ORIGINAL: jj911
gearing? quick search up on your manufacturers website can easily calculate your gears, simple as hell. electric is ass easy.
It may be a good ballpark, but manufacturer recommendations almost never perfectly fit your specific setup EXACTLY.
RTR Nitro? hmm, gotta break in, 5 tanks, spend a day breaking in, spend even more time tuning. oh its great. change fuel? season change? time to tune again.
I spend maybe an hour to break in a new engine, probably less. Once that is done I'll have it tuned in about 10 minutes. Changing fuel only requires a re-tune if the fuel you buy has a different nitromethane content.
if your new, electrics the way to go, you really cant fail there. batteries are soldered for you, everything is idiot proof.
Only batteries that come soldered for you are the ones that come from the manufacturer or if you get lucky and buy a battery that happens to have the connector on it. You will have to solder something sooner or later, especially if you want to replace/upgrade an ESC. Electric is far from idiot-proof, there is plenty to do wrong and when you do something wrong it can get expensive fast.
my first nitro was a ebay redcat crap. didnt break it in, poured fuel in, started engine, and sat there with a *** look when it zipped down my street and into the side of someones house. then i realized i didnt turn my controller on. stripped gears, broken steering servo etc etc.
What does your incompetence have to do with glow engines as a power source?