Devils-Reject

My Feedback: (8)

As The title says
Nitro Or Elec & why


i myself love nitro and gas powered.
i grew up with only elec.
so now that i can afford nitro and or gas i tend to stay with it.

i will be buying 1-2 elec. but only trophy trucks or on road.
no monster trucks or truggys
i would love a high power elec. on-road for drifting.
drifting in nitro tends to burn up trannys and gears and motors from the steady high rpm's

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

I would have said nitro if you asked me a month ago. But, I just picked up a traxxas stampede again(my 2nd one), and this time i got some good batteries and charger, and it really is a blast for the places I run. Its great for climbing hills and playing in the dirt because speed isnt a huge concern then. The instant low end snap and torque along with the ability to drive slow without heating up or "loading up" with fuel makes it awesome for 10-15mph off road stuff.

Now, If you get me out in a parking lot, the stampede isnt quite as much fun. Thats when my nitro buggy is a blast. 40+mph in no time and the brakes to bring that baby to a stop. Its a blast on loose dirt and high speed drifting and jumping too.

Honestly they both have their perks. I think I may have it slightly figured out as to what I prefer best now:

10-15mph off roading, climbing hills, and playing in the mud- Electric

Open parking lots/fields and dirt lots with jumps and things- Nitro

Both are definately a blast though. Its all personal preference, and I think i prefer both

Devils-Reject

My Feedback: (8)

yes i used to say ill never do elec. or even a drift car.
but now after watching 100+ r/c drift videos i want an elec. drift car with a mustange body.
a saleen mustange. the newest body style they just came out with.

sheograth

I enjoy nitro and electric, but my favorite would be gasoline powered RC. Electric is fun when I don't have much time or don't want to disturb people. Nitro is still fun to tune and fiddle with when I have more time. Above all I love 1/5 scale gas cars, the noise, the power, the realistic handling and physics - can't beat it.

Foxy

Nitro and elec are both fine for the small scales. Personally, gimme gas!

SyCo_VeNoM

I prefer nitro personally over elecs. The 2 nitros I have I enjoyed alot during the summer, and wish I could have driven them more during the fall(rained almost every day I had off during the fall...).

Bought elecs for 2 reasons one my nephew wanted someone to race with his pede. both my nitros were smoking it (the savage actually drove over it, when he decided he wanted to try and cause an accident...). Other was for winter, in my city the temp can vary by 20 degrees in the mater of hours and I didn't want to risk running it lean while having to tune it constantly. So I decided to make a water proof elec for the winter

I dunno why but for some reason I don't get the same joy out of the electric's as I do my nitros. I've also put alot less money into my nitros than the electrics.

Argess

I like tinkering with nitro engines, clutches, fuel mods, etc., and the satisfaction when it all comes together. Flipping an ON/OFF switch jsut doesn't do it for me. Gas is also too easy. Hardly ever use the 5B. Basically, I see it as a matter of personal preference.

But being an ICS (internal combustion snob), I stil see electric as a toy and IC as a hobby......LOL.

Devils-Reject

My Feedback: (8)

yea? you should make me a great deal onthat 5b.......lol i love the 5t and the 5b

john01374

For me it's Electric. Cheaper, faster, easier, less maintenance and less parts to replace.

I love the instant punch you get from electric motors, the ease of use and the 40+ minute run times per pack. I also like the cost of Lipo batteries when compared to Nitro fuel.

I can understand why so many people went to Nitro years ago. The main reason was longer run times but with the advancement in batteries and motors over the past couple of years the longer run time argument really isn't valid any longer. 40+ minutes on a $20 battery is common now.

I also live in a quite neighborhood where Nitro's wouldn't be tolerated. One guy had a B5 for a short time and everyone complained even 1/1 car guys but there can be a bunch of us out running electrics and no one says a word. Even mom's bring their kids over to watch.

Some others like the tuning and realism of nitro. For me it's more of a headache than it's really worth and there is nothing realistic about the sound or smell. I'm not bashing the guys that like them but they're just not for me.

OvalRacer99

I have tried both and I have decided to stick with electric. With all the new brushless and lipo technology, it can be just as quick as nitro and you can run it indoors or out, year round.
I am a racer and do not do any bashing and like I said, I can run my electrics year round.

Devils-Reject

My Feedback: (8)

yea i am planning on getting at least 1 elec. just a drift car with a mustang body that way i run inside to. and i wont burn up the motor so fast on steady throttle.
but for the most part im nitro.

piddlefoot

Electric , because its just a better set up than nitro.
Its faster, lighter, stronger than nitro as a machine.
Electric is better to jump, the jumps are far greater in hieght and distance.
No nitro will keep up with a good LIPO brushless set up.
There is no mess with electric.
You can drive anywhere because there quiet.
You can water proof an electric easier than a nitro.
You never get toxic cancer causing fuel toxins on your hands with electric.
Electric has a low voltage cut off, nitro runs lean at the end of a tank, this puts engine costs up, electric , you will probably never wear the engine out......
Electric is plug and play.
Nitro is spuds n spray, there all day, just for a play !

l like electric because it is in every way, bar the sound,  superior.</p>

Argess

Nope....it may be all those things, but it's just not any fun (for me). It may be superior to you, but not to me.

I liken it to a yacht club....the sailors making fun of the motorboaters and vice versa. Just teasing and all good fun (or should be).

So, to each his own, but no where can an overall generalization be made that a sailboat is "superior" to a motorboat, or vice-versa.

