ASK Cubby – Your Intimate Questions, My Satirical Replies

“Traxxas TRX-4

What’s up, Jimmy D here again! So I went my local LHS this weekend and spent 30 minutes pouring over the Traxxas TRX-4. Display model only, as the big green sticker on the box says. I have a SCX10, had a Trailfinder 2, and custom built rigs that cost way too much and still wasn’t what I was looking for. Will Traxxas rule the scaling world- maybe. There is no doubt that there are Tamiya freaks- I am one, and huge Axial fans- I am one also. The HPI FJ looks cool, and since I own an actual real Toyota FJ, only the body appeals to me. When someone says “that company did their homework” nothing could be more true than Traxxas TRX-4. This thing is a beast. Adjustable wheel base by 36 mm, heavy duty c channel chassis, portal axles (it cost $200-$300 to convert the SCX10 to portals), an awesome body that weighs as much as an on road car, spare tire, sticky tires, captured wheel nuts, aluminum hexes, scale items that actually bolt to the body, plenty of suspension travel, dual battery tray to accept 1/16 scale batteries, light housings the bolt in, D rings on front and rear bumpers, 2 speed transmission, locking diff’s, metal gear servo, 3s capable, and the list goes on. I have not been impressed with an RC car since the original AX10 in 2008!

Now enter the TRX4- at $450-$480, is it the scale deal of this century? Yes. Initially seems like a huge chuck of change, but considering how much scale accessories are, i mean just body accessories alone, electronics. This a a great deal. Can anyone compete with this thing? What are your thoughts?

Jimmy D.”

Cubby- Yo hey there “Jimmy”, nice to see you write in again. I always enjoy your emails. You seem to be a hardcore rc’er, not the kind that just posts pics of their rc cars on FB.

Luckily, I have been able to get in MILES of driving with the Traxxas TRX-4. Our review just went live yesterday and yet we were back out again today putting in several hours with it. Pretty much everything that I think about the truck went into the review, but the more time we get in with it, the more we learn.

Can anything compete with the TRX-4? Different strokes for different folks. There will always be people where other brands are better suited to them because of their personal preferences, but like you mention in your email, Traxxas simply did not drop the ball on this one. From nose to tail, it is a solid truck. It is super durable. We’ve been treating ours like crap since the moment we tore it out of the box and it is still going strong. It performs amazingly well on trail drives for a RTR scaler and all those little scale details are well done. And while I am wrong most of the time when I speculate, I’ve been saying all along that the TRX-4 is going to be a giant hit. The biggest question in my mind right now is, will it be a hit the size of the Slash, or will be it T-Maxx kinda huge. For the sake of our industry, I hope it is the latter, but only time will tell.

Btw, because we’ve already gotten a few emails about this subject… Out of the box, the drag brake is set about right for typical bashers who will be doing a lot of driving in their backyard. A lot of buyers for the TRX-4 are going to be people that cruise their backyards a lot more than actually rock crawling with it, so the out of the box setting is, IMO, the right one. The drag brake is super easy to adjust, so by holding down the button on the speedo you can put it into crawler mode which gives the truck a lot more drag brake. In fact, enough drag brake that I don’t think even hardcore crawler guys will have to change out the speedo to get more.

As always, thanks for writing in and I can’t wait to see how this truck takes off.

“First Person View

Hi Cubby,

Big fan Cubby, keep on doing what you are doing and don’t listen to haters out there.

I have two simple questions. First, what is it like to drive FPV? Second, do you think FPV is going to become the standard way to drive rc cars any time in the near future?

I hope this letter makes the website. If it doesn’t, can you please reply anyways?

Tyler A.”

Cubby- Well hello there Tyler, thanks for the email.

FPV has been around for years now. We had a booth at iHobby in Chicago years ago where we drove a Traxxas Slash around via FPV for the entire weekend. It was a blast. Why was it fun? Well, because it was different, but mostly because of how immersive it was. Our camera was mounted to make it look like we were driving from the actual driver’s seat and it was truly a head trip. Driving an FPV car at 15 mph feels about like 50 when driven normally from the side. It felt like things came up really fast, and before hitting a wall, I would actually brace my body for impact, it was that immersive. If you are open to new technology, I absolutely recommend that you buy the gear and go FPV with your personal rc car right now. You might love it, or you might hate it, but if anything, you will learn a lot.

Will it become the new standard? All the old schoolers will be against it, but what it really boils down to, like everything in life, is money. If the big rc companies can make more money by having people embrace FPV, then that is where the marketing machines will push people. Personally, I am all for it as I really enjoy driving that way, but once again, my crystal ball sucks, so only time will tell if it becomes the new standard. So try it yourself. If you dig it, let your friends drive and see if they like it too.

Thanks for reading folks but that’s all I have for ya this week. Feel free to shoot me an email- thecubreportrc at gmail dot. And of course, if you letter hits the big time we’ll hook ya up with a genuine BSRC sticker pack!

YOUR Cub Reporter