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Whilst looking for a Christmas present for my 5 year old son, my daughter decided she would like a crawler.
Almost set on the FTX Tracer RTR for the boy but I have absolutely no idea on crawlers. Can anyone recommend anything decent up to max £75? Appreciate not a huge budget but I don't want to go mad on something that she may lose interest in in 10 minutes. It will be used in the garden and local woods.
I know there's the huge RC thread on here but searching through it isn't fun!
You're going to struggle to find anything for the local woods at that price. For use away from the garden you really need to be at 1/10 scale which starts at just over the £100 mark, the FTX Ravine or Kanyon are the go-to budget crawlers at that price point. For your budget I'd suggest going for a 1/18 scale car like one of the FTX Outback Mini range (FTX are the Kings of budget RC, nearly all of their offerings are good) but that size is going to limit the use in the woods, perfect for indoors and the garden though. Best bet is to go on a website like ModelSport or Wheelspin Models, have a look at what you like the look of then hit YouTube for reviews (Tomley RC is a good starting point). Simple things like throttle modulation make a big difference to the experience!
Just remember that crawlers hold their value pretty well so if she doesn't like it then it will be easy to sell on a decent and popular model via local RC groups.
We have an FTX Outback Fury XC 1/16 Trail Crawler and a pair of FTX Tracer 1/16.
The fury broke after being dropped 30 cm. It took hours to fix and weeks to get the parts.
The tracers are massively more robust. Not crawlers, but super fun on a walk in the woods.
So - don't get the fury 1/16
I got my lad a cheap crawler to try out and he loved it, it was a huge hit as a surprise birthday present.
As a starter vehicle the MN99 was pretty good. It was about £40 when I got it though. It's quite quick and capable for the price despite undamped shocks.
A couple of caveats. Very bouncy due to said shocks. It's virtually non repairable. His mate got one too and they both stripped the steering servos and his mates stripped the diffs. There were no spares for the diffs, or the chassis that eventually cracked.
It was good to try - but won't last.
They both have FTX Outback 3's now and they are loads more capable and fully repairable - but I appreciate it's a lot more money.
Would you be happy going secondhand? Much better value and you'd get something over budget, within it. Plus you can get the odd upgrade thrown in
If so, have a look at the Axial SCX24. It's a really capable little thing and also fun indoors as well (I have an SCX10 and an SCX24)
https://www.wpl-rc.com/collections/rtr-ready-to-run
always been intrigued by these as a very cheap way to try mini-crawlers
If you did want to give the MN99 a shot, bearing in mind the above points, here's a link
There are some good threads on various forums about fixes and mods if you want to tinker.
pair of FTX Tracer 1/16.
How robust are they, what's the realistic minimum age for one? Do you have the brushed or brushless version?
Cheers
@teaandbiscuits
Free Member
pair of FTX Tracer 1/16.How robust are they, what’s the realistic minimum age for one? Do you have the brushed or brushless version
How robust- not broken with a summer of use between myself and 3 year old clattering round the garden, walking in the woods and doing 50cm high jumps. I watched this video and decided if it can survive 10min of that, it would survive all my mechanical sympathy would be prepared to dish out.
Started about age 3.5 after 6months of a £5 RC car from a car boot sale. He only gets to use it under close supervision.
I bought the FTX Outback Fury XC 1/16. It was fun in the house while it was cold. It fell 30cm and broke- disappointing! Spent 2h taking it to bits to find the broken bit. The £5 bit was out of stock in Europe for a month.
Bought the ftx tracer (normal). It's much faster and he loves it.
Fixed the outback and broke it again. More accurately, I hadn't spotted two things were broken. Ordered the wrong bit, then the right bit. About 6h of fixing in for 20min of playing.
While waiting for the bits to arrive bought myself the brushless tracer from Ali express. It was a similar price for this +2 batteries as the normal one from the UK. It has metal parts where the outback had plastic.
Great fun with the 3 of them since.
I can't keep either of the Fury's out of trouble on a walk on a woodland path, so they are too fast for me. In the open they are super fun.
