vwchappy

Hi All,

I have many years in the RC field, mainly electric but many years away from it! I pretty much sold everything I have except for my HPI Nitro Rush.
I am looking for an Electric Car now, and on a budget. I do not race at a track and I would mainly be driving it in my street, and on gravel, hitting some jumps here and there, so therefore I'm in the market for a buggy style. I have it narrowed down to two models that suit my budget the best, both around $160. Both got decent reviews.
They are:

ARRMA RAIDER "MEGA"
HELION CRITERION

I was leaning more towards the Raider, because of the construction, but then found out that the Raider that is available now is the Raider Mega. The Raider has metal frame on bottom, and metal gears. Looks like the "Mega" lacks the metal frame and has "composite" gears. The Mega DOES come with the 2000NiMh and charger, the regular Mega does not.

Which one would be better? I like speed, but I also like durability, and if something breaks, can I get parts?

Thanks!

RustyUs

Check out some reviews...Criterion. And the review of the Raider. This will get you started.

vwchappy

So I was at the hobby shop today and they had the raider mega in stock and I was checking it out. Unfortunately it is the mega version which is a little different then the regular version which you see much more of in the reviews. It was only $160. I asked the shop owner if you had an opinion between Arma and Helio and he said they are pretty much both the same. He continued by saying, "you know what, for what it's worth I have this one here (raider) that was returned by a woman who wasn't happy that the battery would not last for 20 minutes!" It was only run a couple times so I ended up getting it for $100. I guess my search is over and I guess I can make mods and not be spending too much money.

RustyUs

I think you got a good deal. The only thing that would bother me would be the plastic topped shocks; getting to parts in the confined areas as one reviewer stated. But for looks....that raider rocks! Sorry for all you "cab forward" body lovers...they're ok on trucks, but I like the realistic; scale look of traditional buggies.

And that 2000mah pack will be good enough to get you started. I don't know why the lady from your post expected it to last 20 min. Maybe with a 27T brushed motor. I know the raider has a battery compartment. Just get good measurements when you start looking for other batteries.

I hope you enjoy your new ride.

vwchappy

I have no idea what state the battery was in when I got it but I did throw it on the charger for about an hour. It was the stock charger which I'm sure takes four hours but I ran it for about five minutes and that thing was fast! Faster than my electric stampede ever was! could you recommend a good charger without breaking the bank that can do nickel metal and Lipo? My 15 minute quick charger only has a Tamiya style plug and is only good for NiCad a nickel metal. This car has Deans plug. I also ordered a 5000mah nimh for only $16.99 on eBay, but would also like to try lipo.

RustyUs

eBayer are you? That's where I like to start when searching for items.

Good to see the ARRMA using Deans. That's my first choice of connector/plug. Everybody has there favorite plug to use, but Deans are one of the top three out there. If you are looking for a low budget charger, a iMax B6AC or some copy of it. I was posting earlier this week on the same topic. You can read about my choices here.

Info about LiPos are here or here.

vwchappy

Great thanks for the info. I'm going to look into them. I guess B6AC is kind of like a "chip set/version"? So something based on the B6AC would be good? Of course after reading reviews of the particular model. I am hoping I can get one for $40 or less that would do both NiMH & LiPo. Doing 2 at once would be sweet, but highly doubtful for $40, unless it's some shoddy Chinese piece!

I see you are in Central PA? Where abouts? I am on the East, between Philly and Allentown. Is this your site?

Thanks

EXT2Rob

My Feedback: (1)

My favorite charger: Thunder AC680 $60 at HobbyPartz. Does 6 Amps at 80Watts. You will need to add your favorite connector. Sounds like Deans for you.
I remember when Arrma came out with the Raider. I was impressed with how quick it was with a brushed motor. Just want to share my 2 cents with you: As long as you're running a brushed motor, NiMhs are fine. If you upgrade it to brushless, you will want to go Lipo exclusively. Reason being is that Nimh packs cannot deliver the Amps that brushless systems pull. If you run brushless with NiMh, you'll find the cells get very hot. Hot enough to melt the shrink wrap. This heat will kill the cells in short order. They won't take a charge. In all things electronic, heat is bad.

And BTW, if you know the right brands, "cheap Chinese junk" is not junk at all. i.e. HobbyWing, Gens Ace, Solar, et al... It's called RC on a budget. 8^)

RustyUs

??? my site...nah I just stumbled upon this site about two years ago while looking for Duratrax Evader ST info.
Central PA = Snyder county PA, home of Shoofly pie; scrapple; and the horse and buggy lane along US Highway 11/15!

I wish I had one of them Thunder AC680 chargers that EXT2Rob likes. I would like to compare the inside of one with mine. They have the same specs and same programming flow.

vwchappy

Thanks Rob. I understand about Brushless pretty much requiring lipo. I would keep this setup as brushed and upgrade the nimh to lipo for more speed. I don't want to put a ton of money into it, that's what my HPI Nitro Rush is for! Haha

vwchappy

Mmmmm shoo fly pie and scrapple!! Two of my favorites!!! Apple Butter WITH the scrapple though. Not many people from outside of PA understand that!