All in all, what i would recommend for you comes down to your skill level and preference. If you want just a plug in and go kinda rc, go with electric. less maintainence, easy to use, easier to work on, low downtime. Not as appealing to the ear as nitro unless you live around neighborhoods with old hags lol. Nitro on the other hand requires more skill and knowledge with nitro motors and how it all works. requires more hands on and keeping an eye on things longer downtimes due to cleanings and keeping up with it, though very fun with the high speeds and loudness of the motor screaming at 30,000rpm!! Its like driving a real car, either you can or you just cant. for a beginner, i would recommend electric. for someone more experienced in the hobby and engines, give nitro a try. Just my two cents. hope it helps and good luck.</p>

Last time I was in the States at a big LHS, the only people coming in asking for help were guys with electric Revos with fried ESC's or whatever.. Electric is hardly maintenance or knowhow-free...



NITRO IS NOT HARD.

Totally disagree.

The answer to the original question is, yes, as long as it's not a Traxxas RTR engine.

LRP 28 and 30, Dynamite 454, Big Red 28, Mach 427, stock Savage X 4.6 engine, are YES VERY MUCH ALL THAT EASY TO TUNE. I've had many of them now, and would not continue to be into it if they were a hassle.

I would say the rate of "troublemakers" is absolutely no different than with electric. I'm sure some guys buy lipos and have problems, and others who buy the same brand don't, etc.. Throughout RC you can have quality issues, but that applies to everything, and not nitro moreso than other areas. Fuel, plugs, servos, even RC's themselves.. I have two LST2's, and while one has been absolutely hassle-free, the second one has often been a PIA(though fair enough I have modded this one more.. So more hassle is to be expected.. But there have also been quality issues.. It arrived with the bumper broken for ex...)

I have owned all of the MT's mentioned in this thread at one point or another. from the ones mentioned I would recommend the Losi XXL or the MGT 8.0 over the Savage XL. the XXL is probablt just slightly better quallity of the others especially when you consider the radio gear and engine that it comes with. The Losi 454/LRP.28 is an awesome engine!! HPI' 5.9 leaves something to be desired it doesn't tune as well as the others and many people say just sell it before you ever put a drop of fuel in it and buy a different engine right of the bat. The MGT is probably my favorite MT out of all the ones I've had. the engine was great! it has a very wide tuning window and was one of the easiest engines to start I have had. the only issue I had with that engine was that it is a gas pig. you will go through fuel in a hurry with it. the MGT 8.0 is huge, loves to do wheelies, is quite fast I never gps'ed it but I would say it falls into the mid 40MPH range. What set it apart though from the thers it that it is easier to work on. you don't have to tear half of the truck apart if you want to get to the diffs or the tranny like you do with the Savage or Losi.

Good points yakfish, but 1.) brushless will also destroy diffs and drivetrains - even moreso.., and 2.) Losi diffs a.) are very, very tough and reliable, and never need work, and 2.) they are actually extremely accessible.. Just did one last weekend.. Was surprised how easy it was to get out...(Gears and housings and everything were fine btw.. Just two years old, so the bearings needed replacing... )

Disagree all you want, I'm speaking from personal experience with literally dozens of nitro engines over the years. Some engines are troublemakers, why only right now, I have a friend who's stock engine in his Bullet MT is a little ballbreaker, where normally those engines virtually tune themselves. I'm sure if I changed the carb it would behave better, but hey, I think it's good experience for the guy to have a finnicky engine for his first, things can only get better for him from there. I've also had a few HPI 4.6s that all behaved TOTALLY differently, some ran hot, some cool, some were a pain to tune, some weren't. I've also had very consistent RB v12 based engines I used to race. The difference you pay at the top compared to at the bottom relates directly to the quality of product you get, but I can also say that each one of those RBs, none of which were difficult to break in or tune, had different personalities on the track. This is something you start to realise when you can turn in 10 laps all within a half second of each other, then all of a sudden all the tiny changes that occur on your car are immediately noticeable, including the personalities of engines which effectively perform the same, just are somehow different. Who said anything about electric? Of course you have problematic electrics sometimes, once again you get what you pay for.

Yeh, a high quality high voltage brushless setup is hard on drivetrains, that's what you get when you triple the torque compared to nitro. Fun though, it still raises the hairs on the back of my neck when I'm rolling along at 50mph and gun it and hold the wheelie with everyone around me staring in wonder and awe at the speed, power and control (haha, I know it's not difficult, but hey, it looks really impressive ). My truggy used to bring the bashspot to a standstill, literally.

