rennek37
6.23.09, 5:33 am
Well I finally got it, I swapped in my DSM radio gear, got the stock pack charged up to test it out in stock form, and changed out the stock 28t pinion for the 23t speed pinion. I had charged up my Rhino 1550mah 20C 3S lipos the night before so they were ready to go. This is an extremely impressive truck, on the stock battery it was fun to drive, but pop a 3S in this thing and the first thing that comes to mind is BALLISTIC MISSILE. On 3S it has so much power on tap that you really have to be careful how you manage the throttle because if you dont it wants to end up on its lid or go cartwheeling and flipping out of control.
It reminds me a lot of my Jato that I swapped a 3.3 into in terms of acceleration and the feeling of speed. I didnt have a radar gun to clock it with, but me and my friend both had the same idea for an estimate of how fast it was going and we felt that 40-45 mph was a pretty solid estimate. And I can solidly say that YES it is waterproof, it rained here like crazy today and there were puddles everywhere and I ran it through every possible one I could find. I even accidentaly flipped it upside down in a puddle that was about 2.5-3in deep and went and flipped it back on its wheels and it kept on going without a problem.
I ran it through some pretty thick wet grass as well and it didnt have any problem getting through it at all, it just plowed right through it. With the stock battery the ESC and motor temps were very cool, not even warm to the touch. The battery got pretty warm though and gave a run time of about 10 minutes. On 3S the ESC was slightly warm and the motor was pretty warm but not really hot, you could hold your finger on the can for about 4-5 seconds before it felt pretty warm. The battery was a little warm but not hot, it was much cooler than the stock 6 cell pack was and gave a run time of about 15-20 minutes.
The suspension was a little soft for my liking, but thats usually the case with any truck right out of the box. I gave the shock collars a few turns to tighten up the suspension a bit and give it some preload and it works pretty well but I think some 50-60wt shock oil will be put in in the near future. Havent had any breakage problems as of yet, and no quirks out of the box, its solid as a rock. I ran 3 charges through on the stock 6 cell and both of my 3S packs without a problem tonight.
By the way if you want to waterproof your lipos if you dont have Maxamps packs I suggest using Plasti-dip, it works great. I just cut off the shrink wrap on mine and dipped them all the way up to the wires so they are protected fully. Just make sure you put some electrical tape or something to cover your balance lead on your battery if you plan on running in lots of water so you dont short out your batteries.
More testing is in order tomorrow, it took some pretty violent spills and tumbles tonight and didnt have any problems but I want to test its durability more thourougly. I'm going to take it down to the local track tomorrow and beat on it pretty good and see how it handles on the track if it isnt raining like crazy again. I also have a parallel adapter that I am going to test with both 3S batteries tomorrow.
This truck is everything it has been hyped up to be and then some. You get a waterproof brushless truck that is an absolute BLAST to drive and is STUPID fast with lipos or two 6 cell packs in series for under $300, what more can you ask for? Go out and buy one, you wont be dissapointed, I know I'm not.
I took a few pics tonight, might post them up later. I'm gonna try and get a vid taken and get it put up on youtube also. More updates to come...
It reminds me a lot of my Jato that I swapped a 3.3 into in terms of acceleration and the feeling of speed. I didnt have a radar gun to clock it with, but me and my friend both had the same idea for an estimate of how fast it was going and we felt that 40-45 mph was a pretty solid estimate. And I can solidly say that YES it is waterproof, it rained here like crazy today and there were puddles everywhere and I ran it through every possible one I could find. I even accidentaly flipped it upside down in a puddle that was about 2.5-3in deep and went and flipped it back on its wheels and it kept on going without a problem.
I ran it through some pretty thick wet grass as well and it didnt have any problem getting through it at all, it just plowed right through it. With the stock battery the ESC and motor temps were very cool, not even warm to the touch. The battery got pretty warm though and gave a run time of about 10 minutes. On 3S the ESC was slightly warm and the motor was pretty warm but not really hot, you could hold your finger on the can for about 4-5 seconds before it felt pretty warm. The battery was a little warm but not hot, it was much cooler than the stock 6 cell pack was and gave a run time of about 15-20 minutes.
The suspension was a little soft for my liking, but thats usually the case with any truck right out of the box. I gave the shock collars a few turns to tighten up the suspension a bit and give it some preload and it works pretty well but I think some 50-60wt shock oil will be put in in the near future. Havent had any breakage problems as of yet, and no quirks out of the box, its solid as a rock. I ran 3 charges through on the stock 6 cell and both of my 3S packs without a problem tonight.
By the way if you want to waterproof your lipos if you dont have Maxamps packs I suggest using Plasti-dip, it works great. I just cut off the shrink wrap on mine and dipped them all the way up to the wires so they are protected fully. Just make sure you put some electrical tape or something to cover your balance lead on your battery if you plan on running in lots of water so you dont short out your batteries.
More testing is in order tomorrow, it took some pretty violent spills and tumbles tonight and didnt have any problems but I want to test its durability more thourougly. I'm going to take it down to the local track tomorrow and beat on it pretty good and see how it handles on the track if it isnt raining like crazy again. I also have a parallel adapter that I am going to test with both 3S batteries tomorrow.
This truck is everything it has been hyped up to be and then some. You get a waterproof brushless truck that is an absolute BLAST to drive and is STUPID fast with lipos or two 6 cell packs in series for under $300, what more can you ask for? Go out and buy one, you wont be dissapointed, I know I'm not.
I took a few pics tonight, might post them up later. I'm gonna try and get a vid taken and get it put up on youtube also. More updates to come...