one vehicle missing from the hobby world
06-20-2016 | 12:36 PM
#1
Thread Starter
one vehicle missing from the hobby world
picking up where the tyco rebound left off, the nikko vaporizr 2 is a 4wd, tank steer RC that can also go in water.
While that is cool, for most of us the hard plastic tires which lack traction, the 9mph top speed and short runtimes would dampen the fun.
But no vehicle like this exists in the hobby rc world.
Now, just imagine a larger version, with Emaxx sized tires, capable of 30mph, with proportional steering! That would certainly be a blast to drive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM3ClJqTtRE
While that is cool, for most of us the hard plastic tires which lack traction, the 9mph top speed and short runtimes would dampen the fun.
But no vehicle like this exists in the hobby rc world.
Now, just imagine a larger version, with Emaxx sized tires, capable of 30mph, with proportional steering! That would certainly be a blast to drive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM3ClJqTtRE
06-21-2016 | 10:41 AM
#3
Thread Starter
that kind of project has crossed my mind!
but I cant see it being done cheaply. for one, other than some rc tanks or the kyosho blizzard, I don't know of any hobby rc that has tank steer to uses as a platform to build on.
Any homemade setup would require 2 esc's and a airplane "v tail" splitter. And you would need ESC's with a crawler mode....any esc with a reverse delay causes a problem with steering.
hobby grade RC wheels would have to be modified in order to not let water in.
Making the rest of the rig waterproof wouldn't be that hard, especially if waterproof electronics were used.
on the other hand, for a RC company to design something, I can see the finished product being $200-$250. If the tires were big enough (or chassis thin enough) to allow for good ground clearance, then you would have a RC capable of going on nearly any terrain.
anyway, Im still debating if I want to try a 1/8 RWD on road build this summer. Something RWD, with motor up front, solid rear axle and a pan car like chassis with a toy-hard plastic body.
I bought the nikko vaporizr, it will be delivered tomorrow. We have a lake nearby we take the kids to. sand/grass/dirt and water...perfect testing grounds for the vaporizr.
It is amazing that it costs $30. I recently bought a $30 rc buggy from walmart....it had a 6.4v lion battery and was very light...but only went 5mph! And it didn't even accelerate to that speed very well. The vaporizr is 4wd and nearly double the speed and even has a longer runtime!
The toy grade rc world is a strange place. There are a few models that stand out, that do as advertised and are great performance for the money. most though, are junk, underwhelming and underperforming. Some are just plain slow, some can't turn for crap and others have crazy short runtimes.
but I cant see it being done cheaply. for one, other than some rc tanks or the kyosho blizzard, I don't know of any hobby rc that has tank steer to uses as a platform to build on.
Any homemade setup would require 2 esc's and a airplane "v tail" splitter. And you would need ESC's with a crawler mode....any esc with a reverse delay causes a problem with steering.
hobby grade RC wheels would have to be modified in order to not let water in.
Making the rest of the rig waterproof wouldn't be that hard, especially if waterproof electronics were used.
on the other hand, for a RC company to design something, I can see the finished product being $200-$250. If the tires were big enough (or chassis thin enough) to allow for good ground clearance, then you would have a RC capable of going on nearly any terrain.
anyway, Im still debating if I want to try a 1/8 RWD on road build this summer. Something RWD, with motor up front, solid rear axle and a pan car like chassis with a toy-hard plastic body.
I bought the nikko vaporizr, it will be delivered tomorrow. We have a lake nearby we take the kids to. sand/grass/dirt and water...perfect testing grounds for the vaporizr.
It is amazing that it costs $30. I recently bought a $30 rc buggy from walmart....it had a 6.4v lion battery and was very light...but only went 5mph! And it didn't even accelerate to that speed very well. The vaporizr is 4wd and nearly double the speed and even has a longer runtime!
