Hello all!  

Well, it's not just me. Here is another review of the Traxxas rally, the KB version, that pretty much says it all, and the video shows it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvHpn9wuQLI$feature=relmfu

The commenter states he doesn't have much drift experience, but I do, and the performance of the rally you see is pretty much as good as I was able to get it to do.  
What burns me is the amount of slick marketing the rally gets, when Traxxas (which makes some of the best OFF-ROAD trucks in the business) hasn't spent ANY time or effort to engineer a quality ON-ROAD car (their 4-Tecs don't count, as those are as bad as they come for on-road) in years. This was the best they could do. And they failed. I'm not surprised. Using a re-hash of the mini E-Revo wasn't the smartest move. Maybe for sales, but not for performance.

I gave thought to getting one of these, to see if they could be made to work on-road, but the commenter pretty much cancels out that idea, with his take on the chassis set up, that can't be modified for better balance, because the motor is situated where it is, and the use of one battery unbalances it further. Two batteries will introduce so much power (which the VXL puts out in raw, unrefined spades) that the rally would well nigh be impossible to control. Add to that the fact that the VXL cannot be programmed, and you have the recipe for a handful of broken parts.

Traxxas also made it impossible to get actual 1/10 scale wheels to fit, as they chose to mount what are -0 offsets. Regular "0" offset wheels are NOT the same. soooo, you are stuck with what comes with the car, and cannot do much to improve it. Very sad.

I would warn anyone considering getting one, to consider a bonafide 1/10th scale chassis, as they will be easier to mod, have better aftermarket support, and be easier to drive.

EDIT: I have two Associated 1/18th scalers, one for rally, and one for drift, and both work better than the Traxxas rally.

Here's a vid on what the Traxxas rally is good at!  



Check out 1:58. !!!LOL!!

I think we have found a good use!!!  

I guess the vid can't be brought up. I tried, but you can still see it at Youtube, just type in "will it blend traxxas gymkhana."

You will see a window with KB and a guy in a white lab coat-that's the one!  

Remember.....1:58!!  

Yeah, the rally never appealed to me in any way.. Its WAY too expensive for a 1/16 vehicle.. 300$ right?
For 300$, you could get a Sprint 2 Flux.. I don't know a lot about drifting, but the Sprint 2 Flux probably drifts better than KB rally!
But why would Traxxas build a vehicle which can't go on-road or off-road? It seems to do neither of them properly!

I'm not sure, and I don't profess to know the reasons, but to me, it was about profit, and nothing more. Ken Block is a celebrity here, within the Rally community, and even outside of it, to a certain degree, because of marketing and slick advertising. Now, he IS one of the best rally drivers to come along in a good long while, and Traxxas using his name to sell their product is a smart one, but the product just doesn't meet the hype.
Lots of products suffer from the same thing, but Traxxas' attempt to sell to KIDS, something that won't even do half of what it should do, as the advertising suggests, is tantamount to criminal behavior. In America, we call that "grifting."

Now don't get me wrong....Traxxas makes FANTASTIC off-road trucks! FANTASTIC! But their attempts at on-road over the years has been abysmal, at best. The 3.3 Nitro 4-Tec and Jato are prime examples. Even the electric 4-Tec was a dog. They couldn't even be bothered to engineer a new chassis for the rally. Just slap a flashy body on a 1/16th scale E-Revo, bolt on green wheels (which are non-industry standard, BTW, because they are -0 offset) and call it good.

I have posted this at two other forums, and am getting some responses that mirror my own sentiments, like yours. At one, I dare not post it in the "mini/micro" forum, because I would probably be hung in effigy (or for real! ), burned at the stake, have my eyes poked out and fingernails pulled, for my opinions.

All that aside, I think the last vid, with KB doing the honors with the blender, was a kind of hint to what he really thinks about it!

