Just bought a Traxxas Raptor, down the rabbit hole I go...

For the record, I've never owned any truly decent hobby RC stuff so I'm a little out of my element.

Anyway, I stopped into the new hobby shop that just opened by my folks and was thoroughly interested in the Traxxas display. They had a red Raptor truck on display that I liked, but when I mentioned that I'd prefer a blue one the owner helpfully showed me the blue Raptor he had in stock with "on board audio".

Forty extra bucks for some silly sounds? Pass. That is, until he showed me what the display one sounded like. Good god! Traxxas recorded a real trophy truck's exhaust note, then broadcast it through two speaker bars attached to the interior of the truck body's windshield and it sounds awesome! The sound follows the position of the throttle on the remote, so you get to experience the entirety of the rev range if you don't treat the throttle like a light switch. I think it's especially cool that you even get to hear the radiator fans spin down after the engine sounds are killed after ten seconds of "idling".

I'm looking forward to learning my way around this thing and eventually hopping it up once I get used to it. I think I'm going to be using the "training mode" which limits you to fifty percent power for my first few excursions though. Any resources I should be looking at? Or is it more fun to just learn as you go?

Traxxas is good stuff. I had a Traxxas blast RC Boat (until the movers swiped it ), that went like stink with an upgraded battery. They had some nice upgraded features like water cooling coil around the motor, and most all of the components were upgrade-able.

Pic or ban

I haven't had the opportunity to take any pics of my own yet, but it looks just like this:

HA welcome to the fun! 3s capable?? Do some googling on gearing, its likely under geared. As long as motor and ESC temps stay under 140 your good

I love my little cheap truck, 4x4, I can run 3s, and with the gearing that in there it will balloon the tires even from half throttle.

In reply to java230:

After a bit of googling, I think it is 3s capable. I didn't RTFM fully yet, but I know the truck came with another gearset you can install, but I'm pretty sure the warning was something about hard surfaces only, so maybe it's more of a dedicated track gearset or something?

EDIT: Found it online, comes with an optional 23-tooth pinion gear.

My brother got my son a Traxxas Max D monster truck for Christmas a couple years back. It's still going strong. I'm impressed with the quality.

In reply to Tactical Penguin:

I run a 13/35 IIRC (might be an 11), but its nuts. It all depends on your motor too, mine is 2900Kv. I did fry an ESC running that and 3s, but it was running 65+mph

On 2s its still a blast, drifts for as long as you can hold it in loose dirt, even more fun in snow!

Unless you plan on racing, upgrade nothing. Only if it breaks. Want those rad RPM blue a-arms? Wait till you snap the stockers. Otherwise you'll be chasing the R/C dragon forever.

Both of my boys have Traxxas. One has a Robby Gordon Dakkar body, the other is a monster truck looking thing (Skully). I'd agree that unless you're going to race it, just keep it stock for you to play with. The basic motor isn't a brushless one, don't expect it to last more than 6-12 months. Good thing is they're like $25-$30 to replace, so no big deal. My older son replaced his with a brushless motor. He's still running the stock battery, so his speed is somewhat limited. I'd say it tops out around 35-40mph. My younger sons' is still stock motor and battery, and it probably goes 30-35mph. Trust me, that's plenty quick enough to start. At that speed, it can do some really cool stuff...and it's a wicked crash if it rolls over. Jumps and stunts aren't as easy as the TV makes it look. Even going off a small ramp, if it's not pointed straight or you hit it wrong, prepare for an epic fail. Our Traxxas have rolled over violently, hit curbs, done nose plants, etc... The body on both of the trucks we have are pretty scratched and scarred, but the boys are proud of it as "battle" scars of use.

Things will break. But even me, being as mechanically disinclined as I am, can fix them fairly easily. On my older sons' truck, I have already...replaced the motor, replaced the lower control arm (upper suspension too, IIRC), replaced steering arm, replaced two shocks. None of these tasks were overly complicated. The few times I did have questions, a quick YouTube consult got me through it. Parts, when buying stock stuff, are cheap.

