I wrote this up in hopes that it might help out a few people who are asking some really basic questions without any direction. Hopefully after reading this post it will be a little bit easier to plan out what you really want to get out of the hobby and narrow down on the what you want to look for and research so that the same questions don't continue to get asked over and over. Please feel free to critique this article, just remember that it was my opinion and it outlines the way I went about making my decisions so that I could get started in the hobby.

A newbie’s perspective of electric RC
By Wedge_1

I had always wanted an electric RC and finally I had the time and money to go out and purchase on. But I had to ask myself a few very important questions so that I wasn’t just wasting my time, effort and sanity. In order to contain these questions, I put together a worksheet that used the question as a header, and I could fill in the responses that were received, either from the LHS, the internet or my own intuition.

What is my budget?
This is probably one of the most important questions that I asked myself. It is impossible to start considering what vehicle you want to buy if you don’t have a budget. From my very recent experience, $200 could probably get you started but it will not be a whole lot more enjoyable than a $50 department store toy. $300 is a little more realistic as you can get better batteries and chargers and for $400 it is entirely feasible to start looking into getting a kit. It is understandable that money doesn’t grow on trees so you have two choices; you can buy something cheap that will need to be upgraded or you can buy something that is going to be much nicer.

What did I chose? I chose the $300-$400 range. $400 was the most I was willing to spend on the hobby, so I made a hard limit with myself that I would not go over.

What am I going to use the vehicle for?
This question is still very general, and also important. Answering it truthfully will allow you to maximize how you spend your money. Do you plan to race? If so will it be on-road or off-road? Do you plan to bash? Don’t lie to yourself and say that you are going to race when you know deep in your heart that you will probably just do some backyard bashing. I had originally convinced myself that I wanted to race, but in the end I realized all I wanted was something that could drive around the backyard, do some jumps and generally take a beating. So bashing was my primary vehicle use.

What type of vehicle do I want?
I have a budget and I know what I am going to use the RC for, now I need to decide what type of RC to purchase. This fits in exactly with what the vehicle will be used for. If you want to race on-road, you need to pick one of the on-road racers. If you want to race off-road you should pick something with an off-road racing pedigree (buggy, stadium truck or monster truck). If you want to bash, you need to pick something that can take the abuse that the RC will be subjected to. Since I was planning on bashing, I chose a monster truck.

Should I buy a Kit or RTR?
There are pros and cons to both the kit and the RTR. The kit utilizes higher quality components but you must supply the motor, ESC, receiver and transmitter. The RTR will use lower quality components, but everything is included. Both require accessories to run (battery, battery chargers, tools, etc.) and you will have to worry about them a little bit here as your budget will be affected by the kit or RTR decision. The kit is going to cost more than the low-end RTRs but can be put together for about the same price as some of the higher end RTRs. The RTR is not going to be competitive at all; most electric RTRs are supplied with poor electronics and mediocre engines at best. However they are cheap. Assuming you didn’t lie to yourself when you asked what your budget was and what you want to use the vehicle for, it should be an easy decision.

If you have the budget for it get the kit because you will be able to instantly upgrade to a better motor, radio (Rx and Tx) and ESC compared to the RTR. The initial cost will be a little higher ($100-150) but the need to upgrade in the future will be much lower. If you have a tight budget and you really don’t want to wait any longer to get into the hobby get the RTR. They are still a lot of fun, especially if it is your first hobby grade RC. Just don’t fall into the trap of countless upgrades to the RTR. When you bought the vehicle you had to pay for the motor, radio and ESC. Even if they are all bottom barrel components (which they probably are) that is still $60-90 dollars extra that you spent over the kit. If you start upgrading components before those even wear out, you are basically throwing that money away. So if you do decide to get the RTR try to avoid the temptation to go hop-up crazy and just enjoy the RC until things start to wear out and break. At that point it makes sense to replace the worn out part with something of higher quality. Otherwise you would have been better off buying the kit in the first place.

I went the RTR route. It allowed me to get into the hobby within my budget and allowed me to purchase higher quality accessories that are not vehicle specific. The RTR I purchased is a nice, inexpensive, 2WD monster truck that comes with everything necessary to have some fun in the backyard. I have no plans to go out and start hopping the car up, I’ll just replace broken parts with better quality parts as they need it.

Do I really need to buy good batteries, I don’t plan on racing?
YES, good batteries are essential. The batteries are the fuel for your vehicle. The better the fuel, the better the vehicle will run. Batteries and the battery charger were the main reason that I chose to go with a RTR vehicle. I didn’t buy top of the line batteries, but I did get some nice NiMH GP3300 sport packs that absolutely blow away the NiCd 1500 sport packs that I have in terms of runtime and punch. They weren’t that expensive either, about double the price of the NiCd batteries for more than double the performance.

A good battery charger is also essential, both to performance and to battery health. Buy a decent peak charger that is capable of charging GP3300 NiMH. The charger needs to be able to detect the very small voltage change that occurs in a NiMH battery, and the larger capacity batteries are going to need a higher current to charge them in a reasonable amount of time. A higher current is also going to help improve the punch of the batteries, which will be noticeable the next time you try to clear that triple or make it up the gravel hill.

Where did all my money go?
Here is a breakdown of where my money went. I was able to get the RTR on sale, and that was factored into my decision so it is included. The money used to buy equipment in this hobby was hard earned so make sure to do a little research before you spend it. Hopefully these questions will help you narrow down your search and make a purchase that you can be happy with for more than a few weeks.

Electric RTR 2WD Monster Truck $142
GP3300 NiMH Sport Batteries (x2) $75
1500 NiCd sport packs (x2) $35
Digital LCD battery charger $100
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Grand Total $352

This got me a setup that works well for my intended use and starts me off with halfway decent support equipment. I have only included what I decided to start out with to help illustrate the process I went through. You are going to have to make your own decisions based on what you want to be able to take your new hobby.