RE: proboat mini cat problems
I posted this in another thread but it might be interesting to you.
I recently bought a Mini Cat (now the Mini C) and I have had loads of fun with it in the pool. My pool is roughly 40ft x 15ft and I can turn some fast laps with this little boat. Keep in mind before buying that it comes with the same electronics as the Mini-T. The ESC and reciever are garbage and the range is only good for a pool. Plan to upgrade the electronics if you are going to run it in the pond or larger body of water. I also found it necessary to trim the drive down for optimum performance. I accomplished this with two small slivers of double sided tape adhered between the top of the drive bracket and transom (this is very simple). I recently bought Associated's XPS micro ESC and TR203A reciever. This should give the boat enough range to tackle larger distances than my pool and take care of the stock reciever's twitchy atitude. I also bought two different 380 motors to try. One is the Duratrax DTXC3310 High RPM and the other is the Graupner Speed 400 Race. Both motors can be had for under $15 each. If you upgrade the ESC you will have to swithc the stock servo to a standard three prong servo (the MINI C comes with four prong). I chose the HiTec HS-55 servo only because it was cheap at $12. I plan to swap all these components tomorrow night and I will post results after.
In my opinion the Zig-Zig and the other similar boat are not on par with the potential the Mini C has. All together I have around $175 into the boat with the stock vessel and upgrades waiting to be installed. Please dont let all this info discourage you as I am a total newb to RC. I am a boater/fisherman and have a 1998, 31 Fountain Tournament Edition on a lift behind the house. I have also worked in the marine industry for a number of years.