RC monster truck for 8 year old
Discussion
My son is getting one of these for his birthday, the budget is £50 (not me buying) buy I could secretly add a little to get something a bit better.
It will charge around teh garden bumping into things, so some off-road/grass ability and robustness pretty important.
If it was me, I'd probably buy a Lunchbox but it's not me buying... any ideas?
It will charge around teh garden bumping into things, so some off-road/grass ability and robustness pretty important.
If it was me, I'd probably buy a Lunchbox but it's not me buying... any ideas?
Personally think its a waste of time at £50.
At £50 you are going to get a "Toy" Rc car - which wont be powerful enough to get over the grass very well.
If you want something with the grunt to actually be fun around the garden you do need to be looking at a 1/10 truck or buggy if your grass is short and tidy.
FTX have a Vantage Brushed Buggy at £100ish - http://www.jadlamracingmodels.com/ftx-vantage-1-10...
but then this is still very low end of proper RC cars....
Id either put a load more money in and get the right car OR just spend £30 on a little cheap car to use around the house (and on hard surfaces) and see how he gets on with it.
At £50 you are going to get a "Toy" Rc car - which wont be powerful enough to get over the grass very well.
If you want something with the grunt to actually be fun around the garden you do need to be looking at a 1/10 truck or buggy if your grass is short and tidy.
FTX have a Vantage Brushed Buggy at £100ish - http://www.jadlamracingmodels.com/ftx-vantage-1-10...
but then this is still very low end of proper RC cars....
Id either put a load more money in and get the right car OR just spend £30 on a little cheap car to use around the house (and on hard surfaces) and see how he gets on with it.
Thanks for replying, Russ.
He had a Maisto rock crawler which he really enjoyed so maybe another of those is a better bet at this price point. And I'll grab something a little better for us both for Christmas (I've built mardaves in the past, mini stox and cobras, quite fancy a Tamiya Unimog or Lunchbox).
Cheers,
Craig
He had a Maisto rock crawler which he really enjoyed so maybe another of those is a better bet at this price point. And I'll grab something a little better for us both for Christmas (I've built mardaves in the past, mini stox and cobras, quite fancy a Tamiya Unimog or Lunchbox).
Cheers,
Craig
russy01 said:
Personally think its a waste of time at £50.
At £50 you are going to get a "Toy" Rc car - which wont be powerful enough to get over the grass very well.
If you want something with the grunt to actually be fun around the garden you do need to be looking at a 1/10 truck or buggy if your grass is short and tidy.
FTX have a Vantage Brushed Buggy at £100ish - http://www.jadlamracingmodels.com/ftx-vantage-1-10...
but then this is still very low end of proper RC cars....
Id either put a load more money in and get the right car OR just spend £30 on a little cheap car to use around the house (and on hard surfaces) and see how he gets on with it.
Just ordered an FTX Carnage from you Russ (the promo code was well timed!). Was going to go for another Vanessa's lunchbox for my 6 year old, but fancied something a bit different. Will let the OP know how he gets on with it - but will be a while as it will be a Christmas present.At £50 you are going to get a "Toy" Rc car - which wont be powerful enough to get over the grass very well.
If you want something with the grunt to actually be fun around the garden you do need to be looking at a 1/10 truck or buggy if your grass is short and tidy.
FTX have a Vantage Brushed Buggy at £100ish - http://www.jadlamracingmodels.com/ftx-vantage-1-10...
but then this is still very low end of proper RC cars....
Id either put a load more money in and get the right car OR just spend £30 on a little cheap car to use around the house (and on hard surfaces) and see how he gets on with it.
Either get something robust, or something rebuildable.
We got our 8 year old a FTX Carnage last christmas but he just couldn't handle it, and it was smashed up within hours...
I've got a parts list to rebuild it, but he is still a bit giddy and ham-fisted with things, so it won't be rebuilt until he has had more practice with cheaper ones.
He bought a radio control helicopter in the summer with his birthday money. We tried to talk him out of it initially, and then tried to find a big open space to fly it. He couldn't wait, full throttle launch within minutes of getting home and he didn't even see which way it went. £30 gone in seconds...
We got our 8 year old a FTX Carnage last christmas but he just couldn't handle it, and it was smashed up within hours...
I've got a parts list to rebuild it, but he is still a bit giddy and ham-fisted with things, so it won't be rebuilt until he has had more practice with cheaper ones.
He bought a radio control helicopter in the summer with his birthday money. We tried to talk him out of it initially, and then tried to find a big open space to fly it. He couldn't wait, full throttle launch within minutes of getting home and he didn't even see which way it went. £30 gone in seconds...
S11Steve said:
Either get something robust, or something rebuildable.
We got our 8 year old a FTX Carnage last christmas but he just couldn't handle it, and it was smashed up within hours...
I've got a parts list to rebuild it, but he is still a bit giddy and ham-fisted with things, so it won't be rebuilt until he has had more practice with cheaper ones.
He bought a radio control helicopter in the summer with his birthday money. We tried to talk him out of it initially, and then tried to find a big open space to fly it. He couldn't wait, full throttle launch within minutes of getting home and he didn't even see which way it went. £30 gone in seconds...
My 5 year old can drive my Vanessa's Lunchbox - but he knows not to be hamfisted with the throttle We got our 8 year old a FTX Carnage last christmas but he just couldn't handle it, and it was smashed up within hours...
I've got a parts list to rebuild it, but he is still a bit giddy and ham-fisted with things, so it won't be rebuilt until he has had more practice with cheaper ones.
He bought a radio control helicopter in the summer with his birthday money. We tried to talk him out of it initially, and then tried to find a big open space to fly it. He couldn't wait, full throttle launch within minutes of getting home and he didn't even see which way it went. £30 gone in seconds...
Limit the ESC or physically restrict the throttle trigger to save expensive mistakes. Helicopters don't give you that luxury however!
I built my 4 year old a Lunchbox. Pretty robust, easy to repair and parts freely available. Also bought a lexan shell which is much more forgiving when he tries to round the corners off and fitted a 55T crawler motor to slow it down while he learns.
The cheap toy grade ones work ok in the house or on the drive, but are utterly flummoxed by even short grass. We bought him a £20 one from Toys R Us just to see if he would use it and I knew from day 1 it was a waste of money.
The cheap toy grade ones work ok in the house or on the drive, but are utterly flummoxed by even short grass. We bought him a £20 one from Toys R Us just to see if he would use it and I knew from day 1 it was a waste of money.
Well, in the end and mainly for budgetary reasons but also based on the advice here that anything around £100 is toy-grade anyway, I bought him a Maisto Rock Crawler XXXL. He loves it: it's tough, remarkably capable at climbing, not too fast and probably a stepping stone to something self-built and hobby grade. It's not a Tamiya but I'd recommend it as a starter r/c toy for £50.
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