Buyer beware, Fine Design rips off yet again!

[Aceldama]

"It works flawless and the speed control holds up to 8s even though its only rated at 25 volts. don't ask me how, but it does."

For $1400, "don't ask me how" doesn't really cut it.

[Finnster]

Obviously by the magical pixie dust and hot glue he used to build the rig with.
That is a piece of crap. Scratch that, huge flaming ball of molten monkey sh1t that smells like burnt bananas and smoldering donkey hair, the likes of which could only ever be sold on ebay or as a Duratrax.
But not quite as big of POS as that one guy who used cardboard to convert his Revo to BL with (been a few years, right when I joined here.)
It ran well except for when it rained lol.

[Takedown]

Originally Posted by Finnster

Obviously by the magical pixie dust and hot glue he used to build the rig with.
That is a piece of crap. Scratch that, huge flaming ball of molten monkey sh1t that smells like burnt bananas and smoldering donkey hair, the likes of which could only ever be sold on ebay.
But not quite as big of POS as that one guy who used cardboard to convert his Revo to BL with (been a few years, right when I joined here.)
It ran well except for when it rained lol.

Hahaha... That priceless!

[BrianG]

lol, I remember that!

[lincpimp]

Cardboard eh... Was that a homeless conversion?

[BrianG]

No, just someone trying to get a setup running without any real fabrication of parts...

[Finnster]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

Cardboard eh... Was that a homeless conversion?

This 'ol Brushless Box. Don't ask what he used to glue it all together.. lol

[Mozzy]

Originally Posted by Takedown

I did alot of research on the km baja's and their suppose to be every bit as good as the hpi baja 5b rtr version but half as much. Every part is compatible accept the battery box on the km baja is a little different but it can be switched out.

I hate to take you down, but, these knockoffs are exactly that!

The plastics are weaker, clutch & spurs melt, engine is....ok, but, pullstart breaks easily, servo's are crap & literally stop working after a few hours or the spline shears off the steering servo.
Best part is that the alloy bends & bends back without breaking! Good for two bends only.

I've had both an original HPI & these crap things in front of me & driven both. They're not worth it.

You will spend hundreds if not thousands of $$ over a short period to bring it up to HPI standard each time it breaks.

& for the record, HPI plastics are made in the same factory as a few other high end nitro buggy & truggy brands, just can't remember which one's, in Taiwan.

China rips things off because the copyright, patent & legalities that apply in other countries don't apply & can't be enforced in China. Shenzen, China, is the place where most of the knock off crap comes from.

Quite a large can of worms opened here.

[junkman]

what alloy are you talking about? The rear shock tower brace is the only thing I can think of that may be 5b substandard. The early ones had pullstart hub problems, but have now come with metal hubs, plastics may be easier to break, I don't know, havn't broken anything. The electronics may leave something to be desired, but like I said I have 2 gallons on the stock servos, did put the dx3s in that I already had. I don't see how it could take hundreds, or thousands of dollars to make it hpi standards, maybe you can fill me in. Most people with multiple vehicles are going to put different radio equipment in it anyway, I havn't had any clutch or gear problems, but if you did you would probably put something better in it just as you would do to a hpi as well. I have not personally owned a 5b, but have driven one, and been around one. We have 2 of these running around, and both have been great deals. At $450 to the door, you can't beat it, especially if you plan on doing something other than leaving the car box stock.

[jsr]

I have a 1/5 gas truck (Duratrax Firehammer) and get 30-40 minutes of runtime. I can't see a brushless setup giving me that much runtime at equivalent speeds, unless I spend thousands of dollars on LiPos. However, it is annoying to use the gas. My car smelled for months after the first run, partially from the truck, and partially because a little gas spilled. It is loud, which limits where you can run if you don't want people really mad at you. But the biggest con for me with a gasser is the gas itself. But the running cost and runtime is unbeatable.

Regarding the KM Baja, there's a huge thread on RCU giant scale forum. I only had a chance to read through about 1/2 to 2/3 of it. It seems the plastics are a bit more brittle, but other than that, most people are happy with theirs. I remember there was a problem with the KMs, but I can't recall what it was exactly. For a 1/5 buggy, I'd rather get the upcoming Nutech Thunderbolt2 4WD buggy.

[whitrzac]

Originally Posted by Aceldama

"It works flawless and the speed control holds up to 8s even though its only rated at 25 volts. don't ask me how, but it does."

For $1400, "don't ask me how" doesn't really cut it.

how does the MM and the tekin R1 take 4-5s lipos???

