El Burro

Arggggh, Anybody seen the Hasbro Nitro XRC? Basically the egg-heads over at hasbro have decided to copy the R/C World. I Hope this plan crashes and burns. Hard. They try To act like its fast when it actually does about 25mph. Thats about as fast as my electric Team Losi Mini-LST.junk. Junk.JUNK!

-whitey-

no one beter not say to me while im driving my savvy "i saw those at toy r us are they anygood?"

46u

My Feedback: (3)

Old news there is a thread somewhere here on it.

-Inverted-

Bummer, mine goes about twice that. [8D]

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

Lets not be elitist about this. Anything that will draw new people into the hobby is good in my books. Most parents do not buy their child's first R/C car from their local hobby shop. They buy it from Radio Shack, Toys R Us, Walmart, etc. If they start selling vehicles that bridge the gap between Tyco/Nikko and the "hobby grade" that can be repaired/upgraded (just as radio shack has done with x-mods), more people will move up to the good stuff.

I'm always curious how many people that talk down about the cheap stuff started out with one.....He who is without sin.....cast the first stone.

SAVAGEJIM

Here are the links concerning the Hasbro introduction car into RC.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/news.cfm?news_id=250
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_44...tm.htm#4494469

I personally do not think it will be hobby grade, merely toy grade. If they actually did alot of research and development into producing a worthwhile RC, then I will truely be surprised. Even if it is hobby grade, HPI, Trazzas, Losi, and others will still have a serious advantage ofver this toy. These companies have been in RC for much longer than Hasbro and have enormous capital invested in production, distribution, and even retail. All of these things contribute to keeping the prices as low as they are now. A new company would have to invest so much that the final product on the shelf would be too ezpensive.

I can see the Hasbro RC being one of two things:
1) It will be really cheap as compared to hobby grade RCs and very low quality. More or less a toy. This is what I see thier product being.
2) It will be hobby grade but too ezpensive for the average RC enthusiats to afford. If Hasbro wants to get into RC with hobby grade products, they beter ezpect to lose serious money for several quarters as the product being sold will not equal the cost of paying for the research, development, and production.

Another problem (which was already mentioned several times in the above posted links) is that kids will not have the knowledge of how to care for and operate nitro RCs. Kids will buy these because Hasbro is reknown for toys and even parents will be fooled into believeing that these are toys for young kids. Kigs will do all sorts of stupid stuff like putting 87 octane gasoline meant for a lawn mower into the Hasbro RC. Aside from that, they will present serious dangers to the public as they zip their cars up and down their streets and crash into parked vehicles, run into the sides of houses and other buildings, and even running into pedestrians. A toy going 20MPH into someone's leg can actually cause bones to break.

There are too many issues, most of which are already mentioned in the above links. If Hasbro is serious about getting into RC, I hope they did some serious research; not simply go to some sactioned RC racing events and said "I want to do that!"

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

Hasbro's press release clearly states they do not intend to sell their nitro vehicles in toy stores. If they're planning on importing (I doubt they will be doing more than rebadging something currently manufactured by Himoto, Hong Nor, Hobao, or the like for their re-introdution into the hobby) an entry level nitro vehicle for sale at hobby shops, then they'll be just as "hobby grade" as CEN and Smartech.

SAVAGEJIM

I personally have not messed with Himoto, Smartech, or even CEN. After asking around and doing a fair bit of research by reading through thousands of posts concerning CEN, I have been dissuaded not to buy CEN products. CEN does claim that people win races with their products, but as far as ROAR or other big national sanctioned races, I have not seen CEN in any of the winner's lists. CEN's winning claims are races I personally have not heard of. I actually found one of those race winner lists, the race ocurred somewhere in South America (Argentina? Brazil? I cannot remember.) CENs are quite popular down there, but so are the Chinese products as well (SH and SH derivatives, Smartech was listed several times also, I cannot remember the other manufactures; there were brands I've never heard of before.)
Nothing against SH and other Chinese engines, they make great power and torque for their cost.

I do ot know anything about Smartech or Himoto, I do not even know what a Smartech or Himoto RC looks like. But if Hasbro's RC quality is going to be on par or less than what CEN is, I will pass on it.

DaveG55

WOW, some of you guys need to climb down off your high hobby horse. Whatever we've spent on our rc's the bottom line is they're just toys!!
Personally I can't wait until the Hasbro vehicles come out. I want one of the ones that flips upside down and keeps going. A complete nitro rc for $189....I'll get one just to play with. Heck there's lots of rc snobs that pay more than that for a couple of servos or a set of flextec arms. I'd rather have something to play with rather than try to tell myself that the .002 second faster my servo is really matters.

SAVAGEJIM

LOL I like that!
Yes, I admit, I do ride a high hobby horse.
After being into RC for several years now, I have become numbed to their high costs. But I do ezpect quality for those high priced RCs and accesories. When I drop $400 to $500 for a kit, I ezpect nothing less than the best.

Seeing a cheaper RC out is not necessarily a bad thing and I have no problems with Hasbro doing so. The cheapness will cause competitors to likewise drop their prices too. That is a trend I actually look forward to seeing in the RC world.
My only concern is that I hope that Hasbro does not put out crap. There are many brands I will not buy out there simply because of their reputations. Though there are ezceptions, reputations are usually built upon the truth. I sure would hate to drop $500 for an RTR only to discover I had bought a lemon.

As far as actually buying a Hasbro RC, I am going to sit back and give it time for it to build itself a reputation. If there are many good and great things mentioned about it, I will serously consider Hasbro RC products.

Medrivfast

You guys are acting like when a kid buys this that there will be no perents around when he/she is playing with it. The parents have to go to the hobby store to buy the fuel. What Dad is not going to want to play with this toy with his kid. I beleive the quality of these R/C's are going to be in-between Radio Shack and Hobby quality. There will be replacable parts. There will be up-gradable parts. My first R/C was a radio schack R/C. It's a beginner R/C.

