chonyc77

For those of you that have been around a long time in this wonderful hobby and seen it change in so many ways over the years, what has been the single biggest leap forward you have seen take place in this hobby (gas or electric), which has affected you. How and why?

For me it has to be the advancements i have seen in the introduction of brushless motors. I was never a big electric guy for the simple fact that nitro seemed to offer the simplest way to buy an RC that went fast and you could leave out, what seemed to me to be all this confusing stuff (chargers, batteries, and some know how on how electric worked). There was nothing cooler then knowing that all you had to do was gas and go.

Nitro also seemed extremely cool when i first got into this great hobby. I couldnt beleive that they had little gas powered rc cars for an amount which at the time was in my range of affordability.

I got into RC cars roughly 25 years ago. I ended up selling my RC stuff and re-buying a few times (I just couldnt fully let it go). This went on three or four times.

The last time i bought an RC car and finally stayed with the hobby was when i seen a video somewhere on Youtube of people playing with brushless motors. I just couldnt believe my eyes. Finally a system that offered the benefits and power of nitro (didnt know then that it would be much more powerful) without the negatives of nitro (the smell, the noise, the constant adjustments, and the constant breaking of peices that electrics dont need/use).

So for me it has to be the introduction of brushless and Lipo batteries into RC cars. The fact that we now had electric motors that ran harder than Nitro burning motors was what got me back into the hobby and kept me here until today. This big change in the hobby for me has to have been the biggest leap forward and most amazing change i have witnessed in my 25-30 years following this great hobby. I also think if it wasnt for this huge leap forward i probably wouldnt be here today still playing with RC cars.

If 20 years ago you would have told me that this would take place i would have laughed in your face.

The unimaginable leap we have made in just the last 10 years really leaves me guessing whats in store for the future. It has to be great!!!



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The_Shark

brushless for sure, it's use today has flipped nitro's popularity on it's head....sadly.

before electric was slow, expensive and VERY high maintnece especially when you used low turn motors (remember turning your comms on a lathe?) now its more powerful and efficent than brushed could ever be.

everything has changed so much, radio tec is also a leap, and yes, lipo did take brushless to a new level, but the tech it'self is really simple, nitro hasn't changed much, and it really didn't need to, there is no reason for much more power or efficiency, yes they have improved, but compared to electric its nothing.

another leap is how much certain rtr cars have jumped in price OWW!

steed2-inactive

couldn't argee more.^^

HerrSavage

5th scale has made huge leaps in the last five years or so since the HPI Baja came out.. Sure, electric has advanced a lot.. But who cares?...

Foxy

2.4ghz was the biggest development in the hobby ever. It changed almost everything. You had to hand in your radios at the track before 2.4ghz, you had to go around the bash spot asking people what freqs they were using, you had to carry a bunch of crystals, interference was responsible for as many damaged parts as poor driving ability.

5th scales are perceived as having undergone a revolution thanks to one product and one product alone, the HPI Baja 5b. Truth is they haven't changed at all in 25 years. 4wd was not a meaningful development, it was just logical step. Just that suddenly everybody became aware of them due to HPI's marketing machine. Testament to how good HPI did their stuff, many people still believe the Baja is the best 5th scale around, when of course it is no more than a medium performing low end budget basher to those who know what else is available.

Lithium polymer batteries would have to come second after DSM. No longer was a fast electric limited to 5 mins. Then in third, the popularisation of brushless motors.

HerrSavage

The Baja was the attention getter.. The Losi 5T though is a whole new ballgame.

On2_n_On4

was?
still,,,, no other 1:5 scale has the aftermarket support like bajas., and is going to take yearsss to match it.
meanwhile new parts and mods are still coming out for bajas, and who knows whats next from HPI.

nothing wrong with the losi, but IMO is like comparing apple to oranges

Foxy

How?

On2_n_On4

best for what?
sorry but that makes no sense [&:]

thats like saying: that you believe xray and brushless/lipo are the best thing around... don't u think?

Foxy

I dont understand what you're asking...if you mean why people believe that the Baja is the best 5th scale? It's because they have not been exposed to others which are better, because they are not aggressively marketed like the Baja. Same reason many people believe the Slash is the best SC, because of Traxxas's marketing.

steed2-inactive

2.4 only made it easier to run and more convenient with less interference problems (pretty much zero problems). brushless motors and lipo batteries was the biggest development. they forever chenged the electric side and knocked nitro off the podium. I still favor nitro, but run my brushless trucks more, there quieter, much more powerfull and give longer run times with no mess.

rgburrill

In the real helicopter world people fooled around with helicopters for more than 40 years until a power source was available that would actually vertically lift the engine itself, much less the weight of the aircraft.  And with RC electric motors, brushless or brushed, the advances in batteries is what made all the difference in dreams versus realities. 20 years ago the thought of a helicopter with a 60 size electric motor was unrealistic at best.

And not even in the poll are the advances in microminiturization of computers.  2.4 GHz Spread Specturm for RC would not be possible without it.  Nor would high current ESCs for brushless motors.  For that matter much of the advance in LiPo battery technology comes from cheap microprocessor controlled battery chargers that sense indivual cell characteristics.</p>

David Jackson

My Feedback: (15)

Affordable turbine engines and radial-petro power engines with plenty of power to fly the really large airframes (50+pounds)

geh3

My Feedback: (84)

Radios hands down</p>

early ones were very problematic especially with center tapped batteries</p>

once batteries went to 4.8v things got much better</p>

the next advance was going from 27 MHz to 72 and better programming capabilities in the tx</p>

after that the best of 72 MHz was PCM and digital servos instead of analog</p>

the absolute best however was 2.4 GHZ!! absolutely prevented brain dead people from switching on a tx</p>

with the antenna down to check something!! this caused many crashes... unfortunately the brain deads are still out there.. they are the ones who still </p>

crash due to poor installations or inadequate rx batteries... </p>

nitroexpress

Around here, people can't sell their Baja's fast enough in order to buy the Losi. Former Baja owners can't believe thereis life beyond the ladder frame.

Check any Large Scale forum and you'll find thatthe number of Losi upgrades matches or exceedsthose forthe Baja.

Price, performance, ease of maintenance - Losi wins.

PLANE JIM

My Feedback: (109)

from single channel rc rubber band escapements-to fully proportional digital 10 plus channel control-I cannot wait to see what is next!!!!!!!!!

SLAYERDUDE

nitrosportsandrunner

gotta be a toss up between:
cheap 2.4 radios
low cost brushless systems
low cost lipo batteries


Or I could sum that up with websites like Hobbypartz.com

nitroexpress

Biggest Jump

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwnSfZyliP4[/youtube]

SLAYERDUDE

HAHAHAHA SWEET!

jayjay283

That guy had FPV goggles, he could have landed that. Is telemetry and FPV included in the radio vote ?

[link]http://www.fatshark.com/[/link]