Are "cheap" Banggood special rc cars killing the hobby?

[Bogda89]

I would assume that majority of forum members have at least basic knowledge on rc cars. But for someone who never had rc, and he google or search on YouTube for the best rc car, or best affordable beginners car most likely in the results majority of the recommendations will be Chinese brands and models? I had a Chinese car, acme trooper 4wd sct brushless short course, the biggest waste of money, long story short, I thrown it in trash. A friend of mine had wl toys as a first rc car, and he was amazed and he thought that was the best and fastest rc car (he is not a kid, he was 35) and got ride of it after he got slash 4x4 vxl.

So, the question is, are this cars killing the hobby, like new people who buy Chinese junk get disappointed and lose interest, or maybe the opposite, they like them get hooked up and buy something more capable brand name?

 

[pug]

They just need to get lucky with them, some break instantly, some die in a few months. The market is flooded with these Chinesium junk RCs. Because so many popular YouTubers are reviewing them and giving them positive reviews, people go out and buy one. The people that buy these RCs are either on a tight budget, or just don’t want to spend the money.

Before I got my Typhon 3s, I was planning on getting a Rustler 2wd VXL, I’m happy I didn’t, even Traxxas makes subpar junk, especially the lower end ones like the 2wd vxl and 4x4 vxl lines. My Slash 2wd which I luckily got for free, is absolutely junk without putting RPM parts on every corner of the vehicle. I spent way more than what it’s worth when it was new just by upgrading it. The Slash 2wd had a head on crash with my Typhon 3s, the Slash‘s left caster block literally snapped clean in half, that has happened two times so far, but I have now put RPM caster blocks on it. The Typhon 3s came out scratch-free after the crash. My Slash 2wd got sideswiped by my cousin’s Senton, it destroyed the left rear stub axle carrier. The Senton came out scratch free. I upgraded that part to RPM, and it’s perfectly fine. Now my Slash 2wd sits as a slider in my basement.

So in conclusion don’t buy Traxxas or other Chinesium junk since they are going to kill the hobby.

 

[Freelander]

I bought chinesium junk eyes wide open however and have loads of fun.

Most people I talk to have bought a poop chinese car and are immediately put off when it breaks and have to wait 6 weeks for parts. Then they look at arrma and the high cost/barrier to entry and don't get how that makes these cars live longer and males them repairable. I get nothing but envy and eventually they see the way because I have a lame life and talk about my trucks a lot.

 

[Bogda89]

They just need to get lucky with them, some break instantly, some die in a few months. The market is flooded with these Chinesium junk RCs. Because so many popular YouTubers are reviewing them and giving them positive reviews, people go out and buy one. The people that buy these RCs are either on a tight budget, or just don’t want to spend the money.

Before I got my Typhon 3s, I was planning on getting a Rustler 2wd VXL, I’m happy I didn’t, even Traxxas makes subpar junk, especially the lower end ones like the 2wd vxl and 4x4 vxl lines. My Slash 2wd which I luckily got for free, is absolutely junk without putting RPM parts on every corner of the vehicle. I spent way more than what it’s worth when it was new just by upgrading it. The Slash 2wd had a head on crash with my Typhon 3s, the Slash‘s left caster block literally snapped clean in half, that has happened two times so far, but I have now put RPM caster blocks on it. The Typhon 3s came out scratch-free after the crash. My Slash 2wd got sideswiped by my cousin’s Senton, it destroyed the left rear stub axle carrier. The Senton came out scratch free. I upgraded that part to RPM, and it’s perfectly fine. Now my Slash 2wd sits as a slider in my basement.

So in conclusion don’t buy Traxxas or other Chinesium junk since they are going to kill the hobby.

Yes, I agree with you. I have a bunch of Traxxas cars and some models definitely have some known issues. Like you mentioned Traxxas 2wd line up. In my experience they are good, but design is definitely outdated. When they came out in 1994 people were using nicd batteries, and underpowered brushless motors, they could barely achieve 15mph. Identical design in 70mph vxl is just stupid. Main weaknesses are front and rear hub cariers and front caster blocks. Even under brushed power you will break those. I had arrma fury and it also had some weaknesses but it was a blast to drive.
My chines eacme trooper broke every ride, without jumping or doing anything stupid. ESC died first battery pack. Body disintegrated after a first crash, I was changing bulkheads like socks, and after maybe 10 packs differentials developed so much play it was not worth fixing.
Wl toys 959 my friend had was actually decently reliable, and fast. But it was uncontrollable, literally you couldn't go straight, it was all over the place, radio had no range, maybe 20 yards top, and it was glitching, car was cutting out, it's just not a pleasant experience. The only thing it could do is donuts.

