Jump to content
Kowalski86

Any thoughts on Traxxas?

Recommended Posts

Traxxas stuff is really very, very good. The plastics they use are exceptionally strong, although the steel they use for hingepins and gears could be stronger for the speed and power of the vehicles. There’s no “exotic” materials in any of ‘em, either.

Certain vehicles, like the TRX4, are class leaders, too. The E-Revo 2.0 is the best “true” independent suspension MT, and other designs have revolutionized or rejuvenated categories.

Somehow, though, everything just seems soulless, like there’s nothing special about them. With the exception of the Funny Car, they’ve never made a “pretty “ chassis, and they’ve only recently started styling the individual parts.

Traxxas makes solid stuff, the type of stuff that I’m entirely comfortable recommending to people, and probably provides an experience more in line with average consumers expectations. The proprietary electronics ecosystem, with those stupid ID connectors and idiot proof chargers, really chafes me, and I hate their business practices. Even so, if you want an RTR with excellent parts support, superb customer service and solid build quality, you will be happy with a Traxxas. They don’t target my areas of interest.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Big Jon said:

Somehow, though, everything just seems soulless, like there’s nothing special about them. With the exception of the Funny Car, they’ve never made a “pretty “ chassis, and they’ve only recently started styling the individual parts.

I can agree with you about them not making "pretty" chassis, but both the Rustler and Slash HCG chassis have been very useful as trays to hold my screws/tools whenever I work on them, less so the Stampedes brick chassis.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 hours ago, Big Jon said:

they’ve never made a “pretty “ chassis,

 

7 hours ago, Kowalski86 said:

can agree with you about them not making "pretty" chassis,

I'll agree with that. I was mulling over buying a Stampede 4x4 kit someone bought but didn't start. I like the idea of the kit but I find the Stampede 4x4 chassis to be ugly. I've been trying to come up with ideas to make it less so, but when I do that to a vehicle I haven't even started, I wonder if I should consider purchasing it at all. I've held off trying the Super Avante for the same reason, only because of its body and not chassis.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, Saito2 said:

 

I'll agree with that. I was mulling over buying a Stampede 4x4 kit someone bought but didn't start. I like the idea of the kit but I find the Stampede 4x4 chassis to be ugly. I've been trying to come up with ideas to make it less so, but when I do that to a vehicle I haven't even started, I wonder if I should consider purchasing it at all. I've held off trying the Super Avante for the same reason, only because of its body and not chassis.

If that unfinished kits on discount I'd buy it, but if you're used to Tamiya you'll find it to be much bigger, heavier and probably too straight forward.

I'd buy it over an Avante though, you can get some good bodies for Stampedes. Avantes just look a bit dull to me.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/20/2022 at 5:48 PM, Big Jon said:

they’ve never made a “pretty “ chassis

Gotta disagree with you all on this one. The Bullet was beautiful (if flawed) and I would also submit the Hawk/Radicator platform, especially the version with white nylon and gold ano aluminum like the old RC10s.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bought this second hand UDR a couple of months back. It had been very gently used just a few times and came with a spare FOX body, 6x wheels to match the FOX body, 5x paddle tires and window nets.   
Paid about 40% of the new price for all of it. I choose to run it with a single 4S LiPo, but it's still a blast to drive!

IMG-2174.jpg

IMG-2177.jpg

IMG-2176.jpg

20221106-152039.jpg

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My son is really into the Traxxas cars and they offer a fairly different experience compared to our Tamiyas. While Tamiya offers fairly old school designs that arent made to be driven too hard, Traxxas makes some properly heavy duty stuff. If you want to race hard or send your car from a ramp several meters in the air a Traxxas (or Arrma) is the way to go. Traxxas parts are really cheap though, compared to Arrma ones.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't really know Traxxas much other than seeing their product range and popping up on YouTube, but what is it particularly that makes people love the products, but dislike the company?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@Fish Slice

Most of the products themselves are decent, their scale crawlers rival Tamiya for realism.  

The catch is that the company themselves are sue happy, here in the US LHS's are very saturated with Traxxas parts (little room for competitions), proprietary battery/esc plugs (though Spektrum does this too iirc), the "basher" culture (again more of a US thing), some dislike them for shifting the entire RC hobby over to RTR being the standard.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
22 hours ago, Fish Slice said:

but what is it particularly that makes people love the products, but dislike the company?

There a plenty of arguments about how they led the charge that RTR'd the RC market, destroying the hobby aspect of what we do. There's also arguments about the stereotypical Traxxas owner (usually from the States) flailing the dog**** out of there rides, giving the general public the wrong impression about other RC hobbyist.

Sticking to more tangible facts, Traxxas files patents on virtually anything. Devices, features or any engineering principles that have been in use for decades, Traxxas lays claim to...and then goes after others in court, filing lawsuits, like a parasite. Have a throttle linkage on your gas car? Traxxas filed a patent on it. Cantilever suspension? Traxxas filed a patent on it. The list goes on and on and on. That last bit was part of Traxxas going after Tower Hobbies' parent company, Hobbico, for one of their Aarma designs. It was another nail (nearly the final one) in the coffin that led to Tower/Hobbico going bankrupt and being swallowed up by Horizon Hobby (in the interest of transparency, Hobbico was not in great shape at the time either, owing many suppliers large sums of money).