If you think all kids are going to bash & crash them than your wrong. I let my 8 year old daughter play with my Revos and my TC-4 BL. She hasn't broken anything yet...


My question is: Who on these forums is going to get one and and be the first to rip the motor out and stick some over-powered motor in it?

boltech

I've said it before and i'll say it again. we'll probably see nothing different than we see now. we already have 8 and 10 year olds running with savages and revos and nothing has come out of it. I personally welcome Harbros effort with welcomed arms if it will
cause other manufacturers and shops to drop their prices.

boltech

I definately will be picking one up just to rip it apart and see how it's designed.
not sure about putting a more poerful motor in it tho. the diffs may not be able to handle it.

R/C fan-addict

I just hope that as savagejim said prices of competitors will drop, but hopefully not the quality too. I just don't think it is a good idea for a little kid to have an R/C that uses fuel, gets very hot, is quite large and heavy, and goes at a decent speed (around 25 mph, which at the size of the R/C can do some damage). I also think it will breed frustration, since most little kids won't have the patience to tune the engine or actually care about tuning. I know that when I was starting out in the hobby all I looked for was how fast it went, whether it was full function or not, and how big and cool it looked. I didn't want to have to work on it, I just wanted to drive it! All I can say is that it might be a good way to get the hobby to grow but I don't think the idea is very good and I am sceptical of the results. Also these forums will be plauged with tons of annoying little kids whinning about their broken car.

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

Seeing as they are planning on selling through standard hobby distribution networks (this means your local hobby shop and not the Walmart down the road), how is it any different than someone going and buying a traxxas nitro sport for $230? Or a Himoto for $200 off the net?

R/C fan-addict

look at the trucks, they are totally marketed toward little kids. I bet that instead of saying "himoto .25 nitro truck" they'll have huge stickers everywhere saying "WOW" "COOL" "SUPER FAST!" "4WD" "OFF ROAD ACTION!" The point is kids will buy them, not people who have researched the hobby and nitro engines and then made a decision that they are ready to do the work of nitro and then go out and buy a car. Seriously most of the kids who'll get the car will just see an ad in the toy magazine, then go out and buy it without knowing the responsibility nitro engines require.

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

In order to buy it, a local hobby shop needs to sell it to them. Since they are not being sold at toy stores, they will not be in "toy magazines" or catalogues. I'm sure they will be advertising in hobby magazines, just like everyone else. CEN sells the "FUN FACTOR" line of nitro cars and I don't see kids ripping them off the shelves.

The Hasbro name will not sell to kids. Kids know the brand names just minutes after they decide they want one (thumbing through a magazine to show their parents what they want will shove the Associated, Traxxas, and HPI names deep into their brains). Parents that are not in the hobby will recognize the Hasbro name and read "QUALITY" (whether it's there or not).

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

And I do agree that people will buy them without fully understanding what is required to enjoy a hastle free nitro car (just like they do today with Traxxas, HPI, CEN, Smartech, Himoto, Associated........how many posts do you see daily along the lines of "I can't start", "It keeps stalling", "Why is it on fire"...)

boltech

LOL that was rich.. the scary thing is that it's true!

rc_flyer428

thats pretty funny. I have to agree with most of you, think about it. the majority of people now and days have very very little if an mechanical knowledge. When their kids want one of these they are going to buy and probably never get it to run, and if they do somehow get it to run then they wont have a clue about tuning and whats going to happen is they will get frustrated and throw it in the closet and forget about it. Then 5 or 6 years later the kid will be at the store somewhere and see a real rc magazine and start reading it, then he will go get on the computer and check out all the real cars and truck. Then he will tell his parents he wants to get one and guess what they will say '' you've already had one of those years ago and it never did work so no, your not wasting money on it" and theres the future of our hobby.

R/C fan-addict

exactly! Unless the engines are super easy to tune kids will just get annoyed and frustrated. I mean I get frustrated with my savage, cause everytime I run it something breaks down. But I am not the one to just toss it, I'll try to find the problem and fix it. This requires a lot of mechanical knowhow and lots of time. I know when I was 10 I wouldn't have wanted to find the problem. All I wanted to do was drive, and if it didn't work I'd get annoyed. As I said the frustration of not being able to run the car will create a negative look on the hobby.

rc_flyer428

yep it sure will, i got my 1st rc when i was 9 or 10, it was a t-maxx but... My dad builds hot rods and works on all of our cars (pre computer era). I was helping him in the shop as soon as i was old enough to hold a wrench. So naturally over the years i have picked up a great deal of mechanical know how (i'm 15 by the way). So when I got my maxx when i was 10 me and my dad figured out how everything worked, got it broke in and i have run it ever since, it only took me a few weeks to get the tuning figured out. back on subject, most of the kids hasbro is targeting these things at are living in sub-divisions or in cities, they dont have any mechanical knowledge and when the kid wants his dad to help him run his rc truck he's not gonna be able to help because he doesnt even know how to change a tire, much less tune and engine. So like you said its gonna bring a negative opinion on out hobby.

carmatic1

somewhere up there you said that this will only be available thru the hobby shops, and the people still keep talking about how kids dont know how to tune engines... i thought that was what friendly knowledgeable people working in hobby shops are for?

R/C fan-addict

well there are always the bad workers at R/C stores. I've heard lots of bad stories about Hobby Town USA. They are a huge chain so I'm sure they will try to cash in on the hasbro R/C's.

carmatic1

but there are also the good ones and its the same good ones that have been good to us... the difference that the hasbro car is going to make is prolly to make everyone alittle bit more overworked...