ORIGINAL: Mike St.Clair
Ok, just stumbled on this RC truck, the Caldera SC. I've heard nothing but bad reports on Redcat in general, not just opinions, from LHS's who repair everything. The Caldera's, seem to have a different reputation working.
Redcat has used more than one manufacturer: I think the 1/8th Hurricane/Monsoon/Avalanche and 1/10 Vortex/Tornado/Volcano were Exceed OEMs, and had some design issues and brittle plastics (somebody correct me if I'm listing the models wrong). The newer kits aren't Exceed (HSP OEM?) - the Aftershock/Earthquake/Backdraft/Caldera lines are better put together, with a more forgiving and flexible plastics. And for the 1/10th vehicles (like the Caldera) they're using many of the parts (i.e. diffs) from the 1/8th line, so the tend to be very durable.
I still wouldn't recommend them as your first-and-only RC, simply because you may be stuck buying all your parts through mailorder (if you don't have a local reseller) - but if you've been in RC for awhile they are an excellent value. There's not many places you can buy 2.4GHz/brushless/lipo RTR for the prices Redcat is charging: and for those other brands that can match the price, there aren't nearly as many resellers out there offering the parts support.