Everybody’s Scalin’ – More Discussion On the ECX Barrage

Last week we posted our review of the 1/12 ECX Barrage Crawler, and I’m happy that we did so I can finally talk more in depth on the crawl-ability of the little truck.

One of my favorite things in the hobby is when something completely surprises me, and such was the case with the Barrage.

Sure, it looks like a decent enough truck, but it didn’t really look that special when I first laid eyes on it. I’m not really huge on small scale vehicles either, given that they are typically gimmicky and limited to indoor use.

The Barrage is no gimmick. In fact, it’s one hell of a truck and makes for a fantastic travel companion.

I’ve been using it as a travel crawler. I keep it in my trunk with the radio and included NIMH battery/wall charger. It uses up hardly any space and makes for a great “get 5 minutes in on my lunch break” type of r/c vehicle. I’ve used it at the park with my kids, on an aforementioned lunch break and even messed around with it while my wife was in a store shopping.

In addition to extreme portability, it’s a really capable little vehicle. The thing weighs nothing and has good tires, so it can climb like a sonuva gun and hit off-camber spots with no modifications. The 1/12 size is really helped by the 1.9 tires. This allows it to punch way over its weight class and react similar to how a 2.2 vehicle does thanks to the ratio of tire versus chassis.

The waterproofing on the box appears to be very accurate as well as I dunked it good several times with cold Missouri River over-flow and melted ice and it kept on truckin’.

It doesn’t have the extreme customization options that a 1/10 Vaterra, RC4WD or Axial would, but it also is less than half the price of many of those. It’s perfect for the crawling noob who wants to try it out, and also for the experienced hobbyist who is looking for a fun, low cost/maintenance second vehicle to compliment their 1/10 crawler.

I’ve yet to do it, but I plan on putting a set of Pro-Line tires on it and will report back to see how that changes things up. I’ll probably also add a small lipo battery as well, but that will probably be it for hop-ups. It’s a great no-fuss vehicle and for me that’s sort of the beauty of it.

People always ask us – “What’s a good crawler to start out with?” Until something comes along in the sub-200 dollar price range that can out-crawl this little guy with no mods needed, the Barrage is my best answer.