To make it more clear.......for some of us, the vehicle is just a "thing" that the engine can operate. For others, the nitro engine, or electric motor is just a "thing" that makes the vehicle go.

And there is a lot of combinations in-between that keep each individual happy.

Bluethunder3320

im only electric, like someone said to me a few months ago on rcu when i was fustrated... "electric is like watching an action movie on mute"

HJJFFFAA

Opinion.
Also an opinion. Nowhere near a fact.
More opinions...
Not necessarily.
You've obviously never vented a pack.
Finally a fact.
Nitro is less work to make water resistant. You can submerge neither of the two power sources except a brushed system.
I'd rather have glow fuel on my hands than electrolyte. And if you aren't a 5 year old you shouldn't get that messy.
What kind of LVC do you have, that it stops motor wear? And the lubricants in the fuel will protect the engine from that last 20 seconds or so of running slightly lean.
Maybe for you it is but not for me.
What...?
AGAIN with the opinions.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Hmm.

Let's compare ThunderbirdJunkie's XXXNT AD2vs his SC10 kit if we're going to talk cost.

SC10:
truck: 180
steering servo: 35
ESC/motor: 140
LiPo batteries: 75
LiPo charger: 65
new wheels and tires because the kit tires suck: 60
Receiver: 40

XXXNT AD2
Truck: 320
servos: 80
Engine: 110
Rx pack: 25
Receiver: 40
Not having to upgrade anything on a pro-tier truck: priceless

Still trying to figure out how electric is cheaper. ThunderbirdJunkie has spent ~$20 on replacement parts for his XXXNT AD2 since he bought it...ooh..5 years ago is it?
He's spent ~$100 on replacement parts on his SC10 to fix poor performance and on 6 cells with a Sidewinder 4600 it's absolutely NO faster than his XXXNT AD2 with an OS .12TR.

They are both fun trucks. Wish the electric fanboys would quit harping on this whole cheaper thing, when you can have a higher-end kit without having to have specialized equipment for the same price in nitro.

HJJFFFAA

Exactly. My CRT .5 cost a ton to go electric compared to if I would've kept it nitro.

dakotanut

To me, electric is easier. Nitro is more fun to me. I have both. I like both. I have a Rustler electric and a Slash. I also have a Losi 8ight and a Redcat Volcano. I like both. To me Nitro is better in grass. The electrics just spin.

Access

The choice was pretty much already made for me b'cos I live in a city with reasonable density. I like to run close to where I live and you have to be respectful of the neighbors. I also always try to be practical and not get hung up too much on aesthetics or form. Most people who still run nitro today cite something related to one of those two things as their reason. When I got my first big truck maybe 5 years ago(?) the guy at the hobby shop asked me if I wanted a nitro or electric and back then the electrics were just beginning to get into things like monster trucks and such (even if it would only get you to the 20-30mph). Today the performance of the electrics has surpassed the nitros, at least for the common basher or the club racer. I did see a few nitros break 100mph at the ISC but then the electrics were hitting 110mph or 120mph. Electrics also have some good options like trail trucks or outlaw runners (ie. Summit) that you don't get with nitro. That again are more suited to outlaw driving b'cos they don't draw as much attention from the locals. It seems like the nitros, the people that run them, the designers and manufacturers, etc., other than maybe things like the ISC which isn't even off-road, just aren't innovating or pushing the envelope as much as with the electrics.

HJJFFFAA

What's innovative about stuffing the biggest battery and the most powerful brushless system into a small car?

sheograth

Let's play game. It's called "keep it cool so Sheograth doesn't lock the thread"

monsterbombs

nitro motors are cool. the engineering of the tiny parts,
i think, and how they work is just cool. i have both.

i just dont like the mess, thats why i prefer electric.
and the maintenence. (cheaper)

cenracer1

Like Sheograth says.. I have all 3 kinds... I like electric for the ease of use.. I can run my brushless anywhere I want whenever I want as long as the lipo's are charged.. I have alot so thats not usually an issue.. Sure the brushless is fast, faster than my nitro's, but not necessarily faster than all nitro's...
I like Nitro for the fun of it.. I like to set up the engine, although with the OS motors, they don't require much, and the general demands of running nitro.. The sound is important as well.. and yes electric is like watching an action movie on MUTE... but thats not a bad thing.. I kind of like the sound of a brushless motor.. sounds like a dentist drill on steroids...
1/5th scale gas... there is nothing like it.. the sound and the realistic running of the Baja.. its like nothing else you can run... I run my Baja whenever I get the chance... unfortunately I can't run it where I live too much without upsetting the neighbors.. I get along with them and want to keep it that way.. They put up with my nitro's, but the Baja is pushing it.. Tuned pipes are loud.. imagine a Harley and a dirtbike having a kid... thats a Baja... So to sum it up, I like all of them , but my preference is gas...

SyCo_VeNoM

Agree

I've spent probably $200 more on elec's junk than the nitro stuff, also used my electrics less than the nitros. Still waiting for it to get cheaper

Access

Innovation is more a measure of new concepts being explored, new things that didn't exist several years ago, etc. And it's not just about speed about performance. Innovation can mean totally new capabilities, it can mean incremental improvements in performance or usability / reliability, it can mean new racing classes, it can mean any number of things. 10 years ago it was nitro that was leading electric that was following. Today if you look at where the newer recent trends came from, ie. Short-course truck racing, outlaw running, rock crawling, etc. all these things pretty much came from electric.