E Maxx vs E Savage??
 

Anyone here got any --positive-- selling points for the Maxx over the savage??

Yes,

There are problems with the e-savage diffs...the bevel output gears are horrible. They snap like crazy. Also, the driveshafts break easily. I never had a problem in these areas with my maxx.

-Chris

plus the maxx upgrade parts are available all over the world in all different prices.

IMHO; you can slowly upgrade a maxx to super maxx, or gorilla maxx.
with savage, you have not much you can change.
so if it breaks, you repair with stock part and it will keep breaking.
with the maxx it lowers drasticly i suppose, the breakage that is.
so go with an e-maxx, or even better e-revo.

I suspect E-Revo is way more $ than I wanna spend. :002:
How much extra $ does it take to get the Maxx strong & reliable for a basher, w/o getting into bling-only territory?

What do you recommend Serum??

Well, that depends on the setup you want to use?

the amount of power/weight/speed you want to hit.

a stock maxx is rather tough, though the drivetrain might need some attention;

steel idlers for the gearbox, FLM aluminum cups for the diffs,
3.3 driveshafts/knuckles/turnbuckles (the new e-maxxes come with the new type of arms that work with the 3.3 shafts) some new shocks (traxxas big-bores) and for bashing a FLM frame would be nice.

these upgrades can be done when you brake the stock parts.

Good batteries are the key to succes with electric cars.

Before buying my Maxx, I test drove both. The savage seemed cheaper in construction, definatly not the solid beast that the nitro savage is. Also the availability of hopups for the maxx made it a no brainer for me. E-Maxx!!! and as Serum said above, good batteries are key!

I bought Venom 3000's with the truck (a mistake). Then picked up some radio shack gp3300's which I liked alot better, but they left me longing for more. I ordered some 7 cell Matched cell IB4200's from SPC and could not be happier with them. Well maybe Lipo, but the wife said no lipo until we have a larger dwelling where I won't have to charge them inside.

batteries: I've got 2- 4200 stick packs for my xxxt (Deans all around) and plan on getting 2-4 more packs of at least the same. (hoping to find some good deals at RCX next weekend ). Not ready to switch to lipo's until they become less 'high maintenance'.

What I'm looking for is a good basher monster truck that will keep me happy for awhile w/o having to dump a bunch of extra money into it right off the bat. I kinda like the look and slightly larger size of the Maxx, but it seems that the savage is 'better out of the box', where as the maxx seems to 'require' a lot of attention right away.
All I've got to go by is what I've read. I haven't got to touch, feel or drive either yet...

*I also don't have the time, money or paitience for nitro, even though the power is alluring...

btw- thanks for the info so far!

Define better....
IMO I think the e-maxx is better because of the fact that it has a lot of hop-up parts for when you want to upgrade it. Some are expensive some are cheap. I'm trying to build mines on a budget.
So far I have spent:
$50 on batteries (Radio shack gp3300s)
$90 on the FLM chassis
$30 on some cheap cvds for the rear(the fronts do not need attention right away)
$50 on a new body and paint
$40 Bluebird Servo
The whole rear has cvds/dogbones. Those don't twist or bend. I'm running stock right now.
Thats $170
Next on the list are steel idlers, wheels,tires, wing mount and wing. Thats another $150 or so.(I hope)
Thats $320 more into the truck. Thats all I feel it needs to be my ideal truck.

I haven't owned a Savage so can't compare directly, but when originally shopping decided on an EMaxx because of huge selection of parts--as an earlier post said, all prices and can upgrade to whatever level you want/can afford.

If working with a budget, in my experience you'd want to upgrade the skids, bulks, and probably the chassis braces and then could "general bash" with little problem thereafter if you don't get too crazy. If you drive aggressively, then the diff cups are going to go sooner or later, and probably the half-shafts, but those shouldn't be an immediate problem under reasonable operating. That's basically the meaningful upgrades my son's EMaxx has, and it's done its share of curb-bashing.

The only thing is getting to the differentials is kind of a pain, so might be preferable to upgrade the diff cups at the same time you're upgrading the bulks. Neither the cups nor bulks need to be expensive, should be able to buy pieces on a small budget and put in when the stock break, or when you've been able to buy all of the pieces you need.

And if you like to "tinker" more than drive like I do, there's tons of upgrades you can do nearly endlessly, some for bling more than anything and some if you reach a point of wanting more power, like brushless.

FWIW....

is this a e-savage or normal nitro savage?

i think the thread title covers your question Mike.. :)

well, I got to stop by the lhs today and look at a maxx next to a savage (once again, electric...)
regardless of all the positive remarks about the e-savage I've read in the 'other' forums, I prefer the look, layout and size of the maxx.
It looks more like what I had in mind for my needs...

I suspect that when my cc cools off in a week or two, I might have a new e-maxx on the workbench! :027:

Thanks guys!

Wise choice!

Sounds like you have your mind made up. But I just wanted to say I feel for you pal. I've owned a few E-Maxx......an currently own a few E-Savs. The E-Savages are pretty dang nice for the money. They're a heck of a lot tougher then out of the box E-Maxx.........but.....yes the BIG BIG but. They just aren't tough enough. E-Sav is oh so close, but no cigar. The sad part is how much more money you're going to have to spend to get set up with a good Emaxx. A brushless E-savage can be had for pretty dang cheap. Emaxx is going to cost big. I know you've already spent lots of time adding up parts for what and Emaxx is going to cost.........but in the end we all know it's going to cost plenty. But hey. Better you get going on your emaxx now rather then spend money one a E-sav....decide it doesn't cut it...then end up spending the money on Emaxx anyways.

Better yet. Go E-Revo. It'll be more up front, but overall it will end up costing less then brushless Emaxx.

I keep hearing about this 'e-revo'. What really makes it so much better?
What's involved to convert a revo? Does someone offer a kit?
Last I looked revo's are going for 450-500$, then by the time you add in conversion and electronics, I would think you'd be pushing a grand (or more)...
That's a lot more than I want to spend right now.
I'm not after the fastest racing MT on the block.
What I do want is an e-truck that will go anywhere I point it, climb any hill w/o just sittin' & spinnin', and be as much fun as possible! And, I don't want to have to completely rebuild a brand new truck to get to this point.
I fully understand the fun, reward, and time and money involved with building a 'dream truck', but all I want right now is a big bad basher.

you can buy an e-revo off mike, its in the store, front end, rear end, chassis, and tranny. chassis used is a gorillamaxx g2r, soon there will be a g3r. wich will be stronger.

$$ ???

Wow! that is hard to resist, eh?
(when will these be available again??)
I apologize for not being up to speed on all this stuff like most of you here. I've only been back into the whole r/c thing for a couple of months now, but it bit hard! I'm a bit more obsessed than I ought to be, for sure.
I just found this site last week and have only seen a little of it.
I did just quickly browse thru an e-revo thread with pictures like this...
very nice!

thats dafni's, its amazing.
he built his own slipperential.
but you should wait for the new G3R.

Maxx definately! E-Revo even better!

Why is e-revo better???
Not being nasty, I just don't know...

Better suspension for one. More durable for two.

OK.....cool.
Anyone know when these new G3 kits will be available??

http://www.gorillamaxx.com/

April 2nd, 2007.

ok, after thinking this thing through some more, my question right now is:

If I bought a stock emaxx and drive it for fun (not trying to kill it), will it hold up for awhile or is it just going to self-destruct?

I'm pretty sure a stocker will meet my expectations (right now) from everything I've seen. The e-savage is just too small & low for what I want. I already have fast & nimble (losi xxxt w/ mamba). I want something big and bouncy that will crush small rocks and little kid's toes under it's tires...:027:
*I saw a video of a maxx w/ rear spool 'crawling' over a large box...that was cool!

Self-destruct. Both of mine did.

how is it then that they sell so many of these and that they are so popular if they are so crappy out of the box??
Would I be better off biting the bullet and going nitro? An associated MGT isn't much more money stock.

