If you are not worried about going super fast then try the Traxxas Villian
I am not trying to cause probelms with this thread its just a sugestion.
You can buy the NiMh bats and a duratrax twin peak and have a ton of fun.
Its just the Villian is not nearly as fast.
I have to agree that at first this is very expensive.
I run 2 ICE chargers and have 2 twin peaks for charging the NiMh's.
I have not jumped ship to all Lipo but we are both thinking about it.
Once again the sticker shock thing with prices of Lipo's.
Remember you get what you pay for in this hobby!