I just got my Vortex, and I'm really happy with it.  It scoots on the stock battery - with a fresh charge I can pull donuts on pavement and gravel easily.  The suspension seems to have lots of flex, and handles jumps (the few I've tried) with ease.  It's taken a bit of a beating so far, running off the neighbours skateboard ramps, and jumping curbs - no damage yet so I guess I'm not trying hard enough.

Tonight I put a 20C 3s lipo in just to see what it would do.... WOW!  Lights up the tires on pavement from launch, and just takes off!  Unbelievably quick... I'll have to try it in the dirt after I get a lipo-safe.

The only gripe I have so far is that when running on gravel, I'd sometimes get a piece of gravel stuck in the steering arm below the servo saver, and it would lock the steering full left.  An easy fix, but I'm going to have to put some foam or something in there to keep it out.