Help with new radio selection

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Sexyaardvark

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Arrma RC's
  1. Infraction
  2. Kraton 6s
  3. Typhon 6s
Hi,

I just got back into the hobby after about 15 years back when FM radios were the bees knees. I'm slowly learning about the new radio technology which is awesome and confusing at the same time. Over the past 3 months I added 10 more vehicles to my fleet and all came with a radio so I need to consolidate. Are there any transmitters which will bind to the stock receivers that came with the Tactic, Spektrum, or Traxxas TQ systems?

I don't need anything fancy at the moment but I'd like something I can grow into if I decide to use telemetry in the future. I only bash so is there a need for more than 3 channels? I'm currently looking at Spektrum and Futaba systems. Which has the best bang for the buck and reasonably priced receivers since I'd want to bind to 5 vehicles straight away?

Thanks for the help!
 
I am not a traxxas expert but I believe if you buy the Traxxas Bluetooth module you can easily link each receiver to the same transmitter.

Unfortunately every other option will probably cost a good bit of coin. When I used to race RC I found that the only way to have consistent feel between different race classes is to use a single radio. I ponied up and purchased a Futaba 4PLS in July of 2013 for around $250. At the time, you could get the smaller 3 channel receivers for $26 each if you purchased more than 3 from Tower. I purchased 9 receivers plus the radio at the same time. I think total I was just under $500. That being said, it's 2020 and I still have the same radio and 8 of the original 9 receivers. I did lose one of them to water damage because the Futaba receivers are not water proof. Now that most vehicles have waterproof Rx boxes that doesn't really matter.

Unfortunately the Futaba receivers have doubled/tripled in price since then, so now any vehicle I want to add I have to spend $58 on a new receiver. And in 2020, $58 buys you a whole new radio system.

As far as I know all of the radio systems are proprietary so you will not be able to sync any 2 different brands together.

I would go down the Traxxas Bluetooth route, do some research, and see if that's a viable option. I think there is a way to do it without the bluetooth but I'm sure that makes it much easier. Otherwise you are going to have to hold the red button for 3 seconds, stand on 1 leg, hop up and down, pull the throttle trigger 13 times, press the other red button twice quickly, just to enter into the settings mode.

If you do decide to go with a premium radio, keep in mind that it will make you forever hate RTR radios. Even the newest best RTR gear is no match for my 7 yr old Futaba 4PLS.
 
Thank you. Yeah, I figured I'll need all new receivers. I guess it's the different protocols which is throwing me off right now. I see Spektrum has DSMR, Futaba has super response, etc. But I'd rather spend the extra coin once so hearing that your 4PLS is still working well helps a lot. It's mainly my 3 new Arrma 6s machines I want a good radio for so I don't want to put any money into the Traxxas.

I do see that the Flysky systems are dirt cheap. Are these a quality option?
 
Thank you. Yeah, I figured I'll need all new receivers. I guess it's the different protocols which is throwing me off right now. I see Spektrum has DSMR, Futaba has super response, etc. But I'd rather spend the extra coin once so hearing that your 4PLS is still working well helps a lot. It's mainly my 3 new Arrma 6s machines I want a good radio for so I don't want to put any money into the Traxxas.

I do see that the Flysky systems are dirt cheap. Are these a quality option?
The flashy are pretty decent a good option for the traxxas maybr
 
So I have owned a few GT3B's and then a few years ago picked up a really fancy one that was like $150, I don't think it was the IT4 but it was something very similar. They are nice radios for the price but the user experience I found frustrating. Now, that could be because at that point I'd had my Futaba for years and I loved it. But I never liked the interface. The GT3B has multi-model memory but I always had issues switching back and forth between models. Now, that very well could've been my own user error.

The IT4 (If that's what it was) that I had felt great and I had my hopes super high. But right out of the box I found that I had to re-bind to the Rx every time I switched models. A quick google search at the time confirmed my issue, and I returned the thing in less than a week. That radio had promise though, but at $150 you can get yourself a good Futaba or Spektrum radio so I still don't know if I would officially recommend it.

I can't imagine a time where I would ever stray from Futaba, their stuff has been working for me since the early 90's and I've never had any problems with a single one of them. I did have a Airtronics Rival Sport back in the day and a JR XR2 that came with my Losi LST, those were both good but just never felt as good as my Futaba's did. At the time though, for a RTR radio that JR XR2 was pretty sweet.
 
FSgt5 is awesome and it could not be easier to use. Even a dummy like me could figure it out with a couple YouTube videos. Hobbycool has them for 52$...take a while to get but we’ll worth it. If you’re really on a budget the Dumbo x6 is nice and has a gyro that works pretty good. It’s 25-30$. Take into account receiver cost. Any radio with a receiver that cost more than 20$ is stealing money imo even if they are good. 8-10$ for the dumbo 12-20$ for the gt5...
 
Thank you. Yeah, I figured I'll need all new receivers. I guess it's the different protocols which is throwing me off right now. I see Spektrum has DSMR, Futaba has super response, etc. But I'd rather spend the extra coin once so hearing that your 4PLS is still working well helps a lot. It's mainly my 3 new Arrma 6s machines I want a good radio for so I don't want to put any money into the Traxxas.

I do see that the Flysky systems are dirt cheap. Are these a quality option?

This might help:

The Flysky FSGT5 is a pretty good radio and I hear the Noble is good, but the rest are junk.
 
I recommend the Flysky GT5 all day long. 20 model memory and receivers are cheap at 18-25 a pop and that is the one with a gyro built in.
Just out of curiosity, have you ever held a Futaba 4PLS? Just curious as to the quality difference. Fellow Ohioan? Or just a buckeye fan?
This might help:

The Flysky FSGT5 is a pretty good radio and I hear the Noble is good, but the rest are junk.
Are you saying the other ones mentioned in this thread are junk? You surely don't mean the Futaba?

Another thing to keep in mind, Futaba has been supporting this hobby an order of magnitude longer than companies like Flysky and Spektrum.

I'm in my 40s and Futaba has been around my entire life and I've never had a single malfunction with any Futaba radio I've ever owned.
 
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No, it's the older Flyskys that are junk. The FSGT5 and Noble are good.

The Futaba 4PM is the (several times over) successor to the 4PLS and a fabulous radio.

 
Just out of curiosity, have you ever held a Futaba 4PLS? Just curious as to the quality difference. Fellow Ohioan? Or just a buckeye fan?

Are you saying the other ones mentioned in this thread are junk? You surely don't mean the Futaba?

Another thing to keep in mind, Futaba has been supporting this hobby an order of magnitude longer than companies like Flysky and Spektrum.

I'm in my 40s and Futaba has been around my entire life and I've never had a single malfunction with any Futaba radio I've ever owned.
Sorry I can't say that I've had experience with Futaba radios. Just Traxxas TQI's, SXT2, and now my Flysky GT5. For the money in my opinion you really can't beat the GT5. And yep fellow Ohioan and Buckeye Fan.......Go Bucks!!!!
 
I am going to go with a Futaba 3PV myself as when I was very active in the hobby it was that or Airtronics. I am ok with the more pricey radio as it isn't Chinese and I don't have a fleet of vehicles that I need to share the same transmitter so Rx cost isnt a worry.
 
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