First time here...

[Mitch P]

Hey - I'm a former E-Maxx money pit owner. Got the Venom M/G and sold it because it was too much like a toy rather than a monster truck.

I just got the Duratrax M/Q and have a couple of observations:

It's fast going forward, even with the stock battery pack

It's slow going in reverse, very little torque and it takes a while to pick up speed (Duratrax tech agreed)

The ESC (and instructions) made it difficult for me to reset it. I tried because reverse seemed to react so slowly.

I added all the shock spacers and move them inboard to get as much ground clearance as possible.

My charger had no LED's whatsoever! The Duratrax tech said it was a trickle variety and that the instructions were a bit overboard about the 3 hour warning. Mine sat on the charger about 5 hours the first time with no problems.

I've ordered a 1200mah pack and I'm waiting for a 2400mah pack to be marketed that will fit in the stock battery location.

So, I've checked out other threads, but didn't see any complaints about reverse. Is anybody else's seem slow? Is it a function of the ESC braking?

I'll be backyard bashing and not racing BTW.

Thanks.

[robifon]

Welcome!

I thought the same thing about the Mini Giant and thus never purchased it. However, I am much happier with my Mini Quake. I still think it is the closest thing to a Mini-E Maxx (I love my E's). I really liked it out of the box which was not the case with even the Mini-T.

I have heard the opposite from many people with the Quake. Forward is a little less punchy and going into reverse is much better. Mine was that way out of the box. It seemed to get better after I played with the vehicle more but I do not know why.

I didn't play with the stock ESC too much since I have installed a Mamba 25 with Feigao brushless motor. The instructions leave much to be desired and I never used the stock charger since I can't stand cheap chargers without some kind of GUI. I also run GP1100 NIMH packs so I do not want to use a cheap charger.

I am currently playing with brushless setups and I am happy with my current Mamba 25 but will be getting a more powerful motor soon to see how it compares to my current setup.

[Mitch P]

I have followed your threads and some others before buying the M/Q. Weird about the forward/reverse issue. Since I haven't even run a full stock battery charge through it, it most likely needs outside time to run and break-in.

I almost went brushless with the Maxx, but the stock can motors were pretty good; despite the adjustablilty of the Robinson slipper clutch, my Big Joes were too much in the grass and I was breaking the H/D Traxxas tranny shafts pretty regularly. That's why I want to keep the M/Q as simple as possible.

I know Traxxas is going nuts with the REVO and such, but unless their R&D folks have a mini electric in the works, they have missed out on the smaller market. Knowing them, they'll just patiently wait and blow everyone's doors off :)

[robifon]

I did convert one of my E's to brushless and lots of expensive hop-ups. Ironically it is my pretty much stock E that I play with the most. Brushless has crazy power but I always feel so paranoid about breaking something on the truck. With the more stock E I bash without regret and if I break something it is usually something pretty cheap. When something pops on my brushless it is a big ticket item usually.

Anyways, I think the Mini-Quake is great in stock form. It is definitely a fun little basher. Like you I wish Traxxas would enter the mini market and blow people away like the Revo. I love my Revo! All RC is good in my eyes!

Have fun!

[1badmini]

i agree,i too have a stock emaxx and a brushless one also.i use the brushless one more though.but everytime i do use it i totally feel the same as you.i feel like if i throttle it too much i will break somthing.that sucks cuase i get so paranoid that i'm focusing on not breaking anything and not the fun.lol.lately i been lucky with it by easing the hammer a bit.

[1badmini]

oh i forgot to add,i have the brushless in my mq now and i already paranoid.lol.