gringotuerto

Obviously these aren't even close in price, but I wondered what precisely is the difference. After looking at Tamiya site for a while, I think it is not 100% metal. It perhaps has more metal parts (like the barrel and lower suspension), but not 100% (as far as I can tell). The spec on weight seems similar to Heng Long. I'm not seeing a 3x difference in features that would match a 3x difference in price.

Crius

Tamiya is the gold standard, and with any gold standard, part of what you pay is for the name. Like the difference between buying a Cadillac and a Chevrolet. Personally, I don't believe they are worth the extra money and that's why I don't own any Tamiya tanks, but I understand why they cost more. Tamiya basically invented this Hobby and they still have some of the best tanks out there.

pitstain

Heng Long are a bit more "TOY" grade out of the box, if you want to improve the details and realism to the same level as an out of the box Tamiya you will quickly creep up to near the same price. I have seen some utterly amazing Heng Long builds on the forums and the level of detail and realism is fantastic, however most people upgrade just about every system to get to that level and the cost can really stack up fast.

Tamiya do a very good job of giving you a excellent level of scale realism, detail, and functionality bone stock.

if you are just looking for something to play around with and are not primarily doing this with the goal of building a scale model then Heng Long and Taigen are great tanks.

I personally enjoy the building of the kit the most.

Either way we welcome all to the R/C Tank hobby regardless of brand they choose as it brings more attention to our somewhat niche corner of the RC world as a whole and only helps drive manufacturers to produce more exciting kits we all want.

Pah co chu puk

I own both, I like both.

The Tamiya is better engineered and a kit you build yourself. The build process makes you an expert on how to maintain the tank. They have good parts support if anything breaks, and the electronics are top notch.

The Heng Long is toy grade engineering and they come ready to run. If anything goes wrong, you have no clue how to fix it until you open it up and go for it. They have poor parts support, and the electronics are "good enough". You can however get aftermarket parts to upgrade or replace any part of the Heng Long tanks, and several aftermarket electronics packages are available.

In my experience, the two come out about even in price after you upgrade the Heng Long up to Tamiya standards. The upgrade process is enough like the kit building that you learn about the tank maintenance then.

In the end, you ether spend the money up front and build the Tamiya kit, or you spend the money in increments upgrading the Heng Long. Both are fun and both produce a great tank.

tankme

I own both and both are not perfect and everything that follows is my personal opinion after running both types of tanks. I would actually disagree about the parts support. You can find replacement Heng Long parts all over the internet cheap. Tamiya parts are usually on selected websites and very expensive comparatively. Lately people have been saying that Tamiya is discontinuing some replacement parts that are needed on current kits that they are selling. The details on both are about equal in my mind as I've had to put Aber PE detail kits on my Tamiya KV-2 and my HL tanks.

I do think the Tamiya kits are well sorted as to their fit and finish, but they need improvements in some areas and some of those areas are the same as HL. Both my Tamiya Sherman and Tamiya KV-2 need chassis supports due to flexing hulls. Stock track tensioners tend to leave something to be desired on both kits. It really depends on your requirements. Tamiya electronics are better quality for the most part, but you can't stray far from Tamiya standard controls because the overall package is not very flexible for changes. That would also apply to the HL tanks, but replacing the electronics would be cheaper than replacing them in a Tamiya. There are many that would say, "Why would you ever want to replace Tamiya electronics?" and yet there are many folks that have for different functionality.

If you want to IR battle with your friends, either tank will work although the Tamiya will be much more expensive for that. If you want to IR battle with a club then Tamiya is better to start with especially if you don't do many customizations yourself. If you don't know if you want to get into the hobby, then buy a cheap HL and bash the crap out of it. At that point if you like the hobby then buy more tanks and get into doing mods to them. It is true that converting a HL to Tamiya IR battle standards can cost as much as just buying a Tamiya, but Tamiya doesn't make all of the same models as HL so HL is your only choice sometimes if you want that tank model.

