Hi guys. I am new to the RC world. I have had a few RC cars growing up and the bug has once again bitten. Anyway, all I have ever had was cheapy Radio Shack cars and now I can afford to do a little better (I think). I was hoping you guys could point me in the right direction. I am looking for an all-terrain type of vehicle that goes fast. I have some woods, some clearcuts and a whole lot of sand near my house. The sand area is huge and has some really big air and alot of really loose stuff as well as some hard pack. We used to ride atv's and dirtbikes out there a good bit. I am not sure how much I can spend yet, but I don't really want to put more than maybe a couple hundred in my first real RC car. Thanks for the help guys.

Go Emaxx man, if it is that rough it would be too much for anything smaller and I doubt you want the headache of a Nitro car yet since you are really not sure if you want to get back into this hobby. And nitro is an expensive way to go.

I would not be knocking nitro, I have had electrics, and got now I only have nitro. After replacing brushes all the time, servicing the motors, charging batteries, and buying extra batteries I had more into it than a nitro truck.

Its all in what the buyer prefers. Personally, I like nitro better, power from start to finish, no dumping as you drive. Doesnt need much maintenence, sounds great, if you do not know what your doing on tuning you can struggle a bit, but thats what were here for and you local hobby shop.
.02

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah, I was looking at the Emaxx last night after I posted this. I am leaning more towards electric over nitro just for the simplicity factor and nitro is a little overwhelming for me right now. I don't really have a ton of time to put into learning how to tune and stuff like that. I see nitro as something I will work up to in the future.

As far as the Emaxx, where can I buy it? They don't list prices on the Traxxas web site. Also, how much should I spend on one? What all would I need? Do they have a RTR model? Thanks again for the help guys.

Oh yeah, a friend of mine has an older RC10 stadium truck that I think he may sell me. Is this a good RC? How much should I give him for it with all of the extras? Thanks again guys.

One more thing, are there any other forums on the web for RC cars or any good links you would share with me?

http://www.radiocontrolzone.com/cars/index.asp
http://www.nitrorc.com/
http://www.maxxtraxx.com/
http://www.stormerhobbies.com/
http://www.horizonhobby.com/
http://towerhobby.com/
http://rccaraction.com/

You can find the Emaxx on the tower hobby site.

Good luck !!!!

the rc10t is a great truck had mine for years still rips,the rc10tgt is a great nitro trucck,gwet the plus version of the ready to run and i promise you wont have a prob tuneing if you read and watch vidieo its a snap and its the closest thing to indestructable iv ever had was just launching mine over at the skate park 8 feet in the air!!! broke nothing scratched the chassy quite a bit thats what i get for running it on concrete though

I am not even close to knocking nitro, All I have to race is nitro, one 1/8 scale buggy and two Losi XXX NT's. The only electric I have is a 4 TEC to play with at night when I start boozing on the weekends and want to drive at 4 am. My neighbors don't like the nitro at night. I just think electric is cheaper cause I have clsoe to 3000 dollars tied up into nitro and about 250 in electric. I was just trying to help the guy out for a first purchase in a long time.

Thanks for the help guys. I went to Hobby Town USA today after work and was looking at some trucks. They had a Traxxas Rustler RTR and some others I didn't like too much. The guy at the store said the Rustler was more of a toy than a hobby car. He said it wasn't as nice as the comparable Associated truck. I guess he meant the RC10. The price on the Rustler was 169.00. That was an RTR setup. The price on the RTR RC10 was 219.00. Do these prices sound about right? What is the difference in the two that one would be so much better? I have pretty much decided on electric due to the life span of the nitro motors. I would rather switch out batteries than rebuild motors. What are some good batteries and prices and a good charger and prices? I was thinking about going with an AC/DC charger so I could use it in my car when I am out with the truck. Thanks again for the help guys.

I would definately go with the RC10 or a losi xxxt over a rustler cause like he said, rustler is a toy. If you don't want to breakthe piggy bank, use a Duratraxx Intellipeak charger. Hobby town will have one for about 60 bucks that is AC/DC and has agood peak detection. I use one for my receiver and transmitter packs and it works great. A good battery would be the peak performance maxx pack. it is a 2400 pack pair, they are not matched batteries but for the pair it is only 39.99 from tower and hobby town will be close to that. And I have only shopped from hobby town once but their prices are very reasonable. They can't compete with my LHS but he is a racer that sells parts to us basically so that is why. Hope this helps.

I am bidding on an Emaxx on Ebay right now. I hope Iwill win. If I do, I can afford to build it for what it would cost to setup a new stadium truck.

