Basically it goes like this,

I’ve been on hiatus from the hobby for about 16 years. The last R/C’s I owned were the Losi JrX2 jr and the Traxxas Sledge Hammer. So for those of you that remember those cars know that A LOT has changed. I started reading R/C car action just recently to see if I could catch up on things. SOOOO MUCH HAS CHANGED. I have an 8 year old son who I have been trying to get into the hobby; he seems to enjoy it so far. I bought a Heng long Mad Truck… Let me say that was the biggest waste of money I ever had to spend. But at the time it was cheap, I upgraded all the electronics to make it a little more competitive, but there built so poorly that I would say 9 out of 10 times I run it something breaks. Any way on to my questions, oh and thanks in advance for the help.

1. With all these different battery types out there (NIHM, LIPO, 1500mah, 2400mah etc...) I’m not sure which is good and which isn’t. All I know is I have two NIHMs one is 1600mah and the other is 1800mah and on a full charge I get less than 10minutes on a battery. I know a lot has to do with gear ratio and such but in general if I were to purchase a new battery and wanted to get more drive time what would you suggest???

2. My son tells me he wants a hobby grade R/C for his bday, and although I have done research on different websites, I’d would like to know your thoughts. The lower the price the better, and he likes the monster trucks but I don’t think he would mind if it was a buggy as long as there fast.

Welcome back to RC again m8

On the battery question the larger the mah is usually the longer run times ie a 4200 will give you about 25-30mins run upto a 1800mah which will give you under ten mins etc this all depends of course on your motor and esc setup the lower turn motors take alot of juice to perform well.Nicads are pretty old now even nimh are being replaced with lipo ans a123 batterie which offer more power and better runtimes and are a lot lighter.

On the MT take alook at the traxxas stampede a good cheap little 2wd drive MT and has plenty of part support and hopups to buy and there pretty quick stock,They also do the VXL version which matched with good batteries can hit speeds of 50mph+ [X(]

My advice is buy a quality brand like you found out with the mad truck a good company offers good part and upgrade support and wont break as much check out brands like tamiya.traxxas,losi etc

Like they say you get what you pay for so dont skimp on the kit it will save you cash in the long run

Doh [] double post

Perfect... Thanks for the help!

what about a stadium truck like a rustler or firestorm

My son never expressed an interest in the stadium trucks but I think he would be happy with anything fast!

Another question regarding the batteries... If I were to go with a 4200mah, do I need or should I be using a certain type of charger? Right now I have an old school trickle charger. Some of these newer chargers are intimidating.

I would highly recommend a peak detection charger - they are worth the extra money. But you don't have to get anything outrageous - just about any peak detection charger will work for your situation. Dynamite makes some decent ones that are very reasonably priced. For inexpensive stick packs like a venom 4200mah, the vision peak 2 is just fine. It's only around $40 and is very easy to use. If you have any plans up possibly upgrading to Lithium batteries, you might want to look at something else. But, at $40 for the VP2 you could just as well wait to get a LiPo charger if/when you upgrade.

If you or your son ever decide to start racing and/or buy expensive high end batteries, then you should look at getting a really nice charger so that you can monitor the charge and tweak settings to make the battery have optimal performance.

Go NITRO!!!LOL

Yeah, actually Thats what I'm thinking about doing, but I know nothing about Nitro, never got into it before. I wouldnt no where to start.

I am looking for an electric rc that is comparable to a gas powered. I am debating between an E-firestorm Flux and a Traxxas E-Revo. I'm not sure which is going to be a better bang for my buck. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also if I choose the e revo how much would it cost to completely convert to a brushless system and would I have to get two brushless motors in this case. Thanks for the help.

- Jason