Kraton Ive heard the v4 radio was crap, but c'mon

Boamedt said:

Jay,

We certainly appreciate you reaching out to product support and we certainly understand the potential hazards associate with the hobby.
In order for us to diagnose and determine defects and possible warranty efforts. It would need send in with a detailed description of issues in the service notes.

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I'd send in the radio and the receiver.

I bought the futaba 4pm for my kraton v4 put the spektrum on my daughters big rock 3s works perfect cause I can slow down her speed as she turns 5 on the 1st

Matt74 said:

Just a quick question...Is this the combo youre referring to?

http://www.dragonrc.com.au/mobile/Product.aspx?id=38531

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Almost. This is the combo I've got:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3le61e0QgUpJiUEoDi71PN

yomamma219 said:

Almost. This is the combo I've got:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3le61e0QgUpJiUEoDi71PN

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Cool... cheers for that.. im waiting for the v4 6s Kraton to be in stock in Australia and in the meantime researching a replacement transmitter/receiver..

So you have found this one to be pretty good then?..

I was looking at the spectrum dx5c but its $200 here in Australia.. getting pretty expensive.

This radiolink one looks pretty good and you can get it for around $70 here in Oz..

After reading this thread (and hearing many bad comments on the Spectrum) I ordered a FlySky GT5 for my Kraton 6S although I never had any issues with the Spectrum, I'm fairly new to RC and I noticed that my Senton with the TTX transmitter felt better to drive but that's all. I also never checked if the failsafe worked (did it last week) because for me as an engineer it's totally incomprehensible that a car that can drive +100kph will not stop when the signal is lost, I would never design or sell a product that has this error.

Matt74 said:

Cool... cheers for that.. im waiting for the v4 6s Kraton to be in stock in Australia and in the meantime researching a replacement transmitter/receiver..

So you have found this one to be pretty good then?..

I was looking at the spectrum dx5c but its $200 here in Australia.. getting pretty expensive.

This radiolink one looks pretty good and you can get it for around $70 here in Oz..

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I have been very happy with it. Honestly this was the first time I have bought an aftermarket radio, though so not much to compare to. I have not had one instance of the "interference" or "glitching" or whatever it is since I swapped radios though and it happened I least once everytime I ran the car on the spektrum set up. I think my two favorite things are the trigger on the new radio and the built in gyro on the receiver. The new trigger has a slightly firmer pull which seems to result in a noticeably smoother trigger action and it just feels much nicer to my hand. The built in gyro has been fun to play around with and I imagine will be very nice if I get into speed running but honestly I don't use it a ton so I usually keep it turned down using the Ch3 knob on the radio. The one thing I haven't quite gotten used to is the wheel on the radio feels like it has a shorter rotation amount than the stock radio, but I haven't measured to be sure. It kind of makes me feel twitchy on the steering sometimes but I think I will get used to it.

Make sure to go through the full setup process on the radio and ESC to configure the range of each channel if you do get an aftermarket radio. That was the first thing I did after installing it in the car. It probably took about an hour since I also had to look up how to do it all properly, but like I said the car has run flawlessly with the new radio since.

Sledgehog said:

Let us know how it is when you've used it a bit Seems like a decent feature-wise radio for the price and receivers are only $16.

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I got mine about a week ago, and have run it about 4 times. This is the first time I have bought an aftermarket radio and I am very happy with it. It feels significantly nicer than the stock one. I would guess I might get slightly better build quality on something more expensive but it seems like it will hold up just fine if I take care of it and suits me just fine. I was definitely skeptical before I got it since it is so cheap compared to other brands but like I said I am very happy with the purchase after all.

He's back, and alive! Did some moderste bashing in a field with some bark chip piles used for jumps. Everything great except i didnt know about centering the servo. A little steering trim adjustment and he was back going straight. I will stop by the hobby shop to get it centered as they have a nifty little device that will do it for me. Crazy fast. Needs alllllllot of room to spred its wings. I never even got close to full speed as this thing covers ground very quickly. Impressed once again, but will really test it on sunday at the rc course. The radio is night and day different and better than the stock. Highly recommend!

