Axial introduced the SCX10
Gmade introduced portal axles
Venom introduced servo activated locking diffs
All three where YEARS before Traxxas came out with the TRX ..... did I miss something they innovated?
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HobbiCo / Great Planes / Tower Hobbies
- Thread starter JatoTheRipper
- Start date
Axial introduced the SCX10
Gmade introduced portal axles
Venom introduced servo activated locking diffs
All three where YEARS before Traxxas came out with the TRX ..... did I miss something they innovated?
BJoe
I wanna be Dave
Venpm did it first with the Creeper, but the Summit's are reliable with reasonable levels of power (wouldn't consider 6s BL reasonable) should be interesting to see how the TRX-4's lockers hold up over time though, since they are on a solid axle rig vs an indy rig.
They put it all together and made it reliable. That's an innovation, isn't it?
:ror:
Thats marketing. Innovation to me is bringing something new, unseen before, industry changing. Not taking other peoples ideas and putting them together in one package and selling as your own. ;-)
I wouldn't disagree.
The problem is that true innovation is rare these days. Most "new" ideas are actually borrowed or new takes on old ideas.
TooOldForThis
Rock Crawler
I think it's tempting for people deep in the hobby (like most of us) to take shots at Traxxas because they're the RTR king. It's fashionable to dislike them. We're the hipsters of R/C, and Traxxas is our Starbucks. :ror:
That said, they are KILLING IT right now and anyone trying to cling to their hipster cred by dissing them are going to end up looking very silly.
That said, they are KILLING IT right now and anyone trying to cling to their hipster cred by dissing them are going to end up looking very silly.
WHITE-TRASH
I wanna be Dave
Meh, I wouldn't go that far at all. The trx4 is selling well but it is heavy and too tall. It's entertaining to me to watch the local scale nerds drive the same stuff. Even the craptastic tf2's will walk lines the trx4 rolls off of.
That said I don't have hate for traxxas, they can do whatever they want, I don't run their stuff because it doesn't interest me, not because I'm a "hater".
xCoolHandLukex
Quarry Creeper
When you have something that sells well it’s not usually a good idea not to mess with it. I like the fact they keep designs and reuse parts so much. For bashing it means easier access to parts and less spares you need to stock at home. Traxxas has it faults and they aren’t my favourite brand but for RTR bashers I can really entertain an argument that anyone can top them in that market.
I typed this almost auto correctly free
micro racer
Rock Crawler
Let me just throw this in real quick... Traxxas didn't start "innovating," or what have you, until very recently when other companies started chipping away at their customer base. Arrma's go-fasts pulled people from the Revo, Losi's Baja Rey pulled people from the Slash, and Axial and Vaterra (and others) had a market all to themselves with scale crawlers. I would argue that Traxxas only "innovates" to catch up to the competition. They won't do it on their own.
Brake Weight
I wanna be Dave
^^^ As with most every company on the planet. Only innovate to keep those profit margins.
ThatJeeper2017
Rock Crawler
So what? Traxxas innovated their off-road lineup. That means more scales and other rigs for us to see. It is what made crawling huge and hopefully it will keep it that way.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
hpiguy
Rock Crawler
Eh, you been under a rock? :mrgreen: Remember the Tmaxx? The Emaxx? The original Revo that was basically designed to dominate (and it did) the MT class back when there was one in ROAR? I remember them being one of the first RTR companies to advertise ridiculous speeds (which were legit) on their lower end 2wd Velineon rigs back in the day. What about the Slash pretty much jump started short course racing? How about first RTR to crack the ton out of the box? (X01)
What you threw in was a bunch of garbage. Sorry, but Traxxas has done a ton of innovating.
As hpiguy said, the Revo was revolutionary and it's still the best handling monster truck. Then there's the Slash. Oh and how about RTR nitro vehicles with EZ start and the auto glow plug igniter? There are so many Traxxas innovations.
I've never owned an Arrma, but I hate them for the same reason I hate Harleys. Arrma owners, like Harley owners, talk them up and reiterate lies that they claim are facts. Remember the Nero isn't around because Arrma copied the Revo and tried to sell it as their own.
OSRC
I wanna be Dave
In that case, the SCX10 wasn't innovative at all. I seem to remember Bruisers and Hilux's running around with scale frames and solid axles a long time before Axial came along. Not to mention shiftable transmissions and locking hubs...
The Slash didn't start a short course revolution
The T-Maxx didn't revolutionize nitro trucks
IIRC the Revo was the first vehicle with real time telemetry on your iphone
I must have missed the other 100mph cars on the market
How many scale funny cars with timing trees are on the market?
The UDR is in a league of it's own. Mechanical innovation as well as scale looks.
I'm not a Traxxas fanboy, but to imply they don't innovate and/or shape the industry is ludicrous. They've been conservative over the past few years with new models for sure....I'm not sure what got put in the coffee down there in Texas, but somebody woke up.
And please save the argument about 20 year old designs. The RTR kiddie cars and bashers work fine for noobs which is what they are geared for, have an excellent distribution model, and feed the trough for R&D for new vehicles. Since they are not in bankruptcy protection, I'd say the model works fairly well.
In any case, I don't know that the TR4 is "innovative" per-se, but while the Creeper had diff locks and Gmade ran portals, etc. no one on the market has a truck with all of that combined in a well executed package. Innovation? Borrowing ideas? Call it what you want.
