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Having just been done by some dodgy Chinese scam site (I thought I was pretty good at spotting them 🙁 ) I need a recommendation for a decent kids RC car for my 7 year old. We don't have any tarmac / smooth surfaces here, but lots of gravel, grass etc so thinking rockcrawler was the way to go but not hard over on that plan. Just needs to be robust and easy to drive.
Budget £200 but ideally nearer £100.
Thank you in advance (and apologies if this is a double post - tried to post the same 20 mins ago and no sign of it in the forum or in my account activity).
I watch Tomley RC from time to time on YouTube. He's done a couple of small crawler reviews lately that might be worth a look.
Any model shops locally. A cycling mate's son used to be into the rock crawlers, and I'd say get one where you can get parts, and or upgrade it as time goes on - things do break on them due to their use.
A mate and I got some for Christmas last year. I got mine based on recommendations on here and got a Traxxas TRX4M which is about £150. It's been excellent - reliable, capable and really robust. It fell in a rockpool and didn't really like it, but once it dried out it was fine again. I've taken it up Arthur's Seat.
My mate bought a Toyota Hilux from China for about £70 and it's been absolutely useless. A lot of the plastic parts broke quickly, and the screws kept unwinding unless they were drowned in loctite.
Amazing - thanks everyone 🙂
Axial SCX24 or FMS FCX24
Both good value, good quality, easily upgradeable down the line. They're small so easy to stick in the car on the off chance you'll use them.
I find the bigger ones to need a bit more purpose in using them, like an SCX10 (which I also have), as they're bigger, take up more space, upgrades etc cost more, need tougher trails to use, have to use them outdoors. Although as an actual RC car they're probably better
I watch Tomley RC from time to time on YouTube.
Me too. I can't ever see myself buying one TBH, but the last one he reviewed looked awesome. It's an HPI Venture 18 Toyota Hilux. If you wanted it for a Christmas present it's not out until middle of January though. Easy to find listings on Google.
I got a panda hobbys crawler for my two was around £100 at the time - its been great, spare parts available as I found out when one of them lifted a log up for it to get past on a trail, and then promptly dropped it on it. Spent more repairing it than it cost...
They now much prefer smashing about with my axial smt10 which is a proper monster and I have a little very fast thing that is great for launching at skate parks and doing tricks - traxxis something or other
be warned, if you buy one you will soon want/need more and your wallet will take a hammering
We've got an Axial 24 and they are great if you want to use indoor or small garden.
Moving up in size, we also have an FTX Mauler which is also quick enough to be a bit of fun if you aren't wanting climb over obstacles. We haven't broken anything on it yet and a spare battery is easy to get for longer sessions.
Are the SCX24/FCX24 suitable for outdoor use when it’s wet/muddy??
Smaller scale means you get a lot more for your money, they also tend to be more durable (just because 1/10ths can be very stressed). But I just can't take to em, they're great in the house but outside they get stuck all the time on the stuff I want to drive on. There's something just very <right> about a 1/10th imo.
My mate got an Outback 3.0, it's at the top of your budget but it is just obnoxiously good for the money. The stock tyres err on the "scale" side, they look great but are quite terrible in mud. But other'n that it's a phenomenal rtr. And it is also absolutely adorable, being just a little bit smaller.
Just, be aware no matter what you get you will break things, it's part of the hobby, and the Outback arguably is just a little bit too <nice>, I feel sad for every scratch. The FTX Mauler ought to be a better kid's crawler as it's got a more oldschool shell that you won't mind crashing and the 2.2 tyres are miles more capable, you can build a Mauler to either crawl great or to thrash... But it's quite expensive now for what you get, it's a super old truck sold at 2024 prices really.
If you want a bigger model, the Carisma scale is a good shout…
https://wheelspinmodels.co.uk/i/carisma-sca1e-coyote-2.1-295822/
Very capable, and easy to run.
DrP
I bought an FTX Outback Fury XC 1/16.
It's fun, but it dropped 30cm and broke after about 5min. It snapped a fiddly plastic part that took an age to arrive.
After fixing that and ensuring it doesn't drop of anything hight than 5cm it's been fun for a year. Small enough to use in the house and fun trundling round the woods and garden
I see Tomley, and FTX Outback mentioned up there, and will mention it again down here
After getting a cheapy toy grade one, and getting frustrated that it couldn't be repaired, I (I mean my boy) ended up with an FTX Outback 3. It's been fantastic and crawled all over the Peaks and Dales. A couple of batteries make the walk to our local river bank very interesting and a day out building trials for it is great.
Best of all it's been easy to repair and upgrade as most bits are available from decent model shops, so it's still running strong and entertaining a near teenager.