nitrosportsandrunner

nothing wrong with going with the nitro rustler...or a nitro slash for that matter. but as you know from the nitro vee, a nitro model takes more work.
If you do decide to go with electric instead, I suggest sticking with a 1/10 scale model. The mini Erevo is decent, but IMO a brushed slash/stampede or even rustler is more fun. Even tho the mini Erevo is 4wd, it is still short with small tires. It flips over easy, has less ground clearance and can get stuck off road easier than a 1/10 model.
I think short course trucks make the best bashers. They are fun offroad, as well as onroad. Especially ones like the team associated SC10...which is tough and can take a beating but also handles very well. A brushed version is $200 (no battery included tho) and is plenty quick. I have the SC10 rs (brushless) and I got mine, plus a 5000mah 2s lipo off tower hobbies for $310 shipped (free shipping with tower member and $40 off coupon) Im not sure what a mini Erevo VXL runs, but I would take my sc10 rs over one any day.

what I can say for sure, is that I prefer electric over nitro. Nitro is "cooler" cause it is a engine and it is loud....but I often run my models at the lake, the parks where I take the kids and on my own street. All of those places a much quieter electric model is the way to go. And if you go brushless, you can have a model that is just as fast. Or if you can spend the money, even fast. a traxxas slash vxl on 3s will be much faster than a nitro rustler.

nitroexpress

Some years ago I raced at an smallish outdoor (actually setup at a pole barn on fairgrounds property). When the electric vehicles were running, the kids took some notice and then wandered away. When the nitros were running, the kids tended to flock and stay longer.

The thrill of running an electric vehicle can be great. But electric lacks the total package. How thrilling can electric drag racing be? To some, the sound of performance isn't worth the slight inconveniences of nitro. It isn't worth the increased knowledge base. And that's fine. What ever fits.

I have seen a few 8 and 10 year olds that were really into vehicle maintenance, but not many. So the safe play for someone 10 or under would probably be electric.

nitrosportsandrunner

the funny thing for me, is that 90% of the people who question my about my rc's Think the ARE nitros! It is the speed of the brushless models that fools them. most RTR brushed models fall 5-15mph short of the top speed of a average nitro. But many brushless models on 2s will match a nitro and have slightly faster acceleration.
But I get what you mean, the noise, the smoke and the fumes are part of the draw. When people say to me "that is a nitro right?" I say, you would know if it were a nitro, it would be a lot louder! And I wouldn't be driving it at the park around little kids, lol.

blackrain

I was doing the same debate for my 2 boys who are 10 and 9. If you go electric they can take them out and run them without supervision. Were the problem comes in they like to run there cars consecutive times with no waiting for batteries to charge. When it comes to nitro they will need supervision but be able to run multiple tanks and keep the fun going. I was looking at a Ofna lx2e or a nitro Monster gt i am leaning more towards the nitro

nitrosportsandrunner

runtime used to be an issue for me as well. but between brushless and lipo batteries that is not so big an issue. most 1/10 trucks and buggies with a brushless motor and a 2s 5000mah battery will run 25-30 minutes (depending on gearing and how they are driven) That is not bad considering they can be recharged in just over an hour (balance charged) and cost $30-$40 per battery.
so, the runtime of 1 battery is about 2 tanks of fuel.
come equipped with 2 batteries and that is close to 1 hour of tuntime. for me that is more than enough play time.
My son is 4 years old and just started driving. He has a monster radio shack 4wd truck with hobby grade brushed electronics. he can still get 15-20 minutes of runtime on a 4200mah nimh battery.
And when I let him drive my SC10rs that is brushless, I turn down the throttle end points so that the truck cant go faster than 15mph. at that speed with the 2s 5000mah pack, he could likely drive for an hour before the pack would need to be recharged.
That is a far cry from when I started and had 15 turn brushed motors and would only get 5-12 minutes on the nimh batteries I had!

I realize it can get expensive if you have 2 kids....that would be 4 lipos plus a decent charger. you are looking at $200-$225 just for your power source. But nitro fuel is $35-$40 a gallon and with 2 kids id bet you can use 2 gallons in a summer. Then you also need air filter oil, after run oil, stuff to clean the models, a nimh battery if it has electric start (and a charger for that) and rechargeable glow plug warmers, extra glow plugs ect.
To me, the total cost either way ends up being pretty close to the same money. with brushless/lipo, you just spend more of the money up front.

I know the ofna's are tough and can take a beating...whether in nitro or electric form.