I'd turn the gyro off on the receiver. Unnecessary for a stable 4wd. Turning down the dial on the tx doesn't disable it completely (unfortunately).

You can then play around with steering expo, to make it "deader" around center so it doesn't feel twitchy.

Personally I like the short throw of the wheel. Anything is bettet than a cheap Spektrum really

nino said:

I'd turn the gyro off on the receiver. Unnecessary for a stable 4wd. Turning down the dial on the tx doesn't disable it completely (unfortunately).

You can then play around with steering expo, to make it "deader" around center so it doesn't feel twitchy.

Personally I like the short throw of the wheel. Anything is bettet than a cheap Spektrum really

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Way better than the stock one. Im still figuring the menu out. I haven't setup the gyro yet, just steering and throttle endpoints. What does the steering expo do?

Boamedt said:

Way better than the stock one. Im still figuring the menu out. I haven't setup the gyro yet, just steering and throttle endpoints. What does the steering expo do?

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Steering expo can deaden the sensitivity around center while maintaining full range of motion for the steering. So turning the wheel say 1/2 way left or right will only produce 1/4 of the normal steering. But as you increase the turn it will "catch up" and give you full travel. This is just an example. You can. Set it up to your liking. It comes in handle with speed runs so it's not so twitchy while trying to maintain a straight line, but still gives you full range of steering to turn around and come back. Follow?

bicketybam said:

Steering expo can deaden the sensitivity around center while maintaining full range of motion for the steering. So turning the wheel say 1/2 way left or right will only produce 1/4 of the normal steering. But as you increase the turn it will "catch up" and give you full travel. This is just an example. You can. Set it up to your liking. It comes in handle with speed runs so it's not so twitchy while trying to maintain a straight line, but still gives you full range of steering to turn around and come back. Follow?

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Ohh good tip for the steering expo and the twitchy-ness. Ill have to give that a try when I take it out today.

@Boamedt if you were to graph the steering input on the x axis vs output on the Y axis of a graph, setting the exponential will make the line look like an exponential curve. When you play around with it I believe the controller shows you a little graph and that is how it is laid out, input on X, output on Y.

@nino I am pretty sure you can turn the gyro down all the way using just the remote. You can either take it off channel 3 control and set it manually to 0%. Or to use the knob what I had to do was change the EPA of the channel 3 knob to -120% -- +120% to get the knob to control from 0-100% gyro range. Now when I have it turned down all the way and hold the car and try and rotate it to test the gyro, there is no noticeable gyro action to my eye.

What I really wanted to do was setup the controller to have the full range of channel 3 control 0-50% on the gyro in order to get better resolution on the knob. But I found when I adjusted the high side of the EPA it would just cause gyro setting to top out at the given setting, meaning that the knob just didn't do anything above the half turn mark. Not sure if what I am trying to do just isn't possible or if I need to do a combination of settings?

bicketybam said:

Did you swap out the radio??

I understand you wanting your truck back but if a radio failure caused that amount of damage, I'd be relentless with HH. I'm not hurting for money but it's the principle of the matter. No way I would eat $200 worth of parts for something that wasn't my fault. No way.

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X2! They need to learn from their mistakes. Pairing the lowest end Spektrum radio with these vehicles (6S, 1/8 scale) was full on dumb!!
I have the 2019 Kraton, Typhon and Notorious. The Typhon and the Notorious radios both "glitched" or periodically hesitated to respond to radio commands. Kraton never had an issue. I've already switched to Tactics.
The size of these vehicles and top speeds requires full control. Not just to protect the vehicle but more importantly it's a public safety concern. They know these things aren't only driven on barricaded tracks, but in public settings with cars and pedestrians around.
Case and point: I recently did a rebuild on the Kraton due to a cracking noise when hitting throttle. Discovered that no grease was placed in the front diff house and the main drive bearing was missing it's cover plate. I was able to reassemble everything and upgrade the stock bearings and bushings (yes, &@_# bushings on the bell crank) and will hopefully test run soon. However, I still called HH and they are sending me a new main drive bearing, crown bearing and f/r diff. It's not just principle it's consumer protection to hold them accountable. The hope is they get enough complaints/bad reviews/warranty claims that it makes business sense to take a hard look at quality control and/or change a design component, such as never ever never pair their high performance rigs with a POS radio. So we need to do our job as the consumer and hold them accountable...Arrma will be greatful in the long run when their product is the best on the market. My $0.02!

