Hi. I have a gmade r1 and scx10 both heavily modified and heavily worn out. I eventually retired them a little over a year ago and dropped off the face of the earth in this hobby. I recently got the itch to come back to the hobby and did a lot of research over the last month on what to buy.

the more I researched the scale crawlers out right now the less sure i was what I wanted. I immediately looked at the scx10-2 and I liked what I saw. I like the after market support of axial and their simple layout. The scx10-2 addresses many of the issues I had with the scx10. But that's boring. I already had an scx10. I want to see what else is out there.

next I looked at the hpi venture. I love hpi products I've had in the past. It looks great. Got good reviews. My only gripes with it was the weak steering servo and the battery placement is pretty far back for my liking. Also the plastic links were an issue on my scx and that seems cheap to me.

next I looked at the trx4. Well this is a truck I would love to hate, but I dont. I have had terrible luck with every traxxas ive had and ive grown to hate the whole company stemming all the way back to the days of trying to tune my first gen tmaxx and it being a gutless piece of hpi savage food.but the trx4 seems really well built with really good features that set it pretty far ahead of the competition. But alas I still have a sour taste in my mouth from years of disappointment from traxxas.

next I looked at the redcat racing gen7 pro. I really liked this rig. For the money this thing seems stellar. Id buy one on the spot if I could get one locally. But by the time it's converted to Canadian with shipping from tower hobbies it' the same price as the scx10 and it loses its greatest edge which was it's price point.

the trail finder 2 was next. I'l keep this one short. The kit is 700 Canadian with no electronics. Nope.

lastly I looked at the vaterra ascender. It looks great. Got great reviews. And there isn' much I didnt like about this truck. I have heard they have a great after market but I haven' found it. Link please? But I like this truck.

so with that research done I went to a nice hobby shop a few hours from home(5 times the selection as my home town hobby shop) and I narrowed it down to the ascender almost rtr(everything but the radio with the f100 body) I would have preferred a kit but they were sold out. My other choice is the scx10-2 builders kit. I hummed and hawed over which one I wanted. Then my wife said I don' have all day. Just get both! Haha. So I did.

so I bought the ascender almost rtr, they were sold out of reasonably priced radios so I will hit another hobby shop in the morning. But I also bought the scx10-2 builders kit with a sidewinder3 esc, a rc4wd 35t motor, a fairly powerful waterproof servo, and rc4wd interco super swamper tires because I like them. As far as the radio goes I'm almost out of spending money. I may get two radios tomorrow morning or if I run out of spending money I'll use one of the flysky radios in my old rc.

I am looking for links to buy a 2 speed tranny kit for both of these trucks asap as well as any note worthy mods. And some of my lipos went dead and won' charge anymore. So I am looking for battery suggestions as well please.

Nothing??...

how do you like the SCx2?

my first ride was a 92 cherokee, I am seriously considering the kit

Check out Great Hobbies here in Canada. They are online and have brick and mortar shops including one in Edmonton, nearest to you. I deal with them a lot and the costs are comparable with exchange minus the hassle of the border fees.