ORIGINAL: EdsWords
You dont like Duratrax vehicles because one of your friends bought a Stadium Blitzer (Tamiya) and another friend bought a Rush (HPI) and your other friend gave you all his RC stuff because he didnt like it and some other guy you dont know broke his Evader when he hit a curb?
My lack of sleep & state of brain fry didn't get my point across. They bought entry level vehicles when they wanted / expected race ready vehicles. The Duratrax truck hit the curb. I watched the Evader run & was surprised with how slow it was as well as how inconsistant the steering / tracking was.
ORIGINAL: EdsWords
Im having trouble following the logic there. I guess you don't like HPI stadium trucks, Tamiya or Traxxas vehicles either?
I had a Traxxas Stampede, loved it, & will probably buy another. My friend had a Blackfoot it was good truck. The Rush is a good stadium truck IMO but ANY stadium truck has trouble going where a monster truck can. 2wd low sitting Rush bottoms out & / or loses traction when it's trying to follow a 4wd Savage with 40 series tires. On a good track the Rush has a slight advantage but we only have one track around here right now & it's private. We have access to it but don't want to bother the owner all the time.
ORIGINAL: EdsWords
Your story illustrates exactly what this topic is all about. Maybe if you tried to help your friends they may have stayed with the hobby. I am guessing by your attitude you were less than helpfull?
I'd bet money that everyone I got into R/Cs would laugh at that comment. I sat down with two of them & we thumbed through a TH catalogue & the current Speed Mart so they could point out what they liked & I gave my honest opinion on each & every vehicle. None of us really had the ca$h to afford vehicles let alone upgrades so on the rare occasion that I got something new (motor or tires usually) they spent time in my friend's vehicles as well. No, I had no problem putting my brand new Green Machine II motor in my friend's Stadium Blitzer & putting his 540 in my RC10T Team truck. And yes, I did try every pinion gear I had until he was happy with the way it ran. My opinions of vehicles might not have been perfect but then again our LHS sold FX10s, Blackfoots, & Clodbusters. They stocked two different chargers & only sold Futaba radios. That's it. It was VERY rare to see a motor in their display case which was usually packed with baseball cards. They sold no tires or other hopups & their paint selection consisted of roughly 5 colors. The other two friends jumped into the hobby. One bought the Stadium Blitzer & an Optima roller from the 1st guy I helped out. YES I tore down & rebuilt the Optima & donated what was needed so he could run it. I had just bought another guy's gear as soon as I got it home I called my friend & told him to get what he wanted. I loaded him up with tires, a couple batteries, a radio / reciever, motors, & other misc parts. He didn't like the Optima because it was heavy & missing a link on the chain. He wouldn't let me try to make a link for the chain so I transfered all his gear & a steering setup into an onroad car that he liked but didn't run much because he was afraid it couldn't take the abuse he wanted to dish out. The other one told me & the owner of the Rush that he wanted us to sit down with him & look through some magazines but his wife talked him into getting the TH truck because it was cheap.
ORIGINAL: EdsWords
I don't think the people posting here are pretending Duratrax is the equal of AE or Losi or or to a lesser extent HPI. Duratrax makes entry level vehicles for people on a budget. With some reasonable hop ups you can do well with Duratrax at the club level.
Most Duratrax owners are new to the hobby and as such, often have questions about hop ups and how to diagnose problems and repair their vehicles and want to have fun running them in the back yard and are not racing for regional trophies.
Good point. At least you got something out of my post.
ORIGINAL: EdsWords
What they don't need is the all too common 'You should have bought a RC10, or Losi, or HPI instead of that Duratrash.' All we are asking is that if you see a post Duratrax owner looking for help to fix his ride just try to help if you kow the answer and not sound like a salesperson for HPI.
ORIGINAL: Savage_Dias
To set this straight & to hopefully avoid being flamed I AM OPENLY ADMITTING that Duratrax doesn't deserve the name Duratrash.
Didja miss that sentence? I'd have no problem helping people fix their Durarides if I could give something better than "Get a better motor, a bunch of aftermarket stuff, & learn to tweak it for every track or bashing area you go to.
ORIGINAL: EdsWords
We know where to get HPI, Losi and Team Associated stuff if we wanted it.
From my past experiences, it's less expensive to buy a high end R/C the 1st time than it is to buy an entry level truck & try to upgrade it to a racer. My friend with the Rush has already added the price of the Rush & the upgrades to the price of his not yet purchased Savage.
ORIGINAL: EdsWords
You post was the Atypical mine is better than yours. Would you quit the hobby once your Savage gets smoked by a Cen Genesis or GS Storm? Will you give up on HPI and buy that Cen or GS once you know its better than your Savage? Would you become a walking billboard for that vehicle too?
WRONG. My post was the Atypical "It happened to me, I saw it happen to my friends, I don't want anyone else to make the same mistake." Futaba FX10 vs Associated RC10. Stadium Blitzer vs Associated RC10T Team Truck. Rush & TH truck vs Savage. The 1st two were entry level vehicles vs race ready vehicles. The last one were two different classes. No, I'll never give up on my Savage to buy "the new truck" because one smoked me. I don't have the money to lay out for every new R/C that comes out. My Savage is enough of a billboard. It has pulled 4 people into the hobby & they asked me questions that I answered truthfully. When asked if there was anything like it I told them all I knew about Maxxes (T & E) but mentioned that from what I've read on here they aren't as durable but that was probably due to high power in a smaller, lighter truck & if the driver had some sense a TMaxx was probably every bit as durable as a Savage.
ORIGINAL: EdsWords
Proud owner of a electric Evader in need of a new ball diff and a Maximum MT in need of a engine.
ORIGINAL: Savage_Dias
Once again, I'm not trying to talk trash about anyone R/C but in my experience Duratrax manufactures entry level rides. For all those people out there that have & love them I'm thrilled that you're happy with them. For me, they hit their peak too soon & wouldn't be able to keep my attention.