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Crawler Advice
- Thread starter jewing
- Start date
Do you want all out performance or scale looks? What’s your budget?
Not knowing those, I’d suggest:
Performance:
Vanquish VRD Carbon Kit
Scale:
Traxxas TRX-4 variant of your choice
Vanquish Fordyce (hurry before they’re all sold out and discontinued forever)
Not knowing those, I’d suggest:
Performance:
Vanquish VRD Carbon Kit
Scale:
Traxxas TRX-4 variant of your choice
Vanquish Fordyce (hurry before they’re all sold out and discontinued forever)
with so many good options its hard to go wrong these days
theres upgrades for almost everything out and there basicly all the same function wise
i say buy what ever looks good to you if something breaks and it always dose upgrade !
theres upgrades for almost everything out and there basicly all the same function wise
i say buy what ever looks good to you if something breaks and it always dose upgrade !
BamaRuckus
Rock Stacker
My first crawler is the trx4 sport. @JatoTheRipper recommended.
Budget friendly
Aftermarket support
Lots of accessories
Budget friendly
Aftermarket support
Lots of accessories
hnoroian
Rock Crawler
1/10 scale available worth spending money on. In no particular order Traxxas, Axial, Vanquish, Element, and Redcat would be my top choices.
A $300 Deadbolt is a solid rig with probably the biggest backing of aftermarket, though dated it’s kinda hard to beat. A base camp is $320. Trx4 at $330. Vanquish vs4-10 kit $389, their RTR are north of $450 but great vehicles. Trailrunner and Sendero at $275, Utron at $300. Ascent at $290, Gen 8 at $330, Gen 9 $360.
A $300 Deadbolt is a solid rig with probably the biggest backing of aftermarket, though dated it’s kinda hard to beat. A base camp is $320. Trx4 at $330. Vanquish vs4-10 kit $389, their RTR are north of $450 but great vehicles. Trailrunner and Sendero at $275, Utron at $300. Ascent at $290, Gen 8 at $330, Gen 9 $360.
cul8tr
Rock Crawler
excellent choice on the trx4 sport
Hanshotfirst
Quarry Creeper
Me shamelessly plugging my video on helping you choose a crawler type…
Sherman
Pebble Pounder
Fan of the Team Associated Element line...but there's lots to choose from.
Assuming no experience or any current RC products. I would have to say, The Traxxas TRX4 is going to be a solid platform. Its over built. And if you have a local hobby shop that handles Traxxas, easy parts support. Im not a huge fan of Traxxas but their TRX4 platforms have been pretty solid. Cant say I would recommend their batteries and charger setups, seems expensive, but unless you get adapters for the battery, soldering on new ESC connectors apparently voids the warranty.
After that, Id go for an Axial
Then I would suggest a kit if that is your thing and you are willing to put in some time building and researching instead of open box, charge batteries and go. Vanquish has been pretty good for a solid kit. I have a Gmade Buffalo kit that I have not built yet, but after reviews and watching Youtube videos I am confident it should be fairly solid as well.
I built an Element Gatekeeper kit. I really like the look of the cage design. I really like the shocks. But overall, the performance was just OK. I know a lot of the floppy saurus rex issues are due to the heavy cage. But there is just a little more I had hoped it could do. The pumpkins are kinda large. It is a fantastic rig to hand to someone who has never driven one or a kid that drives hard. No Lexan to worry about getting destroyed and it has been generally tough. I did buy the IFS kit to make it more of a beater/basher trail truck. I do like the Stealth style transmission with overdrive as well. My brother has the Ecto, which I liked a lot, so I got the Gatekeeper kit. His performs way better, again I believe due to the lexan body vs full cage rig sitting on top of standard C channel frame rails.
I also have a Redcat Gen 8 International Scout. Out of the box performance has been again ok, but I have not really spent any time tuning or replacing any parts like heavier wheels, adjusting shocks, changing battery placement. I again treat this one as a loaner beater rig since I got a pair of them on a crazy sale.
Lastly, and only for the sake of something different would be RC4WD and the Trail Finder 2. Its scale, it performs terrible without any help from mods. But it is on Leaf Spring suspension and if you really want a challenge it can fill that role. I would however, consider the Gmade Sawback and research that more if the wheelbase is similar to a 12.3 ish. But I dont think you can get that leaf spring sawback anymore.
You cant really go wrong with a popular branded vehicle. Boils down to. Superior performance? Something like a Capra, or Vanquish kit. Prefer more scale/trail truck that can crawl? Any of the others should suffice. Hardcore scale appearance RC4WD, or heavily adding accessories to any of the others.
Hope the wall of text helps.
After that, Id go for an Axial
Then I would suggest a kit if that is your thing and you are willing to put in some time building and researching instead of open box, charge batteries and go. Vanquish has been pretty good for a solid kit. I have a Gmade Buffalo kit that I have not built yet, but after reviews and watching Youtube videos I am confident it should be fairly solid as well.
