Anyone into R/C?

Yep, that shop is about 5 minutes from the house but unfortunately they're under new ownership and now are a hobby/antique/vape shop and they currently have the hobby side "closed for remodel" with seemingly no activity, according to some recent reviews the new owners seem to be more concerned about the vape/antique side than hobby side.

I don't particularly want to support Traxxas with their change of ownership and what seems to be a lack of supporting the hobby the way the original owners did.
I considered brushed but brushless is more efficient and faster so it would be something to grow into and I can simply turn down the throttle on the TX or run 2S batteries so stay slower and only have $50 more initial cost over the brushed truck.
I also don't know if I want to worry about switching ESC/Motors as my itch for speed grows.

I'll check out Losi's offerings, I remember them being big $$ last time I was in a shop.

I think a monster truck or short course truck will be best for me, I have street/grass/dirt where I'm staying but can go to the beach or to our property and have open field/dirt road to drive on.
Personally I prefer the short course truck looks, but I don't know how they handle compared to something like my old T-maxx.

 

Expand on that? Hard to make a claim like that and then talk about considering Losi or Arrma.

The SCTs and pretty much anything else will blow the old T-Maxx away in every department. The T-Maxx is a legend and a groundbreaker but that was a different era now.

 

I have little info other than a few forum posts that I’ve read over the past few days and some comments in and under videos from the RCSaylors YouTube channel but from my understanding none of the founders are with Traxxas anymore and according to some people as a company they have steered away from a “let’s help grow this hobby” mindset more to a profit margin mindset.

The biggest reason I personally don’t want to support them though is the RCSaylors account was contacted by the Traxxas legal team after comparing another vehicle to a Traxxas Slash and told that they could not specifically state what the brand/model of the Traxxas was without fear of legal recourse.

Here’s some reading if you want to spend the time, I skimmed through most of it and helped make my decision.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3067295-Boycott-Traxxas


I know almost nothing about Losi other than they used to be (still are?) pretty popular for certain classes of races.
I know nothing about ARRMA other than they’re owned by horizon hobby and most of the reviews I’ve read are good considering the price point.

 

Interesting. I have some patents myself and have spent time with some serious IP lawyers and that guy's post reeks. You don't "legally reverse-engineer" a patented product. Maybe you roll the dice on trying to differentiate your product enough to skirt the claims on a patent, but if you get sued, you better have your ducks in a row. Traxxas has a right to protect its hard-earned and breathtakingly expensive IP and that does not make it a bad company. It certainly says something about the other companies, who tried to go around a patent and lost in a court of law (my guess is desperation and/or ignorance as opposed to straight malice).

All through high school and college I worked at hobby shops and raced. HPI did not break up because the Traxxas boogie man got them. Traxxas just straight beat them with quality and customer service. If a customer brought a failed Traxxas product back, they got taken care of. One call to Traxxas and we would get told to swap it out, they would credit the hobby shop and we would send the broken part/car/whatever back. Customer got fixed up in one trip, every time. Traxxas reps would call us, ask how the products were doing, make sure we had all the manuals, etc. HPI NEVER did any of that. Warranty claims took weeks. Parts were not as easy to get, and no one reached out to us to ensure we were taken care of so that we could take care of the customer. They got beat.

Losi and Arrma are Horizon brands. Horizon used to be almost as good as Traxxas, support-wise, but they have slipped. Horizon has been owned by investors/firms since 2013 and their practices reflect that.

Traxxas understood in the late 90s/early 00s that RC racing was slowly going away due to cost and complexity. Innovate or die, so they innovated and created a whole new segment of the hobby and spread the word by working into areas where the new target audience was. This is why you see them sponsoring or running teams at all sorts of events, various extreme sports, stadium truck racing, NHRA, AMA MX/SX etc. Their products are well-engineered and supported. True, in the late 80s/early 90s they were an also-ran, but the fact that they went all-in with a whole new segment and came out a hugely-successful behemoth does not mean they are a bad company or "patent trolls" like that rcg post claims...

TL;DR haters gonna hate.

 

https://www.amainhobbies.com/4wd-short-course-truck-1-10-scale-electric-kits-cars-trucks/c7611

 

I'm curious as to why the Helion Avenge is discounted so much, I don't see it on Helion's website so maybe it's discontinued?
Is parts availability any good for Helion? I've never heard of them, but it's brushless already and at a $200 price point, only downside is the ESC is only 60A.
Would something like this be a simple drop in replacement and make it 2s/3s capable?

Hobbywing EZRUN WP SC8 120A Waterproof Speed Controller Brushless ESC for RC Car Short Truck

https://www.amazon.com/Hobbywing-EZ...brushless+esc&qid=1558907547&s=gateway&sr=8-6

https://www.amainhobbies.com/helion...e-4wd-rtr-short-course-truck-hlns1301/p825954

 

At the price point you’re looking at, that HWing ESC would be an upgrade for any of them. May as well go straight to the source: https://www.hobbywingdirect.com/
I’ve bought 3 times from there for crawlers and some other brushed rigs.

 

The author of that article seems disgruntled.

Anyway, there have been some pretty spectacular craters left by companies that tried to grow too fast and that has nothing to do with Traxxas.

 

Dang. I want this little thing now.
https://www.amainhobbies.com/hpi-jumpshot-rtr-1-10-electric-2wd-short-course-truck-hpi116103/p524821

 

The big question for me now is, will the 4x4 and brushless be worth the $50 cost difference?
I think eventually I want both 4x2 and 4x4 trucks but which would be better to buy first?

Edit: the Helion is a steeper discount... it pushes me a little bit that way.

 

Shameless plug
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/tag/d/santa-cruz-losi-nightcrawler-c-4x4/6898010997.html

 

Screw it, helion will be here June 4th, I may also pick up the Jumpshot.

 

LOL.

Been reading up real quick on the Jumpshot. It needs to stay brushed or it’ll blow its tranny. They make a brushless ‘Flux’ version but I can’t seem to find the gears anywhere as of yet.

 

I have been for years. Got a couple right now, brand new. Might be willing to sell or trade them.

 

Good to know.

 

Just got into the hobby myself. Purchased as a custom build at my local hobby shop.
I don’t know much about the build but so far I’ve learned that the body is. 1997 hpi racing Ivan Stewart race truck, pit bull 1.9 wheels and tires, proline front suspension, Eco servo with vanquish servo tongue and links. And incision drive shafts.

 

Need a some body off pics from a couple of angles.

 

I’ll snap some when I get home.

 

My issue is Traxxas has been going around to retailers trying to put pressure on shop owners to be Traxxas exclusive. Traxxas has shown very little interest on customizing until just recently as well, which is counter to hobbies in general. They are a closed proprietary plug kinda company. RC hobbies is counter to that in all ways. Traxxas wants to shut down other companies and that is why aftermarket support has some limitations with traxxas

 

Sorry for the terrible lighting.