Neither of the furies have needed anything other than battery charging.
How robust- not broken with a summer of use between myself and 3 year old clattering round the garden, walking in the woods and doing 50cm high jumps
This is perfect, thanks for the detailed answer. I think my 3.5 yo would love one but didn't want to get one that he needs to be a teenager to handle. £5 starter sounds like a good idea too. I'm useless with AliExpress, would you mind sharing a link to the one you bought? Any worries about warranties etc or is it essentially "its cheaper so suck it up"?
The £5 car got back forward, left and right sorted. It has survived a lot of smashing into skirting boards.
Similar to starter car
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3371750?clickPR=plp:10:36
Beware, the £5 has been totally ignored since the faster ones turn up.
This was the brushless metal axeled, 3 battery version I bought (myself). Key features- you can turn the power down loads.
Perfect, thanks for that!
Looks great. Would love to know which models have metal parts/axles on banggood and aliexpress
Do you know if this is the same model?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004714975671.html
Not sure sorry
I read a load of reviews.
There are loads of RC cars that are available under two or three manufacturers names.
This page Was helpful.
As for which is which on Ali express, no idea.
The bang good link is the link to the one I bought. I'd assume a bit of googling would bring up the same thing on Ali express
Quick update.
Many thanks for all the replies. I've gone for the brushed FTX Tracer for my son and my daughter really liked the look of the FTX Outback Mini Ranger so we'll give that a go. She wants to build some indoor tracks like she's seen on the YouTube reviews so looking forward to that.
Trying to resist buying something for myself!
Trying to resist buying something for myself!
I tried
I failed
My Arrma Big Rock Crew Cab is awesome 😉
Why resist? I’m getting a gmade buffalo kit for Christmas, can’t wait!
If the budget were upped to £150 or even £200 for a first crawler, is there anything in particular people would recommend? Probably 1/18 scale for trundling round a mate's garden but open to ideas.
There were two brushed ftx tracers under the tree this Christmas for child #1 and I. We're eager to try them out but it's pretty miserable outside, how do they hold up to running in the rain? Box says "splashproof" but I don't want everything to turn orange and seize up after one day.
RC crawler you say
We took the tracer over to the park yesterday and it was run over wet grass and (slowly) through a few 1-2cm puddles. Was filthy afterwards and a had a few small pools of water in the chassis. I dried out what I could with some paper towel then left it next to the dehumidifier. Haven't tried powering it on since but not expecting any issues. Will try when home from work later and report back.
Very impressed with both the tracer and the outback mini crawler. The brushed version of the tracer is plenty fast enough for 5 year old son.
GT85 is your friend, a quicks spray of it where bearings and driveshaft joint are before and after wet running makes a massive difference. Just a small spray using the straw is enough. Keeping out of puddles that don't go past the bottom of the rims and steady speed to keep flinging off the tyre to a minimum and you'll be fine. The weak point of the electrics is usually the receiver, just go sensible and you should be fine.
Ideal, cheers for the tip
Teaandbiscuits
If your tracers are the same as mine, they were just about controllable inside with the power turned right down.
Ours have zipped about on damp grass for 6 months with no terrible effects.
I did manage to smash the brushless one's shell into a mud kitchen last week.
Gaffatape repair isfully functional 😉
@tall_martin, sounds similar. I tried them in the living room yesterday at 40% speed and they were pretty quick. Your picture looks the same (albeit with different names on the decals). I guess the brushless is upgraded? I've swapped the shocks for oil filled ones on mine as recommended on forums, it's so much better damped from a drop test. I'll upgrade the child's one soon too.
I've tested both cars after drying them out, no issues at all. Have sprayed a bit of GT85 as suggested by @reluctantjumper above 😀
The brushless car came from bang good as is, with a brushless motor, oil shocks and and some metal drive parts.
It's the same as my son's brushed car. Same everything else.
In terms of zooming about and wee jumps, the shocks don't seem to make a massive difference. Maybe if we were doing skate park sized stuff onto concrete landings or would be different.
I bought some oil filled shocks for my sons car, but waiting for something to break before fitting them