Home_Depot_Guy

From visiting shops and reading posts online here, it seems that the RTR stuff is taking over. In the future, do you think all the kits are going to come this way, or will the high end kits still remain kits only? I'm kinda pissed off with all the RTR stuff, actually. I mean , where 's the fun in building it yourself? What about selecting your radio, engines, motors, ect... where's the fun in all that going to go when you just charge up the batteries or put some gas in the tank and your off ? Where's the sense of accomplishment that you built something right and it actually goes 40 mph, and it didn't explode or implode, it actually ran the first time.

I know it brings more people in, and compaines profit alot more, but is the " hobby " aspect of this getting the short end of the stick ?

revo911

well i bought a rtr and im chaging all the stuff any way so what does it matter who buys what .its all about what you want .not what you want everbody eles to buy my rtr ntc3 plus runs 60 stock so i dont know what you bought that runs 40 . i rather buy rtr 60 than build kit runs 40 .

ncgrunt

I hope not. I'd rather use my own engine and radio stuff, personally. Plus all the benefits of building it yourself.

RTR is nice people just starting out, though.

thumpin15s

See, me personally, I dont see the point of that? If you are going to buy something RTR that costs like $300, then put in another $200-$300 worth of parts, whats the point? I would personally rather buy a kit for like $150, then add whatever I want to it. It saves a lot of money. See, some people are not rich, and cant just buy what they want. I'm like poor, so I have to save as much as possible.

Wicked!!

My Feedback: (5)

You have to thank RTR for making r/c what it is today, mainly the E maxx.

RTR allows people on a budget to get into the hobby and the run there r/c the day they pick it up and not weeks after since they had to save up for all the rest of that equipment needed.

It would be nice however if they offered almost rtr kits that you could build and have the the elctronics in the box when you get it.

My latest project was a rtr xxx-s II came with a not bad looking body and great electronics. However that didn't stop me from rebuilding the whole car after I got it with a full graphite conversion and lots of other goodies.

Started out like this



and not looks like this.

Selfdestruct

My Feedback: (2)

it depends on how far you want to take it. RTR vehicles can take away the initial joy of building your car from parts in a bag into something that can be a mechanical marvel to some people. But if you enjoy your RTR vehicle, maybe you'll want to get something better, and that means buying a kit where you have no choice but to build it from the ground up. If someone is satisfied with their RTR so be it, but the more people you get together to bash, race whatever, the more people are going to want something better and dive further into the hobby.

FlyingV77

theres good and bad points to both sides. why dont the manufacures offer both? a rtr and a kit less radio? i have all the radio eqipment already so a rtr is a waste, but the car i want only comes like that! whats a person to do?

Wicked!!

My Feedback: (5)

Sell the radio

dalolyn

My Feedback: (7)

Not to be off topic hear but the whole RC industry is leaning towards RTR. planes, boats, helicopters,cars and trucks, Add fuel and battery's and your good to go. not to mention model rockets, add an engine, battery's in the igniter and swoosh.

N4sir

I think it is all in the industry marketing. They catch more fish with a wide RTR net. They are able to catch more new people that otherwise wouldn't buy into the hobby.

MN_Wild

RTR is absolutely the worst thing I could imagine for the hobby. New RC enthusiasts have no clue how to wrench on their stuff because it came built. I want an LST but I also want a Futaba PCM radio and a .28 sized engine....Also want to build it from parts. Long gone are the days Im afraid. I will always remember building my first car, Kyosho Turbo Optima Mid SE....Complex car and tons of fun.

CapUSA

RTR's are fine but I don't like where it might be leading to. so if every new person doesn't know how to work on their cars, they won't buy most hard to install upgrades. The companies lose money on those parts so cancel them. this gets worse and suddenly rc becomes a toy, not a hobby. Wich would suck.

revo911

well your right about people --noobies not knowing how to wrench their cars ..but as a kid 5 till 25 i allways tore down my rc cars and put them back together .. but i am fixen to buy a r 40 kit and a factory team kit tc3 cause i want to build a car now .. like you said i dont want parts i dont need any more

revo911

oh yea i seen this guy come in the LHS yesterday needing a spur gear put on his t maxx. he paid 25 $ to have it put on . i was like damn

aliens8mycow

I think that's the whole problem - people get an rtr and just start driving it. They have no idea how to fix it, how to upgrade it, how it works, or anything. Then they come here and ask:
"what's the best motor for my vehicle?"
"what's the best spur/pinion combo for speed and acceleration?"
"which motor is better?"
"how do I know which foam insert to get for my tires?"
"how do I get my old tires off the rims?"

...you get the point

Then when you try to tell them that there really isn't one answer for any of those questions, they get mad about it, because they expect everything to be just as simple as it was on day one when they put a couple batteries in the tx and started driving.

