Outcast R/C Newb looking for Kraton vs Outcast advice

[Magnus_CA]

Hi All,

I've been up and down this forum, youtube, and nearly every other corner of the Internet in search of my first hobby-grade RC car and I've narrowed it down to the Kraton and the Outcast. I have no doubt that I will love either rig but life, nor my wife, will allow me to have more than one. I've been eyeing the Kraton for some time now but just added the Outcast to my shortlist because I wonder if it's better suited to the terrain available locally around me.

I don't have an indoor or outdoor track nearby so the use of this truck will be limited to my suburban neighborhood (Bay Area, CA). There's a couple schools nearby with wide open grassy fields (mostly flat) and blacktop that are quiet on the weekend. My street is pretty quiet as well and offers a nice wide and long stretch of asphalt. I have no doubt that a Kraton would excel in either place. My backyard is another story...My backyard is a decent size by Bay Area (CA) standards but small in comparison nearly everywhere else. It's a relatively flat-fenced in area with a mixture of rocks, dirt, grass, weeds, scattered leaves, concrete patio, and roots (unfortunately for the patio). My 6YO daughter has a 1/12th scale 2WD brushed truggy that gets caught up pretty easy back there. My son is 3 and has a knock-off Wraith, which is painfully slow (because it needs to be) but gets around just fine. The ground clearance and the top end speed potential is what attracted me to the Kraton and Outcast to begin with (that and there just seemed to much loss of versatility in anything 1/10th scale or smaller).

The main thing holding me back for the Kraton is the combination of my backyard and the long wheelbase. I know both of these trucks are BIG and only plan to run 4S (durability) but I wonder if the longer wheelbase of the Kraton would make it unusable in my yard. Standing backflips and wheelies are not really my thing but I believe with the right tune and driver you can keep the Outcast running on all four pretty easily. Again, I know I'll be happy regardless but given how much consideration I've invested up until this point I'd rather not flip a coin.

Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Riggidy]

I was in the same boat as you. Here is what i concluded:
A. You can't go wrong with either
B. Outcast is for stunting meaning you need to have some idea of how to control your throttle on the ground and more importantly in the air.
C. Kraton, more stable platform when you want speed and simply want to punch it. A bonus for someone lacking throttle control.


From a fun factor, i would say get an outcast. Although the Kraton is fun, you WILL get tired of just gunning it up and down the street. Your kids will love the ability to flip it and wheelie at will. If you are going to tune these abilities out of the outcast, buy the kraton.

I ended up buying both...the kraton for my 10 year old and the Outcast for me.


Btw...im in the bay area as well.

 

[Magnus_CA]

Thanks for the reply!

B. Outcast is for stunting meaning you need to have some idea of how to control your throttle on the ground and more importantly in the air.
C. Kraton, more stable platform when you want speed and simply want to punch it. A bonus for someone lacking throttle control.

I have limited experience so I can't say if I lack throttle control but I think my gaming experience will shorten the learning curve. Probably why you got your son his own Kraton.

From a fun factor, i would say get an outcast. Although the Kraton is fun, you WILL get tired of just gunning it up and down the street. Your kids will love the ability to flip it and wheelie at will. If you are going to tune these abilities out of the outcast, buy the kraton.

I think I'm just allergic to breaking expensive toys. Who knows, maybe I will love it...I would just hate to scrub speed when I don't want to.

Btw...im in the bay area as well.

Where at? I don't come across many R/C enthusiasts but I don't exactly know where to find them just yet.

 

[Timritchieblue]

I say Kraton, I don't have a outcast, but I do have a (SWB) RC8te. The full truggy chassis will be more versital.

 

[Riggidy]

There is one thing you need to be ok with when it comes to RC...you will break it.

I'm in the east bay by El Cerrito.

 

[dpricenator]

I say Kraton. Reason being, once you get bored in the back yard you will find something to jump. And at some point will find something bigger to jump. The Kraton's longer wheelbase will help you land it on all 4 wheels. It still takes time, to learn to jump and land, but when you jump the Outcast, if you stay on the throttle, you'll be flying inverted. If you are not prepared to get it back up right, your roof is going to take a beating. The Kraton will do the same thing, just a little slower on the rotation. Also, the bay has a ton of skate parks, which are a lot of fun to play in. remember, in the air, on the throttle equals backfliping motion. Hit the brake and you get a forward flipping motion. timing all that to lad on the wheels take some time. Good thing you are looking at a super durable toy. And yeah it'll break, but that's the fun part.

BUT THE OUTCAST BODY IS SO SUPER BAD A$$.