The toy grade rc world is a strange place. There are a few models that stand out, that do as advertised and are great performance for the money. most though, are junk, underwhelming and underperforming. Some are just plain slow, some can't turn for crap and others have crazy short runtimes.
06-21-2016 | 10:48 AM
#4
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that kind of project has crossed my mind!
but I cant see it being done cheaply. for one, other than some rc tanks or the kyosho blizzard, I don't know of any hobby rc that has tank steer to uses as a platform to build on.
Any homemade setup would require 2 esc's and a airplane "v tail" splitter. And you would need ESC's with a crawler mode....any esc with a reverse delay causes a problem with steering.
hobby grade RC wheels would have to be modified in order to not let water in.
Making the rest of the rig waterproof wouldn't be that hard, especially if waterproof electronics were used.
on the other hand, for a RC company to design something, I can see the finished product being $200-$250. If the tires were big enough (or chassis thin enough) to allow for good ground clearance, then you would have a RC capable of going on nearly any terrain.
anyway, Im still debating if I want to try a 1/8 RWD on road build this summer. Something RWD, with motor up front, solid rear axle and a pan car like chassis with a toy-hard plastic body.
I bought the nikko vaporizr, it will be delivered tomorrow. We have a lake nearby we take the kids to. sand/grass/dirt and water...perfect testing grounds for the vaporizr.
It is amazing that it costs $30. I recently bought a $30 rc buggy from walmart....it had a 6.4v lion battery and was very light...but only went 5mph! And it didn't even accelerate to that speed very well. The vaporizr is 4wd and nearly double the speed and even has a longer runtime!
The toy grade rc world is a strange place. There are a few models that stand out, that do as advertised and are great performance for the money. most though, are junk, underwhelming and underperforming. Some are just plain slow, some can't turn for crap and others have crazy short runtimes.
but I cant see it being done cheaply. for one, other than some rc tanks or the kyosho blizzard, I don't know of any hobby rc that has tank steer to uses as a platform to build on.
Any homemade setup would require 2 esc's and a airplane "v tail" splitter. And you would need ESC's with a crawler mode....any esc with a reverse delay causes a problem with steering.
hobby grade RC wheels would have to be modified in order to not let water in.
Making the rest of the rig waterproof wouldn't be that hard, especially if waterproof electronics were used.
on the other hand, for a RC company to design something, I can see the finished product being $200-$250. If the tires were big enough (or chassis thin enough) to allow for good ground clearance, then you would have a RC capable of going on nearly any terrain.
anyway, Im still debating if I want to try a 1/8 RWD on road build this summer. Something RWD, with motor up front, solid rear axle and a pan car like chassis with a toy-hard plastic body.
I bought the nikko vaporizr, it will be delivered tomorrow. We have a lake nearby we take the kids to. sand/grass/dirt and water...perfect testing grounds for the vaporizr.
It is amazing that it costs $30. I recently bought a $30 rc buggy from walmart....it had a 6.4v lion battery and was very light...but only went 5mph! And it didn't even accelerate to that speed very well. The vaporizr is 4wd and nearly double the speed and even has a longer runtime!
The toy grade rc world is a strange place. There are a few models that stand out, that do as advertised and are great performance for the money. most though, are junk, underwhelming and underperforming. Some are just plain slow, some can't turn for crap and others have crazy short runtimes.
06-22-2016 | 09:50 AM
#5
Thread Starter
some pics
I drove it for a few seconds before putting the battery on the charger. The battery didn't have enough juice for wheelies or 360 spins, but it did indeed get up to 9mph.
The tires are very hard. So on smooth surfaces they will struggle a bit for traction.
This version is different from the original which I had read about. The first version you have to remove the body to load the battery and the antenna stuck out of the body which caused some to damage the antenna.
This one the battery loads in the bottom. Two slide locks and a screw hold the battery door (which has a rubber seal) in place.
