phatjoe

Hello:

So, I’ve had my Smartech Bigfoot for over a week now. Simply love it. It blows away 1/8 scale nitros. So of course, I want to purchase another one.

To me the monster trucks are more similar than actually being different. For example, the Bigfoot is pretty much identical to the firehammer MT. To a large degree, in many ways, similar to the FG (not trying to start a post war).

Wondering if this applies to the buggies (the Smartech Spider looks nothing like the HPI Baja 5B)? I just have a few quick questions…

Is the Smartech Spider, FG Marder, and Duratrax firehammer nearly identical?

The spider/firehammer have a larger tires than the hpi baja. Do you see this as a major advantage over the baja?

It’s quite a big investment. Any additional thoughts, recommendations will be appreciated?

I know these threads are opinion based, but I’m looking for opinions and hoping you can provide some good input.

Thanks…

csp1971

Hey PhatJoe,

I have a Firehammer MT that I really love. Alloy mounts, steel pinion/spur, alloy diff housing and a DDM pipe. It screams and is really kick ass. I just purchased a Baja 5b. I haven't run it yet, but the looks of it is phenomenal. I can't wait to do it. Just waiting for my Spektrum dx 3 to arrive so I can install it.

Anyway, the Spider, Firehammer, and Marder are "kind of" similar. The Firehammer and Spider can use some of the Marder parts, but not all of them. You will get very close similarities to your Bigfoot between the first two.

I think the tires are really a non-issue between those three and the HPI Baja. The Baja tires are pretty close to the same size as my Firehammer MT. The smoothness of the suspension, drive train (even though I haven't run it, I've rolled it around ), the availability of aftermarket parts, etc. made the decision to get the Baja pretty easy. Seems like people really love it.

Personally, I think the Baja makes the other cars (FG included) seem clunky and primitive. I never saw one in person and only had forums and opinions to go by. Now that I have it, I was literally blown away after I opened the box. I absolutely cannot wait to run it!

csp1971

HPI Baja 5b tire compared to Firehammer MT tire:

Baja5BLST

The Baja tire may be smaller, but it will go through almost anything. It's tough as nails, or mine is anyways.
I murdered a radio(as in a car stereo radio) with it, and I have jumped it where it went 6 feet high, and flew over 40 feet. It didn't break. I lost an E-Clip, but that's it.

crrcboatz

My Feedback: (34)

Love both of my bajas but tires is not one of their strong points for sure!!!!!!! It is probably for me and many others on another site the worst pain in the *** there is on the car.

Curt

NitroBurn1

The spider, and Firehammer are exactly the same.

mopar jake

the baja absolutely rocks tires are only weakpoint in my opinion. my baja has a jetpro v3 pipe and it screams it is light years ahead of everything elese out there and is tough as nails it blows duratrax out of the water.

Baja5BLST

Couple things you can do for your wheels:
Get darksoul extenders
Get Darksoul Beadlocks. These make the wheels stiffer, and won't rub.
Ducttape the tire. This prevents ballooning, and tire explodings.
Replace the stock foam with a piece of pool noodle board. It's lighter, and stronger, and won't blow up like the stock foam sometimes does.
Replace the stock rear tire with a H compound front knobby tire. It's slightly smaller, but can be squeezed on, and it shall last forever, and doesn't expand.

Or contact HPI everytime your tire explodes, and ask for a replacement under warrenty