I did start off buying a HL first, but I also started riding a 250cc motorcycle, then a 650cc, and now an 800cc. I'm not sure why anyone would spend $1000 on a Tamiya tank when they don't even know if they are getting into the hobby. Yeah I know there are cheaper ones, but after you buy a charger, radio, and building supplies even the cheap Tamiya is going to run you at least $600 especially if you have never built a plastic model kit. It would be like buying a $30,000 Harley Davidson motorcycle for your first bike without even knowing if you like riding a motorcycle. I would rather wreck a $2000 motorcycle learning to ride than a $30,000 one. Plus if you decide to get out of the hobby your low entry cost doesn't hit you so hard. I have seen many Tamiya tanks not fetch their base price on Ebay after they have been built and run.

Personally I don't care which type of tank you run as long as you run a tank...

Rad_Schuhart

Pah co chu puk: Tamiya electronics top notch? Well, maybe in 1999.
Better enginered?: I wrote several entries on my website talking about how "well" enginered the kits are https://radindustries.wordpress.com/...igstiger-ruhe/
Good spare parts available? In Europe we only have one shop selling spare parts, and now that tamiya has discontinnued more than half of the tanks, lets see how long the spares lasts...

Said that, I LOVE to assemble Tamiya tanks. I own 4 of them and built a bunch of them under request and is a process I really enjoy and love A LOT, but the kits are way, way overpriced nonetheless. Many new comers to the hobby only read praises to the tamiya kits and then, quite often the tears come. It happened to me and many, many more. I stayed in the hobby, but a lot of the dissapointed people seem to dissapear. I guess we all need to be fair in saying what you really get for the money.

Of course heng long is far from being perfect and it comes with flaws as well, but in some cases they are 1/10 the price and that is something to consider.

gringotuerto

Well that is a good point. This is my first one. I will buy a Heng Long and see if I like it. I didn't realize Tamiya was more of a kit type of process, that could be fun as well. Right now I am more of an airplane builder. But a few guys at the field are into dive bombing, and right now we aim for a dot on the runway. It would be more appropriate to have a moving tank to aim at. And I can shoot back at them too, if the barrel can elevate enough.

tankme

Well if you want to shoot back, then a HL is your option. None of the Tamiya tanks have BB shooters installed on them. Personally I don't know of anyone that has converted one to shoot BBs especially with the stock Tamiya electronics. Tamiya tanks are kits and none are sold ready to run. They do build like plastic model kits with some metal parts like the hull, sprockets, suspension arms, barrels, etc.

Pah co chu puk

Dive bombing!?!? COOL! For that function I would recommend a Heng Long tank. You can get one for around $100. If you want an even cheaper target, you may like the WPL and JJRC trucks. About $40 to $60 each and they run good enough to dodge bombs.

heavyaslead

It's like a Snap-On tool versus a Chicago tool

One will break and the other has warrantee service

Crius

Sounds like what you're really asking is what to buy for a first tank. This video is old and while the concepts remains true, now I would not recommend the Tauchpanzer, but one of the all plastic Heng Long 6.0 tanks, like the Sherman or Tiger. Get your feet wet cheap, then go from there.

bowlman

Watch out its like eating potato chips you get hooked and can not have just one

Anubizz

I 100% agree with Crius, I also just started rc tank hobby 2 month ago, and start detailing my 2 Heng Long Tank, since it cheap I don't scare to modify the tank, I will not dare touch it if it's AUD $800 Taigen tank or $1000+ Tamiya. The only regret I have is I am not buying the pro version.
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I will recommend Sherman as it's look amazing out of the box.

Tanque

Whatever you end up buying make certain you have expectations appropriate to what you buy. If you expect great things
from a $100 toy you might be disappointed and might come away with a dim view of this facet of RC. if it's possible try to find
armor hobbyists in your area and see if you can arrange to view their models in operation. Learn the strengths and weaknesses
of the major classes of model so you might make an informed decision.