The vehicle has more heft to it than I was expecting. That makes me doubt a bit the 30-40 minute runtimes Ive read about. The 6v pack is no bigger than any other ive seen, and given that the speed is good as is the torque I don't see how it could give that kind of runtime unless it were lighter. But Ill know later today after running it with a fully charged pack.
did I mention that this model clearly stated the Actual speed and the radio distance (normal and on water) on the box? Not some random scale speed either, it says 9.3mph. 66' range in the open, 33' range on water or indoors. Those are indeed short range, but considering the antenna is hidden inside the body and top speed is 9mph I don't think the range is going to be a problem. Im sure it can only go a couple of MPH on water so 30' should be fine.
The price for this thing most places is $50. But on amazon it was $30.
I drove it for a few seconds before putting the battery on the charger. The battery didn't have enough juice for wheelies or 360 spins, but it did indeed get up to 9mph.
The tires are very hard. So on smooth surfaces they will struggle a bit for traction.
This version is different from the original which I had read about. The first version you have to remove the body to load the battery and the antenna stuck out of the body which caused some to damage the antenna.
This one the battery loads in the bottom. Two slide locks and a screw hold the battery door (which has a rubber seal) in place.
The vehicle has more heft to it than I was expecting. That makes me doubt a bit the 30-40 minute runtimes Ive read about. The 6v pack is no bigger than any other ive seen, and given that the speed is good as is the torque I don't see how it could give that kind of runtime unless it were lighter. But Ill know later today after running it with a fully charged pack.
did I mention that this model clearly stated the Actual speed and the radio distance (normal and on water) on the box? Not some random scale speed either, it says 9.3mph. 66' range in the open, 33' range on water or indoors. Those are indeed short range, but considering the antenna is hidden inside the body and top speed is 9mph I don't think the range is going to be a problem. Im sure it can only go a couple of MPH on water so 30' should be fine.
The price for this thing most places is $50. But on amazon it was $30.
06-22-2016 | 01:21 PM
#6
Thread Starter
well, looks like the one I got came with a bad battery.
after charging it goes fine in a straight line and can turn with one side moving and the other not, but try to do a 360 turn (one side going forward and the other reverse) and it sometimes can barely do it and other times the motors just stall. Its like the voltage is there but not the amperage. On top of that, it only ran for 5 minutes. Looks like I will be returning this one and getting another one.
after charging it goes fine in a straight line and can turn with one side moving and the other not, but try to do a 360 turn (one side going forward and the other reverse) and it sometimes can barely do it and other times the motors just stall. Its like the voltage is there but not the amperage. On top of that, it only ran for 5 minutes. Looks like I will be returning this one and getting another one.
06-26-2016 | 11:25 AM
#7
that kind of project has crossed my mind!
but I cant see it being done cheaply. for one, other than some rc tanks or the kyosho blizzard, I don't know of any hobby rc that has tank steer to uses as a platform to build on.
Any homemade setup would require 2 esc's and a airplane "v tail" splitter. And you would need ESC's with a crawler mode....any esc with a reverse delay causes a problem with steering.
hobby grade RC wheels would have to be modified in order to not let water in.
Making the rest of the rig waterproof wouldn't be that hard, especially if waterproof electronics were used.
on the other hand, for a RC company to design something, I can see the finished product being $200-$250. If the tires were big enough (or chassis thin enough) to allow for good ground clearance, then you would have a RC capable of going on nearly any terrain.
anyway, Im still debating if I want to try a 1/8 RWD on road build this summer. Something RWD, with motor up front, solid rear axle and a pan car like chassis with a toy-hard plastic body.
I bought the nikko vaporizr, it will be delivered tomorrow. We have a lake nearby we take the kids to. sand/grass/dirt and water...perfect testing grounds for the vaporizr.
It is amazing that it costs $30. I recently bought a $30 rc buggy from walmart....it had a 6.4v lion battery and was very light...but only went 5mph! And it didn't even accelerate to that speed very well. The vaporizr is 4wd and nearly double the speed and even has a longer runtime!
