i am looking to get an off road buggy, i already have an on road touring car, hpi rs4 3 evo. I am interested in either a kyosho or ofna, i was just curious if these are good choices or if i should go for a different brand. Also was curious if their parts are easy to find at the lhs. Any advice you could give me would be great thanks!!!!!

depends on how much you spend, and i don't know the hobby shops near you so i don't know if parts would be available, you can always order online.....

i'd go with a kyosho mp777 if you dont want to spend so much, and if you dont care about cost then go with the mp777 sp1 or 2, a mugen mbx5 or the prospect would be a good solid choice too. and also the xray xb8
two very good not so expensive buggies(compared to the kyoshos and mugens and the xb8) are the xray xb8r goes for about 450 and same with the jammin x1-cr pro, a cool new buggy that came out recently is the gs racing cl-1
the thunder tiger ttr-s3 is also a very nice buggy

all great buggies, and you'll have lots of fun with whichever you pick

pat

i have a question thats off the topic where the heck do you get parts for kyosho buggies? i just got a set of kyosho wheels for my s3 and would like another pair but no luck on the web so far. and my LHS is still not able to get kyosho parts yet since they went factory direct. thats the only reason i didnt buy one. i think the standard 777 is the best bug around the 300.00-500.00 range i see 777 bugs out handle higher end bugs all the time.

I have had a Hyper PBS and it was a good buggy. It is heavy and like all of the ofnas it pretty much just beats threw the bumps on the tracks. It was easy to drive because aside from the jammin buggies the ofnas do always have understeer to keep the rear from sliding out making it very easy to predict and drive (of corse depending on your setup). I just got a kyosho MP777 and it is 100% better out of the box. I do have a looser driving style and the kyosho have a whole lot of steering to fit that. The kyosho mp777 was a full pound lighter than my hyper 7 and you can deffintly feel it on the track. It floats over the bumps and a lot of the time you don't even notice the bumps being there compaired to the ofna you feel every one of them. The suspension arms are also longer to give you a lot more leverage from the wheel aiding in how smooth the buggy handles the rougher spots on the track. If you don't like a hand full of steering than get an SP2 because they moved the engine back to put more weight on the rear of the buggy giving you more rear traction and slowing the normally quick oversteer that the mp777 and kyosho sp1 has. The hyper was a great buggy but you might feel limited by it if you ever get into more serious highly competative racing. It all depends on your driving style really. If you get ANY rtr ofna don't even bother running with the stock radio or servos. Pretty much any radio is better than the one that comes in all of ofnas rtr buggies. I run a JR XS3 which is a very good radio for $200. You never need to worry about conflicting channels because all of them are programed right into the radio and if your on a test and tune day by yourself there is a lap counter on the radio. Everytime you cross a certain point on the track there is a button you hit with your thumb that will top that lap and start counting the next. When you finish you can scroll back threw and you can run up to 50 recorded laps. I run futaba servos because they are deffinatly the most reliable servos you can buy. I have ran JR servos and especially the JR590 servo i used for the steering would just loose torque after so much abuse from racing. I have NEVER had to replace a futaba servo for any reason as long as you use it correctly. (example: don't use a standard throttle servo for steering ). I run the futaba 3010 for throttle and you can go to a higher torque servo if you need some more pull for the brakes and 3305 metal gear high torque for the steering.

all of your suggestions sound great, but is there anything that really isnt that expensive considering that ia m a poor college student and have a tight budget to live off of. thanks

How much do you want to spend and what are you planning on doing with the buggy? You can get a OFNA TQ kit for $240 from Tower Hobbies and then they have the discount codes. Thats about the least expensive kit out there. Then you can pick what motor, radio, and servos you want.

is that better than the ravager which comes in an rtr version. I want to spend about 300 for the kit.

youre not gonna get much for 300.00 sorry but 1/8th scales are kinda pricey even for middle of the road stuff. you should save up 500.00 and get a rtr sportwerks mayhem thease are great bugs and they come with an fm jr synthisized radio and good servos. you can take this bug to the local track and run with high end bugs and they are easy to get parts for and have proven to be very durable my buddy has one and im nothing short of imperssed with it. if youre on a budget save the extra dough and buy a mayhem i think you will be happy this way cause if you buy any other rtr kit you wont be satisfied with the radio or the servos and you will replace them and that right there will be more exspensive than a mayhem. sportwerks has the best radio stuff period. oh and the engines that come with them are very fast and very easy to tune and cheap to buy parts for. give it some thought do it right the first time and this hobby will be much more fun trust me!!! good luck dude[8D]

