Toy RC cars today are rubbish

tails_naf

I'm old enough now that my kids are into RC cars, and I'm constantly dismayed at the utter rubbish you get from a toy shop these days. Sure you can pay hundreds for a high end one, but the average one 30 years ago was way better. I had a fast traxx growing up and it wipes the floor with anything I've seen in the shops today. Or am I looking in the wrong places?...

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The rose coloured glasses can do that to you.

colm_mcm

The ones years ago had a cable between the car and the remote!

The young fella got a RC Mario Kart from Santa, it’s an amazing bit of kit for under €50.
He got a BMW i8 that’s incredibly detailed and costs around €40

This stuff is in s different league to what was around when I was a nipper

dxhound2005

tails_naf wrote: »

I'm old enough now that my kids are into RC cars, and I'm constantly dismayed at the utter rubbish you get from a toy shop these days. Sure you can pay hundreds for a high end one, but the average one 30 years ago was way better. I had a fast traxx growing up and it wipes the floor with anything I've seen in the shops today. Or am I looking in the wrong places?...

A good one 30 years ago may have been better. There is no such thing as an average one. How much would a good one cost back then?

EmmetSpiceland

They were always a bit crap. Especially if your mates got ones, a lot of them work on the same frequency so you can’t race them or “muck” about with them together.

Four of us got them one year and only one of them “operated” on a different frequency so wasn’t much fun.

The only good point was heading into my house on the “pretence” of having my lunch, running upstairs, watching for when one of the guy’s car was bombing along, and then sending it smack into the kerb so the front broke off. Just a bit of revenge owed for some previous “transgression” against new.

tails_naf

dxhound2005 wrote: »

A good one 30 years ago may have been better. There is no such thing as an average one. How much would a good one cost back then?

By average I mean go into a toy shop and you won't see a single decent one. My little fella got the modern equivalent of fast traxx called velocitrax at Christmas and it's like they are not even trying, and difficult to drive as the control are less sensitive. For example rather than moving the stick to gradually change speed you are either stopped or full speed, so controlling is next to impossible.

That said he still likes the one he has, so it's not all bad!

tails_naf

colm_mcm wrote: »

The ones years ago had a cable between the car and the remote!

The young fella got a RC Mario Kart from Santa, it’s an amazing bit of kit for under €50.
He got a BMW i8 that’s incredibly detailed and costs around €40

This stuff is in s different league to what was around when I was a nipper

Thanks, will look them up!

Wibbs

Remote control cars? La dee da. In my day you were lucky if you had a polished stone. Only the rich kids got toys, even then usually made by a maidservant of a weekend.

Toffee nosed kid in my day.



Kids these days don't know they're born... etc...

Wibbs

tails_naf wrote: »

By average I mean go into a toy shop and you won't see a single decent one. My little fella got the modern equivalent of fast traxx called velocitrax at Christmas and it's like they are not even trying, and difficult to drive as the control are less sensitive. For example rather than moving the stick to gradually change speed you are either stopped or full speed, so controlling is next to impossible.

I've noticed a very broad trend with the advent of excessive chinesium these days whether it be IT, or gadgets, tools or toys and that is stuff is a lot cheaper, which is good, but you tend to see more dirt cheap entry level stuff that works OK and high end stuff that's good, but pricey, the mid range type stuff that's a few quid extra, but better is less common.

The engineered to a cost aspect, which was always there, is now so much more obvious in many items we use and enjoy. In the past manufacturers often didn't have the tech to engineer down to a cost to nearly the same degree so a lot of things were over engineered and tended to last longer. Add in the constant consumerist conveyor belt that near guarantees obsolescence because that's how the market is(and is planned for with again far more accuracy) and here we are.

So unless you pay a bloody fortune upfront for very high end stuff*, damned near everything we buy and use today is engineered to be fleeting and unrepairable and seemingly cheaper, to be cast off for the next "update", until that goes into landfill. Rinse and repeat.






*even "luxury" items like men's watches, which are usually sold as "heirlooms" and "lifelong" items that can be repaired. Well they just get you another way with increasingly narrow options for repair and maintenance that is industry driven(and drives out the independents) and way more pricey than it was even a decade ago and multiples more expensive than 30 years ago.

colm_mcm

tails_naf wrote: »

Thanks, will look them up!

The BMW isn’t loads of fun, more an example of what you can get for relatively small money now. but the Mario Kart is a mental little thing, they go around 20kmph, same as the toy you had back in the day. They’re 4wd and left and right side are independent of each other

M5

Au contrair... If you stay clear of the ****e in the chain stores you can get a decent (and best of all rechargeable) rc toy for 60/70 euro that will last and not cost you the gbp of a small country to keep it in batteries. Also spare parts readily available online these days!

tails_naf

M5 wrote: »

Au contrair... If you stay clear of the ****e in the chain stores you can get a decent (and best of all rechargeable) rc toy for 60/70 euro that will last and not cost you the gbp of a small country to keep it in batteries. Also spare parts readily available online these days!

Any recommendation? Would love to get a decent car for that price

Tacitus Kilgore

tails_naf wrote: »

I'm old enough now that my kids are into RC cars, and I'm constantly dismayed at the utter rubbish you get from a toy shop these days. Sure you can pay hundreds for a high end one, but the average one 30 years ago was way better. I had a fast traxx growing up and it wipes the floor with anything I've seen in the shops today. Or am I looking in the wrong places?...

