Okay guys, i’ve done some testing on these little babies, and this is what I have found. Test car was an R34 GT-R.
For starters, the detail on these is intense, the scale mouldings and dimensions are very true to scale, very impressed! The wheels while being solid, look OK unless you have a real good look. The paintwork is very prett indeed, and the printing is top notch. Flip the car over and the attention to detail is still great, you can see themimicexhaust system, gearbox, suspension, even the front transfer case.
On the trackI was amazed at how they performed, on a figure ‘I3’ track on a billiard table, it would lap very consistently and accurately. I was able to mimic the same driving line, lap after lap. The steering is great, it tracks very straight, and despite what others say, the steering radius is almost perfect, not too tight to make them twitchy and require constant corrections, and not too large to miss the apex’s of the corners and run wide. The long wheelbase of these cars also contributes to a less twitchy response as opposed to a bit char-g.
The speed of these cars is not great, but not bad for technical tracks, at approx 3km/h the scale speed is dead on at 261km/h, but who wants scale speed? The biggest downfall with these cars is the gear ratio. It is just much too short. The acceleration is jerky and it reaches top speed way too fast. This makes modulating the speed via tapping the throttle jerky and inconsistent, it also has no ability to coast off power. A taller gear ratio would allow more linear acceleration, more coasting ability and more consistency and less jerking when ‘tapping’ the throttle. The motor has plenty of torque to drive a taller gear ratio.
The charging system is very good, no silly clips or tabs to break, and charging begins with a push of a button, this makes it easy to do multiple charges consecutively. One charge will give miserable runtime of around 2 minutes and fairly lousy performance which steadily dimishes. Obviously a single charge is not enough. Three or four charges and these things run for near 10 minutes and have consistent speed and torque. But these charges will quickly kill the AAA’s that the TX runs off, why they picked AAA’s over AA’s I do not know…
The transmitter itself is very good for a micro non propo R/C car. The pistol design feels much less clunky than a box type TX with momentary switches. And I think that it helps to make the car easier to drive. The turn indicator lights that light up when a turn is made are gimmicky, but none the less ‘something different’. The inbuilt charger/storage compartment is fantastic for keeping the car safe in transportation. Range is fine for a pool table track at approx 5 metres, but this will vary from set to set.
FInally, the included display plaque makes these cars look like great scalemodels on the shelf.
At $14US these cars are a STEAL, I highly recommend them!
I rate them 7/10 overall.
A few facts:
Weight: 9-9.5 grams (BCG is approx 24g)
Top speed: 3km/h
Range: approx 5 metres
Runtime: approx 2-8 minutes depending on how many ‘charges’.
Aftermarket improvements I would like to see:
-FET mod
-Perhaps a faster Motor
-A mod to increase charging time byaround 250%
-A different gear ratio (change of pinion?)
An interesting note, the transmitter works with BCG’s, but the steering controls the throttle and vice versa, perhaps with some modding we could make our little rocket ship BCG’s be controlled with the 1/87 TX. I think it would be beneficial….