The Mayhem does have the best motor and radio of any RTR. Thats were it ends. Im sorry but its the worst driving buggy out of the box Ive seen/driven. One of the guys at my local track asked me what he could do to his Mayhem to make it better... I told him to lift up the motor and radio and slip another buggy under it. Now if your just bashing its OK but for racing on a track I would say stay away from it.
Now the Ravager is just a 9.5 with a bigger motor. You still would want to upgrade the servos and radio. Now is $300 the total your planning on spending? If so your kind of screwed. You can get the TQ kit for about $220 after discouts at Tower but then you need a motor (OS21RG $110) and a radio and servos. Now you can get an OFNA Comp for under $300. Call Ultimate Hobbies and see what price they will give you. You might be able to get it for $250 or less. You can get by for a while with the stock radio but you really need a better steering servo (Futaba 3305 for $35).

I just checked Ultimate Hobbies (714-921-0424) and they have the OFNA Comp listed for $289 but if you call them they will give you a lower price on it.

hey thanks alot for the advice i will call and see what kind of deal i will be able to get. i was just hoping to spend as little as possible because i am in college and on a budget, but from waht you have said i will check it out and hopefully get a good deal.

one more question about the ofna comp, will i need to do other things to the car besides the servo or will that be a pretty good basher/ light racer buggy. I just want something that i will be able to have some fun with and that puts out nice results.

Its really not bad right out of the box once you upgrade the steering servo. The motor is not the big power house racing motor but its not bad and its pretty easy to tune. Later you will probably want to replace the grease in the diffs with oil but its not a big deal. I ran mine a long time with the grease. Really the main upgrades at first are the steering servo and get a receiver battery pack. It will up the power of the servos and save you money on batts. Those akalines dont last long and get expensive really quick.

is the ravager a better buggy it is almost about the same price and i was just curious as to how fast they go. sorry to keep bother ing you with stupid questions but appreciate the advice!!

I wouldnt say its a better buggy. Your going to pay about $100 or more for it than the Comp and really the only thing you will get is a .28 motor instead of a .26.

Normally top speed isn't an issue especially racing but sense your bashing thats a different story. You can always change the clutch bell gear to something with 1 or 2 more teeth to get more top speed if you want it but the ravager is basically a comp buggy with a big .28 size motor on it. I can't tell you how fast it will go because I have no idea but most rtr buggies do somewhere in the 40 to 50mph range. The Ofna force .26 that comes in the comp is somewhat of a cheap motor they do get some odd problems with them at times and they run hot compaired to most motors but I don't know how that .28 that comes in the ravager will be for a motor.

Mayhem might hit close 55 with the large restricter plate that comes with it and some room. If you do end up with some extra cash and get a mayhem and race on a built track with it the handling really does suck out of the box. There are people who run the at my local track and changing to medium springs and some small adjustments to shock position really helped those buggies a lot and handle pretty close to the higher end kyoshos. ANY buggy you get is going to need some tweeking (some more than others) to get it handling right on track so just ask around for tips... as for bashing just start it up and beat the hell out of it.

sweet thanks for the help i really appreciate the advice

The LX Comp is a good choice. But if you get it, then you should be sure to tighten all screws and use threadlock before you drive it! I learned that the hard way[:@]

Don't spend the extra money for the ravager. It's better to save them for parts, plugs, fuel etc...

You cant compare an ULTRA LX COMP with the ravager. The ULTRA LX COMP is good for it price, but it worth the diference with the Ravager. The Ravager have a lot of setting you can adjust, just like Shock, Toes in, Toes Out and even the camber angle. For start, the Ultra will be ok, but the Ravager is a Better buggy.

Dude I hate to break it to you but you can adjust all those things on the Comp also. In fact you can do more. The Ravager has a C-hub front end so you cant adjust the Castor setting but you can on the Comp in about 2 seconds by moving the spacers on the top arm. Ive raced with a Comp and done well with it. Since he is on a budget a $100 difference is a lot. In fact its enough to get a radio and steering servo.

sweet i think i am going to go ahead and get the comp as a little birthday present to myself!!!!

Carl I sujest you don't assume so much .

Doesn't the ravager have extended arms like the violater? Im not sure but i think it does. but knowing me im probably wrong.

The LX Comp and the Violator has the same arms giving them a 330 mm track.
The Ravager has a 310 mm track.

I think wider arms are better for bashing cause they give you better control but not legal for racing.