Surprisingly,this is the first bad review I have read about it.But yeah,an off road chassis cannot be modded to make an on-road chassis.Shame that such a thing should be done by traxxs.They need to do what they do best,off-road and come out with a 1/8 scale buggy from scratch.It should have ZERO parts compatibility with their existing platforms.But who listens to us?

I feel the rally was a marketing gimmick like the monster jam trucks.They need to get serious now

Yup..
Frankly, I havn't seen any good NEW land vehicles from Traxxas after the Slash 4x4 and Mini Revo..
That 1/8 scale buggy sounds AWESOME! But, it could share a chassis with the E-Revo..

I'm afraid they are succumbing to the "fast-cash" mantra that has infected this country. I'm seeing it everywhere, except certain foreign companies. I'm afraid Losi has, also. Their micro stuff is the worst they have ever released, the electronics go kaput by just breathing on them. Traxxas is having some trouble, there, as well. Their mini-VXL's are dropping like flies.
Which is odd, because the 1/10th and 1/8th scale stuff is still quality, but it seems the smaller you go, the worse it is. Except Associated. Associated's entire line is STILL quality.

Yah, the magazines here are full of "Oh, the rally is this, The rally is that." The rally is only one thing, and that is C-R-A-P. I never thought it would bother me as much as now, but I'm really getting tired of companies trying to deceive people with slick advertising, and magazines being their willing accomplices.
I wrote this thread to warn all here, to watch out for stuff like this, because it is being pushed in America, and I just know they will export it, thinking all y'all are dumb enough to buy into the hype, too.

BE VERY CAREFUL! Not all forums will have what I wrote here! Some will even have threads where they heap praise about things that are a bonafide waste of money and time.  If you have to, grill someone about what it is you intend to purchase, and if you don't get an answer to your satisfaction, it probably isn't any good.  NO product is perfect, so you should be able to see whether the truth is being told or not, because magazines will NOT tell you!
I can answer questions about on-road, but even I don't know everything, so you must be careful! The RC market is changing, and not for the better!

Scary picture then.....the rally does seem to have a serious identity crisis.Traxxas should step their game up and do it soon.If they do,they can kill losi too.I too have read about their mini line being a load of $hit.

I can't get the video even after searching.This is what I got.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=will+it+blend+traxxas+gymkhana&aq=f

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AyoddDCT_s&feature=related

thanks

SICK!!!

Did you see how little of what it supposedly does? Then a crash? All of it on a treated concrete floor.

Gotta admit, though, the blender was satisfying! 

Here's a few I got off Youtube, on the VXL3 problems.

Mind you, one of them is from pure operator error, but the others are from the "If fast is good, faster is better" train of thought that permeates the thinking of anyone who buys Traxxas:





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrNbJ0XUAgY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QekUj72Rqu0&feature=related

And why is it, it's only Traxxas, you may ask, but it isn't. These problems with other brands stem from the same aforementioned attitude that Traxxas themselves, spawned, especially in America. I alsways wondered why I never saw many Traxxas models at a race, except in the monster truck class, which no longer exists. Traxxas doesn't now hold the top spot in numbers for SC racing. Associated does, with their SC10.
And Traxxas is nowhere to be found in on-road, and is doing it's best, I hear now, from other on-roaders, to kill the on-road segment of RC. They feel that Traxxas' rally is an attempt to draw on-roaders to off-road. Now, I don't know how true that is, but if so, the rally is a pretty lousy attempt.

I came to on-road, FROM off-road, and will never go back, but as you can see, Traxxas offerings are going the way of Novak. Using the cheapest components that can be found, and charging top dollar for it, using name recognition to boost sales. I wonder how long it will be, before it affects off-road?

whoa whoa....lets slow down.You're saying traxxas is trying to get more guys into offroad from onroad?And lets be clear about one thing,Traxxas's cars are not meant to be raced all out.The SC10 is a purpose built racer.But I agree with a few issues you have pointed out.Still,Traxxas has the BEST RTR package anywhere.The rally was really bad and lets hope its the last one.