They are very popular because there are so many upgrades available for it to kill any nitro out there.:028: :027:

They are not horrible out of the box... it just depends how hard you drive.

My E-maxx (the old type before the wider suspension versions) was 5 years old before I did major upgrades to it (brushless, racing chassis etc).
It had about 3-3.5 years of racing and probably more time spent bashing.
Bashing includes hitting trees, poles, walls, head on collisions with other E-maxxes, jumps with ~10ft air to flat (including landing upside down), running it flat out none stop on grass for a full pack (that was with the old sanyo 2400's, but then I'd put another pack in and do it again), doing jumps at a skate park (not doing stupid stuff though), plus lots of roll overs and normal crashes.
When I upraded to my car to take brushless I realised I was using an all original transmission (including bearings), original spur, slipper and pinions, chassis, chassis rails (though I noticed 1 was broken when I pulled the car apart -I don't know how long it had been like that), ESC, RX, TX, motor plate, steering knuckles and pilow balls, shift servo, some parts of the drive shafts, bulkheads, wheel hexes and nuts and probably a few other parts.

Whoah, that was longer than I thought.
I broke 2 shock towers (one was proline)
a few turnbuckles (though I put the proline suspension kit on a few years ago and haven't broken any of those)
No suspension arms have been broken - proline or traxxas
Second set of motors just started to die before I went brushless ( I used a fan most of the time though)
A couple of bumpers and bumper mounts
A few of each skid plate (fronts more often though)
2 diffs (they still worked, they were just old and worn)
5 or 6 drive shaft components (mainly rears). I did my slipper up tight and did a lot of wheelies on grass.
A couple of shocks. Worth upgrading to something better though if your going to do jumps.
And obviously 3 or 4 bodies.

I haven't used a lot of different types of rc cars and I don't know why people say E-maxx isn't that strong, but I cound't have been happier with the way mine lasted in stock form. Hardly anything ever when wrong and I always fininshed races. Parts usually wore out gradually rather than break sudenly.

If you get an E-maxx get good batteries (if you don't already have them). I don't think the motors will last as long on 14 cells, but it's deffinately faster than 12.
You can get stock parts very cheap of ebay if you like it in stock form.
I probably had more fun with stock than brushless, because it was so reliable for me, but brushless is much more powerful and with great power comes great responsibility.

Whoah, that was longer than I thought.

Thank you....very much! That was the kind of info I was hoping for.
I was having a hard time with the notion that a new Emaxx was going to "self destruct in 5 seconds..." (mission impossible reference...sorry...) after I opened the box.
I'm not all about 'beat your truck' like a lot of folks. I try to take care of my stuff, but have fun using it as well.
*I broke my first a-arm on the xxxt today...dammit! :005:

As tempting as nitro-power is, I really think I would be happier staying electrified. And the Maxx wins that battle. I'm going to wait and watch for a little while longer before I decide how much more $$ I can afford to spend right now. That's not to say that I won't get sucked into the whole G3R thing when it comes out...:004:

update
 

Well, I drank the kool aid and bought an Emaxx at RCX last weekend.
I switched plugs and made a jumper to run on one battery (I was curious about the half-speed thing). Got it set up and ran it on one batt the first time. Then I ran into the battery tray issue (mentioned on another thread = http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6259 ) when trying to load in my 2 good packs.
After a little modding this morning, I got to run it w/ 2 packs. Wow! This thing is FUN!!! :027:
I'm very pleased with it! Better than I expected.
I already ordered a set of side-by-side packs and a 977 charger, and I'm thinking about trying to build a couple of 7-cell packs. I've never built a battery pack, but after browsing the Traxxas 'how to' section, I think I'd like to try it.
The only other 'problem' I see so far is the stock steering servo. It really is slow to respond when in the rough. I'm trying to figure out what a good upgrade servo would be. I've seen many mentioned, but would you guys have a favorite?
Anyways, I'm glad I got it!

My favorite is the hitec 645. Not the top of the line, but very, very good for $40 - $45. And should work well in the e-maxx.