Monster Truck Madness – Maxx Power

Thank you, Traxxas, for finally giving me the excuse to run this Simpsons joke headline.

So, in case you missed it, earlier this week Traxxas had a pretty big announcement- the Traxxas Maxx.

The Maxx – it’s weird seeing no prefix in front of that word, isn’t it? – is a 1/10 version of the gigantic X-Maxx, and many bashers are stoked.

You see, there is nothing quite like pulling trigger on an X-Maxx. It pretty much goes where you want it to go, and it can run over damn near anything. It’s also very tough.

However, the same size that makes it so much fun is also the biggest downside for many hobbyists. It costs a lot of dough by the time the truck hits the bash spot, well over $1k when batteries are brought into the fold. Then, assuming you do have that kind of cash, you will need a large area to let it eat. Speaking personally here, the space required to run it is why I’ve never owned one. I just don’t have the room.

That’s all changed, now.

The 1/10 Maxx is still very much monster in size, but it’s considerably smaller than it’s bigger brother. You can see the shot at the top of the page for size comparison. This is about perfect, IMO. Large enough to tackle a lot of terrain, but small enough to not need a football field.

1/10 bashing monster trucks are a very hotly contested market, and this pretty much immediately becomes the 500 lbs gorilla in the room. While we have to get one in-hand to render any kind of real verdict, I’d be shocked if this thing doesn’t kick a lot of ass. The X-Maxx is a really well engineered vehicle, and I see no reason to think this won’t be a big hit.

So while the actual vehicle performance is yet to be seen, let’s talk about the business of the announcement. It will be really interesting to see what happens to the E/T-Maxx and Revo line. Both have been around forever and while they’ve seen design tweaks over the years, all are getting long in the tooth. The Maxx sure seems like it will be the successor to these industry stalwarts.

In reading around online, I know that many folks in this space were upset that the announcement wasn’t something entirely new for the company, like a solid axle monster truck, but I’d think the Maxx probably makes for a much better chance that something like that can eventually happen.

The 1/10 monster truck market is where it’s at, and Traxxas now (seemingly) has their new flag-bearer in place. Hopefully that opens up room for more “niche” products to come down the pipeline next. One can hope so at least, right?

Look for hands-on impressions of the Maxx soon!