This is an old video, me driving Jerry rigged stampede 1/7 scale and wl toys

And on Astro turf track, driveability 0. I was driving yellow wheels rustler.

 

[Adiabatic]

Toy grade R/C cars were overwhelmingly more popular with the masses when I got into the hobby (early 00s) and I assume the same is true now. They didn't kill the hobby back then, just made it more niche by providing options to casually drive R/C cars with minimal time and cost investment. Once again I would wager the relationship is similar now; casual people buy toy grade or Banggood specials and those who want real speed, handling and durability may start with those but will end up going deeper into 'proper' hobby grade cars. A large majority of R/C cars sold are toy grade but to me it seems the hobby side is still going pretty strong. Maybe not as strong as it was in the mid 00s or so - certainly locally it has greatly diminished and nitro seems dead everywhere outside some race scenes - but strong enough that a forum like this can still attract 30k members.

What is possibly slowly killing the hobby is the predatory, litigious behaviour of one particular R/C company that apparently wants to take over everything and stifle competition. As with many communities and industries the strongest destructive forces may come from within. The world is also much different now from when I started in R/C with ubiquitous smartphones, game consoles etc. to entertain and occupy. People seem to have shorter attention spans and are generally less willing to engage with learning curves required for something like this hobby. That said I think there's enough entrenched interest and new blood flowing into this space that it's unlikely to die completely unless world governments get together and ban it for being environmentally unfriendly or whatever.

 

[Freelander]

World Gov ban. Lol. Nah bro we're the vanguard of the new environmental disaster: electric vehicles. We're gonna keep pretending strip mining for lithium is environmentally friendly for another couple decades and make a couple hundred more trillionaires before we realize the answer to climate change is the same as the answer to the SARS-COV2 virus: reduce human activity... just stop prioritizing the stock market and 'the economy' and stop doing poop. We don't need 200 different choices in smartphone. We don't need a dozen different peepee hardening pills. We don't need a dozen different fancy coffee chains.

 

[pug]

Toy grade R/C cars were overwhelmingly more popular with the masses when I got into the hobby (early 00s) and I assume the same is true now. They didn't kill the hobby back then, just made it more niche by providing options to casually drive R/C cars with minimal time and cost investment. Once again I would wager the relationship is similar now; casual people buy toy grade or Banggood specials and those who want real speed, handling and durability may start with those but will end up going deeper into 'proper' hobby grade cars. A large majority of R/C cars sold are toy grade but to me it seems the hobby side is still going pretty strong. Maybe not as strong as it was in the mid 00s or so - certainly locally it has greatly diminished and nitro seems dead everywhere outside some race scenes - but strong enough that a forum like this can still attract 30k members.

What is possibly slowly killing the hobby is the predatory, litigious behaviour of one particular R/C company that apparently wants to take over everything and stifle competition. As with many communities and industries the strongest destructive forces may come from within. The world is also much different now from when I started in R/C with ubiquitous smartphones, game consoles etc. to entertain and occupy. People seem to have shorter attention spans and are generally less willing to engage with learning curves required for something like this hobby. That said I think there's enough entrenched interest and new blood flowing into this space that it's unlikely to die completely unless world governments get together and ban it for being environmentally unfriendly or whatever.

Toy grades were much much better back in the 90s and early 2000s, they were actually decent compared to the anemic toy grades today.

World Gov ban. Lol. Nah bro we're the vanguard of the new environmental disaster: electric vehicles. We're gonna keep pretending strip mining for lithium is environmentally friendly for another couple decades and make a couple hundred more trillionaires before we realize the answer to climate change is the same as the answer to the SARS-COV2 virus: reduce human activity... just stop prioritizing the stock market and 'the economy' and stop doing poop. We don't need 200 different choices in smartphone. We don't need a dozen different peepee hardening pills. We don't need a dozen different fancy coffee chains.

I can agree, there is too much of everything, people can’t open their eyes to see the dangers of lithium mining and processing for EVs.

 

[Adiabatic]

World Gov ban. Lol. Nah bro we're the vanguard of the new environmental disaster: electric vehicles. We're gonna keep pretending strip mining for lithium is environmentally friendly for another couple decades and make a couple hundred more trillionaires before we realize the answer to climate change is the same as the answer to the SARS-COV2 virus: reduce human activity... just stop prioritizing the stock market and 'the economy' and stop doing poop. We don't need 200 different choices in smartphone. We don't need a dozen different peepee hardening pills. We don't need a dozen different fancy coffee chains.

