stuey12345

Any body else have constant problems with there redcats?? I have a caldera 10e every time I used it one of the electronics has gone out. I swapped the steering servo, receiver, and esc with aftermarket more reputable parts. Everything seems good now. Wow does this thing haul now. I upgraded the esc to waterproof castle creations and went from a 2s lipo to 3s. I have ran it pretty hard with 3s and haven't broke anything!! I will give them credit on the durability of drivetrain. I also have a tremor for my son and that is a piece of crap. You can't change steering servos or esc because redcat uses a 3 in one esc that is junk!! I think the tremor is going in the garbage. Esc is not working. The range is about 1 ft. Don't have the time to send it back to redcat for warranty

collector1231

My Feedback: (1)

Redcat cars are crap-quality, non tempered metal, cars, like in a Squirrelod video on Youtube. Sorry to say, but Redcat cars are horrible. My RS10 crawler worked okay until the servos gave out, and the transmitter broke, too! Same with my Exceed Rally Monster (same OEM). Engine wouldn't start 2 tanks after break in. These cars are horrible quality, and a perfect exapmle of why you should always go with Atomik, Traxxas, Venom, Team Associated, OFNA, or any other brand like that.

1320Fastback

Not sure why people keep buying them.

stuey12345

because there cheap compare to traxxas. but in the long run they cost more

zackS30

It sounds like if u just take care of ur cars instead of beating the piss out of it it wont break. Ive had my tornado s30 and have replaced the a arms with the aluminum ones just for looks and the steerimg servo. A year later it still tuns like a champ, however with my lack of knowledge on how to tune my clutch is slipping. My rs10 runs fine as well except for changing servos, OEM servos r junk with any manufacture

Also ive moved my rx/tx from my rs10 to my exo and to my s30 then back to my rs10 a dozen times with no problem.

JonKBMW

Yeah dunno guys my Redcat Volcano S30 has like 4 hrs of time in 18" of snow with the only issue being that the grub screws backed out - fixed with loctite.

ehroof

Have had them for years and besides the usual things that go wrong with rc, mine are fine, i own many brands of rc, i am no biased towards any brand, I love them all the same!

1320Fastback

Good and bad I guess?

My NIB rs10xt or whatever it's called stripped both servos out in the first 10 minuets of running.
After that I would lose reverse intermittently until finally the whole Esc died.

Replaced both servos with aftermarket metal gears and the Esc with a used Novak Crawler.
Then one of the motors locked up so I took the can apart and found a cheap plastic fan looking piece had broken loose and was jammed in the windings so I epoxied it back.

Total run time maybe 30 minuets.

Other than that it's been fine :~}

Why not do warrantee claim you might ask? If I though the replacement parts were any better I would of, Unfortunatly it would of been Servos that strip if you look at them wrong and a Esc and TX that feel like their made out of cheapest Chinese cheap plastic they could find with cheap buttons and a throttle that feels like a ratchet drive on a roller coaster lift hill, are in the mail and you'll get them in 2-6 weeks

NitroJoe1986

I have had my earthquake 3.5 for about a year now and considering I bought it used and I run it pretty rough I think its held up pretty damn well. Ive recently done an engine swap and im now waiting on a new throttle servo horn since my son broke that on me. I lean the same way with rc and real vehicles, mechanical over electronic and you will never regret it.

Considering what we put these rc cars through as far as abuse, terrain and weather conditions I never did trust having everything electronically controlled on it so I stick to nitro/gas. Im into my Earthquake for somewhere around $325 now and considering I paid $180 for it a year ago and spent $80 on the new engine I don't think that's to bad. Of course that doesn't include fuel unfortunately.

collector1231

My Feedback: (1)

I took good care of my Exceed Rally Monster, and the engine stopped after a little while even with normal use. Also had to replace the servos on my RS10 about 3 times now. And the transmitter is cheap and crappy.

nitrosportsandrunner

Ive owned nearly every electric model redcat makes.....as well as many traxxas, losi, hpi, Tamiya, duratrax and other big brand rc.