I had the super bandit from the same series, santy brought it, it was the greatest gift ever received.

Steering box broke after an impact after a month or so, I was torn up.

It still resides in the attic waiting for me to repair it.

Tacitus Kilgore

Tacitus Kilgore wrote: »

I had the super bandit from the same series, santy brought it, it was the greatest gift ever received.

Steering box broke after an impact after a month or so, I was torn up.

It still resides in the attic waiting for me to repair it.

I got tripple wheels off santa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfgAxPobdGw

You had to go full pelt then full reverse to "flip it".
Sure the plastic gears were stripped in about a week.
The battery only lasted 5mins !!

Tacitus Kilgore

BrownFinger wrote: »

I got tripple wheels off santa



You had to go full pelt then full reverse to "flip it".
Sure the plastic gears were stripped in about a week.
The battery only lasted 5mins !!

ah jesus the nostalgia,




one of the lads had the viper too, go around spraying the weakest little jet of water ever at you

Now we are talking!!!

Always wanted the tyco Typhoon 2 hovercraft .
I'd say it was pure ****e!

Edit

Heres a modern vid of a Tyco hovercraft in action
****e!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyzn5lWsG2k

o1s1n

BrownFinger wrote: »

Now we are talking!!!

Always wanted the tyco Typhoon 2 hovercraft .
I'd say it was pure ****e!

I'd completely forgotten about the Typhoon hovercraft, always wanted one of them too whenever the ad came on!

I had a really cool F1 RC car when I was 8 or 9, loved the thing. Think it was a Tamiya like this if I remember correctly;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamiya-1-10-Rc-F1-Ferrari-Nigel-Mansell-EXTRAS/253743304364?hash=item3b14478eac:g:DbEAAOSwLgNaffhv

Tacitus Kilgore

BrownFinger wrote: »

Now we are talking!!!

Always wanted the tyco Typhoon 2 hovercraft .
I'd say it was pure ****e!

I know the half-track was dirt for sure, couldn't steer it!


Back again to the OP I think the fast traxx was the one to have, neighbor had one and it never broke, batteries lasted longer than everyone elses, and trounced over everything else put to it.

Peatys

Nikko Dune Buggy.... with Turbo if you don't mind.

Jesus,
I think I had a Nikko one but it was corded.
I remember taking it apart...........

s7ryf3925pivug

The sphero RC toys are fun. Battery is a bit sh!t in the BB-9e, but great fun.

I'd just like an app or controller that was simplified to stop my 2 year old getting distracted by all the junk features.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxR1dVQsTIw

Tacitus Kilgore

Tacitus Kilgore wrote: »

I know the half-track was dirt for sure, couldn't steer it!


Back again to the OP I think the fast traxx was the one to have, neighbor had one and it never broke, batteries lasted longer than everyone elses, and trounced over everything else put to it.

I got the Half Traxx for xmas one year, on the first go outdoors I drove it straight into a kerb and broke the front wishbone.

The Fast Traxx was definitely the one to have, that thing was a beast. A few years later there was a model with 6 wheels and the same tank-style turning as the Fast Traxx. 6x6 something it was called. I remember that thing being unbreakable.

DelBoy Trotter

I had a Tyco Rebound back in the day

Tacitus Kilgore

DelBoy Trotter wrote: »

I had a Tyco Rebound back in the day

https://i.redd.it/mkv4wbuvraa21.jpg

Another beast of a thing :cool:

DelBoy Trotter

DelBoy Trotter wrote: »

I had a Tyco Rebound back in the day
https://i.redd.it/mkv4wbuvraa21.jpg

I didn't have that one but I remember the ads. You can see from the pic it's another one with the tank-steering. That's why those Tycos were so tough, they didn't have to have steering arms and servos etc.

tails_naf

BrownFinger wrote: »

Now we are talking!!!

Always wanted the tyco Typhoon 2 hovercraft .
I'd say it was pure ****e!

Edit

Heres a modern vid of a Tyco hovercraft in action
****e!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyzn5lWsG2k

I had that too, loved it. Battery was ****e, but it floated on air, what more could you ask for. Parents were browned off bringing me to every lake or calm bit of water around so I could take it out for a spin!!

jimgoose

colm_mcm wrote: »

The ones years ago had a cable between the car and the remote!

The young fella got a RC Mario Kart from Santa, it’s an amazing bit of kit for under €50.
He got a BMW i8 that’s incredibly detailed and costs around €40

This stuff is in s different league to what was around when I was a nipper

That is true. You can even pick up yokes in Debenhams around Christmas for mere tenners that would've had my eyes out on stalks and I a Gosling.

jimgoose

Tacitus Kilgore wrote: »

Another beast of a thing :cool:

cajonlardo

Bought my son a Fisher Price cheapish remote control car about 23 years ago.
It was tough as hell, fast, agile and batteries lasted long enough for him (me) to get great fun.

We had an evergreen tree cut into a spiral in the garden. We put that car on the bottom of the spiral and sure enough it ran all the way to the top of the tree

Few years later he got a sophisticated expensive yoke but the batteries only lasted pissing time and it gave up the ghost.

BTW, that Fisher price went on to a younger son and then to a nephew and believe it or not it wore all the way through its tyres and was still running

Skylinehead

jimgoose wrote: »

Transmission will break after 30 feet :pac: