Personally, I would not recommend Exceed. Some of their RCs are okay, but their are other issues.
As for the Mad Beast, This is really not even made by Exceed, it is made by Nanda, and the real name of the Mad Beast is really Raptor (Nanda Raptor).
The original truck is the RD Logics Wolverine. The Raptor/Mad Beast is only a clone of the real truck, the Wolverine.
If you want the MadBeast, I suggest you skip the clone an buy the real truck, the RD Logic's Wolverine.
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...rodID=RDL99500
In my experience, in every single case, the original RC is superior to the clone RC. So, it is a very safe bet to skip the clone and buy the original.
In reality, VERY few people own either the Wolverine or its clone, the Raptor(aka Mad Beast). I personaly only know of one RCU member who actually has the Raptor-Madbeast, his name is REONU5142. You can PM him and ask him about his direct experience with the Raptor-MadBeast.
For TVP trucks, people prefer other ones: Of course, the Savage, primarily because you can find parts for it everywhere, you can buy upgrades from virtually any aftermarket rC seller, and because it is proven as a hard core basher. Yes, many are biased for it because of its popularity, but as I have found, that bias is not based on totall BS.
Another TVP truck that is somewhat popular (not as popular as Savage, but still way more popular than the Woverine clone(Mad Beast)) is the Durtrax Warhead. There are very few places that carry parts for Warhead, so you will have to order most replacement parts on-line. Also, few upgrades exist for Warhead.
Then there is the extremely tough Cenchain (CEN) Nemesis/Genesis/GST. This truck is acually tougher than the Savage and can take some very serious abuse. But like Warhead, the Cenchain does not have parts everywhere. And there are little aftermarket parts for this truck too.
And the Wolverine and its clone, the Mad Beast, no RC store carries parts for these. So you must buy parts on-line. As for aftermarket upgrade? I know of absolutely nothing that is an upgrade for these trucks.