I'm looking at getting some 1/24 (IR) VsTanks for my sons and I but I have a few questions about them.

1. I'm not looking for anything super fancy for us, but are these tanks of a fairly decent quality?
1, very high qualty great tanks

2. Do I need to buy different model tanks to have them fight each other with the infrared (i.e. only one M1A1, one T72, etc)?
2, you can use any tanks against each other even the same just make sure they have different channel crystal #'s

3. Do they use standard 27MHz crystals (I have a bunch around form RTRs.
3,Yes i used traxxas and radiuo shack x mod crystals also

4. Are there any models that is should look for or not buy (I'm looking to get them from Tower Hobbies)?
4, 1/24 scale these are most popular and most available Unimax FOV makes 1/24 tanks ir they supposed to be nice but they are hard to get and i did hear they only shoot each other from about 10FT indoors wich is a big turn off...and VS sells hop up and spare parts also.

5. Is there another manufacturer that makes a better IR tank that I should look at instead?
5, nope not enless you want to spend a lot of $$ on 1/16 scale or buy cheaper heng long tanks but they break down a lot so for kids and durability stick with VS

Hope this helps
Shenlonco