I think you basically hit the nail on the head.

 

[Bogda89]

Toy grades were much much better back in the 90s and early 2000s, they were actually decent compared to the anemic toy grades today.

I can agree, there is too much of everything, people can’t open their eyes to see the dangers of lithium mining and processing for EVs.

That's a good point and it makes sense. A friend of mine likes to collect vintage toys. And some are actually very well made. For example this one in the video, it has some metal parts and metal chains inside.

Another problem I see is that many Chinese cars are not that cheap. I don't rember the models, they are ridiculous with naming, but I have seen zd racing copy of arrma felony if I rember, that thing was the same price like arrma when it came out. Or I have seen especially on Amazon, 200$ cars that are advertised like 10 scale but size on 1/16 erevo. Or some lc racing buggies priced at 260 with shipping if I remember. In reality the best deal for beginners is arrma voltage granite in my opinion. Even at regular 120$ price is much better deal

 

[SrC]

Climate change from Carbon and Co2 emisisons is a myth. Driven by a huge gov't funded industry. No matter what we do, the climate is changing without any human input. And Carbon Dioxide is a much needed component to our eco system. Yet many will say otherwise. Global warming has been occurring for centuries, way before it was a thing. We cannot control. Is what it is. Can't control Nature. And warmng has hardly been at any alarming rate. The Earth just changes. Because it is alive. Air quality from pollutants is a different issue and often confused with and often injected into this argument, the Climate change as insignificant as it truly is cannot be controlled by us mere humans. Plant life needs and consumes carbon dioxide whether you like it or not.
The false data is driven by the yea sayers. Because it lines their pockets. From all the administrative scientists and to all the activists which are funded heavily. And we all get a rise out of feeling "responsible" for their agenda. A joke that we all support with our wasted TAX $$$.

Bangood sponsors much of the YT'er content. And many YT'ers make a living with this support. At our expense. They offer free Chinesium stuff to them. Hit and run generic brands. Non Hobby grade. Just supposedly inexpensive toys for small childern at X-Mass. The market ends up with tons of garbage out there. A million supposed cheap alternatives. With little or Zero QC or any Bang for the buck. Or even little if any Parts support for these RC's. There are hundreds of quick start up businesses in China and the Pan Asian belt that offer rebranded junk on Bangood and similar sites. We should flip the table and do the same to them. But they control it so we are the consumers of junk. Not them. While they get rich quick we get poor quick. It becomes a feeding frenzy for us buying their garbage. Just that we have no choice at this point. Like the Masks we are required to wear. All Chinesium. China wa stock piling masks at an incredible rate a year before Covid hit the world. Well known fact. Covid was no accident. It was part of a plan. And many would like hide this fact, while others would like to bury their heads in the sand in regards. (W.H.O. and CDC.) Masks are actually useless and do absolutely nothing to keep us from getting sick. They just make us sick by breathing in our own spit, breath and Carbon dioxide. The virus penetrates all masks. It is a psychological ploy to have to wear them. And keep buying them. Kids having to wear masks for 6 hours a day at school and all. A joke.
Sorry for my very strong rant here.
I know I can get flamed for some of my above statements.
I don't care.

 

[Velodromed]

Wiltoys got me into the Hobby. Redcat near got me out… But I decided to try one more time and found Arrma. I would’ve never ended up here without going there and there first. I had to climb that ladder of ‘what to expect for your money’.

I wouldn’t of dreamed of dropping $400+ on an RC car years ago. Now I’m OK with it because that’s what quality cost at the ground level. So I’ve got no problem with toy grade RC’s, except for the fact that many of them are as expensive as quality hobby grade RCs now. Thats the joke, I think.

 

[travykat]

I agree with the second my first rc as an adult was the hbx16889 has metal upgrades brushless repairable parts & wheels options i loved it no lie but i was riding my pride and joy one days (years ago) and someone came threw with a slash 4x4 & instantly stole the show needless to say i wanted MORE so here i am now thousands of dollars later ive had maybe about 7-10 different name brand rcs buggy truggy truck drifters but never a arrma but as soon as i got my hands on a arrma senton v3 blx I literally no exaggeration i sold all my rcs nothing compared lmao like all of them & now here i am with my beautiful baby senton who is currently getting repaired & flooded with upgrades so yea long story short my cheap Chinese Rc introduced me to the hobby lets call them gateway drugs cause now im addicted & questioning if I still need my woman or my senton someone save me lmfao

 

[pug]

That's a good point and it makes sense. A friend of mine likes to collect vintage toys. And some are actually very well made. For example this one in the video, it has some metal parts and metal chains inside.

