Hi All,
I've been scouring the internet trying to find an affordable high-quality RC (radio controlled) car for my 11 year old son. Is anyone here a bit of an expert in these things? He wants to find an electric one that can hit top speeds of around 100km/h, so I presume that might be fairly costly. But might $200 be enough to spend? That's his limit. Happy to buy from overseas. Cheers for any links or assistance. He's most keen on a 4wd buggy with brushless motor.
UniQualz
off road? on road? indoor? 4wd?
overall 200dollar budget will be quite limiting a high-quality product, things like esc/radio gear/servos add up very fast. just looking at mine..roughly over 500-1000 plus radio gear. so i'll take notch down to a 11yo.
https://www.hobbywarehouse.com.au/rc-cars-on-road.html
the above website is great due to turn over time in parts when the car get battered. customer service is quite friendly and helpful too.
there's a lot of selections there that's ready to race. and it can be a starting point of learning to either love it or get bored of it real fast and just sit there for the rest of its life.
i wouldn't suggest buying overseas and shipping will be costly for the size of the box, unless buying something particular i.e the brushless motor.
i wouldn't be too fixated on 100kmh+ rc car, it'd depend on where he'd be playing with it. whilst radio control will be another issue for the distance going at 100kmh.
most will be 50-80kmh and it'd be heaps of fun already on say a bmx track. i dont think your son will take a speed gun out, but i wouldn't lie either… rc cars at that speed is incredibly fun to play with already.
http://www.rctech.net/forum/ is great for forum for buying and selling etc. or even checking out where future meets or event are going to be held.
hth
Brilliant.. cheers for all that mate, great help. He's keen for a 4wd buggy with a brushless motor. I'll update the post.
I don't think $200 is anywhere near enough. Also know that easy to damage at that speed, and repair is costly depending on model purchased. I know not what he wants, but something like this very fast for its size, cheap and great fun. Also parts cost nothing.
http://m.banggood.com/Wltoys-A979-118-2_4Gh-4WD-Monster-Truc…
Mate, that's the business! I just watched the video in that link you gave me. He's 11yo, that's more than enough..! lol. Thanks very much.
Great little car. If you get it, I'd also buy maybe 4 extra batteries to reduce wait time. Its not brushless, but replacement motors are cheap. There is a big forum thread about this car somewhere - would be worth a read if you are considering it.
Ok. You mean LiPo batteries?
11 years old boy + 100km/h toy is a dangerous combination. Can really hurt when it hits someones kid in the ankles. A lot of the higher speed remote control cars are necessarily large. Larger cars are easier to see at far distances.
At speeds of 60km/h a remote control car will flip if it is turned when on grass. Cement or dirt is different because the tires can slide but require a good controller that's properly trimmed + hand-eye coordination + finesse. The only way your son is going to be able to see a car do 100km/h is in a straight line. There's no way he can reach 100km/h at a race track. So I don't think he will notice the speed depending on where he plays with it.
It been decades since I owned an electric racing Hornet. From memory $200 will not be enough. Even without spares/tuner parts you will need the minimum of Car + radio controller + battery recharger + battery pack + spare battery pack. To make things difficult all the fast R/C cars do not come with radio controllers. The car by itself can easily cost $200 and then you still need to look for all the other stuff I mentioned.
If you were already experienced with buying R/C cars then I'd recommend also looking at 2nd hand but I do not recommend this for a newbie since there's lots of damaged ones (eg. damaged suspension, wheel alignment issues, quirky turning circle).
Great advice mate, thanks very much. I think I'll make him go with a $100 60km/h one til he's much older. Then I'll see if he's really that keen.
what did you end up buying OP?
I'm in the market for sub $200 RC car for my 8yr old nephew. RTR 1:10 or smaller electric buggy (2WD or 4WD) I was looking at HSP but considering negative comments above I reckon I'll avoid them.
Another cheap option I've seen is Himoto 1:18 scale.
Hey mate. I bought the WLToys $89 thingy from Banggood. Was so flimsy it literally didn't even last 2 minutes, let alone taking it outside. All extremely soft plastic, the bumper broke off as soon as it nicked the wall (at slow speed) and then a minute later the drive unit shredded, also at slow speed! Banggood was appalling with their customer service, so for 6 months it's been sat in the cupboard in a pile of bits. Jut waiting to transition its way to the bin..! Disappointed, but he's moved on to other toys now. Soft plastic on a high speed car was probs not a great idea!
Thanks for the quick reply. That doesn't sound good. I'll definitely avoid, although buying from bangood for delivery before Christmas was never going to happen.
If it was my kid and my money I'd definitely spend a bit more to get something decent. Top of the list would be a Losi mini 8IGHT kit, but at $400+ I can't see my sister going for it.
I on the other hand consider $400 a bargain compared to what I've spent on RC crap in the past. I spent more than that just on a controller!.
Don't buy HSP unless you and your son want to spend 90% of your time putting it back together. Never has it been truer that a poor man pays twice. I ignored the forum comments and thought I would be the exception. How wrong I was.