Still wrong. It is simply no longer the case that you have to pay a fortune for a good nitro engine(talking 1/8 buggy racing here, THE class for nitro engines..)

Even RB is now producing in Taiwan.

You don't need a $400 Novarossi to race. A $200 Argus will do JUST FINE.

As for more RTR bashing MT's and other "fun" RC's, for 26's and 28's, LRP Spec 3 or Dynamite Big Red all day. NO probs..

I busted one of my LST2's out the other day. Broke it in over two years ago, and barely ran this year at all, and only very little last year.. Probably has max one gallon on it.. Have done ZERO maintenance to it other than sealing the backplate and carb throat at the beginning.. And it ran just great:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeBRnW1ct-c

I bought this engine when it was going for $130 at www.amainhobbies.com . It works GREAT with the stock Losi LST2/XXL pipe, and surely would too with a stock HPI polished on the Savage or MGT pipe or whatever.. You can break this engine in in five tanks and off you go. Cheap, tunes easily, great power. NO problem...

And to me and lots of other nitro fans it at least sounds cooler than any electric toy ever will, with three times or a hundred times or however much torque... Electrics are fine - run them if that's what you want. But when you start talking trash about it, be ready for the comments about them being like watching an action movie or NFL game on mute. Cuz to me that's what they're like. Seriously, ANYBODY, go to your local track and watch a nitro buggy race, then an electric race. Night and day levels of exhileration for me. Maybe not for everybody. But for LOTS of people I'm pretty sure the same applies.

In response to the OP, if this is your first foray into the hobby, go nitro. It's a side of the hobby that we all should experience, it's great, all nitro cars are fast (can't say that of electric), they make a great noise and smell, and they teach you valuable hobby lessons. Later you may fancy getting an electric just to see what fus is about, you may like it, you may not, it just doesnt do it for some people, electric truly has no soul. But that's not what it's about for electric lovers, it's about pushing the limits in terms of power and speed, it's a different buzz, I don't NEED my electrics to have soul, that's why I have the nitros and gassers, I need them to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I pull outrageous tricks at high speed.

Good lord. What is your problem?

RB wasn't producing in Taiwan when I as racing, but that's so not the point of what I was saying.

I never said anything about needing expensive engines to race, I said more expensive engines are more consistent.

I just don't get what you mean there, sorry.

Er...ok. What was your point here?

Dude are you feeling ok, I haven't said anything bad about nitro nor ever will, I love nitro, I only ever raced nitro classes, or have you STILL not realised that? Stop the electric hate, it's eating you inside. []

Whatever chief..


Point is, I'm dispelling the myth propogated by people, yourself included and sometimes foremost, that nitro is hard or difficult.., that you're likely to get a difficult engine, one engine of the same brand and model is different from the next, etc.. That's all.

He asked if all engines were as easy to tune as the one in the video. The answer is no. Plain and simple. I never told anyone nitro is hard. I've told people it's trickier than electric, but I never implied that was a negative thing. I think everyone should try nitro first, it's the soul of the surface hobby.

WWWHHAAAAATTT!? I never accused you of being uncivil, nor was uncivil to you, I did not spread any false info, and please, this I gotta see, quote me where I talked ANY trash about nitro. Get over myself? Whoa...

Well then maybe there was a misunderstanding. The engine in the video the guy asked about is the rule, not the exception. That is how nitro engines work. The exceptions are for ex Traxxas RTR engines, by many accounts, and some of the cheaper low-level stuff. My point was just that you can get a good, easy-to-tune nitro engine for an MT with good power for a good price, and IT'S NOT HARD. I keep seeing people say that - or things to that effect ("requires lots of maintenance", etc..), and it's just not true. Unless maybe you're buying the wrong stuff. But then that applies to everything in RC.

I agree with you in all respects, except I see it as a direct comparison. No, nitro is not 'too much maintenance', but it is 'more maintenance', there's a scale when it comes to maintenance...from most to least, nitro...brushed electric...gas...brushless electric. But I'll be the first to say it's worth it. The first time you hear a nitro engine scream is just bliss, I envy new guys to the hobby to have that first nitro experience, I remember I was like 'This is the coolest thing in the world. Ever.' when I got my first nitro.

I don't follow the Flux threads(obvioiusly ha ha..), but I can well imagine there are significant maintenance issues - moreso than with nitro Savages because it's electric.. - not with the motor, etc.. maybe, but with the drivetrain, rounded out hubs, lipo problems, etc.. So there is just one other angle from which to neutralize the "argument" that nitro is more maintenance than electric.

