OK, so, I bought this as an impulse buy, at 5am, then a day later decided I would read the reviews and check out a few Youtube reviews
At first, I was mortified, as the negative reviews painted this product in a bad light, and with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I awaited my purchase
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Shipping - It showed up fast, had all the parts ( Even came with an extra USB charger ! ) - My only concern about shipping is that it was shipped in the factory box, and not even taped shut, which is rather sloppy, a few inches of tape is cheap. Nonetheless, it was all there, undamaged
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Ease of use - Took 2 minutes to pop in the batteries, the only difficulty was in getting the battery connection under the car to connect to the battery, but that wasn't because of the clip itself, rather the length of the connection coming out of the car making it a bit tricky
The other issue is that the screws holding this car together are very cheap and will strip easily, in fact my first attempt to get the battery cover off resulted in small metal shavings peeling off the top of the screw, so the user must make sure they use a screwdriver that exactly fits the screw, and also to make sure to apply plenty of pressure when backing the screw out or tightening to avoid stripping the metal
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Speed - This car is pretty fast for a small RC, at least as fast as the Youtube video reviews show it to be, maybe faster. The response of the servos is very fast, so driving it at high speed requires a delicate touch when steering, but it's easy to get the hang of after a few minutes
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Battery life - The battery life is roughly 10-15 minutes, depending on how it's driven, but the car comes with 2 batteries and 2 chargers, so it's at least easy to switch them out
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Range - I have done at least 75 feet with no issues in reception
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Durability - This was where I had a totally different experience than some of the bad reviews. They described wheels breaking off after 5 minutes of play, shocks breaking, etc, and made this out to be a very fragile toy that isn't meant to be treated roughly in any way
This was not my experience. My experience was that it was very durable, and I repeatedly ran it into curbs, off curbs, from various heights, at high speed, and nothing broke or bent while I was playing with it
I drove it straight into a wall at high speed, both in forward and reverse, and it came out just fine, so I assume the people who got ones that damaged easily may have just gotten defective products ( which occasionally happens with cheaper toys )
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Power - If you are looking for power, and something that will fly over a lawn, or out in the woods over small sticks and rocks, unfortunately this is not the car for you. It has a very small clearance underneath and will easily be defeated by even a short lawn or sticks that are 1" in diameter
This is not a fancy expensive RC crawler, with low gearing and high torque, this is a small fast RC smooth dirt / street racer meant to handle small jumps and slightly rough terrain ( It would be perfect for smooth dirt tracks with small jumps )
There's no transmission box, or fancy drive linkage, it's a direct-drive car, and as mentioned, the servos are very fast to respond, so it takes a light finger to maneuver the car deftly
My experience with the power was also significantly better than the video reviews on Youtube. The reviews show the car to be incapable of driving up any hill over a 2 degree incline, and not even able to make it up a slightly sloped driveway, on smooth asphalt
Instead, my car repeatedly drove up a much steeper 40 degree incline, on a smooth board, that I had set up just to test this very ability
I was not disappointed in the least with the power here, and can only assume the bad video review on Youtube was either a weaker battery that has been since replaced by the manufacturer, or the reviewer simply didn't bother to test it with a fully charged battery
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Looks - Looks just like the one shown on the webpage, no bait-n-switch here, seller ships what is shown
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Conclusions : For the money, this car is a pretty decent purchase. This is a prime example of " You get what you pay for "
For me, personally, it was a nice way to get a feel for driving RC cars again, ( Been years for me ) so I see it kind of like a training vehicle more than anything, and for the money it's actually quite decent. This would be a perfect RC starter for a younger child ( I'm thinking 5-8 years of age ), and perfect for small, smooth dirt tracks, asphalt, concrete and the like
It's also easily modded, since the construction is very simple, so just a little creativity can easily extend the value and replay attraction ( For example: It's a perfect size to kitbash with model car / truck kits ), and the fast responsivity of the servos can easily be tamed by simple adjusting the metal tabs / springs inside the controller ( for those wanting a more crawler-like experience )
I noticed quite a few bad reviews for this car while I was waiting for it, but honestly, I am happy with my purchase
The shipping charge was even refunded ( I don't know why, since it came on time, but thank you all the same )