Gulliver Foyle

Well, I got my Genesis yesterday (February pre-order!) so I figured I would throw my review and thoughts in with RCnutz and DRVcrash. This is my first CEN vehicle, and after 15+ years in this hobby, I really have no brand loyalties to speak of.

Initial Impression:
After opening the box, holy ****! This thing is huge! All the other people who have seen mine have said the exact same thing upon seeing it. Pictures in no way do its sheer size justice. It is very heavy, on the order of 18lbs (yes I weighed it). The fit and finish of the truck are quite good, as good as I would expect from Losi or Associated or any of the other "big guys". All of the components (chassis, a-arms, shock towers, drive shafts, ball links) are very beefy, they look like they should be able to take a severe beating discounting the weight of this behemoth. The "roll bar" is really a carry handle and will easily waffle if it is rolled upon, it should be much bigger, and I don't recommend holding onto it while yanking the pull starter, hold onto the rear bumper for this. The body, while not to my taste, is made of very heavy lexan, like the Pro-Line heavy-duty bodies. It fits well except the antenna hole will have to be made bigger, and if you want to drop the body down as far as it will go, you will have to relieve the hole in the bed a bit to clear the cooling head. The wheel lugs are so huge as to be funny, but not in a bad way, they just struck me and my friends as being huge, like 15mm.

Time for break-in
I am only through 3 tanks so fart but I will give you my impressions up to this point. Big gas tank, big engine, small pull-start. The cord on the pull-start in very thin for the job it has to accomplish, the engine has a lot of compression so I would really recommend loosening the plug a little for initial starting. This is my major complaint so far, an engine this size and compression really needs a roto or drill start of some kind, I am a big guy, but yanking on that pull start bothered my fingers after awhile. So, fill the tank, prime the carb, glow igniter on, pull pull pull, nothing. Pull the glow plug out, and it was dead out of the box with a badly misshapen element, but at least it was still in one piece. I have seen other guys writing about the glow-plugs and you should really read the manual, it takes an OS A8 not A5. Put the new plug in and it fired right up. It ran through all 3 tanks so far without complaint or incident.

Radio and included gear
The are no break-in instructions in the manual, and I see this as a problem, not everyone is going to read this site or similar sites (Wildhobbies) and the break-in procedure is vastly different from .12 to .21 size engines. It comes with such niceties as a glow igniter and requisite charger, fuel bottle, lug wrench, Allen keys, and extra pinions. Being a lefty the radio is almost useless to me but I will use it. The radio quality is on par with the Traxxas TQ, it works, but beyond that I would really liked to have seen a higher quality radio for a model of this caliber, and price. The failsafe is a nice addition, and should come with all RTR Trucks of this size/price.

So to sum up so far:
Likes:
Very big
Very beefy build
Very big Engine
Metal gears all around
3-speed
4-wheel steering option
Reverse module included
4-shoe clutch
Seems to run well
Included failsafe
Included Glow starter/charger
Include fuel bottle
The radio (TX) shuts itself off after a period of inactivity

Dislikes:
Pull starter (cord too thin, really needs a drill start)
"Roll bar" too thin
Radio equipment does not inspire confidence
Instructions could be better
Dead Glow plug

All things considered, I really like it. I have had nothing break yet, and can't wait to be able to really put it through its paces. I must say I don't think CEN is handling this truck like the revolutionary monster it could be. Some things seem of very high quality, like the truck itself, while others seem to be not near the quality of the truck. I would have taken a bit more time on the manual, radio and the pull start, and this ground pounder could have been perfect.

rcblaze

Ok that's good info and a nice review so far. I have a couple of questions for you. Seeing that the wheel nuts are huge what size are the hubs and are they a hex type making it compatible with most rims on the market? I would also like to know from the looks of things is this truck easy to work on? And lastly get some run time in we have more Q's for you. Thanks again.

