ApexSpeed, I swore I saw the same outdrive savers Jimmy used in his review for sale on ebay. They were listed from somewhere in the UK, so I just assumed they were from the same manufacturer Jimmy was using. I'll check later to see if I can find them.
Jimmy, once again you've written up an excellent review. You have quickly become my favorite R/C magazine! Seriously, I've longed for the days that r/c mags would just write ONE REVIEW that was honest and objective! Too bad its gotta come out of your own pocket, but I guess that's what it takes to get an honest review.
Few things I thought were worth mentioning:
1. The 'graphite' or plastic wrench included in each losi kit is usually pretty good for the wheels. I have three losi kits and those wrenches never give me problems.... for the wheels. The 1/4" size strips out quite easily and won't work very well for the 1/4" nut on the top of the shocks or front wheels on a 2WD buggy. I suggest just buying Dynamite's 5-piece nut driver set. It's only 15$ here in the states so I figure it would be some comparable price in the UK. The setup you have for your wheels on the XX4 right now should be the 3/8" size. The CVD setup should be 11/32". All these sizes are included in that set. I know its a pain to own two different sets of wrenches and nut drivers (I know, I feel the same way), but there's no changing it anytime soon. I wish everything here was just metric. It'd make things a lot easier.
2. I'm amazed you were given UJs in your kit! The new released kits over here are packed with doggies (or so I'm told)! It's mentioned on the 4wdrc.com site and other friends of mine that have picked up the new re-released kits..... hmmm... Maybe they meant 'UJs' when they said dog bones? I'll have to check. When I originally heard dogbones I thought they meant the old sliders (like what is on the rear of the ZX-5). Anyways, I just thought of that when I was reading your review. If the kits over here are packed with the UJs, I don't understand why people would complain using them over CVDs.
3. Taper pins are the bomb! lol.
Hopefully sometime in your life you'll get an opportunity to run on a track where Losi taper pins are useful..... much the same as I hope to run a track someday where I get to use Schumacher mini spikes. We don't even have those for sale over here in the states. I've never seen them. Just curious, does Schumacher make them for the front too or are you guys cutting and gluing rear ones to fit the front? Also, what other tires do you guys use on your tracks? Does Schumacher make a wide variety of other tires?