It's my birthday next week and all I want is a remote control car - any suggestions?
5My excuse is to play with it with my 2 year old. But lets be real - I just want a sweet remote control car to play around with. My son would love it though, cars are seriously his favorite thing in the world, so he would have a blast playing with this and I’m looking forward to some father/son bonding time as he grows with this.
We live in a cul de sac, so I’m not looking for something that needs to crawl boulders, but rather something I can zip around on the street and sidewalk.
Something like this one would be AWESOME (33+ MPH!!), but it’s about twice the price of what we’d like to spend. We’re trying to stick to $25-$35 for birthdays since money is tight right now (we just bought a house and our 2nd child was born…)
Any remote control car hobbyists out there that can give advice on what to get?
p.s. extra points if I can buy it off of Amazon and can use some reward points there.
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i got one of these in a bag of crap a long while ago and it’s been insane amounts of fun!
http://www.activepowersports.com/venom-racing-gambler-scx-1-10-rtr-short-course-truck-brushed-black-8500/?gclid=CjwKEAjw-abABRDquOTJi8qdojwSJABt1S1OopYIkg04uhtlf4KhBvrZRqfdggWWe7uBvjgsGiPtphoCfxjw_wcB
edit: i missed the part about $25-35. sorry. a friend of mine has quite a few RC cars. i’ll see if he has any recommendations in your price range.
@carl669 Yeah that looks awesome - only $181.28 out of my price range
@carl669 How fast does it go?
@luvche21 based on what i’ve read, 50mph top speed. not sure if that’s right out of the box or with mods. i ran it on a pretty bumpy dirt course (i.e. backyard torn up my dog), so i never maxed it out.
@luvche21 my friend didn’t really have any ideas. basically, he said that he started at the $200 price point and then went up from there. he did suggest finding a local hobby shop and seeing what they had to say.
@carl669 Wow, you’d sure need some space to hit 50 and still be able to be anywhere close to the car!
Yeah, I’m definitely looking into a lower price point to start out.
@carl669 hi carl
@Yoda_Daenerys helllloo1!! (note: i might be drink at the moment)
@therealjrn ROFL
@therealjrn OMG. This gave me my last guilty laugh of the day. Where, pray tell, did you find this?
@accelerator ha ha, found them on the googles. Big sisters are mean. lol I love the way she’s mugging for the camera on the way by.
@therealjrn holy crappers lol
@therealjrn As she passed by the camera with that flash of acknowledgement of the carnage about to be exacted in the death spiral attack on her brother. THAT is pure concentrated fun!
I vow to visit that moment each day. Thank you.
Hack a self driving Tesla. Someone else’s, and it won’t cost anything
@duodec
You know where all the free lawyers are? Clue us in!
/giphy "honest lawyer"
It’s not a car but those Sphero Ollies that Meh sold for fifty bucks are a lot of fun.
@sammydog01 great idea!
@sammydog01 Ooh, those would be a blast too! Did you get any of the add-ons for it that make it float or anything?
@luvche21 I’m not aware of anything that makes it float- maybe you’re thinking of the Sphero? But I did get a set of the big gray ramps and they’re really nice. They do skateboard type tricks. The Sphero is fun too but doesn’t really have that fast car feel. i haven’t played with them in a while- maybe I’ll get them charged up this weekend.
how about a remote control boat instead
@CaptAmehrican Yeah, that would be a blast, but we don’t have enough calm water close by
@luvche21, my area of experience with RC is mostly limited to drones, so I can’t suggest a specific model, but I can share some info RE: where to buy. I don’t imagine the market for cars/trucks/buggies is that much different than drones. Of course they share the same core technology and components.
Take a look at the Chinese mail order places (Banggood and GearBest). They both have US based warehouses, so I usually get my orders in 3 to 5 days. The selection in the China warehouses is much larger, but if you can find something you like in the US warehouse you’ll often save (sometimes quite a bit) compared to Amazon and Walmart. Another option is to check eBay (filter for USA based sellers).
This is the Banggood USA warehouse RC Car catalog.
This is the Banggood China warehouse RC Car catalog.
GearBest China warehouse RC Car catalog.
AliExpress is another option (it’s like a Chinese version of Amazon Marketplace). Most sellers there are going to be China based, and shopping for the right item takes a bit more effort, but I can often save a buck or two compared to the other Chinese sellers. They also have a Buyer Protection program similar to Amazon’s, so your purchase is protected.
BTW, there are a couple of Chinese based name brands: WL Toys, JJRC, Syma and Echine that I’ve had great success with in toy/entry-hobby grade drones. I’m betting their cars are going to be similar in reliability and value.
@ruouttaurmind Ooh, I’ll check those out. Have you had any quality issues through Banggood?
I never thought I would find a “Stunt Monster Tractor” RC…
@luvche21 I found a bunch of people selling nitro and battery cars on Craigslist cheap I’m not sure it’s the same in your area but worth checking
@luvche21 For the most part, I’ve stuck with the name brands I mentioned above, and never been disappointed with my purchase. A few times I’ve actually been surprised by items that were quite a bit better than I expected for the price I paid. YMMV.
umm, buy a remote control car for yourself?
or get some quad copters here
@Yoda_Daenerys pssst. he already is buying a remote control car for himself.
Might consider something like this. I’ve purchased from this eBay seller several times & have been satisfied. Make them an offer for ~$25.
Amazon price is $50 (think shipping is free, tho)
Check radio shack. At least at Christmas they sell a bunch of cheaper ones that have survived my nephew. This is the boy who, after riding his tricycle down the basement stairs and needed stitches said, as soon as he was home from the ER, said that he was going to try that again because maybe this time he wouldn’t get hurt… who also asked my sister why cars honked at him as he ran across the parking lot at school for the bus (kindergarten). No idea if radio shack carries them year round.
@Kidsandliz See, this is where that zombie icon would come in handy.
@sammydog01 what zombie icon and why?
@Kidsandliz Guessing because you replied 4+ months after the final post. He was looking for one that week. So this thread was dead.
@MrMark Someone wanted a zombie icon added to threads reactivated after more than a few months. @kidsandliz wasn’t the first to add a comment today- It may have been spam and I can’t find it.
@Kidsandliz I actually finally got one a couple weeks ago and it’s super awesome. Thanks for the idea though!