Gulliver Foyle

Ok, I was wrong, the lug nuts are 19mm! So are the drive hexes, they are typical drive hex (also metal), but as far as what else will fit, I don't know. As far as working on it, it seems that it will be slightly easier than a Savage because it has a little more open layout, but not as easy as something with a pan chassis (MGT, T-Maxx, HPI NItro MT etc...) but not nearly as hard as a Veteq.

rcblaze

OK 19mm makes it compatible with the Mad Force stocker wheel's. And I'm guessing since you said standard hex you can always use Ofna 17mm Hex's and run maxx wheels? What do you think? I asked about being easy to work on b/c for some reason I'm trying to get and idea if this can be made into a racer or if it's a basher. I assume strictly basher but you never know. I have another question about this shift knob whats the deal with that? And to some up this round of questioning I know you are still breaking in but how does this aftershock system they have on it seem? Stiff or soft from the video's I have seen I noticed allot of body roll and what looked like one wheel action coming out of turns. So are the diff's filled with anything other then your standard lube and are these diffs the real deal. I guess you can't answer that until you really hammer on it. So have some fun and thanks for the info.

Haldir

Sounds like a great truck. No user error to speak of as yet.

Gulliver Foyle

Well, bad news. I was running the 6th idle tank and lost 3 teeth off a spur gear (1st gear). Keep in mind the truck has been in neutral the whole time and on a car stand with the wheels off the ground. That frightens me, I hope just some of these gears have been faulty, because what happens when you start putting them under a load? Or shifting from forward to reverse? Now I'm pissed off, I wanted this thing for our Sunday runs. Gotta call CEN today. Damnit.

drvcrash

Were you idling it with the wheels on the ground or on a stand?

Gulliver Foyle

Wheels in the air, on a car stand (work stand). Just got off the phone with CEN, talked to Andrew S himself, nice guy, how cool is that. He said they will send out a replacement today, very cool. He told me the first batch (spur gears) were on the brittle side and that they changed them already, that was quick. I can't tell you how much I want this truck to be great, so tired of the same old players in the field. But I will continue to call it as I see it, and hope for the best.

RCnutz

I lost a tooth off my one way spur gear as well and I had the truck in neutral at all times while idling. When I called them they told me that it was more than likely a rock that caused the tooth to break and that they'd have to look at it before they would warrant it. They did the same thing with the shift fork all trying to tel me that I broke it and it didn't break due to a faulty part and from the load of the shift servo.
Let us know how they handle the spur gear!

If you look at it closely you can notice that it is a different color than the other gear which kinda tells me it's been through a different heat treatment.

drvcrash

ill have to look over mine when i get home to see if its missing any teeth

T-Maxx killer with my cen mt2

Kerry G over at www.wildhobbies.com has his Genesis also,he has had no problems on his truck at all,his is all broken in and everything, though he won't tell about preformance yet, he says to wait for his full detailed review coming in the next couple of days. he says once it's all dialed and completely broke-in that you could say good bye to the rear bumper,(wheelies) he said it has tons of power and speed.

Gulliver Foyle

Bingo. I asked him if they have been having trouble with any of the other gears and he said no, so I started looking at the other gears and noticed the same thing myself. Andrew at CEN did'nt give me any quibble whatsoever about why or how it broke, just sent new stuff.

RCnutz

I know! it depends who answers the phone... they made me send in the parts first and all so they can waste some more of my time... It's all good. I can't wait to see what else will break so I can wait some more.

Gulliver Foyle

As far as I'm concerned, good customer service should not quiz you about how or why it broke within the warranty period. When you do this you assume that the customer is incompetent or careless or malicious. Most people are none of these things when it comes to most of the cases I dealt with. I am no stranger to dealing with customers on this level as I used to work for a huge company doing just that as well as other things, and you find out that if you don't nickel and dime your customers about crap like that, they come back, keep coming back, and spend more. We used to take back just about anything for almost any reason, and nobody could argue with our numbers. In the long run it only works in the companies favor.

