pbrady5

Hello everyone! My name is Patrick, and I'm relatively new to the world of RC cars and trucks. I'm a bit of an amateur cinematographer and own two drones (Yuneec Q500 4K and a Phantom 2 Vision +), but when it comes to RC cars and trucks my knowledge is limited to toy grade.

Long story short, my son is an RC truck fanatic. He's about to turn 6 and has been driving higher end toy grade trucks for a few years now, but we're getting tired of throwing money away on them. He needs something that's water proof or water resistant, reasonably durable (He's 5, we expect some bashing), and something that can be upgraded or serviced as things break or go wrong. I'm no stranger to electronics, working with motors (both brushed and brushless) and working with LiPo batteries, so I plan to learn as much as I can about the RedCat Blackout XTE that we purchased for my son for Christmas.

Looking back on this, I'm not certain that this was the best vehicle to have purchased for him. I did my best to research as many options as I could find, and the XTE seemed like a good deal when you consider the price, the scale (the larger the better in his eyes), and availability. But, after the vehicle shipped, I started coming across some forum posts suggesting that these vehicles aren't the most durable and I started doubting whether or not I made a good choice.

With all of that said, does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations on some immediate upgrades, or at least near future upgrades, that we might want to do to help out with the durability? Don't get me wrong, I totally expect the thing to get a bit busted up from time to time. In fact, that's part of the reason why we decided to move away from toy grade. I want to be able to replace parts, not entire vehicles. Once he finds a vehicle that he really loves, I hate having to toss it after a few months of driving and bashing. Plus, we live in southern Indiana and in a pretty rural area. He's got about 9 or so immediate acres to drive on, so there are a lot of various terrain types for him.

I'd love some feedback, suggestions, etc. if anyone has the time. I hope to really get into the hobby as well and have been a sort of stalker for years now, I just never really pulled the trigger on it for myself.

Thanks everyone!

watertrucker

Welcome to RCU and the hobby! I'm kinda new to it also. Got my first Nitro in Sept. and now I'm up to 4�� Don't have any electrics but I have 2 Traxxas Nitros and 2 Redcats. So far I'm impressed with the Redcats quality. I don't think you can beat them for the price. When yours shows up hopefully you will be impressed like I was. Just my .02 Hopefully someone else will chime in with upgrade ideas.

bogdaddyd82

Pbrady5 absolutely get the blackout xte brushed edition! I have one and it's a ton of fun. If you don't mind wrenching a bit. The brushless xte pro will require more hop ups to handle the extra power. That's why I got the brushed one. The chassis layout is nice, but the motor mount bolts are a pain to get to. Other than that pretty simple to work on. I am slowly upgrading the vehicle to eventually withstand a hobbywing brushless setup. I recommend aluminum everything accept the a arms! Id rather replace an a arm here and there instead of the whole chassis. I got mine at Texascornerstore.com for a really good price! I hope this helps!

pbrady5

Thanks guys! That definitely makes me feel a lot better, and I really appreciate the kind words of welcome! Do either of you have a recommendation for upgrading the battery to a LiPo? I have a ton of them sitting at home, most of them are 2800 I believe, so I'm not sure if that'd be sufficient or not.

RC Envy

If the Blackout XTE is not the PRO version, you can't run LIPO batteries. The Blackout XTE PRO version is LIPO ready and comes stock with LIPO batteries.

I hope this helps.

pbrady5

Thanks for the information! That's a shame, I was really hoping to use a LiPo battery with it. I definitely believe you and will take your word for it, but would you mind telling me why it can't run LiPo batteries? I'm curious as to what's different between it and the pro that would prohibit it from running on a LiPo. I mean, I know the pro is already LiPo ready, but I'm surprised that the regular xte can't be swapped over to LiPo.

RC Envy

It's basically because it is a brushed motor. The difference is the PRO version has a brishless motor which can withstand the extra poer generated from a LIPO battery. Most times the power from a LIPO is too much for the brushed motor. Running LIPO batteries too long through a brushed motor can burn out the motor and have severely slower run times.

mikeeal35

That's a Hobbywing WP-1040 that comes with the Blackout, you can run 2S without issue. Here's a PDF for that particular ESC:

http://www.hobbex.com/internt/artikl...ad_1-10_WP.pdf

CapeTruckMan

I bought the Brushless model and have been absolutely blown away by the performance and durability of this truck. For $200 and change it's a great value and mine has been abused daily since I got it and has never had a single issue. The day I got mine I took it into work and some co-workers and myself were shocked by how fast it is. We must have cart-wheeled it a dozen or more time at high speeds while running on the pavement, I'm talking end over end 5-8 times! It also has survived many collisions with trees, dumpsters, heavy equipment tires.. ect. I ordered a bunch of spare parts (which are easy to find online) and haven't had to use any so far.

Mavedartin

Hi guys, brand new to RC cars here. I got this Blackout XTE for my son for Christmas and we have already been thru 2 of the Redcat Servos, can anybody recommend a decent servo I assume something with metal gears or let me know how I tell if a servo will fit as a replacement. I appreciate any help. - David

CapeTruckMan

The pro model comes with a Hexfly servo that has performed flawlessly for me so far, I'll get the model for you and post it.