I will admit that some of the redcat's required more tinkering, modding.....but generally I didn't have to repair or replace any more parts than I did on the other big brand rc's.
I beat the hell out of a tornado epx pro. run that and a lightning epx pro both on 3s lipos and jumped them and just plain abused them and they held up well.
The rs10 has crap servos, and the original version's FM radios tended to be glitch, but overall it is an impressive truck. Ive not had driveline issues, and out of the box it does more than $300 trucks.
I had a earthquake 8e. It was a monster. Diffs were the only major issues.....but the $600 hpi flux has diff issues as well. The only difference is that there are $100 upgrade diffs offered for the hpi.

MANY times, when I would compare a redcat models to a "big name" model of similar specs, the redcat was at least 80% as good (or %20 worse depending on how you look at it) but at 50% of the cost.
For some people, the money savings are not worth dealing with the issues. Plus, when they take the redcat to a hobby shop for repairs, they hear the same bull crap "oh redcats are crap, should have bought a traxxas"
1st, if you wanna be in this hobby, learn how to repair your own stuff. It is lame to pay $25/hour to pay a guy to fix your little truck.
2nd, ALL rc's....no matter the make or brand will break. they will need repairs...they will need upgrades. I have owned over 500 models and have yet to find a perfect one.

Well, that's my rant. Redcat isn't perfect, but IMO neither are the more expensive big brand rc's.

bigblokboi

I have a Redcat Avalanche XTE, Iv run about 25 pairs of lipos threw it, Iv only broke a lower control arm, and a battery tray, I have no problem finding parts online, Redcat costumer service is awsome, The truck goes 38mph and handles great. For the money im very happy

stuey12345

There support is ok, but when it comes to honnoring there 90 day electronic warranty they suck, they are good the first claim or two but after that the want you you to send your truck in for 2weeks, and wont repalce a simple part like a receiver, the solder joints on there crappy recievers keep breaking, i made one claim and they sent a new reciever now the same thing happeded again and i am supposed to send my truck in, they know people arent going to go two weeks without there truck and pay for shipping when they can order a part for $12.00 online so they keep saying to send it in because they know its not worth it, there warranty is about as quality as there products. I would have no complaints if it wasnt for the crappy electronics they put in these trucks

stuey12345

Anyone who thinks these trucks are great have not owned anything of good quality like hpi or traxxas. I have had 10-15 different hpi and traxxas vechicles over the last 15 years and other than self inflicted damage never had any problems, i understand when you bashing and break stuff, when not when things quit working the first, second and third time truck is diven up and down a street

zackS30

Ive got 2 redcats and an axial my axial has been down more than my redcat. So stuey12345 ur point is invalid.

I take my cars out for about an hour or hour and a half. 9times out of 10 nothing breaks but that one time when something does break its from me over shooting a jump or something careless... Soooooo a little respect for ur cars and thought about what ur doing helps out a lot. B4 u say a product it crap ask ur selfif what u did to make it break was stupid or not.

Sometimes generic foods taste better than name brand. So just cuz u spend more on something doesnt forsure make it better. Ive heard many times that hpi is crap and that traxxas is crap and of coarse redcat is crap. Just have respect for what u have. If u work for ur rigs then ull take care of them but if mom or dad buys them for u then y would u care? U didnt pay for it right? Take pride in what u have.
Soilder points dont just break, ive soldered many things and have not has a single thing come undone.

Idk, just my 2 cents. All my rigs get driven and put away clean and nice. They all have their own spots where they go and each have specific boxes of screws nuts bolts arms shocks and whatever just for that car. For example my exo has a mini snap-on tool box and my tornado has a 3 drawer bin my rs10 has a takle box type thing and all my xmods has a big takles box thats got stuff that oulls out and moves around. The scx10 im getting will have a box for it too even if its just stickers.

nitrosportsandrunner

ive owned them all. why does a $250 brushed slash still come with plastic drive shafts that break easy? even worse, the vxl version has the same shafts and you can go threw them pretty quick. A $200 brushless epx pro has metal drive shafts. They are not perfect either....but if redcat can put steel on a $200 model, why the heck cant traxxas put metal driveshafts ona $300 model?

you cant tell me you haven't had a titan 550 motor burn up quickly on you? many of the titan 550 motors go up in smoke way to soon.