[Takedown]

Originally Posted by Mozzy

I hate to take you down, but, these knockoffs are exactly that!

The plastics are weaker, clutch & spurs melt, engine is....ok, but, pullstart breaks easily, servo's are crap & literally stop working after a few hours or the spline shears off the steering servo.
Best part is that the alloy bends & bends back without breaking! Good for two bends only.

I've had both an original HPI & these crap things in front of me & driven both. They're not worth it.

You will spend hundreds if not thousands of $$ over a short period to bring it up to HPI standard each time it breaks.

& for the record, HPI plastics are made in the same factory as a few other high end nitro buggy & truggy brands, just can't remember which one's, in Taiwan.

China rips things off because the copyright, patent & legalities that apply in other countries don't apply & can't be enforced in China. Shenzen, China, is the place where most of the knock off crap comes from.

Quite a large can of worms opened here.

I guess it all depends on the user and his/her driver style... Ive heard they are every bit as good as the 5b rtr version. The baja 5b ss is of higher quality but thats not the point... I would not mind having one.

[Takedown]

Originally Posted by jsr

I have a 1/5 gas truck (Duratrax Firehammer) and get 30-40 minutes of runtime. I can't see a brushless setup giving me that much runtime at equivalent speeds, unless I spend thousands of dollars on LiPos. However, it is annoying to use the gas. My car smelled for months after the first run, partially from the truck, and partially because a little gas spilled. It is loud, which limits where you can run if you don't want people really mad at you. But the biggest con for me with a gasser is the gas itself. But the running cost and runtime is unbeatable.

Regarding the KM Baja, there's a huge thread on RCU giant scale forum. I only had a chance to read through about 1/2 to 2/3 of it. It seems the plastics are a bit more brittle, but other than that, most people are happy with theirs. I remember there was a problem with the KMs, but I can't recall what it was exactly. For a 1/5 buggy, I'd rather get the upcoming Nutech Thunderbolt2 4WD buggy.

My friend has an XTM grizzly 1/5 MT "Same thing as the DuraTrax FireHammer MT" and that thing is nuts. He can hit speeds of 40mph + with his Zen 26cc xcan setup. Hes hit just about everything their is to hit and only stripped out an upper front link. Its very clumsy at high speeds but overall I would reccomend it to any beginer no doubt. Its based off the the FG mt EVO-1 series MT's which are now discontinued.

[Takedown]

Originally Posted by jsr

I have a 1/5 gas truck (Duratrax Firehammer) and get 30-40 minutes of runtime. I can't see a brushless setup giving me that much runtime at equivalent speeds, unless I spend thousands of dollars on LiPos. However, it is annoying to use the gas. My car smelled for months after the first run, partially from the truck, and partially because a little gas spilled. It is loud, which limits where you can run if you don't want people really mad at you. But the biggest con for me with a gasser is the gas itself. But the running cost and runtime is unbeatable.

Regarding the KM Baja, there's a huge thread on RCU giant scale forum. I only had a chance to read through about 1/2 to 2/3 of it. It seems the plastics are a bit more brittle, but other than that, most people are happy with theirs. I remember there was a problem with the KMs, but I can't recall what it was exactly. For a 1/5 buggy, I'd rather get the upcoming Nutech Thunderbolt2 4WD buggy.

I heard the only problem was the radio box. Which is a little different than the hpi 5b's. It can be swapped out.

[Takedown]

Originally Posted by jsr

I have a 1/5 gas truck (Duratrax Firehammer) and get 30-40 minutes of runtime. I can't see a brushless setup giving me that much runtime at equivalent speeds, unless I spend thousands of dollars on LiPos. However, it is annoying to use the gas. My car smelled for months after the first run, partially from the truck, and partially because a little gas spilled. It is loud, which limits where you can run if you don't want people really mad at you. But the biggest con for me with a gasser is the gas itself. But the running cost and runtime is unbeatable.

Regarding the KM Baja, there's a huge thread on RCU giant scale forum. I only had a chance to read through about 1/2 to 2/3 of it. It seems the plastics are a bit more brittle, but other than that, most people are happy with theirs. I remember there was a problem with the KMs, but I can't recall what it was exactly. For a 1/5 buggy, I'd rather get the upcoming Nutech Thunderbolt2 4WD buggy.

Are you sure you not talking about the Smartech ThunderBolt 1/5 4wd buggy?
http://www.oversizerc.com/p/519888/s...-delivery.html