A Savage drivetrain IMO can barely handle an LRP Spec 3 .28, not to mention some modded Picco 28. And if it can't do that, what happens in a Flux on 6S?

I'm not trying to argue or be a jerk. Just saying.. I think there are legitimate points to be made in an effort to correct a lot of these falsehoods and incomplete comments people spread around..

Again, run what you want. But if it's got any significant level of performance to it, you're going to be doing maintenance whatever the power source. And no, not more with nitro. Your hands might get dirtier, OK, but I honestly don't think, at least in 1/8 scale with big speed and power RC's, you're going to be any better off maintenance-wise with electric. In fact, you might have more work to do replacing diffs and wheels and whatever else...

Foxy is right guys. There are certain engines that will be a bitc* to tune, and some that will do it themselves per say. Some engines are easier to tune, while others give you trouble. To handle all the changes, your skill on the topic should tell you what to buy. My first nitro was the old savage .21 that i bought used. I'd have to tune it every other week. my buddy had the same savage with a brand new never broke in xtm motor. he had more trouble tuning than i did. I like nitro because of the noise and the smell of nitro and the overall driving experience. But some nitro items can be pricey. I went to electric after 6 years of getting rid of the savage. i got the bandit vxl. blazing fast and fun, but didnt seem the same, but was still awsome. so my point being... if the OP has experience in nitro and has the money, get a nitro man! you will learn more about rc's with a nitro and hand on experience with a nitro than an electric. </p>

I would reply to this thread, but i dont even think i would know where to start.

Bottom line is that nitro is great if you are into engines and like tinkering. Electric is good if you want something plug and play. Take your pick and enjoy.

Like this one:

This USED to be the case. Sure, the savage driveline was a little weak way back when. However, now, every savage comes with bulletproof diffs, HD dogbones, etc... The driveline is far from weak. The losi has its own driveline issues, but i wont get into that.

There were plenty of guys over a long of period of time complaining of their Savage XL transmissions blowing up with even stock Piccos.. Maybe the diffs themselves have improved, but overall the Savage drivetrain is still questionable.. That of the Losi MT's is frankly not. And yes that is fairly objective, having spent enough time on both Savage and Losi forums for the last 5+ years. You just don't see people having issues with stock LST's like you do with Savages...

I think a Savage X 4.6 is a great RC to get started. And I'll even allow that quality may have improved since I had mine.. But put in bigger, more powerful engines, and I'm not so sure.. And that's just keeping things to quality. Not to even start in on handling, etc.. But this Savage vs. Losi talk is beside the point, so leave it...

In any case, I don't have a Flux, and again, don't bother reading about them. But I seriously doubt a Flux even on 4S is going to be less maintanance than an X4.6.. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if it were more.

You really think all these people would be so happy with the flux if it was busting the driveline all the time? The driveline speaks for itself in these situations....

Since i managed to strip gears in the losi driveline with the stock mach 427... Well i think its as "questionable" as anything.

Your somehow managing to strip gears, something I have never done in five years, and for the last 2-3 with two LST2's, while actually jumping and running mine hard, tells me that any such failure was YOUR mistake, and not the truck's.

Nobody strips LST2 gears...

I guess now you'll start in with your expert input on "boiling fuel"...

save your money and go strait into gasoline. sitting here thinking of selling off most of my nitro and electric stuff for all gassers. decisions decisions.

I had a couple other people on the LST forums say they had done the same thing. Funny my savage with over 11 gallons on the transmission is still going great and never been opened up. Whatever it is i do, apparently my savage can handle it, but the losi couldnt?

Losi's new entry into the 1/5 gas market is finally making them interesting... But you're in a whole different league of costs then.. Double, if not more, than a decent 1/8..

That Losi is awfully cool though...

Still, I anyway won't be going that route.. Too expensive, too few places to run..(both those are significant enough issues as is...) If you got the dough and areas for running them though, then great..

Couple points: 1.) you've only ever had, what, an Axial 28 in your Savage? Yes, a Savage transmission will handle a stock RTR engine..(or it's twin, in the case of the older K4.6 and Axial 28) And 2.) "whatever it is you do" with your Savage is obviously not very much.. You don't jump or really bash from what I have seen. Put an LRP 30 or Picco 28, or even an LRP Spec 3 in your Savage, jump it some and let loose, then see how things go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us5hIGH0Dac