Hi jazzmoe,

The E-Revo is better* by a mile than the others.

- Losi Speed-T: Sweet-looking street truck. Losis tend not to be durable though.

- Tamiya Levant: Don't know much about this, but it appears to be a Tamiya version of the Speed-T. Looks nice, but unless you have a local, well-stocked Tamiya dealer, you'll probably be up for a wait when you need parts. Tamiyausa's description of it is 90% useless; no real specs are provided, just vague promises thatwe will be happy with it.

- RC8E: This is a racing buggy. Some would have you believe that since it is 1/8 scale, it is magically durable. But physics always wins. Exposed shock towers = breakage in roll-over crashes. Bigger parts = higher weight = more inertia carried into the crash.

The E-Revo has good local parts availability. Every shop local to me stocks Traxxas and RPM parts for Traxxas. The suspension is adjustable from low racer to monster truck heights. It is proven durable. Also, in the price ranges you're looking at, you could get a brushless one, which is potentially a 60 mph car. But the main thing is durability. This is a big truck, probably comprable in size to a 1/8 scale buggy. 4WD with great ground clearance. The shocks are laid down flat and covered by the body, so they'll be nearly impossible to break.

I have a buddy who has one of these. (brushed) He managed to break both wishbones on the front right of the car by landing a jump horribly wrong. (hit the ramp diagonally, then slammed on the brakes midair; he landed nose down on that one wheel.) ; He tried to fix it with CA glue, of course that didn't hold. But the thing is, even after the CA gave up, he kept driving it around and jumping it. The drive shaft alone was strong enough to keep running it! I'm sure the handling wasn't up to snuff, but to look at it go, we couldn't tell it was busted. With RPM arms, it would be unstoppable.

You may not win any races with it. You really do have to choose between durability and race-winning lightness.

* - for bashing and all around use