Short course trucks - how do they stack up?

[Munchbox]

So in between my drawn out Blackfoot project I've started looking at SCT's. I have options, which is great, but Id like some feedback from you guys. My criteria are it must be 4wd, preferably start out brushed and upgrade to brushless, needs to be tough and realistically economical.

EcX Torment 4wd. My brother has one with a Castle combo and the thing is a great basher. 

Traxxas Slash 4wd. A truck known for being tough. A little on the pricey side however.

Redcat Blackout and Caldera. Both reasonably priced. Redcat being a brand not known for its hardiness.

HPI Blitz. Proceed similar to the competition. I'm not crazy about the chassis setup on these. 

Helion Dominus 10sc. Excellent price point for a truck with metal geared diffs, seems ready for brushless. Unfortunately I know nothing of the brand.

So what are the recommendations? I know that the EcX and Traxxas will be on top but are any of the others even in the same league?

[Prescient]

Depends on your country but certainly in the UK it's a no brainer for me personally with Traxxas simply because of relentless spares support and proven capability.

I am always cautious about other brands and longevity of the company and spares support for each model. Even HPI has been really patchy for months due to the company/distributor issues etc. 

With ECX, lots of places sell them but don't carry any spares. Even Wheelspinmodels has a lot of spares out of stock so not even available at the supplier.

Is there that much in it where a brushless slash 4x4 is ~£360-£400 and an ECX 4WD brushed is £150 so add in a decent SCT Combo and comparrable electronics and it's closer to £300. 

General trend is the cheap brands sit at the £100-£200 mark and the more expensive ready to run brushless £300 upwards (Traxxas/HPI/Arrma). 

Maverick do the Timberwolf brushless 4wd at £200ish too.

[magnumb]

For a basher and decent racing platform the Blitz ESE is hard to beat. Very tough and easy to work on. Throw a gear diff and should offer many hours of fun. The only thing that needs attention is the outdrives cups as they do wear, but I would say they need to be changed out every 30 packs on brushless power. If launching this 20ft in the air you should change out the brace that goes from rear shock tower to rear bumper to standard black blitz not ESE blitz as it's more flexible and alum rear bulkhead that the rear tierods sit on. With this it should be bulletproof. Very underrated chassis.

ECX would be my 2nd choice and it's 4wd and affordable and Slash would be 3rd choice.

[Percymon]

Associated SC10, Traxxas Slash or Blitz ESE all very robust.

 

One thing most short course trucks suffer though it that they throw a lot of dirt into the shell  from the front wheels in particular

[JatoTheRipper]

You forgot the Associated SC10.  Best handling and underrated durability.  The Slash lags behind in handling, but it makes up for it in fun, durability, and the massive aftermarket support.

I'd avoid the HPI Blitz at all costs.  HPI is a company in turmoil.  Spare parts always are an issue with them.  And my friend's ESE broke every time he took it out.  Plus, the Blitz is not 4WD.

[magnumb]

No offense your friend must have been a terrible driver or was driving it very cold weather:)

The ESE is not a tough as the standard blitz, but it doesn't break every time you take it out. Raced the one I had for 2 seasons and been bashing with it for maybe 4 now...The few parts that break are replace with standard blitz parts. The worst part out the kit are the outdrives.....been though about 5 or 6 sets. If you wants parts available within a moments notice then get a Traxxas product. SC10 is a better racer, but not that great of a basher. Where I raced they were very popular, but broke front pieces all the time and hub carriers. Really needs RPM a-arms and hub carriers and a few spare idler gears and ball ends pop off from time to time.

[Dirt-540]

Traxxas Slash for bashing, Associated SC10 for racing, Losi Baja Rey for scale realism. 

[Prescient]

Traxxas slash because 1:13 onwards. 

And you wouldn't try 2:57 with a WT01

 

[novicelad]

11 hours ago, Prescient said:

Traxxas slash because 1:13 onwards. 

And you wouldn't try 2:57 with a WT01

 

Another awesome video for me and my boy to watch later  

[berman]

Had a Traxxas Slash 4x4 Ultimate LCG, A Traxxas 2wd Raptor LCG with Proline widetrack kit and castle 4600 combo, and a stock Associated SC10RS. 

Only sold the Associated because I had to/needed the money. The other two I don't miss/and IMO were a waste of money. 

I have always considered getting another SC10RS (actually maybe a SC10B-RS this time). Brilliant platform. 

[JatoTheRipper]

22 hours ago, magnumb said:

No offense your friend must have been a terrible driver or was driving it very cold weather:)

The ESE is not a tough as the standard blitz, but it doesn't break every time you take it out. Raced the one I had for 2 seasons and been bashing with it for maybe 4 now...The few parts that break are replace with standard blitz parts. The worst part out the kit are the outdrives.....been though about 5 or 6 sets. If you wants parts available within a moments notice then get a Traxxas product. SC10 is a better racer, but not that great of a basher. Where I raced they were very popular, but broke front pieces all the time and hub carriers. Really needs RPM a-arms and hub carriers and a few spare idler gears and ball ends pop off from time to time.

Yes, blame it on him because nobody else thought the ESE was too fragile... 

There were certain parts on the ESE that broke when you looked at them and that's why so many people replaced them with the standard black parts.  It's the total opposite of the regular, black Blitz that was tough.  The ESE was a gimmick that thankfully died quickly.

