Traxxas RTR 1/16 E-Revo VXL 4WD 2.4GHz with Battery and Charger Review
If you have ever played with RC cars or buggies, then you would recall just how exciting it was when you first fired it up and got it rolling with the first push of the joystick. Now let me share with you a little hands-on experience with the Traxxas RTR 1/16 E-Revo VXL 4WD 2.4GHz with Battery and Charger.
This hot-looking RC car caught my attention while browsing my neighborhood hobby store. Impressed by its good-looking, sporty colors of black with red and white highlights, the Traxxas RTR 1/16 E-Revo VXL looks very enticing in a 1/16-th sized model. With sturdy-looking tires to match its fiery looks, I decided to give this one a plunge, deciding that this battery-operated model did seem somewhat cleaner and more convenient than some of the other nitro-powered models on sale. So off I went, buying this RC car in its bright packaging, all geared up to give it a spin.
Sure enough, this is one RC car that is a blazing little toy of high tech. Though its 1/16 scale measuring just 14 inches long might seem somewhat miniature at first glance, donít be deceived by its little size. Although half the size of its bigger brother the 1/10-scale E-Revo, this little RC raced right up to a scorching 30+ mph right out of the box when I fired it up. It was a sheer joy seeing this sporty RC running on its wheels at such a speed, seemingly tearing up dust and the road it was running on outdoors, ever light and bouncy with its Revo suspension technology. Then, after playing with it for a while, the battery went flat in just over 10 minutes.
So being the ever-eager hobbyist who tends to play with toys first before reading the instructions and specs, I decided to finally do my homework and check out the details. So it turns out that the 1.2 amp charger that comes with it charges up the 1200mAh battery in about 1 hour, and provides you with just about 10-12 minutes of fun racing time. That seemed a tad too short for my liking, so off I went back to the hobby store to purchase another battery. Yes, the best part with this RC is that you get to add on a second 6-cell 7.2V 1200mAH battery in a series connection using the series adapter to ramp up the maximum speed all the way up to 50+ mph. If you use the parallel adapter instead, you will literally double the battery life. So testing this out, I managed to run the 1/16 E-Revo VXL for a full 24 minutes before it went flat. Still ever eager to extend battery life even further, I did a little research and found that each 100mAh of battery gives you about 1 minute of run time. So the highest capacity battery I could get hold of was the 1600mAh NiMH battery, so I bought a pair of these, and sure enough, the little beast ran for a full half hour.
A note of caution, the 50+ mph speed is really fast, so be sure you are just as alert with the controls. A key feature you would note with this RC car is the 2.4GHz radio system, which allows you to input your own throttle and steering settings. A really fancy thing indeed, but most importantly, the controls were really slick and responsive.
So to wrap up our review of the Traxxas RTR 1/16 E-Revo VXL 4WD 2.4GHz with Battery and Charger, this 4WD RC car really did impress, and Iím sure it would be the same for you too provided you take proper care of it by racing it correctly and not ramming it into anything hard. Save your time by buying an additional battery upfront for double the battery life, and this is one small, mean RC car that really proves that pure racing fun does come in smaller sizes too.