Enjoy!!

In reply to Appleseed:

This is good advice that I'll likely take. The only purchases I want to make in the near future are a larger capacity battery for extended run time and a charger that I can use in the apartment. Oddly, it only comes with a car charger for the battery then advises that you shouldn't charge the battery while the car is running or leave the battery inside the car during charging.

I'm assuming these are best practices with regards to LiPo batteries, so I guess I'll just buy a tote to store the truck in and place the battery on top of that while it's charging outside the car.

Buy a Li-Po charging bag, or two zip-loc bags of sand. Exploding batteries are no joke. Houses have burnt down before. Not being a Debbie downer, but safety around these batteries is cheap, and easy. No reason to get hurt.

I have a 2wd Slash in pieces around here somewhere. I broke a caster block hitting a wall with it. Old guy in the hobby shop told me to just replace it with another stock piece that way if I get clumsy enough to break it again, it'll be that cheap part that breaks and not a control arm or the chassis. I've been thinking about getting another 2wd Slash or an SC10.

In reply to Appleseed:

Will do, I already had a charging bag on my Amazon wish list, ten bucks seems like cheap insurance against the worst that can happen.

Yeah Lipos are volatile....

I thought this was pretty slick too.

I just bought my kids (7 year old boy/girl twins) a couple of Slashes... Same as posted above only with the standard body instead of the Raptor body.. Good grief are these fun. We have spent the last couple days "bashing" around my dads place, the baseball diamond and then a track built in my backyard with some plywood and cutting the grass right to the dirt. They seemed to be getting the hang of it so we found a nearby track and went tonight..

SSSOOOO Much fun...

These things have sure come a long way since I was 12 years old beating the crap out of one of the first generation Stampede trucks. It is truly amazing the beating they will take, and even more fun to watch how fast the kids catch on.

Yep, they're fun. For Christmas, we bought my older son a Lipo battery and for my younger son we got a Lipo battery and upgrade to brushless motor. Older son has the Robbie Gordon Dakar (based on the Slash) and the younger one has a Skully, which is more like a monster truck (shorter wheelbase, larger wheels).

Of course, within 15 minutes, my older son burned the motor out. He already had an upgraded brushless motor and we took care to make sure we didn't overheat it. I think it was just bad luck. So we're now awaiting a new motor to be shipped here. Both trucks are now capable of about 40mph and are just a rear end gear change away from being able to hit 60mph. However, a rollover at 40mph is already violent enough, not about to find out what a 60mph flip does...

I've got what amounts to that truck, on a 3800kv 1410 neucastle and an sv3 wp esc. It's brutally fast, and stupid strong. You're gonna love that. And from what I remember, Traxxas customer service is us based and pretty damn good.

Also, if you REALLY want to chase the dragon, just remember, Traxxas is about as parts bin as an eg civic. I made my slash out of what was left of a rustled and like 40 bucks in parts. The motor is worth more than the truck.

I went to a local hobby store that has a dirt track next to it. They had that Traxxas with the speakers and truck noise. Impressive. it was loud and sounded awesome. it was on one of the owners personal trucks and he had north of $800 into it.

Strangely they talked me out of getting a truck for my kid as they said that driving on grass would kill the motor.

Klayfish wrote: Yep, they're fun. For Christmas, we bought my older son a Lipo battery and for my younger son we got a Lipo battery and upgrade to brushless motor. Older son has the Robbie Gordon Dakar (based on the Slash) and the younger one has a Skully, which is more like a monster truck (shorter wheelbase, larger wheels). Of course, within 15 minutes, my older son burned the motor out. He already had an upgraded brushless motor and we took care to make sure we didn't overheat it. I think it was just bad luck. So we're now awaiting a new motor to be shipped here. Both trucks are now capable of about 40mph and are just a rear end gear change away from being able to hit 60mph. However, a rollover at 40mph is already violent enough, not about to find out what a 60mph flip does...

Smashes an a arm and tears out the steering linkage. Of course while I was in there.......