You hit the nail on the head there!! Thats exactly what I was going to recommend. Those things are almost indestructible and parts are easy to get for Traxxas trucks. My neighbor just got a Stampede for his 8 year-old son and he loves it. He is using it in the training mode right now until he gets the hang of it. I have had several Traxxas vehicles over the years and they have been great. Maybe not exactly the best racing vehicles but potential is there. They are awesome bashers though and the upgrade possibilities are endless. Currently I have a Revo 3.3, Slash brushless 4x4, Slash 2wd. Selling the Revo and gonna be all electric now.

If you want to get into lipo batteries, Hobbyking.com is cheap and but good quality. More speed but most of all, longer runtimes.

Good luck with whatever you choose!!

 

Well I guess now that the top names in RC have made the thread.... Don't let us talk you in to spending more than you're looking to really spend. You could drop $1500 in a box of parts real quick! This becomes the Ford, Dodge, Chevy argument every time but here is my 2 cents on that. It's my experience that there is not a tougher RC truck on the market than and HPI Savage. I hit a 6 foot jump on a bad angle at wide open throttle at a BMX track with mine... it came down on a round rail fence post from a height of about 15 feet. It knocked the batteries out and I lost power to the ESC, the big block motor was still running. I pinched off the fuel and put the batteries back in and fired it back up and ran it until the fuel ran out! everyone watching was in complete Ahh and amazement. All 3 of the Traxxas trucks I had, the T, E, and S Maxx all had broken parts after a day of bashing almost every time I took them out. I think the only parts I had to replace on the Savage were spur gears when rocks would get stuck in them or when I'd run the slipper really tight pulling wheelies and stuff. Maybe a body mount or two I guess.

You know, it's up to you in the end. I'd recommend any of these lower end, entry level Traxxas 4x4 trucks to anyone just wanting to get into the hobby. Traxxas parts can be found at any RC hobby shop and all over the internet. Like I sad before you get what you pay for here. It's just about how deep you want to get into this. For the 100 - 200 range, I think the Nitro RC X ones talked about here will do well. But if you want to get into it and stick with it, you're looking at the 200 - 300 range and a Traxxas starter RC. I have no doubt you'll be much happier with something in that range. The good news in that range is, if for what ever reason your son doesn't take to the hobby at all, Craigslist can help you get at least half of your money back for a running, good condition, name brand RC in that price range.

and x2 on taking him to a track to see these in action before you drop a bunch of money into any of it.

 

I've been out of the loop for a while, 10 or more yrs, but that Traxxas one looks to be the winner to me also. It is today comparable to what I got 20 yrs ago. The more you and your son get into the hobby the more you'll learn about suspensions, batteries (especially) and motors, speed controls etc. Another big upgrade can be the radio which can run $300 for fun, but worth it to the right person. Racing will get you neck deep into the upgrades, for screwing around in the back yard and jumping, things like the Traxxas listed will be a good buy. An important factor mentioned was availability of parts. You want readily available parts and off brands will leave you afro engineering fixes or waiting for parts.

PS, this thread is making me want to charge the batteries and go racing!!!

 

* I did not read every word in the thread*

I have two RC trucks the nitro rustler and the old T-maxx

What I would suggest to you, and as it looks others have suggested too, go with electric lol my friends had a couple and my god they are fast. You wont get the sound factor of the rich nitro smell in your nose or the trail of smoke it leaves behind but they freakin break all the time (as others have said) the electric ones seem to be free of fixin unless were talking about crashes lol then parts go everywhere but quick upgrade to brush less and your flying!

Just my $.02

 

So I think we have decided to go with the Traxxas Stampede. It is the one with the brushed motor, but I think it will be a good starter vehicle for the kid. I checked about taking him to a race first, but they are done for the year around here.

 

that will be a good choice, staying name brand is a smart decision. I learned a lot from tearing mine apart and seeing how everything works.

I want to get back into it, but the new one i want is about a grand and it still would need a few upgrades to make me happy.

 

Good choice Jk....Yall will have some good times with it. You might be surprised what it leads to if y'all start going to races...good times!

 

Good choice.

 

Good choice!!

 

Thanks to all those that have contributed and helped with my search for an RC truck. Your next mission, if you choose to accept it, (lol) is to point me in the right direction of a quick charger and extra battery pack. We went the other night to a hobby shop an hour plus away just to look at the trucks and thats when we decided on the traxxas, the guy at the shop said I could get a quick charger for about $35 and a spare battery for about $26, so I wanna stay in that neighborhood. If you could show me which ones I need on a main hobbies website that would be even better cause I'm probably gonna order the truck through them. I am wanting to get a battery that is pretty close to that $25ish mark, so if there is one that is better than the one that comes stock please just show it to me. The charger is another monster all together, I'm wanting to get one that does the quick charge on the stock battery and the extra one I'm going to buy, but I also want one that will allow me to upgrade batteries at a later date and not have to buy another charger. I don't know if the batteries will ever get upgraded, it all depends in his interest in the hobby, but I don't want to go out and get another one if I do. I looked around on the main hobbies website, but there are just so many to choose from. I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but I would like to keep it about less than $50.

Thanks again.

 

getting a battery and decent charger will be more than $50-60. I'd find a battery pack with a higher mah rating and same voltage so it will last longer.

I know you've spent more than you want, but Lipo is another route to go. more expensive but the performance gains are awesome.

I'll be home over thanksgiving, i can check to see if i still have my charger if i do it's yours for cost of shipping. It does need new plug ends which isn't hard to do. Not sure if i have it still, but if you want to wait and PM me over thanksgiving i will check.

 

If you could check and see if you still have it that would be great. I'm looking to spend around $50 for a charger and about $25 on a battery, not $50 total. I know I couldn't get the two for that price. I'll hold off on ordering till you find out about the charger and then I'll go from there. I was probably gonna wait till black friday to order anyways, they probably wont be on sale but I'd hate to order and then they do.

 

that works, just PM me wed. night or thanksgiving day to remind me or i will forget.

 

This battery;
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...or-72V-4200mAh

Yeah, it's a Traxxas battery, but it's 4200 mah so it SHOULD give you more run time.

I had this charger for about 3 years:
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...-NiCD-and-NiMH

I use this one now:
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...tition-Charger

Traxxas has one that comes with teh Revo:
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...d-6-cell-stick

but the charge times are HORRIBLE!!

Thats all I got on chargers. I run nitro, but the reciever packs I run are 2700mah "AA" cell packs and a Lipo pack in my transmitter.

Looks like they've changed the plug on the traxass batteries from the old generic Tamiya connector. I'd send Amian an email or do some digging around on the Traxxas boards to see if the battery I listed above has the newer connector (I'm pretty sure it does by the picture).

I'd stick with the NIMH packs.. The LIPO packs kick @ss as far as power and runtime, but they're expensive, and so are the chargers. IF this thing takes off and the kid gets into racing you'll want to upgrade, but the NIMH packs and a decent charger will be PLENTY for playing around in the yard.

 

Just for s%^ts and giggles... You might ask the hobby shop if they would build you a battery pack. one of the LHS's here buys the NIMH cells in bulk and put one together for me for my sons revo starter and it was about $10 cheaper than a prebuilt one.