Holy sh!t you warrantied bearings?!

bicketybam said:

Holy sh!t you warrantied bearings?!

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What!?! That's what they offered when I described the issue. Replace front diff and main bearing and gear.
I don't know that the fast Eddy sealed bearing is better than the stock open bearing performance wise. Spare parts can come in handy sometimes.

Wmorgan said:

What!?! That's what they offered when I described the issue. Replace front diff and main bearing and gear.
I don't know that the fast Eddy sealed bearing is better than the stock open bearing performance wise. Spare parts can come in handy sometimes.

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The fast Eddy bearing will last longer but they will eventually wear and need to be replaced. Bearings are a consumable. Hey, they offered so why not? But asking for warranty on bearings is like asking for warranty on wiper blades. They wear out, lol.

I will be the first to admit that I think warranty, left as is, is going to either kill Arrma or make their trucks even more expensive. I have no issue with warranty of electronics but the warranty claims for plastic stuff that breaks because it couldn't withstand lousy driving makes me nuts. I honestly can believe HH warranties that stuff (like A-arms, etc).

bicketybam said:

The fast Eddy bearing will last longer but they will eventually wear and need to be replaced. Bearings are a consumable. Hey, they offered so why not? But asking for warranty on bearings is like asking for warranty on wiper blades. They wear out, lol.

I will be the first to admit that I think warranty, left as is, is going to either kill Arrma or make their trucks even more expensive. I have no issue with warranty of electronics but the warranty claims for plastic stuff that breaks because it couldn't withstand lousy driving makes me nuts. I honestly can believe HH warranties that stuff (like A-arms, etc).

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I hear you. Not to be argumentative, but if something breaks due to a production fail I want full parts replacement for what was broken because of it...including bearings. Does it hurt Arrma to hold them accountable for a QC fail!? I don't know and I don't care. That's not my place as a consumer. I've researched and decided Arrma offers the best product for the best price for what I was looking for. As a result I bought 4 of their rigs. I'm 90% satisfied with the product. No one is perfect, and IMO, Arrma is doing the best job to try and meet consumer needs. Except for that radio...that's like walking on stage with your underwear outside your pants. Everyone is just wondering, "how the hell does that even happen?!?"
Pure speculation, but the production team at Arrma knows where the weaknesses are and replacing those parts to a certain % is built into the final price of each.
I like wrenching and don't mind when it's for something I broke or an upgrade. I don't enjoy it as much when it's for a QC miss in production or a faulty component.

What was the QC fail? The bearing? If so, I would suggest NOT using fast Eddy because when one of theirs fails, and it will, they won't give you anything. So stick with Arrma bearings so when they fail you can get replacements for free.

I had a BLX185 go up in smoke. It took my receiver and my servo with it. They covered the ESC and the receiver because they were HH products. I was out an $85 Savox servo. Thankfully Savox warrantied it.

The QC fail was no grease in the front diff house. Which possibly caused the metal cover on the main bearing to come off and get chewed up by the main input gear.

Front diff from factory:


Main gear after continued cracking sound following front diff rebuild and placing grease:

Heres a short vid my wife took at the local rc track. This is my second time coming here(and third time ever driving the kraton), but first time with the kraton. Its the only track within an hour or more and its more of a homemade track made by locals. Mix of dirt and carpet. Its rough but lots of fun. Just taking it easy today after the rebuild yesterday

Boamedt said:

Im not sure how it worked fine the first day and decided to go crazy the next. I sent arrma an email but i doubt they will help

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You have to contact horizon hobby bro.horizon hobby owns arrma