This question is not about what radio to buy or any specific radio. It is simply about which type of control system you prefer or recommend.

I come from the airplane side of the hobby, so my radios are all dual-stick 2.4 GHz 8-channel radios.

I have two RTR low-end RC cars. One is more of toy that includes a button/dual "stick" type radio. The other is a entry-level hobby class that included a wheel type.

They both seem to get the job done, but I am just getting started in this part of the hobby, so I am looking for feedback and guidance from more experienced car people. If I get into more advanced vehicles, is there any disadvantage in using my dual stick hobby class aircraft radios, or should I lean more toward a wheel-type radio?

What is your preference, and what do you recommend? Do you prefer stick or wheel-type radios?

Also, from a programming point of view, my aircraft radios allow quite a bit of mixing of channels for surface control. Do cars use a lot of channel mixing?

When I started out I was flying planes and used a stick radio. When I got into cars I used a surface stick radio. Finally switched to a wheel and liked it better for the surface stuff. Took me a little while to get used to the wheel radio but I'm not sorry I switched. This was in the late 80's. I still use a stick for planes and helis but haven't used a stick for ground stuff since i got my first wheel radio. Plane radios used to use different frequencies than surface stuff back then. I don't know what they're doing now with the new radios. I still use my old long antenna radios for planes.

Thanks. Today, everything is on 2.4 GHZ. 72 MHZ and 75MHZ as well as 27 MHZ and 50 MHZ are still legal, as far as I know, but you won't see anyone who has been in the hobby for less than 10 years using them.

I still have some rarely used planes that still have 72 MHZ receivers and a bunch of channel 40 and 35 crystals.

thanks for sharing your stick vs wheel experience.

I still have a couple old planes with 72 mhz, too. I don't have anywhere to fly them anymore so I'm trying to find a home for them.

Alice, are you using stick or wheel for your cars/boats.

I use a wheel radio for cars and boats. Stick is only on my planes. Still have the first stick radio I bought for my first glider. Used a stick on my first car too. Bought a used Ko propo wheel radio from a guy in our club and started using that. Wasn't really any better or worse just got less bs from the rest of the guys for using a stick radio on my car. That was a long time ago.

wheel for boats, and most land based RC's
Tanks (and similar dual motor based RC's)* are the only land based RC's where I'd take stick for use. Mainly to control each track with more precision, along with the turret horizontal, and vertical aim.

planes and helicopters stick also, but I've not touched a air based RC in well over a decade.



I Threw the * in as I've built in the past a RC floor sweeper that had dual ESC's, and gear boxes where it had more of a tank like steering where the 2 wheels(it only had 2 wheels the front was a glide sweeper) would spin it around, and what not