Tough calls. I would let the owners of Redcat and Himoto speak for this, but my suspicion on this is that they both buy their cars from the same manufacturer, which is a factory in Tiawan, and they can order certain options for their brand to make them a little different. They're way too similar and interchangable for things like this not to happen. I believe that ESPECIALLY the older 1/10 scale stuff is more of a box-lunch sort of deal, where both companies have a list of options but the design is fixed for mass production. Himoto is redesigning their trucks to their own specs in the new MegaP line, so I don't have any idea if they're going to continue with the old ones or just try and phase them all out.

I'm not sure why redcat or Himoto doesn't appear in many magazines. Himoto has been bigger in Europe for a while and is just starting to come into North America, so THAT might come, but I think Redcat is pretty new as well and hasn't needed to advertise because their stuff is notorious already. I still like and continue to bash mine, but lots of people can't get over the fact that the first 1/10 stuff was really poorly built and were quite fragile. I think they've been improved some and lots of folks haven't recognized this, so they've still got a bad rep. I believe that the new Himoto stuff will turn that around, but they're having their build quality issues as well.

Himoto would have the Cyclone Pro which is pretty close, excpet that it appears to be a single speed and it's got the Infinity .18 for now, will probably go to the SH .18 when Infinity stock runs out. The 2 speed in the 1/10 scale doesn't seem to be the desirable option for off-roading, though - if you plan on running it mainly on the street or groomed level surfaces, it's fine, but the direct drive is more reliable and still very fast, with better control due to engine braking.