 turn motor so what a bout everything else please help?!

Willystylz

Go to towerhobbies.com and search for the E10 no electrics...........under the description at the bottom it lists everything that is required.

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

I love the RTR............................................... ..........[:@][:@][:@][:@]

austin150

in my opinion rtr is kinda dumb but thats me i love building things im just afraid it wont run right or it will cost more

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

If you are afraid it won't run right then you should get a RTR and learn from it. All RTR's come with the vehicle, esc, receiver, motor and radio, then you need to purchase a charger and a couple of battery packs and you are set.

austin150

well i finally understand everything the battery plugs into the esc and the esc plugs into the motor and the transmiter isnt that right? and if i bouy the brushless motor by castle is the esc it comes with compatible with the transmiter on a stock HPI E10?

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

Actually the battery and motor plug in to the esc and then the esc and steering servo plug into the receiver.

All the esc does is control tne motor. So if you got the RTR E10, all you would need to do is replace the motor & esc with the motor and esc from castle creations.

austin150

well i was close enough lol