Raeodor

Hello everyone, just found out about red cats about 1 week ago. Since then I have been going crazy researching these through reviews and videos. I'm really leaning towards Backdraft 8e and Earthquake 8e.

My previous rc hobby experience is limited to a Duratrax Evader I bought 11 years ago. I made so many upgrades on it and to this day its great for traning, and clocks at 35mph on a brushed motor and Nimh batteries.



The main problems I have with it is I cannot find the parts for it anymore and the thing breaks easily just by looking at it.

I was really impressed with the videos Ali did with the redcats and figured it was time for me to step up my experience. I dont do any bashing (maybe in the future someday) And I mostly like to run them at a park nearby which has very lowcut grass and a dirt field near my house which seems near identical as Ali plays with his at.

I have a few concerns though as I have heard there were a few problems with the backdraft and earthquake with regards to shimming the diffs prior to running and bolts shearing off during play. The other thing that concerns me is when these were released they were $299.99 and now are near $399.99. I am curious as to why the price jump for something that is now older and are the other problems still somthing I need to address?

Other than that I just wanted to say hi and am welcome to all advice you are willing to offer.

foxys

I agree with the shimming the diffs and the screw thing. I've been steering people over to the pro line for about 2 years now. The Ultralight chassis is good for starting out, but the Pro's are much sturdier for not much money. You mentioned the E cars, and that is the problem with the price. All lipos and brushless motors have gone up in price over the past year or so, it's affecting all cars as we've seen the other manufacturers start raising their prices as well. Rare earth metals are not just rare, they are more super toxic, and most are not processed in the US. This is why so much is coming out of China, they never had a high regard for the environment. However that is changing, and thus it's becoming more expensive to make them there.

I was told by one ESC mfg (hint, CC) that if LiPo's were made in the US, they would be about $200 a pack. Not sure if that's entirely true, but have had to deal with the EPA, I wouldn't be surprised. I don't know of any brushless motors being built here, and most of the ESC's are out of country. People think it's the cheap labor, but often it's also the toxic waste produced from building our kits that keeps them from being made here.

Raeodor

Pro line? Whats the difference?

foxys

Pro series is much sturdier, and of course a larger motor. If you look on the redcat site, you'll notice that there a lot more metal to the pro series. They are also physically larger then the ultralights. The Hurricane, Monsoon, and Avalanche are all Pro models.