Jerry

jarndice

I do not usually buy Heng Long or Taigen Tanks in their RTR guise simply because there is too much of a complete Tank that I will discard, The Cheap Heng Long Body and Turret both of which come with their fixtures and fittings on separate sprues make them a plus the hull not so much,
The Taigen Body with its moulded on fixtures and fittings cause me to avoid them BUT the Metal Hull, suspension and gearboxes complete with quick release (Which Works with Heng Long bodies) makes it a worthwhile purchase,
I am not overly impressed with the electronics of either Heng Long or Taigen although both company's have made very impressive improvements in recent years so I buy aftermarket products from IBU etc,
After the purchase of the Hull, Body and Turret it is a case of doing your research as to what variant of your model you wish to build, Buying like this can with a lot of work produce a Tank that is as good physically as well as electronically as any Tamiya Tank,
The end price will be the same BUT it will be money spent in affordable portions instead of the expensive single large lump of cash for the Tamiya example which will not usually have an airsoft main gun or a smoker.
.Finally, I am far more willing to carve lumps out of a $100 rtr Heng Long PZ4 Ausf F1/F2/G to make an Ausf D or earlier than I am to do the same to an $800 Tamiya Ausf J.

Crius

You know, taigen tanks at Imex has a lot of these tanks available in kit form, without the electronics. And at a considerably discounted price. That might be something more suited for you since you don't want to waste the inside anyway.

gringotuerto

Thanks, I watched it. The precise choice probably depends on many things, but I get the general idea - get something and see how you like it. I also have a Form 3 resin printer, and always looking for excuses to print something. It hadn't occurred to me until just now, but tanks are probably a good subject for that. Solid resin parts have to be used sparingly on airplanes due to the weight. But with a tank, you don't really care. I'm thinking I will get the Heng Long King Tiger Pro when they are available again (sold out at MotionRC). There are cheaper/smaller choices, but that probably suits me.

I run into the "Spearhead Armor Group" at some RC events, and their models are insane in size and detail (1/6). Expensive no doubt, but at least the investment lasts longer than it does with planes. Flying nice scale planes is like a weird form of gambling, in which the two outcomes can be $0 or negative $4000.

heavyaslead

"Flying nice scale planes is like a weird form of gambling, in which the two outcomes can be $0 or negative $4000"

I like that analogy

Just like drift car racing, which my son is interested in

Pah co chu puk

"Flying nice scale planes is like a weird form of gambling, in which the two outcomes can be $0 or negative $4000."

Yep. I flew a few planes. Never landed any of them.

cleong

Throwing in my two cents as well.

Don't associate percentage of metal content in a tank with value or performance. Some parts need more strength than others. Getting a really strong cast metal turret might sound great but just makes your turret rotation motor work that much harder for no good reason. Model tanks don't need to stand up to incoming shells.

Get a tank that has a working track tensioner (or that you can buy one relatively cheaply as an upgrade option). Track tension is crucial to happy tanking, especially with newer drivers who think tracked vehicles can "go anywhere" (they can't). Even if you drive carefully, even if you buy it metal tracks, track stretch is part and parcel of happy tanking and removing links is often too coarse of an adjustment.

Some may say Tamiya is overpriced, others may say its worth every penny. I'm not going to get into that argument. I think that you generally get what you pay for, so your appetite for trying a new hobby and spare cash will determine what you get as a first tank.

pcsguy88

This is very true about the metal content as my all plastic with steel gears Panther has been my best running tank for years with zero fuss. On the other hand, the Leopard I am currently building has the Taigen metal lower (thanks again Erik!) and after 2 weeks of shake down runs, I finally got thru a 8.4v 3000mah battery in the backyard grass without a breakdown yesterday. Extra weight adds extra headaches that go along with the extra fun of crushing any plant or insect in your path. Hopefully I have finally chased down all the gremlins and can start taking my 15lb monster to different locations without fear of failure.

Crius

That's exactly why I went back to plastic turrets on all my tigers. All that extra weight just causes problems and once it's painted you can't tell the difference anyway.

LUIVRAOS

I must say you're right, but with tanks there is an option: unless it has been crushed by a car (which probably may happen, sorry to remember that) you may not end in totally $0 and still sell it, so the best option might be getting an used, some kinda beaten tank, to feel the taste and destroy it once and for all or improve it, AND then having a second one... which may be brand new and a little more expensive.

Ghost@amps1

Hi. Is that 'camo netting' on the barrel of your Tiger in the photo? It looks pretty cool.