New Crawler/ Rock Racer for under $200

[latinomanz]

Hello,

I am looking to get my first crawler, I have had toy crawlers ($30 dollars or less) but I am looking for something better now.

I want something that is waterproof or at least "puddle proof" and brushless since I do not want to be deal with maintenance, I want good speed too, at least average male human-jogging speed and the ability to change the wheel transmitter to a twin-sticks one since I have no fun with the wheel transmitters.

I was thinking about the Everest-10 but it is brushed and the Exceed RC is brushed too. The one that seems to have everything I want is the Axial Wraith but it is $385 bucks without batteries and charger.


Any recommendations?

 

[bryner250]

Axial wraith is also brushed. To my knowledge there is no rock crawler/racer that comes stock brushless. My recommendation is to look around on rcgroups for a used wraith and convert it to brushless. But honestly I would rather burn up a 20 dollar brushed motor then a 80 dollar or more brushless. I have a wraith with the 20 turn brushed and it goes pretty good


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[latinomanz]

Axial wraith is also brushed. To my knowledge there is no rock crawler/racer that comes stock brushless. My recommendation is to look around on rcgroups for a used wraith and convert it to brushless. But honestly I would rather burn up a 20 dollar brushed motor then a 80 dollar or more brushless. I have a wraith with the 20 turn brushed and it goes pretty good


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Why they don't come brushless, what is the maintenance on brushed vs brushless like?

 

[bryner250]

It all comes down to cost. In the brushless world there's censored and censorless. Censored is what you want in a crawler also the most expensive. They run similar to a brushed with low throttle control. Now the censorless, cheaper then censored is more for half to full throttle running. At low speeds the motor jerks and spudders making crawling very hard ( trust me on this). Then the esc is also more expensive to. There's really no maintenance on them. Brushless is a sealed motor and brushed has vent holes for cooling. Both are pretty much water proof it's the esc you have to worry about. There's a bunch of water proof brushed escs out there but not a lot of brushless escs out there.


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[mikebecher]

Why they don't come brushless, what is the maintenance on brushed vs brushless like?

RTRs use brushed motors to keep the electronics cost as low as possible. I've never kept a stock brushed motor long enough to need maintenance.

In my two primary rigs, I perform as much maintenance on the brushless as on the brushed and both are Holmes motors. Sensor wires are finicky and higher speeds mean bearings wear out faster on brushless. I ran my brushed motor on 3s for a year before it needed new brushes.

If you're running in dirty, muddy or wet conditions you're going to need to clean them up every so often anyhow. Maintenance shouldn't be the deciding factor between brushed and brushless. If cost is your primary concern stick with a brushed motor.

 

[mikebecher]

It all comes down to cost. In the brushless world there's censored and censorless. Censored is what you want in a crawler also the most expensive. They run similar to a brushed with low throttle control. Now the censorless, cheaper then censored is more for half to full throttle running. At low speeds the motor jerks and spudders making crawling very hard ( trust me on this). Then the esc is also more expensive to. There's really no maintenance on them. Brushless is a sealed motor and brushed has vent holes for cooling. Both are pretty much water proof it's the esc you have to worry about. There's a bunch of water proof brushed escs out there but not a lot of brushless escs out there.


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Grab a bottle of silicone conformal coating and every ESC is a waterproof ESC. "thumbsup" It also works great on servos, receivers, BECs, sensor boards, light controllers...you get the picture. It's good stuff. I mean it's really really good, great stuff. Believe me.

 

[latinomanz]

Ok, and for less than $200, what is the best crawler or rock racer, the Redcat Everrest-10?

 

[MattySlimz1987]

Ok, and for less than $200, what is the best crawler or rock racer, the Redcat Everrest-10?

Not really a lot of options for $200 even used. Its best to see if you can find a rig first, than come back with an answer of what you found. If I was in your shoes I'd try to find a roller (a truck with no electronics, usually complete with tires) or a slider (a truck that doesn't have wheels and tires, plus more than likley, no electronics) that is an Axial Bomber or Vaterra Twin Hammers. Those are the best in my opinion of what you are looking for.

