Thought I'd run this by my fellow R/C vehicle enthusiasts..

I was in my local hobby shop today (Hobbytown USA- not a big fan, but hey it's a two minute drive), doing some shopping and a couple of guys walked up to the car counter. The guy who works behind the counter asks what he can do for them and they mention they are looking into getting a R/C monster truck. It was obvious they were were newbies, and had not done any kind of internet research, given the questions they started asking.

They said they wanted to look at 4WD Nitro MT's. The first vehicle the salesman pulls off the display and plops down on the counter was a HPI Savage X 4.6 RTR. He gives them a very BRIEF run down about the vehicle.. Says "Big block .28 motor, four wheel drive". The potential customers then ask the infamous question. "How fast does it go?" To which the salesman says "Oh, about 40-45mph". He doesn't mention the caveat of "If you tune it properly". Then instantly after that he goes.. Though, HERE we have a couple of trucks.. the Revo and T-maxx- made by Traxxas, which are the 45+MPH trucks. He then goes on to say "Not only that, these have reverse, which the savage doesn't have, and if you look here on the T-maxx..."

At this point he plops it down on the counter....

The T-maxx has electric start, (the onboard EZ start stuff), and if you look here it has a built in Wheelie Bar. The Savage doesn't have a wheelie bar.....

He says "The savage will only wheelie if you really spend a whole lot of time tuning it. Where as the T-maxx will wheelie ALL the time. It will wheelie on you during the BREAK IN period. It'll wheelie ALL DAY LONG". Of course the potential buyers he was looking at were getting the wide eyed OOOOOHHHH AAAHHHHH looks on their faces. The short of it is, it seemed like he was a paid Traxxas employee the way he was talking up the T-maxx. Then one of the customers looks up and sees the Stampede VXL and asks about it. The sales guy says "Oh, thats electric.. but it's a 65MPH electric".

One problem.. He made no mention that it'll only do 65 if you gear it properly and throw in LiPo... Which to me seems like something you should mention.


Which brings me to the crux of why I posted this. I'm not at any way trying to start a big Traxxas vs HPI (or any other company for that matter) flame war. My problem with it was is that he was not giving an honest, side by side comparison of the two vehicles. It's my opinion that as a good salesman you should put the different products side by side and go over the GOOD AND BAD POINTS of both. This will give the consumer what he needs to make their decision. What irritated me about the whole thing is that he made the T-maxx out to be the greatest R/C truck known to man, and the Savage out to be some slug that couldn't wheelie or go backwards. I own a Savage X 4.6 RTR and the F4.6 motor is NO SLOUCH, and it's not hard to tune.. Wheelies (if they are that important, which I don't think they are.. I find them annoying after a certain point) are no problem with the truck. He didn't mention anything about their reputation for taking an extreme amount of abuse. He just gave it a 15 second pitch, and pretty much tossed it aside like it was crap. Oh, he also didn't mention the Monster GT, Aftershock, or LST2. They had those vehicles, but I think the only one they had out on display was the Aftershock..

At no point did the salesman mention any of the negatives about the T-maxx.. for example the weak bulkheads that are known to break under what some would say are pretty mundane circumstances. Again, I think thats something that people should know before they make a $400 purchase. Again, I'm not bashing Traxxas I've never owned one so I'm not going to say anything more than what researching the internet has told me. I do know that T-maxxes can be beefed up by buying aftermarket products.

I really wanted to turn around and say something. I wanted to tell the customers what the salesman wasn't saying. I didn't however, because it's not my store, and I don't work there so I didn't think it was exactly the right place for me to interject in the conversation.. So all I did was just kind of shake my head and walk away. I understand that people have brand loyalties. But I think that if you are a Hobby Shop employee (or in any retail sale position for that matter) you need to show your customers all the options, and again like I said.. Give them all a fair showing. Let the customer decide for themselves what they want.. Instead of trying to influence them based on your own personal opinion.

So, would any of you piped up and said something? Do you think I should have? Do you think the sales guy was being a dope?