electric versus Nitro for first 4W

[tjcooper]

My son (12) wants a T-Maxx 2.5 for Xmas. He has an old Clodbuster electric that he plays with. But another kid in the block wants to go super power Nitro and run it on the street in front of our house. We live in the middle of Silicon Valley in California and there are very few open fields or parks that allow gas powered vehicles.

I fly a lot of electric planes and know the motors and batteries very well. I am looking for facts and "years of experience" advice on whether he should be allowed a Nitro (= expense, maintenance, and perhaps angry neighbors) VERSUS E-maxx or something like that. I am really looking for the PROs and CONs of each choice so I can make an informed decision. My son is really set on Nitro but I feel it is mostly the "Tim the toolman Taylor push for 'MORE POWER' ". How loud are Nitros? In quiet neighborhoods can they be run on the streets and the grass park near us? Will the Police get involved? I have no idea of what this might end up costing - although we have all the Tx and Rx gear from the ClodBuster.

How does one compare the on going cost between the two types of 4W vehicles? Batteries last roughly 3 years or 300 cycles. What is the cost of fuel and parts replacement for kids who are "having a good time" more than racing. Any comments would be appreciated.
Ted:confused:

[djci]

Ive tried some of them, I tried the planes, I've played around with boats, had an electric car , but the thing that i could say Is that choosing between nitro and electric cars depend on how far your going to go with the hobby, If you want more speed and hard-core , realistic functions, you should get the nitro. If you want a leisure time hobby that you can enjoy without spending a lot of time and money then you should get the electric one. personally I dont care how much those things will cost me in time and money If I'm happy with a hobby I stick with it..lol:D :)

[Pacoson71]

Hope I'm not too late and you allready got it for X-mas

I have a Trinnity Reflex NT On-road car I'm 31, have a T3 batt operated stadium truck that I race. and spent 900 on the On-road car with everything! then got into flying for a few more k.

Is it wort it ???

I don't use it much and theres not many places to use it 65mph speeds.

Look into local tracs for off road racing and I'll bet theres one within a 10 min drive that races professional R/C. See what they use and advise.


Theres soooooooo many things to say about Nitro vs Electric

hope this helps ask more if needed
Jon

[tjcooper]

I want to thank to people who replied. It was good advice and I was amazed at the broad response. We could not insure that my son would have a Monster truck for Xmas by waiting for Tower Hobby to get theirs into stock. I went on the Internet and found a place in Ft. Wayne, Ind. that had a HPI Savage at a good price and shipped quickly. I would never guess that the "little guy" LHS would have stock when the monster stores were desparately waiting for shipment (over 2000 orders backlogged at Tower for the two trucks!).

The biggest thing that helped was finding a LHS that had both units and let us examine them with the hoods off. I think that made a big impression on both of us. The other thing was that the same shop had a nitro dune buggy that they were tuning up for the first time. The noise was much,much less than I imagined. I know it was just idling and some small revving but I knew that it was low enough that it was under what our two 4-cycle scooters put out and we have no problems with the neighbors with those units.

Does anyone know when replacment parts for the Savage (either HPI or 3rd party) will have them out? Is there a place you look on the boards to find suppliers or is it pretty much "hit and miss"?

How important is it to get a "failsafe" unit for a Savage? Does it really happen often that you lose signal for prolonged periods and the unit just "drives away"? Would appreciate any comments or directions to threads that discuss that topic. Thanks.
Ted:)

[Pacoson71]

TJC I just sent you a PM

[5hift 9ear]

I highly recommend a Fail Safe along with a Throttle Return Spring. A couple years back, I was driving my Nitro 4-TEC in front of my house. Just as I was WOT down the street, the reciever pack happens to go dead, and it continues to drive down the street @ around 45MPH for 100 feet, until finally crossing a 3-way intersection and smashing into a curb. Now, if I had a Fail Safe or TRS, when the batteries went dead to the TRS would pull the throttle servo to "neutral position." For the Fail Safe, anytime you have glitches of some sort, it puts the throttle servo in neutral position. That way if someone gets on the same frequency as you, your car will stop and not get crazy.