Evan’s 5 Minutes…on HPI Savage XS Flux Day!
“On vehicle for delivery.” The most beautiful words anyone can see on a UPS tracking status screen, especially when on that truck is my HPI Savage Flux XS!!! Sure, I was hoping to get it a little sooner than some of the other guys out there, but the universe often works against us here at Big Squid. Regardless, I’m totally stoked to get my hands on this beast and see if it lives up to all the hype I’ve generated for it. We will definitively do an unboxing so stay tuned for that!
It’s been a crazy week in RC! Losi gave us the first look at their new 5ive T 1/5 Scale Desert Truck, which was a total shocker! Everyone has been begging for a mainstream 1/5 scale 4×4, but Losi winning that race was one I didn’t see coming at all. Personally, the desert truck styling doesn’t really rev my engine, but it’s nice to see someone else moving into the 1/5 scale market. Brian and I were both pretty excited about it until we realized the price tag was higher than both of our first cars…real cars! 1/5 scale is expensive stuff, but the price to awesome factor has usually been worth it. How will the Losi stack up? Time will tell.
A couple way less cool websites have mentioned that HPI has another new truck planned in the 5th scale 4×4 variety and could be announcing it soon. HPI isn’t saying anything to us, but that’s not exactly surprising. Do you sense some frustration there? Yes you do.
I unboxed the HPI E10 Drift Monster/Falken Ford Mustang earlier this week. I was pretty stoked to get it, but as I said before the universe works against BSRC, so it has rained here for three days straight, making my drive time with it…basically non-existent. I do have a couple initial impressions, however. I’m going to get the negatives out of the way first. The battery tray/area sucks. I know there are logical reasons for the ribs in the battery tray, but it makes it hard to fit almost any large mAh pack I have in it. I realize that sounds selfish, but I’m guessing others would have the same issue who aren’t setup with tons of on-road racing fitted batteries. The ESC also comes pre-configured for lipo batteries, yet it ships with a NiMH. That was a bit puzzling to me, but I can just chalk that up to most everyone using lipo, so HPI was ready for that. There is a lot of phillips headed hardware…boo! Lastly, out of the box the pinion gear was not even TOUCHING the spur gear. In fact, the motor was so loose that it almost fell out when I took it out of the box. Sure, an easy fix, but just ridiculous. All right, let’s look at some of the positives! First, this thing look flippin’ awesome! Looking at this thing from across the room, it looks like the real thing. HPI shipped a new radio for their RTRs and it is WAY better than the one that came with the HPI Firestorm Flux. Lastly, the few moments of drive time I got with it were just awesome. I was able to catch a bit of speed in my basement, and drift at a 45 degree angle all the way under my pool table. IT…WAS…AWESOME!!! I’m looking forward to getting out and actually testing this thing and getting a review together, but the weather needs to dry up first. Even though I listed a couple negatives, I’m still pretty confident that HPI will deliver a pretty kick butt vehicle once I drive it.
And now for a couple of miscellaneous notes… I’ve gotten a little more time in with our Axial Wraith and think I may have the suspension figured out. I’ve got a little more testing to do with some new shock oils, but I think I can give a couple suggestions to really help this thing out of the box. As soon as I get some more runtime, I’ll be sure to let you know. Short Course Shootout! Talk about some surprising test results there! If you haven’t read it, make sure you hit the link and check it out.
That’s it for now folks… I’m refreshing my UPS status like a mad man waiting not-so-patiently for my XS. As soon as that status shows delivered I’m going to dash out of here faster than the time Cubby tried to set my chair on fire. BASH HEAVY!
