RE: battery choice
ive been running skylipo packs for awhile now. also availible on hobbypartz. I run soft and hardcased 2s and 3s 5000mah packs. Only had one pack out of 7 fail...and it was after many months of use. Not complaining, since I can buy 4 of these packs for the price of a big name brand lipo. I use these in brushless 1/10 and 1/8 models. they dont even get warm when in use.
It wasnt that many years ago I paid $50 for a "race" quality nimh pack. that pack got very hot and still didnt give the kinda runtimes my $25 skylipo packs give me!