I know this topic has been done a million times over but I'm looking less for a general answer and more of a personalized response based upon my own habits etc...

I recently purchased a Rustler VXL. I've been out of the hobby since before Lipo became a common thing. The stock battery was PLENTY for me at first. 4 weeks have gone by and I now have anaconda tires and a Traxxas wheelie bar to reduce my backflips. I've learned more control and I'm confident now. VERY confident as a driver and I now respect the power that has put my Rusty on it's back so many times at first. I'm ready for Lipo now. I spend 90% of my time playing in parking lots and 10% offroad. Since the anaconda tires I purchased at my LHS today, I doubt I'll do any offroad at all.

All my friends are pressing me to go 3s but I don't think I need to do all that. I'm thinking 2s. I want a good run time and more power. I think 2s is suitable. My stock battery is 3000 mah so I think anything beyond 3000 is an improvement for me. I'm thinkin 5000 mah. Keep in mind, this would be my first Lipo battery so I'm not looking to be a fanboy of any particular brand. I'm looking for the cheapest but best performance Lipo to try my hand at. Just a battery to gain some Lipo experience with. I've done enough reading to understand Lipo care, so I'm not looking for any words of caution at this time. Just a first time battery suggestion to get me started. I don't mind spending over $100 for a battery and more for a charger but I don't want to spend that without first gaining some experience. After all...if I drop $200 on a battery and charger and then blast my Rusty into something and destroy it, it wasn't such a sensible purchase (I have a wife to keep happy after all). So help me decide if Lipo is for me and suggest a budget 2s lipo and charger to get me started...or if you agree that I should just jump into 3s, say so

Thank you all so much in advance for any advice!

SPC Batteries seem to be quite popular. http://spcracingbatteries.com/index....tegory&path=59
I like the turnigy batteries, but whilst inexpensive, the warehouse has been known to be not very good.

I appreciate that. I keep hearing about them but every time I go to ebay or amazon I would find nothing I'm really looking for. Plus when I would google, most rc forums I encountered had posts so old that the links were no longer working. I appreciate the current link so much. I'm going to check them out.

Thanks for taking the time to read. I usually have a lot to say and I know it can be boring take it all in but I try to be specific as I can.

SPC LiPo Power, Lithium Polymer (LiPo) Battery Pack; 5000mAh, 50C, 2S, 7.4V Hard-Case $31.95, sounds good and it packs the stats I think I'm looking for...

but then again...

SPC LiPo Power, Lithium Polymer (LiPo) Battery Pack; 8200mAh, 50C, 2S, 7.4V Soft-Case $47.95, exceeds the stats I'm looking for...didn't even know they make 8200mah batteries to be honest. How long is the possible run time on something like this? I'm curious if the benefit of the longer run time, outweighs the fact it's a soft case?

Sheesh now I'm a little more unsure.

SPC LiPo Power, Lithium Polymer (LiPo) Battery Pack; 4300mAh, 40C, 3S, 11.1V Hard-Case $43.95 which is cheaper than the 2nd one I mentioned above and is even in a hard case, meant for a Rustler battery housing to boot. I guess I could dial back my trigger finger and go 11.1 volt without sampling the Lipo life on a more expensive battery...

so...11.1 or 7.4?
hard case or soft?

I'm one step closer to Lipo!

One way too look at is. The higher the voltage, the more expensive the costs are to do repairs, when you crash.

It might be a good idea to weigh the current NMIH 3000mah battery, and measure it's size to determine what lipos will fit.

A caution about going to a 3S lipo is that the motor will be able to draw more current, which
might cause the motor to overheat or fail.

According to SPC's description for that 11.1 volt battery the size is made for several models without any mods and the Rustler is included on that list.

On the other hand...I don't want to burn up the motor either.

But then...one of the supervisors where I work, runs a Rusty on 3s Lipo all the time according to him. We haven't gotten to bash together so I can't claim that as fact, nor say that I have even seen an RC car in person operate on Lipo power yet. More questions.

I think I'm just going to pull the trigger on a 2s with a longer run time to get the suspense over with.

You haven't seen an rc using lipo in person, Your in for a treat, NiMh is boring, Lipo is like supercharger. .
Don't forget a lipo charger

The supervisor at work, that I mentioned in my last post, let me borrow two of his fully charged lipo batteries for a night or two. They are both 2S Venom 5000mah 40c hard case packs. I just got back from running one of them. I'm impressed. I'm not blown away. I felt that overall my speed was the same...maybe slower actually. However, the punch was really there. I could pull wheelies on command at nearly any speed. Also, my run time was great. I didn't find myself feeling empty like I didn't get enough time to have fun. I think I'm going to buy one of these batteries and an 11.1 as well.

wouldn't choose a venom if your buying packs.

Why not?

I bought both 2s batteries from the supervisor at work for $70 total and he included a pack of plug adapters with it. I just need to get a good lipo charger and hopefully an 11.1 battery too from SPC.

There's a test page on a site there 70C packs I think they was managed a 24.5C test result and the adaptors aren't good at all

I guess the data from that test speaks toward real world numbers but...I was pretty happy with my run time and acceleration. It honestly met my expectations as far as being able to enjoy a step up from my stock battery. $70 for two was a good deal to me. I guess my lack of experience with lipo puts me in a position where I wouldn't know any difference between 70c and 24.5c yet.

Why wouldn't the adapters be any good? How does the rest of the world plug batteries with deans plugs up to cars with traxxas plugs?

It's added resistance using more connection points. They change the connectors so they are all the same type.