blackrain

i just picked up a mini 1/16 brushless e revo and a hpi mini recon for $200. Just wondering what to expect from these 2 trucks since i never owned a mini before?

SyCo_VeNoM

The recon IMO is garbage. On my 2nd run I broke a rim(wasn't even the rim I hit... its a common failure if you read from other owners), shock tower, arm, the piece that holds the arm on, and lost a spring the cost of repair parts at the time was $120+shipping as they broke everything up into $25-30 parts bags instead of cheap parts trees. Yes $120 to fix a RC I bought NIB for $109... The stock ESC(brushed) also let out the magic smoke the 2nd time I used it. Now if you need parts here is a place that sells them cheap http://www.rchobbyexplosion.com/Mega...arts_s/136.htm Yes those are megatech megapro/propulse parts, but the recon is a Megatech megapro with a HPI sticker slapped on it. Only difference is how the the motor mount connects to the chassis(seriously) everything else is identical.

As for the Merv(short for Mini E-revo) the brushless setup IMO makes it too fast for its size, some people love the speed though, but I went, and made mine use a brushed 540 can 27t motor.
It does have issues out of the box(which I'm guessing you got it used so the person mighta fixed it). Main issues(which I've seen almost everyone agree on) is the suspension is way too soft, and it needs different springs, and shock oil as when you turn it picks one of the front tires up into the air. This is pretty cheap as the springs cost like $10.
It could also use a chassis brace (there are a few different styles) as where the diffs screw on the plastic is EXTREMELY thin (I mean its about as thick as the cardboard is on the back of a pad of paper).
I also threw a center diff in mine after those changes it became a vehicle I found decent for the way I drive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE6Jc5gbKo4 here is one video on what people do.

For the price you paid for the 2 vehicles though its pretty much a steal.

blackrain

The revo does have a few hopups steel drive shafts and all rpm arms 4 battery packs and a duratrax onyx 245 charger. The hpi recon from what your saying, i think i will resell doesnt seem like its worth keeping. Better i get rid of it know before something breaks.

dacaur

I love my revo, bought it new years ago and recently upgraded to lipo... omg its a beast now... hard to keep upright.... Biggest help is a radio with expo, I add 50% expo to steering and now I can drive full speed without bouncing off the curbs lol. My Only upgrades on mine are black springs, 70wt oil in the shocks, and 100k in the diffs. When I broke a front suspension arm a couple years ago I replaced them with RPM and no issues since....

A couple weeks ago I found a screaming deal on a mini summit, dx3c, charger, 4 lipos, and a brushless jet drive boat all for $250... the sumit has rpm arms, but had some problems, turned out all it needed was a new driveshaft (included in the box) and the gear mesh was off... fixed those, dumped out the water thin oil in the shocks and replaced with the same 70wt I use in my mini revo, and took it for a drive.... before I finnished that first drive, I decided I was going to convert my mini revo to a mini summit, its not as fast, but it does WAY better in the grass, and IMO the mini revo already does great in the grass so that's saying something....

All it takes to convert are springs (purple) long travel rockers, a 16T pinion, and new wheels/tires... You can get the summit wheels/tires, but I decied on big joe II's, people have good stuff to say about them, and they are a touch bigger, I am just waiting on the parts in the mail right now....