I built an Element Gatekeeper kit. I really like the look of the cage design. I really like the shocks. But overall, the performance was just OK. I know a lot of the floppy saurus rex issues are due to the heavy cage. But there is just a little more I had hoped it could do. The pumpkins are kinda large. It is a fantastic rig to hand to someone who has never driven one or a kid that drives hard. No Lexan to worry about getting destroyed and it has been generally tough. I did buy the IFS kit to make it more of a beater/basher trail truck. I do like the Stealth style transmission with overdrive as well. My brother has the Ecto, which I liked a lot, so I got the Gatekeeper kit. His performs way better, again I believe due to the lexan body vs full cage rig sitting on top of standard C channel frame rails.
I also have a Redcat Gen 8 International Scout. Out of the box performance has been again ok, but I have not really spent any time tuning or replacing any parts like heavier wheels, adjusting shocks, changing battery placement. I again treat this one as a loaner beater rig since I got a pair of them on a crazy sale.
Lastly, and only for the sake of something different would be RC4WD and the Trail Finder 2. Its scale, it performs terrible without any help from mods. But it is on Leaf Spring suspension and if you really want a challenge it can fill that role. I would however, consider the Gmade Sawback and research that more if the wheelbase is similar to a 12.3 ish. But I dont think you can get that leaf spring sawback anymore.
You cant really go wrong with a popular branded vehicle. Boils down to. Superior performance? Something like a Capra, or Vanquish kit. Prefer more scale/trail truck that can crawl? Any of the others should suffice. Hardcore scale appearance RC4WD, or heavily adding accessories to any of the others.
Hope the wall of text helps.
Easy answer is to stick with the major manufacturer's trail truck since they are generally good all rounders.
In no particular order:
Traxxas TRX4 - the no frills Sport has the most performance, the fancier ones have more features like 2 speed transmissions and locking diffs. In our local groups these are ubiquitous with trail crawling and the parts are easily accessible.
Axial SCX10III - many options to variants to choose from with the Basecamp being the most basic to the loaded licensed Jeep variants with more features.
Element Enduro - once many variants like the competition. I'd stick with the straight axle variants for durability, the portal axle variants seem pretty half baked.
Vanquish VS4-10 - Phoenix and Fordyce rtr variants are both really solid with the Phoenix having more features built into the transmission. I like these the most since the transmission and axle designs set the benchmark on drivetrains.
Overall you'll notice a couple of recurring themes. If a platform is decent the company will make a bunch of variants with different bodies and features. Parts availability is also really crucial as well. If you're in North America all of these will be easy to order replacement and upgrade parts. Kits exist from all the manufacturers above but are not as common as Ready to Run variants which are pre-built and just need batteries.
In no particular order:
Traxxas TRX4 - the no frills Sport has the most performance, the fancier ones have more features like 2 speed transmissions and locking diffs. In our local groups these are ubiquitous with trail crawling and the parts are easily accessible.
Axial SCX10III - many options to variants to choose from with the Basecamp being the most basic to the loaded licensed Jeep variants with more features.
Element Enduro - once many variants like the competition. I'd stick with the straight axle variants for durability, the portal axle variants seem pretty half baked.
Vanquish VS4-10 - Phoenix and Fordyce rtr variants are both really solid with the Phoenix having more features built into the transmission. I like these the most since the transmission and axle designs set the benchmark on drivetrains.
Overall you'll notice a couple of recurring themes. If a platform is decent the company will make a bunch of variants with different bodies and features. Parts availability is also really crucial as well. If you're in North America all of these will be easy to order replacement and upgrade parts. Kits exist from all the manufacturers above but are not as common as Ready to Run variants which are pre-built and just need batteries.
K.O.M.
Quarry Creeper
The Element Gatekeeper was mis-marketed and misunderstood from the beginning.
To me, the Gatekeeper is closer to an Axial RR10 (Bomber) which IMHO, is what it should have targeted from the beginning. However, where the design was lacking was in the width of the vehicle, and not offering anything that distinguished it from the Bomber--and the RR10 Bomber was released 4-5 years prior.
That said, I wish I had kept my Gatekeeper and had bought a Bomber.
Last edited:
AnimalHippie
RCC Addict
First thing: is your name Jew-ing or Je-wing? 
just wondering because most things that are good in this hobby aren’t cheap. LMAO!!!
Second: plan to spend $500-$600. Rig, batteries, charger and essential upgrades. All rtr rigs have essential upgrades.
Once you have your rig and essentials most upgrades are nickel and dime.
As far as the rig I always suggest the Trx-4. It’s just a very durable rig with endless amounts of aftermarket support.
There are allot of other great rigs out there. Just go with what you want and stay with the bigger names in the hobby.
Good luck! Keep us updated!
just wondering because most things that are good in this hobby aren’t cheap. LMAO!!!Second: plan to spend $500-$600. Rig, batteries, charger and essential upgrades. All rtr rigs have essential upgrades.
Once you have your rig and essentials most upgrades are nickel and dime.
As far as the rig I always suggest the Trx-4. It’s just a very durable rig with endless amounts of aftermarket support.
There are allot of other great rigs out there. Just go with what you want and stay with the bigger names in the hobby.
Good luck! Keep us updated!