Traxxas should come out with a car to COMPETE with the others.But with their designer who left(Don't remember his name)brought out the Revo and slash 4x4 platform.I believe these 2 are the best platforms that traxxas have.They should use these to advance more.Not just slap a new body and give it a new name.

I guess RTR elecs are not good most of the times.(unless they are rebadged castle ESCs and motors).Traxxas does seem to have problems with their VXL ESCs but their motors are very good.My slash's elecs are going strong.

I believe the user problem is in vid3 with some stupid kid believing he can run the VXL on 14.4V.But yeah,people do get crazy with speed.A fast car is not necessarily the fast car on a track.

Oh, hey, don't get me wrong.....Traxxas DOES make good stuff, mostly in their 1/10th and 1/8th (loosely speaking) scale line. Their original Velineon is, for the most part, the simplest BL system out there, with the highest power-to-weight ratio of any other system. That it can't be programmmed is it's one biggest drawback, but it was released in a time when the only system that was adjustable, was Castle's. I still have an original Velineon system, left over from my off-road days, and it still works, though because of it's power delivery, has no real application for what I do.

I put up the vids to show that the MINI VXL is a whole different thing, and is indicative of what I was saying earlier....cheap components in their electronics, that are not just prone, but guaranteed to fail.

The Slash IS meant to race, and is, all over America, right now. With the preponderance of aftermarket parts for it, it is still competitive, but for how long, no one knows, because other competing companies are coming out with designs that supersede the original Slash. HPI's and Associated's offerings are only two. And Associated has it's own 4X4 SC (belt-driven, and a nice one it is)now.

Since on-road is "dying," (it has slowly been reducing the number of races, and were it not for drift, most tracks would be closed, here), the number of drivers who don't want to give up driving have been returning to off-road (as most of us began there), so there is my assertion that Traxxas is trying to "hurry" them to do so, by releasing the rally, to bridge the transition.

The fact that it is NOT dying in other parts of the world means that it will never completely die, but to be fair, even Losi has released cars to do as Traxxas is doing, and they're no better than the Traxxas examples.
I guess I'm a purist, because I have never accepted the quasi-scale offerings being put out, as of late. Quality is of great concern, and should be, considering the cost of the hobby, and my warnings are a "head's up" to all, so no one gets burned, like the kids in the vids show.

ahh....Now that you mention the mini vxl(I guess its called the VXL-3M.Am I right?),it does seem to have a lot of problems.But traxxas should step their game up.


On the AE SC10 4x4,why did it get a belt drive???It should have had a shaft drive.Belt drive will be destroyed in dirt.Its fine for on-road but not off-road.I think durability will be a big issue.

The basic trend of the market is to make bad stuff on purpose so that you break it and buy it.I remember my brother opening his DVR(Archos)to find that the HDD's vent for heat was closed by tape.It works during the warranty period but once its outta warranty,its probably going to go kaput.And to think this is done by a good company like Archos!!!

Associated seems to be doing that a lot nowadays (Even with the RC18T2/B2).. I'm not sure, but its probably because Belt is more forgiving while trying out gear ratios.. Could be some other reason too.. Even Losi's XXX-B (I'm not sure about the name) and one of the Tamiya buggy's have belts..

Associated's cars simply aren't meant to be bashed, unless its an MGT.. They are PURE BREAD race cars.. Don't get me wrong, you could bash them a little, but what's the point of taking a car like the B44 or SC10 bashing?

Traxxas, on the other hand, are meant to be bashed, as well as raced.. Now, they can't get the best of both worlds..

@Gandhar, the VXL3M (I think) was MEANT to go 14.4v.. 2x7.2v NiMH with a series connector.. It was to get the Revo to 50+MPH..
Hell, people have put a 4s in there! But, that was using an external BEC..

