Massive,
Point well taken. I do get a bit over zealous with the temp gun thing because I see so many of my customers get a brand new glow engine car, truck or buggy and the hobby shop sells them a fancy temp gun to go with it. Thats not the bad part, the hobby shop owners are there telling the new guys that they have to run this engine at no more than XXX degrees or catastrophic failures will result. The end result is that these guys (and gals) get so focused on a some number that is meaningless to what they are trying to accomplish (which is break - in and run the engine), that the engine pinch gets ruined in very short order due to running it too cold. The hobby shop owner is right there to sell him a new piston , sleeve and rod and then charge the new guy another fee for installing it. Very discouraging to say the least.
I've had a couple hobby shops allow me to teach new engine break in and running classes, at first the owners were not too crazy about me being in there teaching people how to get 10 gallons of life out of a car engine, but they warmed up to it. I always tought folks to watch and listen for certain indicators and not rely on the temp gun or focus on a number that means something to somebody else.
Yes, temp guns have there place for a seasoned person using them to monitor, they certainly are not for the new guy that will tend to focus on it too much and use it in a way that it's not intended for.
I agree, the Traxxas 2.5 is a comprimise to say the least, especially in the big trucks. I personally like the Fantom 18 in the TMaxx but that is a different story.

I have a model engine electronic fuel pump and metering device (mixture control) that uses an exhaust gas temp probe as one of its sensors, it works but that is beyond the scope of this.

Truce