Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)My son got this RC car for Christmas 2010. It comes mostly pre-assembled in the box with only minor parts to put on (the antennas, for example). This is a lot of car for the money and it does go fast, especially with an upgraded battery.
Pros:
Comes complete with rechargeable battery, charger and radio control
Easy to use pistol-grip type controller
No set-up required other than adding the batteries and putting on the antennas
Fast and fun
Looks good
Easy to upgrade the battery from most any hobby store for more speed and a longer run time.
Four-wheel-drive is impressive, especially in gravel or dirtCons:
Run time is only about 10 minutes (may be longer in warmer weather).
Uses the same battery in the car for the drive motor and the receiver. When the battery gets low the car will just stop. Releasing the throttle and pulling it will get the car going again but the time between stops gets shorter each time the car is restarted. It's a little annoying but is a good indicator that the battery is almost dead.
Only includes battery for the motor and receiver (in the car), not for the controller. It takes 8 AA batteries.
Rechargeable battery is Ni-Cad and we found out that it's no longer a technology of choice. When I went to buy another battery the people at the hobby store thought the battery I brought was old and was surprised to find that it was brand new. The new battery of choice is NMh and cost between $20 and $60 depending on how many mili-amps you want.
Old Ni-Cad chargers don't work on the new NMh batteries so don't expect to be able to use that charger you had from your old RC car days. The new charger cost about $40.
Included battery charger is not a quick charger
Spare parts are impossible to find. After a week my son ran his car into a mailbox damaging the front, right wheel and suspension. The owner's manual has an exploded view with all the parts and part numbers but there is no information on how to order them and no amount of Internet searching could find parts for that particular car. I took it to a hobby store and they looked over and said that they did not have any replacement parts other than the wheel. The only solution they could offer was to rebuild the entire suspension with all new parts. The company that makes this car (Heng-Long) does make spare parts for other toys they sell (RC tanks, for example) so the possibility exists for them to offer them for this car in the future.
Since the car is only $135 (compared to $95 Tamiya cars without a radio or battery) I thought it was a good deal for a first "real" RC car. Now I'm not so sure. Having spare parts available is worth a lot. I have tried to repair the broken parts and rebuilt some parts from scratch but the repairs didn't last. Now we're stuck with a one-month old toy that is inoperable and awaiting another fix. My best option so far is to give it to the hobby store and see if they can rebuild it (they will have to match both the left and right with new parts) or buy another one and use the broken one for spares. Money that I could have spent to buy a car with available spares to begin with.
Bottom line: I would spend the extra money to get a car with a proven record (Tamyia, Losi, etc.) with spare parts available at any RC hobby store.
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