@Gokemidoro
The on-road class simply isn't here because of lack of tracks! As of now, there isn't even 1 on-road track in India! As soon as they open one, I'm getting myself an on road!

Divyam,all the velineon ESCs are rated for 3s max.Thats 12.6V.Weird.Anything more than 3s on that is homicide.3s is suicide.2s is sick.

Belt drives suck on dirt tracks.No idea why Tamiya,AE,Losi have even tried it.

Traxxas as you rightly said balances the two well but the rally has no idea what it should be doing.off-road or on-road.

Good discussion going!!

Divyam,  the SC104X4's belts are fully enclosed a la Losi's XXX. In fact, the chassis bears a resemblance to their SC18, just in larger scale. It also brought back the "clicker" front one-way, too. From what I'm seeing so far, it will decimate the competition, because it corners better than anything else out there.

iamahuman,  The VXL3s was marketed with the parallel connector in mind, so the kid in the third vid screwed up. He got the series connector, thinking it would "boost" his power. Well, it did, it did so much, he fried it. Why Traxxas won't delineate the connectors for whatever model is another example of bad marketing, since they make both types of connectors.
I had this discussion with a friend some time back, and we agreed that this type of thing would happen, and look at it now.

Has no one heard anything about the on-road track that was supposed to be going up in Bangalore? What happened to that?

I don't know about Bangalore but Chennai may be getting one.. Lucky guys in Chennai   
Yeah, I read about the one way clicker... Dontn know how it works or what it does though..

Yes, the SC18 chassis has enclosed The belt drive.. It's completely sealed..

But then it's wrong on Traxxas' side to advertise 50+ mph with the series connector.. That's not fair to the consumers! At least did they replace the fried ESC?

http://traxxas.com/products/models/electric/7107_7105erevo116
If you scroll down, you' ll see an image which CLEARLY states that the car will hit 50 mph with extra 7.2v batt. And optional SERIES connector..

The clicker is like the front one-way on on-road cars, except instead of it being the bearing, it's a two-plate design, where the plates are shaped like the vanes on a jet engine. If you have one spinning, and the other contacts it, but does not press into it, it will still allow the second plate to spin, with a "clicking" sound, as the vanes of both plates move against each other. Now, the second plate will still spin, or "freewheel", in one direction, but won't in the other. Obviously, if you lock both plates down, they become one unit, and will spin in both directions the same, until they are loosened again. What the clicker allows is the ability to drive out of corners with both front wheels, instead of relying on diff action, which only drives one wheel, making powering out of corners more efficient.
The clicker was popular some years ago, Losi had a couple of models, I think, that had it. It died out (no one can really explain why) in off-road, but has always been around, in on-road, as the one-way bearing.
The perceived (I say perceived, because I never saw it as a detriment) downside to the one-way or clicker is you do not have reverse or brakes in the front wheels. If you depend on brakes, you do not need the clicker. It's a good thing many electronics companies have adjustable ESC's, because a little drag brake dialed in will help a lot.
The clicker and one-way are a boon to aggro drivers (like me), but if one is not an aggressive driver, it takes some getting used to, because it will be VERY easy to get into trouble with it. The tendency is to drive too fast, without taking into account just how important having front brakes is, and the ability of some to be able to adjust to not having any.

On Traxxas.....That's the "more speed" mantra Traxxas markets, and it's all BS. They make it seem as though you never have to actually TURN the thing!   And Traxxas is now CHARGING to replace fried ESC's! Whether it's the companies' fault, or the operator's. THAT is how many ESC's that have fried since the mini VXL has been released. It's now cutting into the profit margin (because of crappy components), so they are forced to charge.    Just like Novak.
Now, if they just emphasized use of the PARALLEL connector, the Mah rating bumps up, not the voltage, and the car would still scream (why, is anyone's guess, it would still be uncontrollable), and no fried ESC's.

But that's Traxxas for you. They should get into RC drag racing. It's all most of their line is good for, anyway.