Kids buggy / recommendations ??

[andys]

Hi.

I'm after a kids buggy for my 5 year old daughter, something we can take to the park and have some fun with (electric only !).
I was thinking about a mini-t, but was wondering if anyone had any recommendations / experience with any of the many cars out there. Ideally I want something that runs for ages, or can have a cheap battery easily swapped (can you get silly high capacity batteries for these smaller cars like the 4000+ batteries we run in the 10th buggies?). Run time is much more important than speed and I didn't want anything that takes AA batteries.

Anyone recommend anything ?

[rcracer]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=020

[racingdwarf]

I started the kids on a couple of tamiya 2wds last year errr...I think they were mad fighters.They could take the Impacts!!!!well, not scared of a bit of water and you don't have to spend hours getting them just right. Now they have got the hang of it.....a bit I have bought a couple of old losi xxcr's and they seam indistructable, I think any of the RC10's are hard as nails two.

You should be fine with a couple of stick packs from your local model shop think they are 1600s 1700s last for 10min + with a 540 motor, with a 5 year old you will want as little speed as poss

[RSharpy]

The new Mardave SE would be a good buy.

www.mardave.com

[Chris Green]

With micro's, the highest capacity cells I am aware of are 1500's. With a stock motor though, you could be looking at 15mins+ run time.

Not sure which car to go for, my Dad races a mini-t, and its quite fragile. Perhaps an FTX blaze might be a good option. for a five year old, it may be worth converting the cells to 5 cell to slow them down a bit.

HTH,

Chris.

[Chrislong]

Don't mean to be a party pooper, but in my opinion an RC car for a 5 year old needs to be as basic as can be.... id go for something from Argos, made by Nikko... something which will run an alkaline batteries and be unrebuildable. But make sure it is something which resembles a car, not a tank or a thing which flips over and keeps on going...

In theory this should be strong, reliable, slow and easy to use. If the interest continues (I hope it does) then come to a club, and start to think about ready-to-run competition buggies as an introduction at 8-10years old?

This is exactly what my parents did for me... and as the RC car was so cheap and slow, I was able to go and play on my own around the garden etc... make parking spaces out of shoes and chase the pets around.

Chris

[andys]

Heyup Chris.

I know your right, but all the ones i've seen (bought & taken back to the shops...) are rubbish. Tamyia used to do some 'Quickdrive' cars which were good, but they used AA's and were really a bit too quick. I'll keep looking....

[ashleyb4]

Could try a basic tamiya like a hornet or a desert gator or something with a std tamiya silver can that woudlbe fun stong and able to go off road to.

A

[Chrislong]

Originally Posted by andys

Heyup Chris.

I know your right, but all the ones i've seen (bought & taken back to the shops...) are rubbish. Tamyia used to do some 'Quickdrive' cars which were good, but they used AA's and were really a bit too quick. I'll keep looking....

Yeh, to be honest, im not suprised.. I do look at the RC cars in catalogues from time to time, and they're not about being a car, but about being something a bit nuts... a mobile waterpistol or whatever.. but there must be something, somewhere

Hows about something like a Tamiya Lunchbox, put an ESC in it and a 5cell pack of cells... that should be bulletproof and sensible..

(Was looking at the Tamiya Lunchbox today as it happens, its so tempting to get one..... LOL)

Chris

[twisty]

5yr old daughter = Tamiya Tamtech Gear Frog.
It`s a > pink < and white 2WD buggy,nice and slow for beginners(even jimmy) and really great run times,can be made faster very easy and loads of hopup parts.
See oOple review http://www.oople.com/rc/photos/reviewminifrog/.

[jimmy]

Yeah I'd definitely go along with that - the newer GB02 chassis isn't as girly but it's even stronger. It's a nice steady speed (especially outdoors) and the bouncy suspension makes it fun.

[RogerM]

I have a similar issue brewing as my girlfriends nephews become of a suitable age I want to get them into something interesting to do with their time. As they are only a couple of miles from Stotfold I am sure there would be enough RC activity to keep them interested.

My concern with the micro cars is are they any good on grass (typical park / lawn height) and gravel .... that is what most parks and people's gardens are surfaced with. With young kids it is important, I think, that they can play when THEY want to and not need taking miles to do so or else they get bored quickly!!!

