joshiestevens

Hi there.

I have had two RC Nitro 1:10 trucks in the past. My First being a Cen fun Factor which I sold because I couldnt cope with it, and my second a Kyosho Tr-15 Stadium Force which I loved but I sold it because I hate it when I have to keep fixing it. When youi fix something on this nitro cars, something else goes wrong. Also, I did some small jumps with it, and it broke the front axxel, so I sold it. I love all these things, but I end up sending 90% more time fixing them, then driving them. I much preferre the idea of driving on grass, dirt, and jumping than just driving on concrete.

This is when I came up with the idea of getting an electric MT. Maybe something like a Twin Force, but I am not sure. Am I right in saying this will also need lots of maintenece. SO, I have thought that maybe I should get a micro truck. I was looking at the Kyosho Mini-Z Mad Force, and other trucks. One that caught my eye however was the Leo-X. I saw a video of this and it looked brilliant, like it could withstand what a 1:8 Mt could stand. What I am wondering is, if these require quite a hbit of maintence, like broken forks, replacement motors, wheels, suspension etc, or would it need the maintenence of like buying a Nikko Car for $20 which takes AA batteries and you can crash it as much as you like. Like ones for age 8+. Another qustion is how fast can they go, and how long will a stock battery last running 1/2 - full speed and also charge time. Also, the suspension on these things in the poictures look like they dont work. Maybe a tiny bit of shock absorbing, or are they good.

Thanks,
And I appreciate your help.

Ahab

there is a thread in this forum about the leo-x I think it got pretty good reviews. If you are looking for that sort of thing, take a look at the minizilla by hotbodies. As hotbodies seem to specialise in Hop Up parts there is a good chance they will have an very extensive range of option parts for it very soon.

I doubt either truck would stand up to the sort of abuse we put our 1/8th scale MT's through though. if you want to jump your house - stick with a big block Nitro lump.

Ahab.

brainleak

My Feedback: (1)

Well, I dont see micro's taking anymore abuse than any other rc, My mini t takes a hell of a beating but when things break which they do often enough its not gonna cost you 25 bucks for a replacement its only gonna cost 5. or 10-15 usually for alloy depending on what it is. Thats why i like micros so much is because they are so cheap . Theres a whole bunch of micro's for you to choose from The Pti Micromonster Just came out and if i had the extra money thats what i would buy. Check out one18th.com they have em for i think 209. The Duratrax mini Quake. hot bodies minizilla. The Vemon Mini giant and a couple more.

The Mt will pretty much go anywhere, But its not gonna be real fast and its not gonna jump great either. If your looking to jump and go real fast look into the statium trucks, Mini T And the Rc18t.

Welcome to micro

studysession

I have the Leo-X which is also the Mini-Monster -
This thing rocks!

Look at this video
Here is a video showing it:
http://www.exportpro.biz/product_car...r_0036_mov.wmv

Very cool and durable truck.

I have put my Mamba 8000 in mine and run it on a 7.2v battery pack for my MiniT. Will be upgrading to a 8.4v hex GP1100 pack once I solder the Deans connectors onto the truck. My kids and I bash it around the house and chase the cats. When I ran the stock motor with stock electronics, I was using an 8 cell GP1100 9.6v battery pack. It was fast and after 1.5 hrs it still had loads of pwoer left.

joshiestevens

Hey, Thanks for the replies. So brainleak. You say if I want to jump I should get a stadium truck. Surely the MT's will jum much better because they have much bigger wheels and bigger suspension. What sort of speed do they go in mph, and with complete stock motors and stock batteries will they really last 1.5hrs. If I dont abuse, will it need any fixing, or do they always need maintenence.

StudySession, how much maintenece do you do on your truck, and how often does the thing break. I want a truck which never needs maintenence
Josh

Ahab

"I want a truck which never needs maintainance" - the only way to do that is to have a truck which you never run. - you will eventualy break something or wear something out even if you just drive in a slow figure of 8 on your living room carpet. - but whos gonna do that?

"Hobby Grade" rc's are high performace toys, they are stong, but sacrifices are made to save weight. but you quickly get used to stock speeds and want more. as soon as you start putting more cells, or a hotter motor (or even a brushless system) you will have overpowered the vehicle. This will make it harder(more fun) to control. and mean that when soemthing goes wrong, you will do more damage.

Take the stock mini-t as an example. Out of the box it comes with a harness fror 4xAA type batteries. With this setup it goes *quite* quick, but you will get bored with it soon. So you get the 6cell NimH rechargable battery pack - suddenly your little truck goes twice as fast as it did stock. Which means when you crash, you are more likely to break stuff. - its just the way it goes. If you take it further and put a mamba 8k brushless and 3cell LiPo batteries, you have a little truck capable of Scale speeds of over 1000mph (actual speed in the 60-70mph range) - if you crash anything at 1000mph it will be a write off.

RC is an expensive hobby. It may seem quite cheap at first, but after spending a coupld of hundred on the kit and stuff to get started, you will always want more.

- thinking on it, if you want a maintainance free truck, you probably want an e-maxx with twin brushless motors and every aluminum/titanium part you can find. - you will be about $2000 poorer, but you shouldnt have much to keep maintained. - you will still strip the odd gear and wear out tyres though....

as one goys signature says.

"Its not a hobby till it starts costing money"
ahab

MBX5T Maniac

My Feedback: (-1)

this is the mini section. if you want a bashing mt, get the traxxas stampede. 1/10 scale, good basher, and cheap price. the rustler, 1/10 scale st, will take almost as much abuse as the stampede, but is cheaper and faster. so if you want to bash like you bashed nitros, go to the electric section, and the will help you find a though basher. namely, the 2 i said to you. but if you just want to drive in the house, maybe drive a bit outside, then the minis are for you.



if you want a mini mt, get either the minizilla, the mini quake, or the venom mini giant(leo-x which they sell at rcmart as a rip off) this truck is exactly the same [link=http://www.larrysperformancercs.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=2&orderby=INVENTORY%2Ehot%20desc%2C%20INVENTORY%2Ebr and%2C%20INVENTORY%2Emodel&template=&templatehead=&templatebody=&templatefoot=&templatethumb=&&start=10]vmg(leo-x)[/link]

for a mini st, get the rc18t. no, not the mini-t. the rc18t. 4wd, stock oil filled shocks. the mini-t is 2wd and has crummy friction shocks(nikko shocks). if you buy the oil filled shocks, then the mini-t will be the same price as the rc18t, and still be 2wd

studysession

With the mamba 8000 installed. I ran into the wall full throttle and nothing broke. Ran into the kitchen babinets and nothing broke. I think it is one of the most durable RC's I have at the moment. Watch, now that I type this watch something break next time I run it. ahhahahahah This is very durable. You want to upgrade from bushings to bearings. I ran with 8 cells on the stock motor and electronics and it flat out flies. Ran for 1.5 hrs and still had loads of pwoer left in the 8 GP1100 9.6v cell battery pack.

joshiestevens

When people talk abotu bashing. WHy does everyone go back to ST's. Surely Mt's are the best. If you land a ST on its back, or on one wheel, something is bound to snap. My TR-15 Stadium Force broke often. MT's can just crash roll, crash, roll and nothing happens.

TBH, I am not going to give it much abuse. Maybe drive on mud, dirt etc, grass, maybe some small jumps. Not like they do in the videos. In the video of the Leo-X, it drives on a dirt track like a nitro monster truck.

Josh

studysession

I have the same truck shown in the video with the blue body. I also have couple of other micro/mini RC's. I have the MiniT and the Micro RS4 and the TLT-1. So far for in and outdoor fun in the Micro world. THe Leo-X // Mini-Monster is my favorate. Especially with the GP1100 batteries, even with the stock electronics it just has been the most fun to bash and play with. And love the fact it takes these hard crashes and not broke anything yet.

But it also comes down to what you want to do with the RC. Some people want something bigger. The Leo-X is only 1/20 scale and the others are 1/18 scale which are bigger. All that it comes down to, is you are happy and have fun with it.

joshiestevens

Kool.

So, completely STOCK how fast does the Leo-X go, and how long do stock batteries last. Also, how long have you had it, and how many problems have you had. Can you also driveit like in the video without damaging it. Like flipping it etc, and also how good is the suspension..

Thanks
Josh

studysession

I drive it much harder than shown in the video. Bearings are a must upgrade. Stock batteries is just AA batteries. Get a nice hex battery pack with GP1100's. I have been using batteries from my Mini-T but did buy two hex battery packs from UnitedRC and once I install//solder the deans connectors on them. Will use them instead.

So must have upgrades//hop-ups are bearings and battery. Everything else you can leave stock.

I did find the stock servo a bit slow and weak, but it does work. I put a Traxxas steering servo from my EMaxx in the Leo-X but it was not a have to. Just had it, so I wanted to use it since it had more otrque.

With everything else stock - YES it will run like the video. I had mine since week before Christmas. My wife gave it to me as a Christmas gift. She even knew to get the bearings. I will be making a video with the Mamba 8000 installed soon. Need a day with no rain first ahha.

Any more questions let me know. My 6 year old son runs this around and crashes all over the place. He uses it to chase the cats and has loads of fun. With the mamba in it, it is to fast for such a small truck and you wreck into walls and furniture much more often, but it sure is fun.

joshiestevens

Yes, but how long will a set of AA batteries last, and what would be the top speed in MPH stock. In the video it looks like its doing 30mph or so. Do all the micros take AA batteries, and what is the speed likie compared with a Mini-Z Mad Force. Do you flip the truck often?

studysession

With the stock batteries it was like 8 or 9 MPh. Not worth it. So I pulled that out as first thing since I have the MiniT batteries. I also have 8 cell battery packs from my Micro RS4 which made it a rocket. When I upgraded to the 6 cell pack, ran almost as fast as one in video. I do believe the one in video was using a 7 hex 8.4v cell pack. Same as the hex pack for the Venom Mini Giant.

joshiestevens

How much do the 8 cell batteries cost, and also how much maintenece is required to fit them. Also, whats the quality like, and is $100 good for it, with the radio control. Did yours come with the radio control, and how much did your truck cost you. Also, is it better to use this type of truck with a stick control or a wheel control. I have used all my nitro cars with the stick transmitter.

I am sure it went more than 8mph stock.

Josh

studysession

My wife bought the truck from:
http://www.modelsport.co.uk --- £74.99 for the truck and another £19 for the bearings
and the batteries:
http://www.unitedrc.com -- Batteries were around $25.5 american and if you ask Jon, he will put the connectors on for you before shipping them. With the hex 8.4v battery pack it should wheely on demand. When I was running the 8 cell 9.6v battery pack I ran the truck 1.5hrs on a single charge and still had a lot of power left. Batteries last long like that when you use bearings. Also the bearing help with the speed. For the first half hour I made it do non-stop wheelies and after that just ran around in grass and dirt and street and stuff.

You have to contact them for shipping and stuff like that.

It comes with a wheel radio. My kids prefer stick, so they use a cheap 27MHz stick radio and they like it so that is what I use too.

Yeah - nitro cars average anywhere from 35 - 50MPh depends on setup.

joshiestevens

How fast do you rekon yours does now?

Josh

studysession

It has been rainign so not really sure. I am ordering a radar gun next month. Will know for sure then. Using this same motor in my Micro RS4, I was hitting around 45MPh. So should be really fast in the Leo-X. But the Leo-X is also geared differently so will not be as fast as my Micro RS4.

MBX5T Maniac

My Feedback: (-1)

some homemade mods you can do [link=http://www.swami-rc.com/VMG-01.htm]swami mods[/link]

joshiestevens

Hey, it still must do more than 9mph stock. I reckon it must do about 15mph. Do the AA batteries last about 1.5 hours. What do you mean you using same motor as your RS4. Arent you using the stock motor. If not, how much was the motor, and how fast will the stock motor do with the upgraded battery cell. Also, how much maintenence is required to fit the new motors.

o, your saying it does 45mph, thats as fast as a nitro truck. Can you use it for the 1.5 hours solid or does it need a rest sometimes to cool down. Also, whats acceleration like

Cheers,
Josh

studysession

I used the stock motor in the Leo-X with my GP1100 8 cell 9.6v battery pack lasted more than 1.5 hrs. I did not try the AA batteries but ofr a few minutes and then put the other batteries in. So I do not know how long the AA's will last.

bogglegame

Hey guys! i got a new mini z monster. its great but i want more speed and power. i dont want to deal with the FET's and turbos so out of the x-speed(50-T) and the pn racing BB speed motor(52-T) which sould i get?

joshiestevens

Hey, I was looking at the Kyosho Mini-Z Monster. Does anyone know what it compares to the Leo-X. It seems smaller, however in the videos it seems real fast. BoggleGame - what sort of speed does it go, how long do the AA batteries last, and how muhc bash9ing can it really take.

Also, is it easy to upgrade the Mini-Z

Cheers.
Josh

joshiestevens

Does anyone have any answers?

Josh

studysession

I have the Leo-X and you see my remarks about how much I like it above. I do not have a Kyosho, but if you do a search you will find posts about them and can do a comparison on what all have been posted about them.

Cheers -