I have had 4 vxl ESC's burn up or quit working. 3 of them they did replace, but that is still a lot of ESC's to have go on you.

Im not bashing traxxas, ive owned a lot of them and liked the majority of them. And I will admit that some redcat's ive owned I had to repair more often than some traxxas models......but not that much more often, and the redcats usually cost 2/3's of what a comparable traxxas model costs. Why try to compare apples to apples with the 2 apples have a big price gap?
when you look at redcat models for what they are, they are not bad. having owned traxxas, hpi, losi, duratrax, Tamiya and others...I will still continue to buy redcat models. in my experience, they hold up good enough and are priced well enough. out of all the redcats I bought new, I only had one have a problem out of the box (bad radio) and redcat had a new one at my door in 5 days. I have never had a redcat have multiple faults before even driving a few packs threw it as you suggest.

FYI, it doesn't work well to hate on a brand in that brand's "support forum", LOL. Try to bash traxxas models on traxxas' forum, it wont go well.

AzimSumar

I have owned 3 RedCats. Not one of them has run longer than 10 mins without breaking or having an issue. My traxxas' are bullet proof!
I sent two of them to Redcat for service and they came back and ran for 10 mins and had problems again.

nitrosportsandrunner

people have different experiences. While the traxxas models I have owned were generally better than the redcats, the redcats I have owned (exception being the mirage) did not break much more often than the traxxas.
emaxx's snap driveshafts. rustlers are bulletproof AFTER you buy all rpm parts and metal driveshafts!
And in this hobby the rule often applies "you get what you pay for"
A brushless traxxas 1/10 2wd is over $300. A brushless redcat 4wd is a bit over $200. $100 difference is part because of the name, but obviously there is going to be lower quality as well.

What problems did you have? If electrical components failed that quick, you have the right to be ticked. If you broke wheel hubs or stuff like that...well that happens. I found that how I setup my redcats could make a big difference in how well they held up. And I have beat the tar out of the epx pro models...even slapping traxxas VXL system in one and running it on 3s.

But that redcat mirage...that was a piss poor model. The electronic, driveline and overall design were great.....but the plastic used for the suspension pin holder, suspension arms and roll cage were brittle! No excuse for the use of brittle plastics these days. The mirage is the only redcat I owned that I would say did break every 10-15 minutes of use. It is a shame, cause it looked good and was VERY fast.

If redcat ever had the aftermarket support from RPM, that would be epic. A rustler is a decent model, but if you want to really bash it you end up replacing 50% of the truck with RPM parts. If you could replace the weak parts of a volcano pro with rpm, it would be pretty good.

krokodyl

Traxxas and other more expensive brands may have slightly more aluminum, but do you honestly think that a $700 brushless emaxx is worth $500 more than a redcat caldera? I bet i could upgrade a caldera for $400 and it would smoke a maxx in every way

krokodyl

Plus i was looking at some hpi models and in some i didn't see a single piece of aluminum

nitrosportsandrunner

while I like redcats, I have to disagree with that statement a bit. first, the emaxx is a much bigger truck. second, it isn't just about aluminum....redcats often have as much if not more metal parts than other brands. It is about quality. some stock redcat alloy parts can bend easy (tornado epx shock towers) and while they do have metal driveshafts, they can bend or even snap (unlike the metal driveshafts in my SC10rs)
And the problem with saying you could upgrade the caldera and make it better, is that redcat's don't have the aftermarket support other brands do. Yes, you can upgrade many parts of a caldera with alloy and you could install a brushless system from any brand...making it faster and stronger. But you can still not overcome certain design flaws. The steering knuckle screws love to back out (at least of plastic knuckles) and the truck lacks a Slipper Clutch. On the stock power, that isn't an issue. Upgrade to 3s lipo or to a more powerful brushless ystem and the lack of a slipper becomes a big issue.

I am not saying that the emaxx is worth $700 either...MANY in the hobby, even those who love them, will admit that traxxas charges more than they need to. they have the name, the rep and thus they can sell like crazy even if many of their models are at least $50 overpriced.

Also, a truer comparison with be the avalanche XTE. It is much closer to the emaxx (brushless, 4wd, 1/8 scale) The XTE is more like $300. I haven't owned one, so I cant speak to its durability compared to the emaxx.