There is very limited options as of present to buy a brand new rig for 200 bucks without putting numerous upgrades on just to compete with the 2 rigs I just listed. I'd get a little more dough saved up and get something you wont be disappointed in, because it seems you like nice stuff (we all do) but budget puts constraints on us sometimes. Also, you'll be able to crawl with your group and not worry about certain obstacles. If theres a breakdown on the trail, more than likley another guy will have the same exact rig with spare parts to give you a helping hand.

There is the Everest 10 and an Everest 10 knockoff with virtually interchangeable parts and other beefups that are very cheap off other stock rigs. A Redcat scaler is due in a month or so that is well within reason of what you could own brand new. I don't believe Redcat was one of the companys that got hit by the Chinese Gov't, mad at Trump and decided to seize or otherwise takeover American factories located over there, (thats only one of my not-to-far-fetched theories) so parts and truck availability shouldn't be an issue, good luck in your search.

 

[Smokin' Joe]

The Everest 10 is slow...probably less than 3 mph stock. You might be able to get it to go "jogging speed" by changing to a higher turn brushed motor, though it's crawling ability might suffer for it and/or you might run into heat issues.

 

[latinomanz]

What about the Exceed RC MaxStone?

I want $200 RTR since I dont know much about RCs yet.

 

[hillbillyrc]

Same thing as the Everest 10.

 

[troyweaver]

The 1/8 exceed mad torque also comes in under $200.

 

[bryner250]

Honestly I have a Everest 10 and it is pretty good. The main 3 things you need to upgrade are the motor, steering servo and lockers in the axles.


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[makya]

If you are looking for a real "rock racer", then you need something other than an exceed or redcat. they are both crawlers, and are not designed to handle rocks at high speed. by the time you change parts around and then get a chassis that will allow you to enter into a rock race (U4RC) you are better off buying a rig designed to do what you want, and it will be cheaper than buying a $200 rig and replacing half of the parts (metal gears, shocks, tires/wheels, servo, brushless esc/motor, chassis, body)

the closest you might come to what you are asking for is the Helion Rock Rider: Helion RC: Products: Rock Rider BR: 4WD 1/10 Scale Rock Racing Truck but there is almost no information on the reliability of them that I've seen. It's $200 rtr, but it comes with a brushed motor/esc.

as far as using a twin stick radio, you're probably going to have to change out the receiver with it, unless you can find a transmitter that will be compatible with the stock receiver in the vehicle you buy. odds are you won't find one, unless you go back to buying a redcat or exceed and find a flysky or frsky radio that is compatible.

Like others have said, you are better off buying a roller and adding the parts that you want. What you are asking for at the budget you want isn't really feasible.

EDIT: the redcat/exceed crawlers, like others have said, are only a walking pace at top speed, and the 1/8 exceed is MOA, so you would need to buy two esc's and two motors to go brushless, and would more tha likely break the gears in the axles with a modification like that(the stock gears are weak)

 

[JatoTheRipper]

A used SCX10.

 

[ferp420]

The max stone 1/8 is a moa rig and has a problem snaping axle shafts and striping gears even if you could find the aluminum gears for it the locker stripes out them you have to custom order bearings and cut and modifie axial yeti xl rear shafts to keep from breaking shafts and would need a steel locker or a steel gear with a built in locker that no one makes you would be better off with a different rig the maxstone 10 is the same basic rig as the everest 10 that is basicly a axial clone and uses the axial upgrade parts so they make a good starting point i love my everest 10 but you will be abl3 to find better rigs used and then you use the parts u want im sure you would end up spending less than buying a new rig and then a new radio and then a brussless setup if you buy used radio and a used brushless set up im betting you could put together a realy nice crawler for around 200

 

[troyweaver]

If you are looking for a real "rock racer", then you need something other than an exceed or redcat. they are both crawlers, and are not designed to handle rocks at high speed. by the time you change parts around and then get a chassis that will allow you to enter into a rock race (U4RC) you are better off buying a rig designed to do what you want, and it will be cheaper than buying a $200 rig and replacing half of the parts (metal gears, shocks, tires/wheels, servo, brushless esc/motor, chassis, body)

the closest you might come to what you are asking for is the Helion Rock Rider: Helion RC: Products: Rock Rider BR: 4WD 1/10 Scale Rock Racing Truck but there is almost no information on the reliability of them that I've seen. It's $200 rtr, but it comes with a brushed motor/esc.

as far as using a twin stick radio, you're probably going to have to change out the receiver with it, unless you can find a transmitter that will be compatible with the stock receiver in the vehicle you buy. odds are you won't find one, unless you go back to buying a redcat or exceed and find a flysky or frsky radio that is compatible.