Im sure at some point when my son as older, I will share the fun of a nitro model with him. but I would not get him a nitro as his primary RC.
It is nice with electric, I can just throw it in the car and when we get to the park or rec or wherever, I just throw on the switch and hand him the remote and off he goes.

as my user name suggest....my 1st hobby grade was a traxxas nitro sport SE. slapped sand paddle tires on it and when it ran well it was a blast! but near 50% of the time I took it out I had some sort of issue (not always nitro related...snapped driveshaft, stripped spur gear, some of the same stuff that can happen with electrics) and a bad tune or hole in the exhaust pipe or other similar nitro issue could ruin the day. When it ran well, and I could go 2-3 tanks without a problem I loved it. and compared to the brushed electrics of the day, it was much faster!
A year or so after the nitro sport I got my first brushless...a rustler vxl, and with a 3s lipo to boot. no longer was nitro my primary RC. I will take a brushless model over a nitro most days. When I do have a nitro model in my stable, it only gets taken out when I have a long afternoon to play with RC stuff. They just take more time. But the fumes and sound are worth it.

phmaximus

On thing that annoyed me about my nitro's, they all had nimh rechargeable packs... And charging at 1c they took just as long as my electric cars to charge. And then as they got old I was lucky to see 2-3 tanks before it was flat again.

One thing that might hurt nitro in these debits over the next few years...
if/when fast charge lipo's and chargers become more affordable....
imagine when 5c charge rate batteries are the normal.... That's only 15min for any size, high mah, low mah it doesn't matter at 15c they all charge in the same time.... All u would need is 2 batteries for continuous running/charging.... And what's 15min?? A coffee and a smoke

nitrosportsandrunner

I charge my packs all at 1c. for a 5000mah that is just over 1 hour. 1 hour for charging for almost .5 hours of driving isn't bad.
And I use 30-40c discharge packs. But you can certainly spend more and get higher discharge packs that can then be charged at 2 or maybe even 3 or 4.
Granted, you have to spend more on a charger...my thunder AC6 is limited to 5 amps (5amps is 1c for a 5000mah battery)
but you also have the option these days to buy huge packs with insane MAh....like 10,000! Even 5400 to 6200mah packs are seen often in 1/10 scale models.

I use $35 2s lipo packs and a $50 charger. about the only thing that combo will not do is charge 2 batteries at the same time. but there are $100 lipo chargers that can do 2 or more packs at 5amps. when my boy is old enough to upgrade to brushless, I will likely upgrade my charger to a duel charger at that time.

at the race track, I can run a 5000mah lipo for 25 minutes of practice. slap it on the charger, and by the time the 2nd battery is done the 1st battery has nearly a 50% charge in it. that makes another 10 or so minutes. so on just 2 packs I can get an hour easy at the track.
If I had a duel charger and 3 packs, I could get about over 2 hours of continuous runtime (run 1, put on charger, run 2nd, put on charger, run 3rd, now the 1st pack is charged, run it, now the 2nd pack is charged (or very close to it) ect.

I usually used AA batteries in my nitros. nitro seems less effective if I have to worry about charging a battery. when a AA dies, you just pop in a new one, no need to wait. Tho, this means keeping AA and D's (for glow warmer) on hand but it means not getting out to the park only to realize that your rx pack or glow plug warmer needs to be charged.

Traxxas_Vee6

Thanks, ill make sure to check out the slash
if I do go electric ill probably get the rustler vxl or as you said the slash
I am still leaning toward nitro tho ever since I saw my uncle drive his nitro truck I fell in love with nitros and always wanted one besides the vee. I am also pretty good with engines so I don't think that would be much of a problem. The only real problem with electric cars for me is buying the battery, but the acceleration and speed on the brushless is crazy.but thanks for the reply nitrosportsandrunner.

Traxxas_Vee6

I've narrowed it down to the nitro rustler vs nitro slash. which one

nitrosportsandrunner

did you look at the brushed, or the brushless slash? brushed isn't that impressive. brushless can be fast tho.

the slash gets the 3.3 (maybe the rustler does to, last I knew it had the 2.5) but ive seen running video of them and it is crazy to see a nitro short course truck that can pull wheelies!

Traxxas_Vee6

^ yeah I looked at the slash vxl (brushless) I just really like the nitros lol

the nitro slash does have the 3.3 which impressed me even more because of the price of $344.97 which isn't too much more than the nitro rustler which has the 2.5 in it for $312.99

I also watched some videos and liked what I saw!

Traxxas_Vee6

what does "short course mean" and how is it different from other car/trucks
still learning the terms

phmaximus

Nothing wrong with liking nitro's.... Only thing I thing is both the nitro rustler and slash are not the best bang for buck nitro. Have u thought about different manufactures?

Traxxas_Vee6

^No I have not, but I will if you suggest some manufactures or cars (either nitro or electric, but im still leaning towards nitro)

nitroexpress

http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2011...course-racing/

ghostofpf1

LOL...all that bickering scared the OP off.