And, while I hate to admit it...redcats customer service seems hit or miss. I personally have never had an issue. warranty claims were always filled promptly. But I have read of some not getting good customer service. I cant say that I have seen anyone complain about traxxas' service. But, bigger company likely means more people to handle customer service.

The owner of redcat in an interview stated himself, that they don't try to compete with traxxas or other brands. They are a entry level brand. many of their models provide a good amount of fun without taking as much out of your wallet. I have owned as many redcats as I have traxxas models....I like them both. I will add that most of my traxxas models I bought used, where I have bought a few redcats new. That again is mainly because I think traxxas models new are overpriced, so id rather buy used and save a bit.

The funny thing about the hobby and the companies....we often wish they would fix obvious flaws in their models (traxxas, darn plastic drive shafts) but they have no incentive to. They make most of their money on parts, not RTR models. If they fixed all the flaws, they would lose $$$. And they know, and we know, that even with flaws we will still buy RCs.

krokodyl

True. Anyway IMO you have just as much fun with both brands, only thing I think is a plus in traxxas is that every hobby store carrys there parts, my exceed crawler broke and i had to wait 2 weeks to play with it again.

zackS30

The only complaints I had about my tornado s30 was the shock towers and shocks I've bent both fronts and folded the shock tower in half lol.
I did manage to break a drive shaft that was a impressive feat, only did it once though. Other than that my 200$ tornado was faster and saw more run time then my 450$ exo bcuz something was always broken on that, however now the redcats have been sold and my exo is fine now that I've made upgrades to the broken parts.
I do miss my tornado though.

westoakmech

I have all makes, have had problems with all of them. I have a mini summit, steering servo, junk almost out of the box, driveshafts, junk out of the box. One of the aspects of owning an rc car is the making it your own. I enjoy taking the rc car that someone says is junk, modding it, and making it work. My son has the tornado buggy, 2s lipo, and that thing has hit everything within a two block radius of our house. He has bent shock tower pulled back with pliers, he has worn out three sets of tires, and he actually wore out two lipo batteries. It is still stock, not change any part other than wheel hexes, and wheel nuts. He is twelve, and let me tell you, he is not nice to it. Any way, I like redcats from the price range, and that leaves me some money to do other things. As for the caldera, and electric volcano steering hub fix. Get some of the traxxas shoulder screws, part# 3642 drill out your hub to fil the shoulder, and no more fall out, it is an awesome mod.

nitrosportsandrunner

wetoakmech, a tip that may help you with the lipos, the voltage cutoff on the ESC may be set too low for the lipo packs you are using. Either that, or the packs you are using are of a C rating that is too low.
You can watch vids or find the manual online to set the voltage cutoff on the ESC higher...but it is much easier to buy the $10 program card (or box) It makes changing settings a breeze.

Those stock tires are thin, and on pavement they do wear out fast. You can run any tires (same size front and rear) that have rims with 12mm hex and that are for a 4wd buggy/truck. many 2wd rims will not fit because of how the wheel hubs are sized.
I used traxxas stampede rear wheels...cheapo ones. they fit on the rear fine, but on the front you have to trim some of the inside support fins. I did that, ran a traxxas vxl system on 3s and the wheels held up.

One other thing you can do...the upgraded shock towers are WAY better. However, you can save a few bucks by just using 2 stock towers and bolting them together you just have to use slightly longer screws for the shock bolt.

You understand what I have found to be true with some redcats, they may break a bit more often than more expensive brands...but often there are some fairly simple mods that can be done for cheap (or free) that improve their durability and make them on par with others.
The epx Pro models were my favs. $200 RTR brushless models that can take some abuse and are plenty fast on a 2s lipo.

The redcat RS10 rock crawler got me into rock crawling. I wanted to try rock crawling...but spending $300+ for a axial truck that goes really slow seemed like something I might regret. I bought the $160 rs10 and found out how much fun rock crawling is. I have owned a few rs10s, several axials (used) and a couple exceed crawlers.
Redcat doesn't get everything right....but entry level, budget friendly brands are generally a good thing for the hobby.