Like others have said, you are better off buying a roller and adding the parts that you want. What you are asking for at the budget you want isn't really feasible.

EDIT: the redcat/exceed crawlers, like others have said, are only a walking pace at top speed, and the 1/8 exceed is MOA, so you would need to buy two esc's and two motors to go brushless, and would more tha likely break the gears in the axles with a modification like that(the stock gears are weak)

The feiyue fy03 desert eagle looks decent entry level rock racer rig. They come with metal gears which is nice off the rip. More good than bad on them from what ive read. I don't think they are 1/10 scale if thats a big deal.

 

[makya]

The feiyue fy03 desert eagle looks decent entry level rock racer rig. They come with metal gears which is nice off the rip. More good than bad on them from what ive read. I don't think they are 1/10 scale if thats a big deal.

i had one, the shocks are extremely stiff, and don't allow for any flex, and the electronics are crap. I replaced the motor the first day, and the servo went out when I tried to crawl it. it has a five wire servo so it can't be upgraded, and the receiver/esc is one unit, so it all has to be replaced to upgrade any part ot it.

mine had metal gears in the diffs, but two screws were stripped in the rear diff, and the front diff had one screw broken off in it. it also takes a 390 size motor, so a regular 36mm brushless motor system won't fit. the gears in the transmission are also the cheap white nylon material, so I wouldn't trust it for long.

so the OP would still be buying a radio, motor,esc, tires, wheels, servo, shocks, and if anything else breaks, parts are only available through ebay or the overseas china importers.

 

[troyweaver]

i had one, the shocks are extremely stiff, and don't allow for any flex, and the electronics are crap. I replaced the motor the first day, and the servo went out when I tried to crawl it. it has a five wire servo so it can't be upgraded, and the receiver/esc is one unit, so it all has to be replaced to upgrade any part ot it.

mine had metal gears in the diffs, but two screws were stripped in the rear diff, and the front diff had one screw broken off in it. it also takes a 390 size motor, so a regular 36mm brushless motor system won't fit. the gears in the transmission are also the cheap white nylon material, so I wouldn't trust it for long.

so the OP would still be buying a radio, motor,esc, tires, wheels, servo, shocks, and if anything else breaks, parts are only available through ebay or the overseas china importers.

I get that it can't be upgraded much but not everyone cares about modding it as much as using it. Obviously for $75 you will end up working on it/replacing parts but not everyone has $350 for a wraith either. I was just stating its an option if he didn't want to wait until he had $$ saved up for an axial of some sort.

 

[makya]

I get that it can't be upgraded much but not everyone cares about modding it as much as using it. Obviously for $75 you will end up working on it/replacing parts but not everyone has $350 for a wraith either. I was just stating its an option if he didn't want to wait until he had $$ saved up for an axial of some sort.

I get what you're saying, but for what he's asking, the feiyue doesn't seem like a good idea. between this thread and his other one, he's mentioned wanting to run a twin stick, have a rock racer that goes jogging speed, run brushless, and be able to compare it to (by his estimation) trucks in the $150 range (I'm assuming non-crawlers, at that price). the feiyue is small and won't handle big enough tires to crawl or bash on rocks, the diffs are the same size as my rc18t and are pot metal. the rear axle shafts are tiny as well, and the front axles shafts are hard plastic.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, the diffs are also open/open f/r, so he would need to jb weld or lock the diffs some other way, putting more stress on the little gears/axles.

EDIT edit: I should also point out, I've been involved in R/C since 1985, and seen a lot of people try getting into it cheap, and either getting turned off by it completely, or spending more in the long run and getting rid of or throwing away their first purchase.