I held out on mine as I have some problems with Traxxas and their business practices, but just caved and picked one up. It's a very well executed truck Not everyone's cup of tea, sure, but what is? I'm impressed in spite of myself. It didn't create the bar, but I'd argue it upped it a little bit.
So who is innovating in our hobby as a whole right now? Who is "changing the industry?" I can think of several small companies like SSD and even Boom doing innovative products, but can't think of anyone major offhand. Big milestones don't come around often.
My 2 cents.
wings_of_fire
Quarry Creeper
Deeper problem is capitalism.
It isn't fun when one invests in innovation and then the public simply prefers to buy a cheap copy.
It becomes demotivating for innovators if their work is not rewarded.
mikemcE
I wanna be Dave
Sometimes quality vs price has a different reason, not the copy fact , but end usage.
I would love a sweet $$ mini hlvp touch up gun, BUT use for liquid masking only , I won’t spend $100, when the twenty dollar chicom copy will do its job. I intentionally bought cheap crap. When the “cheap crap” is equal to the higher priced product, one wonders. The Chinese wheels vary in fit and finish, not my idea of equal quality.
Hang up and Drive
Great post! "thumbsup"
"...to imply they [Traxxas] don't innovate and/or shape the industry is ludicrous."
I can't agree more! Traxxas didn't get on top of sales by dumb luck or lawsuits. The only people that seem to disagree with this are the Traxxas haters which have seemed to have turned into Arrma fanbois for the most part.
Capitalism is not a problem. It's a great thing.
Cheap copies hurt sales of quality products, but educated consumers still buy the quality products.
micro racer
Rock Crawler
The Revo is certainly not "still the the best handling monster truck." Whenever I see one come in to my shop for parts, it can't keep its ass off the ground because the shocks/springs suck so bad. Both in brand new trucks and old ones. Besides that they really can't keep a rear end together long enough for the suspension to make a difference. You can't tell me the ERevos don't eat diffs on 6s. From the Arrmas that I can compare with, the Arrmas take power fine, until you hit something. Then an arm breaks.
The only reason the Slash is popular is because it sacrifices handling for durability. Traxxas still uses their shitty patented magically-backing-out hinge pins rater than something else proven, like e-clips (poor choice) or two nuts on a threaded pin, like a Losi 22.
Also consider that Traxxas doesn't take care of common problems for the betterment of a consumer's experience. The slash 4x4 STILL comes with a plastic bearing seaton the slipper, that WILL burn out in just a few runs, and trash your spur gear, maybe you fancy Velineon motor and possibly your rear pinion bearing, if you're unlucky. I've never seen a more self-destructive system on any other car.
Furthermore, you call out Arrma and Harley people for making grand claims about their vehicles, but completely ignore that Traxxas was the OG for grandiose claims? "My 6s powered, Mamba Monster 2, 2200kv 1512 motor, hitec 7955tg, ERevo does 80mph!!!" Please... don't be so arrogant. Also, I hate Harley people too.
I saw further up that somebody mentioned an X01... The only two that I have ever seen in person, were both bent in half and in many pieces. The car itself is simply a publicity stunt so that Traxxas can say that they have a 100mph car. It's undriveable in most places, and if you do, you're going to hit something at an ungodly speed and blow apart many things.
Finally because we here on the internet love to assume things about people with absolutes, I'll refine my opiniin of Traxxas for you: While Traxxas DOES indeed innovate, it isn't nearly to the extent or level of importance that the Fanboys claim it to be. There, is that not fair?
Do you realize how uncommon 6S was back when the E-Revo was released?
Traxxas just updated the E-Revo to the 2.0 to address the shortcomings with modern day power. Part of that was giving it X-Maxx diffs that should easily handle 6S.
Which monster truck, that isn't based on a truggy, handles better than the Revo? If one exists I'm unaware of it.
The Slash was popular for more than just its durability. And its handling was designed to be scale not to be a race RC. Do you realized that? Body roll was designed into the truck to replicate 1:1 short course trucks.
All RCs have shortcomings and places that need upgrades. Minor complaint.
Grandiose claims, as you call them, are called marketing.
No brand can live up to the hype of the fanbois. Moot point.
I disagree completely. Capitalism is precisely what drives innovation, because competition forces it. How much innovation do you see coming from non-capitalist countries? How much innovation came out of the Soviet Union? How much innovation comes out of China? 99.9% of what they produce is a copy of somebody else's innovation.
Capitalism fuels competition, and competition FORCES innovation. I'll go a step further and declare that the flood of cheap crap from China is exactly what's fueling the recent uptick in innovation that we've seen in RC. It's becoming a very competitive environment, and a lot of the bigger names have to earn our dollars by providing us something that the cheap guys don't. They need to provide the gadgets, the uniqueness, the whiz-bang features that make us want to pay more for their product. They're innovating. The TRX-4 is a perfect example of this.
A lot of these manufacturers are also innovating in areas that you don't see. The competitive environment forces them to streamline manufacturing and distribution in ways that we don't see. They need to raise margins on their products by making them cheaper. That requires innovation.
All of it a result of competition. When there's no competition, there's no reason to improve anything. And when there's no Capitalism, there's no competition.