[ncpantherfan71]

If it must be 4wd, you have limited choices.   I can not recommend the Hellion.   I worked at Hobby Town a while and was not impressed.   Soft aluminum chassis plate,  it would taco on any significant impact.  To change it was a huge pita!   Must have been 20-25 Phillips screws on the bottom. Plus only place to get parts is Hobby Town in the US.   I don't know who carries it in the UK. 

Th slash 4x4 is already brushless, and a very good basher.  There are a couple week spots,  the bearing that keeps the slipper aligned is too small for the load.  When it fails it can take a couple other parts out because it gets so hot and the plastic melts.   There is an upgrade mount from hot racing which uses an oversized bearing and traxxas has an aluminum part the bearing fits into. This pretty much fixes the biggest fault.   Now if you intend to install an 8th scale power system and run it on 4-8 cell lipo you will destroy the drive shafts in one or two runs.   Mip  offers a set of heavy duty drive shafts that will last,  but they are a little pricey.   If you keep the power system within reason, stock shafts do OK,  but do wear.  Very hard head on impacts can bend the center drive shaft when the chassis flexes.   Cheap part and pretty easy to replace,  about 6 screws if I remember right. 

I don't know much about the ecx 4wd, but the 2wd drive trucks are designed for the beginner.   Tough as heck,  but performance is limited because the plastic are sooooo soft and servo saver is set to marshmallow strength.  I don't know parts support for ecx in UK,  but I don't stock 4wd parts at my shop,  only 2wd.

If you are willing to look at second hand,  don't over look the Losi or TLR scte and it's "offspring".  Chassis has been around for ever,  the top performing 4wd short course for several years.   Very durable and can be hopped up to almost bullet proof status.  Parts support in US is very good for this chassis,  but I don't know about the UK. 

My order for a pure basset would be

Slash 4x4

Losi/TLR SCTE

ECX,  if you can get parts

I would rather drive a cardboard box than the Hellion. 

I currently own a slash 4wd, TLR SCTE, and an ECX 2wd truck.   I have shared my personal experience and what I see at the hobby shop where I work.   Your experience may be different. 

Edited October 10, 2017 by ncpantherfan71
Typo

[Dojo Dave]

Where are you I have a slash 4wd I'll sell . It's currently set up as a road car but I have all the co.ponents for off road conversion . 

[ncpantherfan71]

8 minutes ago, Dojo Dave said:

Where are you I have a slash 4wd I'll sell . It's currently set up as a road car but I have all the co.ponents for off road conversion . 

That's another great thing about the slash.   It can be set many different ways,  on road,  put bigger tires and it becomes a mt,  keep it a short course truck.   There is a guy on YouTube with a highly  modded slash that did over 160mph.

[Driveforfun]

I've had a 2wd slash and still have a 4wd Blackout. The Blackout has been stellar for us. It's a joy to drive being 4wd, but more importantly the drivetrain has been straight up bulletproof, even on a brushless 3300kv lipo setup (usually 2s, occasional 3s). i'm still on the stock gears after a year or so. Main failure i had was the a arm mounts on the body, which required a new body at $10 or so.

The slash was also good, but it's 2wd vs 4wd. both have their benefits, but for general bashing away from a track, i find 4wd to be more enjoyable with varied terrain. A 4wd slash is 3-4 times the price of the blackout.

[Dojo Dave]

2 hours ago, Driveforfun said:

I've had a 2wd slash and still have a 4wd Blackout. The Blackout has been stellar for us. It's a joy to drive being 4wd, but more importantly the drivetrain has been straight up bulletproof, even on a brushless 3300kv lipo setup (usually 2s, occasional 3s). i'm still on the stock gears after a year or so. Main failure i had was the a arm mounts on the body, which required a new body at $10 or so.

The slash was also good, but it's 2wd vs 4wd. both have their benefits, but for general bashing away from a track, i find 4wd to be more enjoyable with varied terrain. A 4wd slash is 3-4 times the price of the blackout.

2wd slash very affordable 

[Munchbox]

Dojo Dave, I'm in the US. California. Where are you?

[Dojo Dave]

On 10/10/2017 at 9:15 PM, Munchbox said:

Dojo Dave, I'm in the US. California. Where are you?

Florida 

[Effigy3]

I have 4 SCTs in my family fleet:

• (2) Arrma Furies - 2WD
  • A hopped up Mega (started out brushed)
  • A mostly stock BLS (discontinued sensorless brushless) that we use as a loaner
• (1) Losi XXX-SCT 2WD - My son's former race truck
• (1) TLR Ten SCTE v1 4WD - My son's current race truck

My personal impression after having watched all of these SCTs on and off the track in the hands of experienced drivers and total novices.  The 4WD SCT is a freaking tank.  It's basically an 8th scale buggy with different suspension arms and body mounts.  Of the all the brands I know, the 4WD SCT brands that I'd recommend include: Team Associated, TLR, Tekno, and Arrma.  If I were to race I'd probably go with TLR so share parts with my son or Tekno if that wasn't a concern.  If I were to bash I'd definitely go with the Arrma Senton.  It's designed to take a beating.  Just look at the roll cage!  Plus they offer a 2-year parts warranty.  They have never turned down a request for replacement parts in the 3 years I have been running the Furies.

That said, the Team Durango DESC10 is an interesting proposition.  TD has called it quits.  Arrma is their basher division and shows no signs of slowing down.  You could very likely pick up a DESC10 on the cheap, stockpile parts, or use Senton bits when needed down the line.

Now, look what you've done.  You've got me thinking...