The toy grade rc world is a strange place. There are a few models that stand out, that do as advertised and are great performance for the money. most though, are junk, underwhelming and underperforming. Some are just plain slow, some can't turn for crap and others have crazy short runtimes.
but I cant see it being done cheaply. for one, other than some rc tanks or the kyosho blizzard, I don't know of any hobby rc that has tank steer to uses as a platform to build on.
Any homemade setup would require 2 esc's and a airplane "v tail" splitter. And you would need ESC's with a crawler mode....any esc with a reverse delay causes a problem with steering.
hobby grade RC wheels would have to be modified in order to not let water in.
Making the rest of the rig waterproof wouldn't be that hard, especially if waterproof electronics were used.
on the other hand, for a RC company to design something, I can see the finished product being $200-$250. If the tires were big enough (or chassis thin enough) to allow for good ground clearance, then you would have a RC capable of going on nearly any terrain.
anyway, Im still debating if I want to try a 1/8 RWD on road build this summer. Something RWD, with motor up front, solid rear axle and a pan car like chassis with a toy-hard plastic body.
I bought the nikko vaporizr, it will be delivered tomorrow. We have a lake nearby we take the kids to. sand/grass/dirt and water...perfect testing grounds for the vaporizr.
It is amazing that it costs $30. I recently bought a $30 rc buggy from walmart....it had a 6.4v lion battery and was very light...but only went 5mph! And it didn't even accelerate to that speed very well. The vaporizr is 4wd and nearly double the speed and even has a longer runtime!
The toy grade rc world is a strange place. There are a few models that stand out, that do as advertised and are great performance for the money. most though, are junk, underwhelming and underperforming. Some are just plain slow, some can't turn for crap and others have crazy short runtimes.
bought a few ESC's that claimed no delay in going from forward to reverse, and 100% both ways to drop in my modded tank... all lied.
06-28-2016 | 06:38 PM
#8
Thread Starter
I got the replacement vaporizr yesterday
sadly, performance isn't much better. first, it lacks torque to do good 360 spins. If its a smooth or flat surface its fine, but sand/dirt/lawn it struggles...but at least this time it can do it.
second, the battery only lasted about 10 minutes! The manual does say that the pack will increase in runtime over the first 6 charges. But its hard to imagine that it will triple in runtime just from "conditioning" as the manual calls it.
I will admit that the low ground clearance doesn't hurt it as much as I thought. Honestly, I doubt any other $30 RC could drive over as many things as this car can (short of those MOA crawlers, but those are wicked slow)
It is slow in water, but moves along as it should.
The end result: Not fun for me really, but my 6yo son LOVED it. He drove it in and out of the water at the lake. And on a flat surface it is very quick given the cost. Again, most $30 RC's are only half as fast as this car.
It is really tempting to try upping the voltage. It has a 6v nimh pack. Imagine was a 2s lipo could do for performance! Maybe I will attempt it once my son has gotten a good amount of use out of it.
sadly, performance isn't much better. first, it lacks torque to do good 360 spins. If its a smooth or flat surface its fine, but sand/dirt/lawn it struggles...but at least this time it can do it.
second, the battery only lasted about 10 minutes! The manual does say that the pack will increase in runtime over the first 6 charges. But its hard to imagine that it will triple in runtime just from "conditioning" as the manual calls it.
I will admit that the low ground clearance doesn't hurt it as much as I thought. Honestly, I doubt any other $30 RC could drive over as many things as this car can (short of those MOA crawlers, but those are wicked slow)
It is slow in water, but moves along as it should.
The end result: Not fun for me really, but my 6yo son LOVED it. He drove it in and out of the water at the lake. And on a flat surface it is very quick given the cost. Again, most $30 RC's are only half as fast as this car.
It is really tempting to try upping the voltage. It has a 6v nimh pack. Imagine was a 2s lipo could do for performance! Maybe I will attempt it once my son has gotten a good amount of use out of it.