The insanity continues as they attempt to sue just about anyone with the letters M A X in their name due their line of MAXX trucks. That includes HBO whom they went after for their HBO Max service name. Yes, its that crazy and they stoop that low.

As you can imagine, this isn't good for the hobby. They have proprietary battery connectors to try to force buyers into using only their packs. They sell in off-beat areas trying to snag people outside our hobby for, at best, a quick buck and at worst, making them a zombie, indoctrinated into a Traxxas-only world mindset. Auto parts stores and suppliers carry them and I'll probably see them in the local grocery store or big-box home improvement store before long. They started MAP pricing long before Tamiya tried it and would be just as pleased if you went straight to them directly for everything to cut out any hobby shops or middle men. But hey, its all good competitive capitalism right? Crush everyone and make the most money possible at all cost because that defines success, not integrity. Right? (heavy sarcasm).

Aside from all that, they do offer decent and sometimes great engineering. The original Maxx trucks were totally revolutionary. The Slash started a new phenomenon and the TRX-4, by all accounts, is pretty great. The engineers obviously care to make good products. If their models are prevalent in a county like the US, spare parts are never an issue and they have good customer service.

I buy all my Traxxas vehicles second hand to avoid giving them money directly. I looked very hard at the TRX-4 recently. Honestly, it is the truck I want as it does everything I want...but I just can't pull the trigger. Love some of the engineering but the company's practices stand in total opposition of my beliefs. Every garbage, tribal-themed paint scheme body that comes my way from them goes in the trash as its become symbolic of the evil in which they conduct business (ok, I crush it with my Clod Buster first, lol).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Once upon a time you could get Traxxas stuff at Best Buy and Pep Boys! And yea, shadey move. But Losi/Associated sold some smaller scale stuff at Toys R US iirc (which is arguably more newcomer friendly).

I do think that they've harmed the RC hobby a bit, I don't believe that it's "normal" to constantly break RCs doing outrageous stunts, nor do I consider it a good sign when hobby shops have lines of Slash owners waiting for them to do repairs.

Where I have issues it's with them forcing hobby shops to carry mostly Traxxas parts, and their 2WD VXL line-up.

Their 2WD VXL models are more or less budget-1990s designs, they're okay with a brushed motor/nimh, but far too old and ill-handling for brushless.

What Saito2 says about Traxxas owners is true, they beat on these things hard which makes used examples a gamble. The best ones are usually the older models that were driven maybe a few times and sat in someone's garage/basement, before "Break, take it to the LHS for repairs, Repeat" became a thing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It is pretty sad that people go to the LHS for repairs. I understand looking for help troubleshooting electrical gremlins since many people don't have a second set of electronics to test with, but replacing mechanical parts can't get much easier. Learning how to do things on your own is a big part of what makes this a hobby IMO.

I started out in Traxxas after a brief stint with my dad's Super Champ, and I appreciate that they were a good entry-point for me, but it feels like they've changed a lot even since I bought my Rustler in roughly 2014. I'm disappointed how they are moving their pricing into a more premium bracket despite not changing much about the cars in years (the 2wd models are awful about this like Kowalski said).

The only other thing I like is that they're extremely unlikely to discontinue a model and end parts support. There are many cars that I'd love to have, but they seem to get discontinued after a few years with parts drying up quickly.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, RustyHunter said:

It is pretty sad that people go to the LHS for repairs. I understand looking for help troubleshooting electrical gremlins since many people don't have a second set of electronics to test with, but replacing mechanical parts can't get much easier. Learning how to do things on your own is a big part of what makes this a hobby IMO.

I started out in Traxxas after a brief stint with my dad's Super Champ, and I appreciate that they were a good entry-point for me, but it feels like they've changed a lot even since I bought my Rustler in roughly 2014. I'm disappointed how they are moving their pricing into a more premium bracket despite not changing much about the cars in years (the 2wd models are awful about this like Kowalski said).

The only other thing I like is that they're extremely unlikely to discontinue a model and end parts support. There are many cars that I'd love to have, but they seem to get discontinued after a few years with parts drying up quickly.

On top of that Traxxas stuff is easy to work on, the Slash in particular comes with hex-head machine screws that rarely ever strip, bend, or fall out, no dog bones to fiddle with, fairly standard chassis designs. I think that their brushed 2WD line-up is quite good, its the brushless variants that really feel like a "noob trap" of sorts. Their prices are creeping up due to LED lights coming standard on more models.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Stampede 2wd was my second rc car which i enjoyed a lot. Nowadays, I am more like looking for something other than traxxas (and aarma) since those are everywhere..(I am glad local hobbytown has few tamiya kits..). 
I actually did not know towerhobbie bankruptcy is related to traxxas. (I knew something is up with them since they do not carry traxxas stuff)

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Sogogi said:

Stampede 2wd was my second rc car which i enjoyed a lot. 

Rustler for me, it was purchased used with bald rear tires, we never upgraded it and it became "just a thing in the garage" until I tried to restore it decades later, went overboard, then burned out and sold it.

I have considered participating in a local Spec Slash race, but the price for all of the extra nonsense turned me away ($100 for a box that goes beep, tire sauce, etc). Wish we had a cheap DT-series cup or something more low-key.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...