I used to race electric cars on and off road and put that stuff away for the most part when I got back into planes last year, but it's been too windy to fly for at least a week, so I dragged out my car stuff. I have decided that electric is fine for on-road (HPI RS4 rally) but sux for off-road (kyosho outrage--the only outrage is my ugy paint job ).
So, I'm looking at a nitro stadium truck. Seem like a good compromise between monster and buggy. RTR or kit is ok, looking at under $250, is possible. This is just going to be a basher, not a racer. The only RTR gripe seems to be radios, but that doesn't bother me, I can always swap out later. I've narrowed it down to the following:

Kyosho GP Ultima ST RTR
Duratrax Maximum ST Pro
Associated RC 10 GT+
HPI Nitro Rush ST
HPI Nitro RS4 MT
XTM Baja Blade

The RC 10 is a little too much $ but i know it's good if it's anything like their old stuff. Basically, I just want to know if any of these are trucks I should run away from screaming, or if any one of them is a "best buy", etc. Mostly, I'm concerned about parts availability and durability rather than all-out performance.
Thanks!

Geez, am I the only one thinking about this? Maybe this is a better question: Which of the following would be a good choice for general knocking around and which should I avoid?

Maximum ST Pro RTR $260
Nitro Sport ST RTR $240
RC 10 GT+ RTR $270
RS4 MT Nitro kit $179
RS2 Rush RTR $219

Bueller......Bueller......Anybody?

I've heard that the HPI MT's are pretty good, I have an HPI onroad car and its good, definitly has alot of part availability and is really tough.

I have an electric RS4 rally and I love it, but yours is the first comment I've heard about their off-roads. The LHS carries them and the DuraTX stuff so I'm leaning toward one or the other, i think. Thanks for the reply, BTW.

Yea, I've heard some good things about the hpi mt's as well. Since the lhs has those that sounds like your best bet...

Get the DuraTax Evader Nitro ST

Great price and great value!!!!!!!!!!111

i have an rs4 mt and am very pleased with it and the many hopups available for it

dont get a duratrax, they suck, trust me, they are not durable.

george your not a duratrax fan eh ? two threads in a row i read where your bashing them.

but please say it in a way thatmakes you sound more intelligent. something liek ...in my experience ....duratrax .....doesnt hodl up well, a lot of parts have broken on eme ...etc.
saying duratrax sucks is like saying dan marino sucks cause im a joe montana fan.

i own two duratrax vahicles and havent had any problems with unusual breakage or anythign like that. just lak of hop-ups and no lhs support.

of the vehicles you listed, i would choose the rc10gt cause of three reasons
parts available locally
hop-up galore
race worthy if i decided to give it a shot.

stay away from the kyosho. Ive worked on my friends cars and they are a a** to tune and break all the time. Ive got a gt plus, well kinda, it uses a lynx 3d and a .12 cv-r. anyways Ive never broken one part on my gt and ive had it for about 6 months now. Offcourse i dont baby it either. I jump big dirt mounds and all kinds of stuff. I can say much for the other cars but If i were you i would spend then extra 20 bucks and get the gt.

I have a GT, and have had all manner and almost every variation of the associated trucks, both electric and nitro. I would suggest them strongly if you ever want to race (or Losi, they are equally as good).

However, you don't seem to want to race. If you never plan on racing, I would go for the RS4 Nitro MT. Its a stadium type truck, but its 4 wheel drive, so its a great basher. Its precisely what you described, a cross between a 2wd racer stadium truck and a monster truck (better traction than a stadium truck, not as gaudy and clunky as a monster truck).

I've never owned nor had much experience with the duratrax stuff. Some people hate it, some have no problems. I can't imagine them being as bad as some people say, and a lot of people tend to have strong opinions about things they have no knowledge of, so who knows. The RS4 MT is a good truck for bashing and just having fun, I CAN tell you that much.

I have had two Duratrax trucks, a Max St, and a Max St Pro. From my own experience I can say STAY AWAY from Duratrax. Both had crappy engines that I had to replace with OS engines. The Pros 2 speed tranny was cool for the few minutes it worked, then it would spit out a gear or the diff.
My brother has the HPI Nitro MT. Really cool car. It has some breakage issues, but that is mostly because of the insane things he does with it.
We both got into racing. He got the Losi XXX-NT, and I have a new RC10GT. Both are great cars, up to the rigors of racing or bashing. Of the cars you mentioned, I really like the RC10GT. Best car I have owned. The XXX-NT is equally as good, and the RTR comes with a much better radio than the RC10, but it isn't on your list.

From the cars you mentioned, get the Nitro MT if you like the cool factor of the 4x4, and don't plan on abusing it. Get the RC10GT for a really fun, nearly bulletproof rig.

Okay, so from everyone's input, I've got it narrowed down to the RC 10GT and the RS4 MT. At this point I guess i can't really go too far off with either, eh? Like I said earlier, racing's not really an issue because I have yet to find a track within 30 miles of my house......besides, I've got too many hobbies already....maybe later. The only question I have left is: how does the suspension on the RC 10 hold up? Those arms look really spindly and fragile compared to the RS4(i guess all racing stuff looks this way). This may just be an appearance issue, since no one has mentioned it. Thanks for all the input, guys.

arms hold up qiute well on the gt. And the replacements a really cheap anyways. the GT comes with some fairly week springs so if your going to be jumping then i would recomment getting reds or golds so that it doesnt bottom out all the time.

Well, since I've already had tamiya, kyosho, and HPI, I decided to go ahead with the RC10GT plus. Associated has been around at least as long as I have, so I figure they must be doing something right! Thanks for all the info, everybody.

can't go wrong there! I've had quite a few associated trucks, and the newest GT is definitely a good one.

first off, i dont see anything wrong with duratrax, i just recently purchased an evader rtr for those times i dont want to tote my maxx or clod around. that car is really tough. i slammed it into my wooden fence at full throttle and it survived.

i would also look at the traxxas stuff like the rustler or the sport with the .15. i had a rustler 2 years ago when i first got into nitro and i have personally jumped it into a wall.( dont ask) and its extremely fast. if you get the 2.5 itll waste all of the trucks on your list hands down straight outta the box.

It kind of depends on what you mean by "waste". are you talking about draging or racing or bashing.as far as draging goes a gt would beat the hpi but the rusty would beat the gt. Im not so sure about racing though. I havent had the rusty so im not going to go any furthur all im saying is that Ive driven other STs and I almost always come crawling back to my gts handling and speed.(os .12 cv-r)

hey since your on andover nj check out this site its a local site with a lot of poeple meeting up to bash and what not.

www.joiseymaxx.com

Thanx for the link--I'll check it out. BTW, everybody, the RC10's in the mail! Looking forward to making some noise!

he could sound smarter, but ive talked with him alot about his duratrax, and all it does is give him problems He can officially say duratrax sucks.

I had an ol' Outrage. I sold it and bought a Tower Hobbies Nitro ST-15, put RC10GT plus arms and dogbones on it, Traxxas turnbuckles, and a tuned pipe. It's a sweet truck now! Handles good, and goes fast!

I haven't raced it yet...

It showed up at my doorstep yesterday! Looking forward to running it!