Can anyone recommend a lower end RC car?

[albatros43]

We got my son a Bass Pro Raptor RC truck for Christmas that he liked a good bit. I say "liked" because his sister just ran the thing over in her Power Wheels Jeep (not sure who was at fault) and it's essentially destroyed. The truck was $50-60 I believe and it had issues running through the grass anyway.

Could anyone recommend one that might be slightly more expensive (say $120 or so max) that might work much better in the dormant grass?

 

[spar1790]

Little more than you want to spend ($200) but my brother bought one of these a few months back and I can personally say it is a blast. Parts are available pretty readily too.

https://traxxas.com/products/models/electric/37054-1rustler

 

[albatros43]

Little more than you want to spend ($200) but my brother bought one of these a few months back and I can personally say it is a blast. Parts are available pretty readily too.

https://traxxas.com/products/models/electric/37054-1rustler

I'm not necessarily opposed to spending more, but kids get bored with stuff easily. I can say I was a little bummed at how fast it loses charge and how it wouldn't go thru the dormant grass. It went pretty quick on the asphalt, but there's not much of it around.

 

[HOTSANDRAIL]

Little more than you want to spend ($200) but my brother bought one of these a few months back and I can personally say it is a blast. Parts are available pretty readily too.

https://traxxas.com/products/models/electric/37054-1rustler

^^^ This with LiPo battery

 

[spar1790]

From what I remember he said it charged in like 1hr and 20 min run time. Extra batteries can be purchased though. Traxxas is the name in RC. It is crazy the amount of torture this thing can endure for a plastic battery powered RC car.

 

[albatros43]

From what I remember he said it charged in like 1hr and 20 min run time. Extra batteries can be purchased though. Traxxas is the name in RC. It is crazy the amount of torture this thing can endure for a plastic battery powered RC car.

Yeah, that would be good. I know it won't survive being run over by a Power Wheel Jeep, but it needs to be pretty durable. How do you think it would do in grass?

 

[BIGLEW]

I had a Traxxas Jato. That thing would fly!

 

[spar1790]

Yeah, that would be good. I know it won't survive being run over by a Power Wheel Jeep, but it needs to be pretty durable. How do you think it would do in grass?

Doesn't even slow it down.. Go check out some youtube videos of it.

 

[albatros43]

Doesn't even slow it down.. Go check out some youtube videos of it.

I watched a good bit of videos on it, and the Rustler XL-5 is the "best" RC car out there under $250 per quite a few people. The one downside is it doesn't come with an AC charger, which is kind of dumb.

 

[Swab]

We have three of the ECX torments. They run about $150, are really tough and you can get parts for them at any hobby shop. He can start off with it stock for now and you can always upgrade it later on. Two of ours are now brushless running lipos and they're almost too fast. I don't think they come with a charger though. I picked up a pretty decent charger from horizonhobby.com I think.