Andrew Smolnik

RCnutz,

We requested that you send in the items not because we question your intelligence, but because we need to have the items so that we can learn what the problem is. We are sorry for your incovenience and we will take care of the problem to the best of our ability. In a timely manner. Thanks for your cooperation.

Kind Regards,
CEN RACING

Gulliver Foyle

Hey Andrew, that previous post was not a personal knock as my experience with you did not resemble RCnutz experience with CEN. It was just a general statement regarding doing business. You make it sound like I am hostile which I can assure you I am not. After many customer polls we found that what I described in my earlier post was, in the great preponderance of cases, what customer's felt unless you explained why you are questioning them, and even then garnered some bad feelings. I also understand what broadening the field as far as choices for RC vehicles means for the RC community, and hope CEN succeeds now having a personal investment in their success

RCnutz

Andrew,

Hehe! Like you're going tell me ~yeah we doubted your truthfulness so we wanted the parts to see if you're telling the truth or not~ You don't have to treat me like I'm irate because I’m far from it!
So sure you want to learn what the problem is and I understand but unfortunately for you as you can see we all communicate in here and we know how you treat each one of us and so far it’s been all different handling on your part so please save the “so that we can learn what the problems is” for a 15 year old.
How come you don't seem to want to learn what the problem is in every case? Gulliver Foyle called you about his broken spur gear and you decided to send him one right away without requesting him to send the bad spur gear in. How come I didn’t get one right away?

Tomandemmy wrote:

What bothers me is that you don't have a policy set for every customer to send in the faulty part first. Some people get their stuff replaced without sending anything in and some don't. It's like hmm this guy sounds fishy and dumb... Lets have him send in the parts! or hmm this guy sounds like he knows what he's talking about lets just next day him the parts. Get the policy straight with all people who answer the phone! That way you won't get people like me mad.

Gulliver Foyle

Great, now they are going to make me send in my spur gear! I can see I am causing more trouble here than I intended. I got what I thought was exemplary customer service and was merely pointing that out. Everyone was wondering how well the newly emerging CEN was going to handle customer support, and to me my experience was what I would expect from a good company, courteus, fast friendly.

fantomas

My Feedback: (3)

i agree!! team associated does the same thing....

jefx

I know this is off topic, but what is up with that quote? It's like some of the words got translated into Alien or something when they got quoted.

fantomas

My Feedback: (3)

lol[&:]

Webgamer

RCNutz,
Not taking sides but probably CEN was asking you to send the parts in because you were the first one to encounter this defect. But now that it also happened to Gulliver it is proven that it is indeed a defect and might as well replace the parts. Oh well, I wasn't in that conversation, that was just a thought. Thanks again for your honest reviews. I am a noob in this hobby and I am learning a lot from the tips you have been posting.

Andrew,
Thanks for responding quickly to these issues. Also, Gulliver mentioned that the first batch of spur gears was 'brittle' and that it is already being replaced. My question is can you tell us exactly 'when' or which batch were already fixed. when did you start using the new gears? I'm concerned that the batch I'm getting will have the same problem. Can you tell us how to spot the difference between old and new spur gear by visual inspection without even running it so we can notify you right away?

Even if it hasn't broken yet, I believe those of us who will get that defective part have the right to ask for the part that has better quality. We don't want it breaking beyond warranty period (let's say truck not used for a long while) and then end up paying for that part when it breaks when we could have gotten the right one in the first place.

Can you post an official announcement on your cenracing.com site as well and say that if manufactured date is so and so, the following parts need replacement, etc.

Thanks for your assistance.


Gulliver,
thanks for a very detailed review and observation of the truck. I'll keep watching your reviews as well as soon as you get your replacement part. I thought I was going to get mine in time for my birthday but..... oh well

Gulliver Foyle

Read my sig

jefx

OK, so the rest of you see that too? I thought I might have just been going crazy, or maybe my computer was just going crazy.

Billsky

My Feedback: (37)

Signs II??? Return of the ALIENS!!! [X(]