nitrosportsandrunner

I have a love-hate of micro cars. every winter I want some I can make a small indoor course for and have fun with. But I don't like them enough to spend a few $100 to race with (2 or 3 cars)
The micro T's are likely the best...upgradable, 4 wheel suspension, swappable battery.....but even today they still cost $80. And I don't often see used ones much cheaper either.

I recently got the ECX kickflip (same thing is sold under other names as well) and it is a toy grade RC that nearly has everything you could want. It is fairly tough, and much faster than you would expect from a $30 RC. it tops out at 12mph!
The throttle is proportional....but steering is not. Add the fact that it is fast, has foam tires and a straight axle and handling is not that great. This really sucks since it is for indoor use. You can use the throttle to make it do fast 180 turns, but if you wanted to make a track you would have a hard time keeping it on the course.

I also recently got the Air Hogs hyperactive 5....a weird micro car with a 5th wheel on the top. so it can drive upside down. then when you turn while upside down it usually self-rights. It is slower than the ECX....it doesn't use a lipo....it has 3 AAA's. Plus where it turns and extra wheel I think they geared it down. The tires however are a rubber and since it is slower (maybe 7mph) it is much easier to drive. Still, not proportional steering tho.

I am thinking about trying the xmods 1/24 car that came out last year. They have proportional steering and Ive seen them for $20. They are about twice the size of the other cars tho...which means a race track would have to be much bigger. But they should steer much better.

Toy rc's have come a long way. 2.4ghz radios, lipo batteries and thin lexan style bodies are becoming common. But they often lack proportional steering.

I have often wondered why a toy company doesn't make a 1/32 or 1/24 scale car based on a 1/10 pan car chassis. It would be light, simple and I would think cheap to make. Even the best toy grade RC's usually have more complicated chassis than I feel is needed. I get that they usually have to enclose gears and circuit boards, but it seems they go over kill.

HPI is releasing a 1/32 car with proportional steering for $60....it is already out yet I haven't seen any running videos yet. Not sure if it has decent speed or handling. Even if it does, it still looks toy grade and I would think it would be worth the extra $20 to just get a Losi micro.

SyCo_VeNoM

I don't think the Q32 is officially out yet as it seems tower expects stock late december, and every site I seen has out of stock on it. HPI I found likes to lie on release dates, and claim they released things which have not been on any store shelves yet. If HPI said they released it add 2-3 months(to years) from the announcement till it can actually be bought.

For instance Tower has late December for its shipping... and late January for EVERY single option part for it. My guess is probably February.
I love how all these RC review sites just used canned statements from HPI for their "review", and baseless speculation.

dacaur

I recently got a couple recat sumos. 1/24 scale, proportional steering and throttle, 2.4ghz, $50 RTR at amain.... The transmitter takes 3AA's, and the truck takes 4AA's... using quality nimh you get around 40 min runtime per charge... I would guess around 10mph top speed, they are not as fast as the ECX 1/36 scale's, but WAY more controllable.... I bought 2 of them ECX's, and for what they are, they are great little cars. The redcats are WAY more car for the money though... I am also going to get a couple of those HPI buggys when they become available....

nitrosportsandrunner

I had a sumo way back...before the remotes were 2.4ghz. Sadly, the older FM radios were none for having issue with short range.

But yes, they are quick for the money and it is nice to have proportional steering. There are upgrades....I think I did the motor and ball bearings. nice improvement, tho not huge. But it is nice to have a proportional micro that you can also upgrade if you want to.

Speedy81

I think what you want is the WLTOY L939. It's the same size as a losi micro t, has proportional steering and throttle, lipo battery, 2.4 ghz radio with 5 speeds and trims. It has a good turning radius and the steering works great. It's super fast, 15 mph I guess?

I got one and for 30 bucks it's just unbeatable for that price. It's no good for hard floors, no traction whatsoever. There is the L939 with an ugly sct body, and an L929 with a very nice truck or truggy body but the L929 doesn't have proportional steering! I decided to buy an L929 just for the body and spare parts. I also cut the rear springs a bit to loosen up the suspension a bit. I wish I could find looser springs. Anyways, I really like the little thing. My runtime is about 15 minutes if I stay in gear 3. I imagine it would be about 5-6 minutes if you ran full speed in gear 5 but honestly that's overkill.

The_Pickle

Also the Sinohobby Mini Q (Turnigy TZ4) Range from 50-80 and are carbon fiber chassis, ball bearings all over, Proportional throttle and steering, adjustable toe in/out, Compatible with Mini Z bodys,, wheels/tires, diffs and CVD's, It's lipo powered and comes with a charger and a 2.4ghz Flysky radio. Easy to upgrade to brushless and aluminum parts plus the compatibility with Mini Z parts