i was faced with that exact same decision since for christmas i was getting me and my wife either a losi 8e and a 8te or the rc8e/rc8te. i ended up getting the rc8e/rc8te combination since the prices on the losi trucks were just nuts. so far i have her buggy built and i was very impressed with the quality, i'm also planning on eventually upgrading to the CE parts as they either break, fail, or my wallet allows. i started building my truggy the other night and i expect that will go just as easy as the buggy.