 

[Stanleybb50]

Been into rc for about a year now. If someone held a gun to my head, I'd probably keep just the Outcast over my Kraton.

Could be my Outcast is newer to me, but I find it more fun to drive (and a bit more challenging, in a good way).

Love them both though!

 

[Magnus_CA]

The field is split, which is a good sign considering I considering this is the Kraton lobby. I need a good sale to get me off the fence. That or the lack of Outcast inventory will force my hand.

Thanks for all the replies.

Just to go on record, the Outcast body is not a selling point for me. Wish it was inspired by any other decade.

 

[Va-jeeper]

The field is split, which is a good sign considering I considering this is the Kraton lobby. I need a good sale to get me off the fence. That or the lack of Outcast inventory will force my hand.

Thanks for all the replies.

Just to go on record, the Outcast body is not a selling point for me. Wish it was inspired by any other decade.

If the body of the Outcast isn't a selling point for you I would say go with the Kraton. You can always convert the Kraton to the short wheel base later with just a few parts. I have the Kraton and I love it. I put big wheels on it to get it to do stuns. I also have the all the parts for a future conversion.

 

[Julian]

Bought my then 9 yr old a Redcat brushed volcano 4x4 for xmas 2016.... Long story short - Ive bought 15 RCs since - Its like breaking bad for me...200% addicted. Have all the Arrma BLX line - can say that now that Ive ordered my TYPHON...should arrive in a few days. Have the Kraton V2, Outcast, Nero, Fazon , etc - two words for you Magnus - JUMP RAMPS. They sky the RC evenly and properly and find a landing spot higher than the take off spot so the come down is less - in other words try to jump em uphill if you can - again - less come down. Physics can be painful on a drive train. I am buying the Axial Yeti XL for this very reason - has a dual slipper clutch so jumping is no biggie. also to answer your question - get both if you can. Two RCs that have such different abilities and fun factors - you can't have one without the other - they don't replace each other at all. To me if I had to get one - it would be the OutCast - has the speed factor PLUS those stunts and its behavior in the air is very very very very impressive to me. It also renders the diff brain wheelie mode in the Neros useless. It wheelies down the street almost too ez. It soars in the air like it belongs there and a flip is a flick on the radio. Hope this helps and BTW - Im insanely jealous of where you live your life...Cali is awesome.....the Bay area is AWESOMER!!! lol

 

[Stanleybb50]

Bought my then 9 yr old a Redcat brushed volcano 4x4 for xmas 2016.... Long story short - Ive bought 15 RCs since - Its like breaking bad for me...200% addicted. Have all the Arrma BLX line - can say that now that Ive ordered my TYPHON...should arrive in a few days. Have the Kraton V2, Outcast, Nero, Fazon , etc - two words for you Magnus - JUMP RAMPS. They sky the RC evenly and properly and find a landing spot higher than the take off spot so the come down is less - in other words try to jump em uphill if you can - again - less come down. Physics can be painful on a drive train. I am buying the Axial Yeti XL for this very reason - has a dual slipper clutch so jumping is no biggie. also to answer your question - get both if you can. Two RCs that have such different abilities and fun factors - you can't have one without the other - they don't replace each other at all. To me if I had to get one - it would be the OutCast - has the speed factor PLUS those stunts and its behavior in the air is very very very very impressive to me. It also renders the diff brain wheelie mode in the Neros useless. It wheelies down the street almost too ez. It soars in the air like it belongs there and a flip is a flick on the radio. Hope this helps and BTW - Im insanely jealous of where you live your life...Cali is awesome.....the Bay area is AWESOMER!!! lol

Love this collection.

 

[Julian]

Love this collection.

Thanks - my next RC will be something completely different but as soon as I saw it - I thought about seeing the Road Warrior when I was like 15 and WHY I demanded we sit though it again. The Axial Yeti XL 1/8 Scale.....

 

[Va-jeeper]

Thanks - my next RC will be something completely different but as soon as I saw it - I thought about seeing the Road Warrior when I was like 15 and WHY I demanded we sit though it again. The Axial Yeti XL 1/8 Scale.....

Good luck with your xl. I used to be all about the yeti and the xl, but they are money pits. So much plastic, things would flex and break. It was a diff killer for me. They are no where near as stable as a Nero or Kraton at speed. Maybe it was my driving but I got tired of spending money on it to keep it running properly. The best thing that came out of my experience with the yeti's is it helped me find the Arrma line up.