Another problem I see is that many Chinese cars are not that cheap. I don't rember the models, they are ridiculous with naming, but I have seen zd racing copy of arrma felony if I rember, that thing was the same price like arrma when it came out. Or I have seen especially on Amazon, 200$ cars that are advertised like 10 scale but size on 1/16 erevo. Or some lc racing buggies priced at 260 with shipping if I remember. In reality the best deal for beginners is arrma voltage granite in my opinion. Even at regular 120$ price is much better deal

That Quadtrax MG-A1 is an absolute work of art! It’s super advanced for what it is.

 

[Freelander]

My WLtoys 144001 is hilarious fun. I mean I got it just for the chassis and binned the electronics immediately and then put a 60A 4000kv 3660 system in it and it is just ridiculous. It was a really fun project but like I said I knew exactly the plan when I got it. That being said it was really fun just stock and we sent that sucker lots of times. Eventually we got aluminum steering hubs and stuff for it. We probably spent an extra 300 on that thing in the end. We could have bought another 3S in the end but the joy of hobbying the poop out of it was a reward all it's own.
But as a first car it would have been terrible. I think it's just about documentation, parts availability and community support that has made Arrma such a great brand for us.

 

[*420+3RC*]

I agree with the second my first rc as an adult was the hbx16889 has metal upgrades brushless repairable parts & wheels options i loved it no lie but i was riding my pride and joy one days (years ago) and someone came threw with a slash 4x4 & instantly stole the show needless to say i wanted MORE so here i am now thousands of dollars later ive had maybe about 7-10 different name brand rcs buggy truggy truck drifters but never a arrma but as soon as i got my hands on a arrma senton v3 blx I literally no exaggeration i sold all my rcs nothing compared lmao like all of them & now here i am with my beautiful baby senton who is currently getting repaired & flooded with upgrades so yea long story short my cheap Chinese Rc introduced me to the hobby lets call them gateway drugs cause now im addicted & questioning if I still need my woman or my senton someone save me lmfao

Let her go!!! The senton will love you for it.

 

[Bogda89]

Wiltoys got me into the Hobby. Redcat near got me out… But I decided to try one more time and found Arrma. I would’ve never ended up here without going there and there first. I had to climb that ladder of ‘what to expect for your money’.

I wouldn’t of dreamed of dropping $400+ on an RC car years ago. Now I’m OK with it because that’s what quality cost at the ground level. So I’ve got no problem with toy grade RC’s, except for the fact that many of them are as expensive as quality hobby grade RCs now. Thats the joke, I think.

That's a good point. I have a feeling that if you don't have anyone to give you the right advice. When I started the hobby 7 years ago I went on a shopping spree the first couple months, and learned a lot first hand. I am sure there is some decent Chinese cars for the money, but I have a feeling that a lot of YouTubers who are reviewing most bangood stuff are not completely honest. Most of the cars have positive review with clickbait tumbnail, and if one in 20 cars is a total garbage or doesn't work they brag how they are honest ant not all cars are recommended.

I would not recommend for beginners to shop for a used cars, but if you are patient you can find a very good deal. Some of the deals I scored are, limitless in a box for 240$, or slash 4x4 brushless but bad esc for 90$, rustler 4x4 with castle combo, and proline power stroke shocks for 180, or hoss for 200$

 

[SrC]

Wiltoys got me into the Hobby. Redcat near got me out… But I decided to try one more time and found Arrma. I would’ve never ended up here without going there and there first. I had to climb that ladder of ‘what to expect for your money’.

I wouldn’t of dreamed of dropping $400+ on an RC car years ago. Now I’m OK with it because that’s what quality cost at the ground level. So I’ve got no problem with toy grade RC’s, except for the fact that many of them are as expensive as quality hobby grade RCs now. Thats the joke, I think.

