Jeremy Z

A bit of history first:

I ran electric RC buggies in the 80s. Tamiya Falcon. Way too fragile. I also missed ground clearance, so I could only run in the street.

Got out of RC for 20 years. (give or take)

Got into electric RC planes. Fun, but it is always windy here, and people act like I'm going to kill someone if I try to fly in a local park. (with a foam airplane)

So now I'm looking for a monster truck, but I still want some of the features of a buggy.

Here's what I'm after.

• 1st: I'm price limited. $300 has to buy it all, except a charger. (my airplane ones will work to get me going) I probably just lost most of you, hehehe. That includes radio and at least one battery pack.
• I want enough ground clearance to run in 3-4" tall grass. Maybe 30% of the time.
• I still want some speed. I don't need 70 mph, but 20-30 would be nice. If it is more like 18 mph to start, that is OK, as long as upgrades are easy and not too expensive.
• I don't need rock-crawling
• I won't race it
• It will be used for bashing. Street, grass, dirt, gravel, parking lots, snow, etc. Course of opportunity.

Here's what I was thinking of. I have no idea of the pros & cons of each, so I hope you can help a truck noob out.
[list][*]Losi High Roller. Seems to have quality components, just a slow, cheap motor, which should be easy to fix. AM radio, ick.[*][url=http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_info.php/cPath/1_44_228/products_id/16231]Traxxas Stampede RTR. I don't really see any down sides to this. I think they're lying about the 30 mph though. Looks like a cheap can motor with a fancy sticker on it.[*]Traxxas Desert Truck RTR This looks like a souped up Stampede. Would I lose ground clearance and not be able to run in the grass? I really like that it comes with a 2.4 GHz radio though.[list]

Which one would you get, keeping in mind that $300 has to buy EVERYTHING, including batteries & Tx? Would you be just a bit cheaper on the vehicle to have more batteries at the ready? Why?

Any brand differences or parts price differences or availability between Traxxas and Losi?

Thanks for your help.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

The stampede is an awesome little truck. I would take it over the high roller anyday. Basically the stampede has a bulletproof transmission, with good ground clearence, and the stock motor is actually a pretty quick motor. 3-4" tall grass will pull a 2wd electric MT down pretty good, but it will handle it if you dont run in it a lot. 4wd and some more weight(e-maxx or e-savage) is needed to handle the grass well, but the stampede will definately handle it.

I never broke a suspension part on my stampede. The only thing i ever broke was the idler in the transmission, but mine was an older model with a plastic idler. It went about 25mph with a 16t motor and wheelied pretty well. It jumped well too.

You can get parts for a stampede almost anywhere. Most hobby shops carry parts for them. I feel like the high roller will be harder to get parts for without ordering them. I also dont think it is as durable.

I hope this helps a little. My stampede was my only basher for a long time until recently, and i never had a complaint with it. Great little truck[8D]

Honestly, if you dont mind the extra batteries required(2 per run), pick up a used e-maxx or e-savage and run that. They can be had used for $150-$200 if you would rather have one.

Eric

Jeremy Z

Thanks Eric. I'm surprised you're the only one to reply in a whole day. Maybe there are too many sub-fora here for each one to get the right amount of exposure.

After I posted that yesterday, I did a big search here and found a few good threads.

The consensus was that the High Roller is a nice truck, with higher-end shocks, a nice-looking body, but not nearly as durable, especially in the gearbox.

So I ordered up a Stampede and three 3500 mAH batteries yesterday night.

Time to go get my NiMH AAs on charge and see about cutting off a couple cells from my 8 cell 3500 mAh plane packs .

I looked & thought hard about the E-Maxx. It looks like it's got the goods, but with a lot of extra complexity & expense. As a relative new guy, I hesitate to get a used truck. If something's jacked-up, I want to know it is my own fault and not wonder about the character of the person who sold it to me.

Catch you later.

phast46

Take a look at the team losi aftershock. the thing is huge and handles all terrain. It has good speed and the motor will flip it on its back. (good thing)

john01374

You're going to be happy with the Pede. It's an awesome truck. One word of warning. Traxxas like to over gear their stuff so they can claim higher top speeds. The Titan motor also has a nasty habit of dying after a few runs. If you want the motor to live a little longer you should drop down a tooth or two on the pinion. This is especialy true when running in grass. Also make sure you have about $30 set aside for a new motor when the Titan does checkout.

No need to take apart that 8 cell pack. The XL5 will run just fine on 9.6V as long as the pack fits in the truck.

Have fun. You made a good choice.

bhcvc

I think you'd be very happy with an E-Savage. A brand new RTR w/o the charger/batteries is $245 after discounts from Tower Hobbies. With discounts, you can get the RTR with charger/batteries for $315 from Tower after discounts. You get bigger discounts if you're a Tower member. It is extremely durable. I've bashed the hell out of mine...huge tumbles, terrible landings, hit boulders at near top speed, and it keeps going. It's a very strong MT. The weakest parts are the axles, which break if you land with full throttle off a jump and the diffs. Pick up a set of traxxas 4951x axles to have on hand as those will bend more before they break and are thus more durable when landing off jumps. The diffs are easily addressed if you shim them properly, they'll work fine.
Stock with cheap NiMHs, it hits 26mph. On a good set on NiMHs, you'll break 30. On a set of LiPos, you'll easily break 30mph. I was in a very similar situation as you when I was looking for an MT. I looked at the Stampede, HPI Firestorm, and E-Maxx. After driving 2WD trucks, I MUCH MUCH prefer 4WD trucks. They handle more terrain and are easier to control. The E-Maxx looked really nice because it's considerably larger than an E-Savage, but I read so many stories of bulkhead, arms, etc. breakage even with the new E-Maxx (was told by E-Maxx owners themselves). There are many E-Maxx fans and happy owners, but for me, I preferred what my research found with the E-Savage. Since purchasing it, I've been very happy with the E-Savage. I recently converted my E-Savage to brushless and now it's insanely fast. I also have 2 sets of shocks, one for track (truggy shocks) and one for bashing so handle various environments. The E-Savage is a very versatile MT.
Check out e-savage.com forums. They're a great community and you'll learn a lot there.

Barber420

My Feedback: (1)

I realize you already bought a truck, but if you look for another one in the near future I would recommend the MMGT by Associated. It's a great truck and can be had for less than $200 right now on tower with a coupon code, or $229 without a coupon code. It's really easy to use, has loads of power, good amount of speed, and is quite durable. The aftermarket is limited, but it doesn't really need a whole lot anyway. Just figured I'd put that out there.

Clymer122693

Save a couple more bucks and get a E-revo, best E-MT you can get.

Jeremy Z

I'll definitely consider 4WD for my next truck. I'm not unhappy with 2WD, I just wanted to get my feet wet with something affordable. If I'm still doing it a month or two from now, I'll save up for a nice 4WD truck. Those things are brutal, what with needing two battery packs and oftentimes, two motors.

The added complexity & cost simply scared me off for a first re-entry vehicle.

Is the E-Revo considered a monster truck? It looks like more of a 4WD stadium truck to me. Smallish tires with tiny spikes...

I was thinking more of an E-Maxx...