Based on that it has to be a 1/10th buggy and as per the others mentioned above I'd go with one of the simple tamiya's ...... less stuff to go wrong (no dampers to leak for a start).

As for the age I'd say as soon as they are coordinated then that is the time to hand them a transmitter!!!

Look at Doom's lad Calium. Started with a Tamiya quick-drive at a very young age and now, only a couple of years on, is sometimes lapping quiker than the big man himself!

That is the great thing about RC, anybody can get involved. So long as you have enough fingers to hold and opperate a transmitter, no matter about age, sex, able bodied or otherwise you can get out there and have fun!

[josh_smaxx]

Or if you still want 1/10th the stick a 35T lathe motor in it

[sosidge]

Try a Kyosho Mini Inferno/ST.

I have one here that I have tried to give to my 17-month daughter. She likes to play with the transmitter and push the car but doesn't link the two yet

The nice thing about the Mini Inferno is that it is 4wd so pretty easy to drive, runs on AAs so is pretty slow out of the box and you don't have to take a charger with you everywhere, is a real RC car so you can get parts, but best of all the Kyosho wheel transmitter it comes with is pretty compact and ideal for smaller hands.

[VintageRacer]

I've bought my son (also 5) a Losi Micro for Christmas. Don't know if it was the right thing to get, but it was pretty cheap (£40). It will have an issue on grass but we have a large block paved drive at the end of a very quiet cul-de-sac so I don't think there will be a problem with somewhere to use it. Besides, I've got one for myself so I'll be out there as often as he is anyway!!

I thought this comment "and be unrebuildable" was odd. My thinking was, if I can re-build it, if it breaks it can be repaired rather than just thrown away. He was bought a cheap car by one of his mates for a previous birthday and a few months later it was dead and in the bin. Such a waste.

Over time he will aquire the skills to rebuild it himself (which will probably be sooner than I anticipate, kids pick up things much faster than I give them credit for sometimes.)

[neiloliver]

I think my son was six or 7 when i got his Tamiya Mad Bull.. but he hardly used it... it was too much ME wanting him to have it rather then HIM wanting it. I think the idea of the Tamiya QD is a good idea though, its ore like a toy car.. and at that ages, that is all they will want.

I think the lunchbox is too unpredicatble for that age froup, i know the mad bull was.

ps - have you seen the price of the Lunchbox in Argos?.. robin g1ts.... ..

N

[b4rs]

hi andy. well i am 15 and i started rc when i was around 7-8ish, i started with a really basic un modifyable buggy from a lhs. this lasted a while till i drove it into the local canal. it wasnt a known make but it was ace for me, anyway after that before i got my rc10b4 last xmas, i had a mega motors suberu imprezza 2wd car http://www.dealclick.co.uk/review/11...reza-WRC--.php , very fast for a begginner and great fun till i got to 14yearsold. id recommend one of these, RTR and charger, battery, remote all with it, ud get about 20-30 mins runtime wit this.

also if not then have a look at a RTR tt-01 tamiya car, theres some nice shells for them and you can modify them and get different batteries.

good luck anyway and hope your daughter gets into it!

[Lindsay]

Buy what you can afford, My recommendation is to buy a car that you can get spares for. Do not buy pre-built Argos type items.
My son started with a Tamiya Falcon 2 wd. 20 years later we are still Racing.
Good Luck with your choice, may see you at Race meeting in 5 years time.

Lindsay

[RSharpy]

I had my first car bought me for christmas when I was 3, a tamiya hornit with a 360 silver can motor. My brother was 6 and got a tamiya frog with a 540 motor.

Can see my dads thinking on that one, but a few years later at our local club it wasn't long before I was lapping him. HaHa!

Tamiya Hornet all the way!

[RobHatcliffe]

I was in the same position as you last Christmas AndyS. My son was 5 then (now 6), and wanted a buggy to be like his big brother who races a B4 at Bury Metro & NW regionals.

I gave it lots of thought, and eventually bought a Tamiya Super Fighter G for about £65.00. It comes with ESC and silver can motor. I dropped in some of my old radio gear and bought 2 packs of 1700 nicads for about £10.00 each. The kit was excellent, as you would expect from Tamiya and the car has proved to be tons of fun and very tough!!

He's thrashed it round the garden, in the park, on a gravel car park, and has even driven at Bury Metro after the racing has finished. His control has come on brilliantly - but the main thing is he absolutely loves it!!