Vaterra Bronco or Axial Deadbolt??

[SloJoeRacing]

Hey guys. I just picked up an Axial 69 Blazer and I love it, and I was originally looking at a bomber or rock Rey. It’s my first crawler, well if you can call that big fat clumbsy thing a crawler. It does sit on a SCX10II chassis!! Well my wife ran it and had a blast and now I am thinking of getting her one and she is actually ok with that believe it or not.

I am looking at the Vaterra Bronco or a Deadbolt with the proline bronco body. I like how the Vaterra is scale to the bronco and has a better radio and metal links. The Ascenders are great crawlers, so I hear. LHS has it for $399 I know it’s marked up $30.

The deadbolt is a more popular option and i can still pick up a proline bronco body and paint it what ever color she wants for roughly the same cost. LHS has it for $310 again $11 mark up. Axial has a huge following and multiple venders of option parts. But it has a dinky radio and plastic links.

If the LHS won’t match the MSRP I will have to go online for it unfortunately but I’m sure he will they are good people.

What do you guys think??

Trying to post a poll but it’s not given me a place to put the options only how many I want. So if anything shows up or it’s just numbers Vaterra 1 and deadbolt 2.

Thanks guys

 

[2mtech]

My GF LOOOOOOVES her Vaterra so much she's worn through three bodies and two sets of electronics. She wouldn't part with it!

 

[Natedog]

Go for the Vaterra, but don't buy old technology of the Deadbolt whatever you buy. Besides the old tech you'll end up buying several hop-ups (metal links, metal tranny gears, etc) to make it crawl better and that will make the cheap entry price not such a good deal.

 

[SloJoeRacing]

So I picked up the Vaterra Bronco “for” the wife. It’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I put it up next to the Axial Blazer and out of the box it stands taller is just as wide but it is shorter. Can’t wait to take it out and run it. Stupid batteries!! Why can’t they come charged. I was a little bummed to see it runs on 2s and not 3s capable. Plus the LHS said they don’t make a short pack 3s, but I swear I have seen them.

 

[durok]

It is 3S compatible, and there are 3S LiPos that will fit - the factory ESC states: 2-3S LiPo and 5-9 cell NiMH compatible

They need to be "Shorty" packs, if you are going to use the vehicle as is, but people have modified the LiPo battery tray to run longer packs...

But the EASIEST way to deal with it is use this pack (or something similar):

https://www.amainhobbies.com/protek-rc-3s-100c-silicon-graphene-hv-shorty-lipo-battery-11.4v-3600mah-ptk-5116-17/p662759

I have the '72 Chevy version, and have added a BPC battery tray that sits transversely across the frame rails and will hold full-size LiPos...

Here's the link to the Ascender-specfic part:

https://www.amainhobbies.com/bp-custom-ascender-battery-electronics-relocation-tray-w-winch-mount-bpcasntray/p724769

You can also use their more generic battery tray, as I did - here's that link:

https://www.amainhobbies.com/bp-custom-scx10-battery-relocation-tray-bpcscxtray/p724770

While AMain states that it is an SCX10 part, it works perfectly well in the Ascender, I use it in mine.

I did modify my Chevy a bit more, I swapped the electronics out for a HobbyWing 1080 ESC, a Holmes Trailmaster Sport 550 21t motor, a DS3218 servo, and a FlySky GT3C radio.

Here's the post I made about the BPC tray I used:

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/vaterra-ascender/593566-bpc-battery-relocation-tray-ascender-k10-stock-wb-2-a.html

Here's how well it climbs, even with 1.7" wheels and tires on moon dust limestone gravel/rock:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qQNna7YmLtY" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Under the body:

 

[SloJoeRacing]

Hey thanks for the info. I was going off the box and the info from the LHS. I’m going to pick up a 3s pack now.

The wife had a blast with it. I see why it’s called a Bronco, she had it bucking back and forth on either the front wheels or rear!! She has NO trigger control but at least it brings a smile to her face and keeps me being able to grow my RC collection. Hahaha