2 Redcat's gave ajada. The only supposed Hobby grade rigs I owned and tossed in the garbage within a year.

 

[Velodromed]

2 Redcat's gave ajada. The only supposed Hobby grade rigs I owned and tossed in the garbage within a year.

Yup. I got a redcat volcano because I realized I was putting a silly amount of money and time into cars that constantly broke. And it broke the second time I drove it in my backyard. Back then I got warrantees on everything I bought so I returned it and finally gritted my teeth and spent what I thought was a lot of money on a mega Granite. That started all this thank god

 

[Freelander]

Climate change from Carbon and Co2 emisisons is a myth. Driven by a huge gov't funded industry. No matter what we do, the climate is changing without any human input. And Carbon Dioxide is a much needed component to our eco system. Yet many will say otherwise. Global warming has been occurring for centuries, way before it was a thing. We cannot control. Is what it is. Can't control Nature. And warmng has hardly been at any alarming rate. The Earth just changes. Because it is alive. Air quality from pollutants is a different issue and often confused with and often injected into this argument, the Climate change as insignificant as it truly is cannot be controlled by us mere humans. Plant life needs and consumes carbon dioxide whether you like it or not.
The false data is driven by the yea sayers. Because it lines their pockets. From all the administrative scientists and to all the activists which are funded heavily. And we all get a rise out of feeling "responsible" for their agenda. A joke that we all support with our wasted TAX $$$.

Bangood sponsors much of the YT'er content. And many YT'ers make a living with this support. At our expense. They offer free Chinesium stuff to them. Hit and run generic brands. Non Hobby grade. Just supposedly inexpensive toys for small childern at X-Mass. The market ends up with tons of garbage out there. A million supposed cheap alternatives. Wi th little or Zero QC or any Bang for the buck. Or even little if any Parts support for these RC's. There are hundreds of quick start up businesses in China and the Pan Asian belt that offer rebranded junk on Bangood and similar sites. We should flip the table and do the same to them. But they control it so we are the consumers of junk. Not them. While they get rich quic,k we get poor quick. It becomes a feeding frenzy for us buying their garbage. Just that we have no choice at this point. Like the Masks we are required to wear. All Chinesium. And are actually useless and do absolutely nothing to keep us form getting sick. They just make us sick by breathing in our own spit and Carbon dixide. Kids having to wear masks for 6 hours a day at school and all. A joke.
Sorry for my very strong rant here.
I know I can get flamed for some of my above statements.

I disagree whole heartedly with your assessment about the effects of human activity on climate change. I believe it's no longer a matter of opinion it's a proven scientific fact that as carbon dioxide levels rise earth's temperature is also rising. The same pattern is observed in ice core samples dating nearly 50 million years into the past.

There is no mistaking the causality chain between carbon dioxide parts per million and the temperature of the earth and human activity is beyond a doubt responsible for the nearly doubling of CO² over the last 200 years.

My position is that yes: human activity is causing climate change and it is a real phenomenon but our ham handed attempts to stop it are merely going to result in different corporations profiting while not addressing the problem. To be sure the problem will not affect us directly beyond your hurricanes wildfires and flooding oh and a massive influx of refugees get ready for that one but it's currently been co opted by capitalists to just generate new revenue streams.

Fake concern about the impact of human activity on the environment started in the 60s. In the 90s we were all fooled by the 'recyclable' icon on plastic products. Newsflash: there is no recycling. It was all a marketing ploy to allow capitalists to continue producing plastic products while allowing fake liberals to pretend they were helping instead of banning single use plastics.

Woodie please don't ban me. I swear this is the one and only time I will rant about this stuff on a forum where I only want to talk about scale electric motorcars.

SRC let's just agree to disagree on these topics and confine our discussions to cars.

I love this community because it hasn't been tainted by woke/culture warriors and whatever other poop on interwebz. You guys are all family and we all tolerate that one uncle: like me the soshulist

I want everyone to have a merry christmas and all that happy horse poop. I promise never to editorialize on politically sensitive topics ever again.

 

[SrC]

^^^ Respect your opinion. Perhaps even agree on most points you made. Honestly, I don't feel this is political at all. But Fraudulent in it's context. Just a true global issue. Requiring better educated awareness. More critcial thinking. Which seems to me, to be in short supply theses days.
Regardless of which isle you stand in. Or where you live. Doesn't matter. Never did.
Even the Founder and president of Green Peace defected from GP, many years ago, realizing the Data became dark and untruthful. Driven for a $$$ agenda.
It became an industry of lies, funded well. Billionaires were made. So a stronghold of that agenda is tightly controlled. At our expense.

Now we as a whole populace Globally are convinced that EV vehicles are the way the go. Another feeding frenzy. Yet Mining Lithium is super toxic.
Where are we going?? Nowhere. 50 years from now, we will want to ban this toxic mining and Mfr of EV power. And the same rhetoric will continue.
We need to deal with todays issues, tangible issues we can deal with NOW. Not what the future might become. And never does come to fruition anyway.
No one can predict global warming or cooling. A false science is just a religion at some point.