Here is a picture of the truck. Can you guys tell me anything about it? Like, what model it is, what the condition is, etc?

looks like an e- maxx nice truck but needs two batterys to run,twice the chargeing time,but good truck if its a t-maxx good truck and parts everywhere

Are you implying that you drink and drive?!?!?!?!

I have to jump in here on the Electric Nitro thing.
Nitro is tremendously easier and cheaper in the long run in my opinion. Especially if you have the bug and get into racing and so forth. Electric is almost twice the expense of nitro to race.

Electric requires just as much knowledge if not more than Nitro, Tuning an engine is about the easiest thing in the world to do given that you get something that is known to be reliable such as the T-Maxx. You can get needle settings all day long on this forum and others.
Installing new brushes on a Electric motor? How bout cutting the com? How much is the lathe gonna cost you to cut that com?

Compare that to installing a new piston and sleeve in a nitro engine. No equipment or special tools required other than your basic screw driver to take the back plate and head off.
Piston and sleeves are quite cheap as well.
I must also mention that traxxas has the engine swap program, which is not a bad deal at all. Not sure if they have that for electric motors.

Thats enough already but hey lets take a look at batteries.
First you need a quality batteries, the cheapo $15 packs are crap and wont give much runtime. Especially for a E-maxx you want some 2000's at least. I would go for 3000's.
You don't get much runtime out of one pack so lets say we get 2 packs, uh nah I would say 4 to 6 would be realistic if you really want to run the truck.
With that said, if you are gonna buy good batteries then you need a good charger to keep your batteries in good condition. Well you also need a way to discharge them and need to learn about cycling and such to keep them in good shape.
Oh and don't forget about a speed control, get a cheap one and decide you want to change motors? Well if you want anything hot you will have to get a new speed control.

There is a lot to learn with electric as is now obvious, also a lot of stuff to buy. With that a lot of research on each item you buy.

Oh and did I mention POWER! Uh I don't think anyone can argue that a the little whine of a electric motor can even touch the LOUD, SMOKE POURING GAS Motors of the Nitro class.

I do respect Electric, it has its place and time, however I'm not really one that likes to sit around why my packs charge between runs.
With nitro I just pull up, engine still running and fill er up.

You know we could go deeper here but I think the point has been made.

In closing, Electric is a viable portion of the remote control hobby, however when comparative cost are put down on the table we have to realize that the bottom line to electric is simply efficiency.
Nitro on the other hand is just balls out power.

Dbow

Ok guys, I ordered an electric Stampede yesterday. After all of my research I decided that a monster truck would be the best thing for me. I would have ordered an Emaxx, but Tower didn't have any in stock. I am kind of glad they didn't have any because I think the Stampede will be a good starter truck and I won't be into it for as much as I would an Emaxx. THat way, if I decide I don't want to get back into it, I won't feel as bad having spent less than $200 on the whole setup. Anyway, what are some good hop-ups for the Stampede? Any motor/esc combos you guys recommend? Thanks again for the help.

Hello Trey, is the Rc10gt really that tough of a truck, and is it capable of getting hop-ups to get faster? thanks bill

Yes it is. Look in all catalogs, they have hopups for the GT. It is very durable. I have beat mine pretty good and never broke a part.

yeah the gt is that tough and yeah there is all kinds a hoppups but you wont need it for awhile if ya get the rtr plus version,and iv got to agree with dbow(ouch!heheh) on the electric vs nitro i race both and spend way more cash,time,and learning curve stuff on the elec,i run a yokomo for elec,mr4tc,rockin car,but jus one half turn out of whack on one corner and its slippery,the nitro is different they weigh a little more than elec,tc's that is,and they are a little more forgiveing in the settup,still critical however,and iv had everything from a nitro rs4 to a serpent impulse,now shopping for a nitro tc3 kit going back to all ae stuff i think though from comments here im haveing second thoughts but we will see

GET A LOSI MAN!!!!!!

You mean MY Rc10GT you beat up?HEHE!Still plenty of life left in her!
BNZ'

dude my friend has a stampede and dont like it. it doesnt have enough power the e-maxx and the stampede have no comparison so i guess it is a good starter for u but i would have went with the e-maxx if i were u.

If you want information on the traxxas Stampede, go to the discussion boards on the traxxas site. There is a board for just Stampede owners. They will be very helpful and can give you first hand knowledge on what "works" and doesn't.

Hope this helps:

http://monster.traxxas.com/index.php

I think he got a car by now-lol

look at the date.

The last post was on 8-5 so it was on top of the message list........just trying to help out.