Buying an RC car from America

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SE1Z
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Buying an RC car from America

Post by SE1Z »

I've bought plenty of gear from America over the years, RC gear included.

But...

I'm looking to get a 1/10 scale battery RC buggy.

Prices locally are close to $400...
Including postage, I can import from America for $250.

My question is...
I assume I'll need, at the very least, a wall socket converter so I can charge the car battery.

But what about the radio? It's a 2.4ghz model, will there be any dramas running it here?

Anything I'm missing????
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NeilPearson
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by NeilPearson »

Please support your local hobby store. You get so much more out of you hobby by doing this. My life and hobby have improved dramatically since I started doing it.

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SE1Z
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by SE1Z »

Yeh, umm... nah.
Thanks though.

My old Hyper 8 Pro I bought locally, same with 80% of the spares.
All from RCHobbies in Sydney. They got well in excess of 4k out of me during my time with the hobby a few years ago...

This time, my disposable income is far less, so OS buying it is.
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Vilante
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by Vilante »

What and where are you buying if you don't mind me asking?

I have an older on-road and would love a buggy but like you, don't have the cash lying around to spend four or five hundred on a 'toy' :)
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SE1Z
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by SE1Z »

A Traxxis Bandit.
1/10th scale.

It's far from the best, but it's a very strong and durable buggy for a weekend bash!
And because the basic design of this vehicle has been around for 10+ years, there are a HEAP of parts available, including upgrades.
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by Vilante »

Cheers :yes:
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Exar Kun
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by Exar Kun »

Traxxis were being sold in stores like Best Buy in Canada (only electric versions though). They had an entire aisle to themselves that had buggies and trucks of various levels of performance but what was cool was they then had heaps and heaps of upgrade parts and spares you could just drop in. Anything from shocks and gears to new motors and bigger battery packs etc. All looked very modular and easy and amazingly cheap, of course. For the casual hobbyist it was excellent.
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dvestate
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by dvestate »

2.4 will be fine here dude, should have just emailed/called me at work :)

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NeilPearson
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by NeilPearson »

Wow 4K is a lot to spend on one car, especially if you aren't racing!
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by dvestate »

Bashers tend to actually spend heaps more on average according to my local hobby shop.

Racers usually really look after there stuff, bashers usually have more car varieties, break them more often. Blow nitro engines easier......



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SE1Z
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by SE1Z »

NeilPearson wrote:Wow 4K is a lot to spend on one car, especially if you aren't racing!

LOTS of spares.
Batteries, radio, servo's, pipes, tyres, breakages, fuel....

I also blew up 6 engines. :D

So yeah... my fair share of money has gone to Aussie retailers.
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SE1Z
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by SE1Z »

dvestate wrote:2.4 will be fine here dude, should have just emailed/called me at work :)

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What about chargers though?
You haven't got a spare have you? :D
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dvestate
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by dvestate »

Just sent you an email with an Aussie based one :)

I'll check my RC shelf tomorrow arvo, may have my old Swallow charger still
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by dvestate »

NeilPearson wrote:Please support your local hobby store. You get so much more out of you hobby by doing this. My life and hobby have improved dramatically since I started doing it.
I will agree to this to some extent, when there is a massive difference in price though it is very hard to support. An example would be about 5 years ago I was buying a new roller and the Aussie price was $1050, the fully landed price from the US $730.

My local actually told me to buy the US based one, parts however are purchase locally for the most part as the price on these are pretty close.

Unfortunately we have an issue here that we have such a small population distributors here either can't get a good price or mark the product up a little too much.

The last few years have been good with the high Aussie Dollar, most things have come down a little in price but with the AUD going south ordering from the US will become normal again
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by Shaun »

just bumping this up, my mate and i are looking to get an offroader each just to bash around the park near his place. Whats good value for money and where to buy, USA/Aus not too fussed. Thanks
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by richo »

Going to Hawaii in September and I,m going to buy amongst other a goodies and R/C Plane which is the first one for me so it will have a most unhappy life.
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by dvestate »

Shaun wrote:just bumping this up, my mate and i are looking to get an offroader each just to bash around the park near his place. Whats good value for money and where to buy, USA/Aus not too fussed. Thanks
Need to decide the scale of car and motor type you want (Electric or Nitro), I suggest going to a Local Hobby Shop and having a look at what they have.

If you go Nitro you can basically bash around until you run out of the container of fuel you have (once tuned correctly), electric will be dictated by the amount of batteries you have and the time it takes for each to be dischaged in the car and then recharge to play. The good thing about Electric is no noise to upset the neighbors but obviously can have limited running time (about 15 minutes per pack in my 1/8th buggy)
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Re: Buying an RC car from America

Post by Shaun »

I ended up picking up a second hand 1/12th hobao mini st converted to electric, the things fast as hell, my mate got a hobao hyper cage I think it's called 1/8th scale. They are even in a race so far. Mate already smashed the front end of his lol, good fun though
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