Strato50

I searched around and haven't found anything on RCU about this new-ish company! From what I was told in my LHS they're a new branch of Horizon Hobbies, and seem pretty cool.

I picked up the 1/10 '69 Camaro 4WD (all their on-roads are the same 4WD chassis), and was zipping around with it in the hangar @ work. It's pretty awesome.

Comes with a specktrum 2channel radio, but I used my new DX3c instead. Same performance really. This car handles well.


From what I've read online the first things to go are the shocks, which can be replaced with simple HPI aftermarkets. Someday I'll upgrade to brushless too (comes with a 540 brushed, stock)

It'll run up to 2S lipo's stock, 3S with a brushless upgrade.




Let me know what you guys think of these cars!
http://www.vaterrarc.com/

Car-Tune

Ive looked into those cars and they have too many plastic parts, even parts that shouldn't be made out of plastic, are. Like all 4 shafts, center shaft and motor mounts. Once you upgrade to brushless you will have to replace all parts so it can handle the power. The mirror or accessories that the body has will easily break off.

I think that most of the parts are on back order.

The tires feel really thin and seem that they can wear out quickly and they are not belted.

ToraKitsu

Yah, Vaterra's off-roaders seem to be enjoying better reviews and appear to be great cars and trucks, especially the Twin Hammers. There hasn't been much on the on-roaders, and judging by what few pics there are, there are better platforms out there. Since they are all metric sized, some parts from other manufacturers may fit, but you'll have to do some investigating to see what parts will do so.Personally, I am reticent to buy anything new these days, from manufacturers that have no history. That said, only time will tell whether the Vaterra you have will hold up. Let us know what you find.

Car-Tune

The off roaders seem pretty good. I've drove some and know some people that have them and seem great. Can take a beating and are fast.

For the onroad, yes. You can use HPI rims and tires, shocks and springs along with their bodies too.

Strato50

I had it out in a wide open parking lot yesterday for the first time, it handles nicely. I'll agree with what I saw in a youtube review of this car, the shocks have to go. Not even 2 batteries through it and there is shock oil leaking everywhere, they're not the best.

At full throttle it's not incredibly fast, but that's on 2S. On regular asphalt I can't get it to spin out or drift with the stock tires, they're pretty sticky. Some careful fishtail maneuvers required for spinning 180 degrees.

There are aluminum parts out there already, on ebay and the like, and the shocks from the HPI Sprint 2 will fit and perform nicely.

nitrosportsandrunner

plastic motor mount can be OK. jsut depends if there is sufficiant support/bracing.
Metal is better...not just cause its stronger but because it also helps take away some heat.

I loke the looks of the offroaders better.

Dont see myself buying any vaterra soon tho. Prices seem a bit high for what you get right now.

Strato50

Their rally car is really nice, comes stock with brushless & LiPo and in retrospect if my LHS carried it, I would have got that instead.

My only other r/c 'car' is a nitro Firestorm, so as far as competitive level goes I'm pretty entry level. Notwithstanding I really enjoy this car.