 

[Stanleybb50]

Good luck with your xl. I used to be all about the yeti and the xl, but they are money pits. So much plastic, things would flex and break. It was a diff killer for me. They are no where near as stable as a Nero or Kraton at speed. Maybe it was my driving but I got tired of spending money on it to keep it running properly. The best thing that came out of my experience with the yeti's is it helped me find the Arrma line up.

Sums up my E-revo experiences too.

 

[Va-jeeper]

Sums up my E-revo experiences too.

I swear.....it would have been easier if they put a credit card swiper on it....but that probably would have broke too....lol

 

[Raysito]

I was kind of split between those two too, went for the Kraton as it's more stable, Outcast is kind of a crazy thing - in its own, very good way. The way I see it, the Kraton is more forgiving, the Outcast is more for bashing experienced people.

I just went off and did my first run - had to do it in 6s (bought both 4s and 6s but the first one came with the wrong connector and I have no knowledge at all about soldering so...). Anyway, I had a complete blast. Fully stock, temp reader in hand (138F, quite well), and man this thing is nuts fast, controlable and wheelies a bit too. Changing center diff oil will for sure give it more character, way too much power lost in the front wheels which balloon as hell too.

All in all you won't go wrong with either. Gotta say I crashed it 3 times against the sidewalks. No problem. It just keeps going as the beast it is. ARRMA's are quite amazing.

 

[Magnus_CA]

Bought my then 9 yr old a Redcat brushed volcano 4x4 for xmas 2016.... Long story short - Ive bought 15 RCs since - Its like breaking bad for me...200% addicted. Have all the Arrma BLX line - can say that now that Ive ordered my TYPHON...should arrive in a few days. Have the Kraton V2, Outcast, Nero, Fazon , etc - two words for you Magnus - JUMP RAMPS. They sky the RC evenly and properly and find a landing spot higher than the take off spot so the come down is less - in other words try to jump em uphill if you can - again - less come down. Physics can be painful on a drive train. I am buying the Axial Yeti XL for this very reason - has a dual slipper clutch so jumping is no biggie. also to answer your question - get both if you can. Two RCs that have such different abilities and fun factors - you can't have one without the other - they don't replace each other at all. To me if I had to get one - it would be the OutCast - has the speed factor PLUS those stunts and its behavior in the air is very very very very impressive to me. It also renders the diff brain wheelie mode in the Neros useless. It wheelies down the street almost too ez. It soars in the air like it belongs there and a flip is a flick on the radio. Hope this helps and BTW - Im insanely jealous of where you live your life...Cali is awesome.....the Bay area is AWESOMER!!! lol

Thanks for the reply. Coincidentally the Outcast is back in stock at Tower, so...I'm about a week away from joining the OUTCAST CLUB! I can't wait.

Now I'm trying to figure out battery and chargers. Yikes!

Thanks to everyone that responded. Forum support really helps the ownership experience. Glad I registered as I expect to be visiting a lot.

 

[Stanleybb50]

Thanks for the reply. Coincidentally the Outcast is back in stock at Tower, so...I'm about a week away from joining the OUTCAST CLUB! I can't wait.

Now I'm trying to figure out battery and chargers. Yikes!

Thanks to everyone that responded. Forum support really helps the ownership experience. Glad I registered as I expect to be visiting a lot.

I saw this recommended recently. Looked like a good option. I personally went a little overboard on a charging setup... Hahaha. The below seems more than sufficient.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy...onous-balance-charger-discharger-us-plug.html

 

[Magnus_CA]

That's one of the ones I'm looking at. Supposedly it's a rebrand of a old model iCharger.

I am also considering the Ultra Power UP120AC on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SZ1CBVC/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2P1F0527LD7PL

Obviously valuable if I plan on running 2 x 3s or 2 x 2s but I haven't figured out if running a pair of batteries has any benefit over a single one.

 

[Stanleybb50]

That's one of the ones I'm looking at. Supposedly it's a rebrand of a old model iCharger.

I am also considering the Ultra Power UP120AC on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SZ1CBVC/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2P1F0527LD7PL

Obviously valuable if I plan on running 2 x 3s or 2 x 2s but I haven't figured out if running a pair of batteries has any benefit over a single one.

I could be wrong, but the way I see it is that less overall watts are required to charge 2x2s as opposed to 4s. Or 2x3s as opposed to 6s.

The charger needs to run at 14.8 volts (16.8 full charge) on 4s, and 22.2 volts (25.2 full charge) on 6s instead of only half those values.

I'm personally a fan of the two smaller, despite the slight annoyance of two plug ins each time..

I got a charger combo thing (icharger) from progressiverc. They were very helpful. Probably overkill for what I need, but man it is fantastic.