Ahab

someone further up the thread said RTR was good because it meant that people could save up and buy their RC in one go rather than having to wait to save up for more parts.
From one point of view this is true, but the fact is that RC is an expensive hobby. And if you have to stretch your buget to get the RTR in the first place then you will probebly be forever saving for the next little part you need.

its like with 1:1 cars: if I was to max out my credit limit I could go and buy myself a Porsche 911 - but I couldn't afford to put fuel in it, insure it, tax it.....
RTR kits, for some younger potential RCers will just be a very expensive dissapointment that will forever sit unused on a shelf. when I was a kid in school it would have taken me 10+ weeks of committed saving to buy and RTR mini-t. but I would have been stuck with the AA pack and stock motor for another month or 2 - by which time I would be very dissillusioned with my 10mph truck.

capone12

My Feedback: (1)

I bought a rtr truck because when I first got into rc I couldnt tell you the difference between a esc and a piinion! When I was looking for my first car I saw these kits and I was like "who would buy a car that doesnt even come with everything you need to run it?" Now that I know a whole bunch more about rc I realized why people like kits. I personally like rtr because I just charged the battery and skimmed the manual a couple more times and I was ready to go. Now since I am used to the speeds of these things (used to drive tyco stuff [&o]) I wish I would have bought a kit so I could choose my own motor and esc. I really dont see a need to upgrade my radio so thats something that I dont need to buy. RTR are great for starters like me because if it is your first rc car then it is nice to get it up and running fast and you get into the hobby. I mean sure I might be more familiar with my car if I built it, but studying for exams and stuff takes up lots of time. And there's always ebay to sell the stuff that you dont want. There are still many kits out there mostly pro versions of RTR cars and trucks. Now that I have basically rebuilt my truck I am pretty familar with it so I learned mostly the same things that I would have learned if I would have gotten a kit. And for beginners its very confusing when you look on towerhobbies for the stuff you need to complete the kit when you dont know what everything is. There are still some things on my truck that I dont know the names of but soon I will find out. RTR is a nice way to get tossed right into the hobby and you get a good chance to decide if you are going to stick with the hobby. What fun would it be if you just spent a grip buying everything and getting so frustrated that you give up!

revo911

i bought this rtr tc3 plus cause i liked it and its fast .. if you new me and seen me the day before i would have said i ant buying a car for 300 thats crazey but the next day i went and bought it. i wanted the nitro 4 tech and dude told me it was junk for racing and i said then i want a race car that i can race .. all he had was a tc3 plus i was like ok .. so now i got it and now i want a kit ...plus im very inpationt person

Mopzilla

All these RTR's that are being produced right now will probably go down to Tyco quality. The micro's are closest to that. But there will always be a few companies that will still produce rolling chassis kits for the hobbyist. It's just that instead of having one gap, ie between "real" r/c cars (kits) and Tycos/Nikkos, you'll now have two gaps, between the Tycos and RTR "real"-type cars, and a gap between RTR "reals" and real r/c kits. The difference is that previously, kit cars were most popular, but now RTR's are most popular. That's the only thing.

If you want to build everything, get into planes or helis. There's lots of .40 size and up ARF's but go down to 1/2A size and you will only find kits. Heli's? I think kits are still most popular with those.

Don't worry, somebody will always have a kit out.

RCnewguy

Hey, I just wanted to drop my .02 cents and say. As a newbie to RC, I found the level of detail of my Evader to be rather high, after only experiencing Radioshack cars. But as I read the manual and these forums, I learned a lot of information about the truck and other trucks. I think RTR is a good idea, because it traps newbies (like myself) into the hobby. RTR kind of is just the start to the RC hobby. I love to tinker and I think that having a hobby class truck will allow me to tinker, modify and hopup. Part of me wanted a kit to start off, just because I love to build things, I've built models and Mecano as a kid and helped my dad around the house with a lot of renovations. Tinkering and doing things yourself is something that I really like, mainly because its fun, and cheap.
$25 bucks for work on my R/C truck that I could have done myself? No way. If I don't know how to do it, I'll just have to learn.

So RTR has its place and I do think that it can help the hobby. But nonetheless I think that the big thing about the hobby is customizing and building something yourself. Now that I have just started out with a hobby class truck, I want to learn more about it and the modifications I can do. If I were to get another truck, it would definitely be a kit. Although I do not see another truck in the future, in order to be able to work on my Evader, I think I will try and take it apart entirely and put it back together again, just to see if I could do it.
Just my .02 cents.

Moose114

Well RTR is here to stay, the companies sell more cars than they could ever think of when it was all build it yourself.
My first car was a Hornet, then a RC10 Then the original Losi buggy, all build it yourself kits.
I knew everything on those cars & knew how to fix them when they broke.

I think it should be both ways, RTR for those unable or unwilling to build a kit & build it yourself for those that want them.
I just ordered a Revo & I wish I'd had the option to build it my self, it could still come with the engine but no radio & cost $100 less & you could get a better radio for that $100 than any of the junk that comes with most kits!!
I just don't understand why both options aren't availible??????

studysession

A lot of the rc car and truck end of the hobby is mostly kids saving allowences and asking parents to buy it for them. For the ones like myself who stick with it as an adult, we prefer kits. On somethings it is still good to have RTR's - but doing away with kits all together, I think would be a bad thing.

If anything - When you get the RTR, it gives you a motor / ESC / Radio and few other bits to sell on EBay to HOPEFULLY get some better parts. LOL