Pro Boat Stealthwake 23 Review
Pro Boat made waves a couple of months ago by announcing the Stealthwake 23. It had sharp looks, a deep-v design, and most importantly, a very reasonable price point. When we first saw the Stealthwake, it actually reminded us of another Horizon product, the ECX Ruckus. Both are affordably priced and aimed right at the weekend basher crowd. What do we think of the Stealthwake? Read on to find out…
Links-
Manufacturer- Pro Boat RC
Direct Link- Stealthwake 23
Unboxing- BSRC Unboxes the Stealthwake
Specs-
Length- 23″
Beam- 7.12″
Motor- 550 brushed water cooled
Waterproof electronics- Yes
Boat Stand- Yes
ESC- 60 amp w/ LiPo cut-off and reverse
Hull- ABS plastic, deep-v
Radio- ECX13002 2.4GHz
Battery- 6 cell 2400mAh NiMH w/ charger
Pro- Plastic 1.6 × 2.5″
Speed (measured by BSRC on 2S LiPo)- 22 mph
Runtime (measured by BSRC on stock NiMH)- 7.5 minutes
Price- $159
Review Notes-
All of our test crew was digging the look of the Stealthwake. It comes with a matte orange paint job and sharp looking decals.
How did the Stealthwake drive? To boil it down, really well. We didn’t have to make a bunch of adjustments or anything, it just drove really well out of the box. It easily kept its nose above plane and plowed through small waves/wakes without a problem. Turning was predictable, steady during wide arches, yet could pivot on a dime when needed.
Because the stock NiMH is mounted on the left side of the boat, the boat leans significantly to the left at a standstill. This didn’t seem to hamper the boat much at speed, but was noticeable at slower speeds.
The stock water cooled 550 put out better power than we expected on the stock NiMH. No, it isn’t crazy fast, but it has more than enough rip to keep you interested, and to create a crowd of curious on-lookers. However, dropping in a 2S Kinexsis LiPo really did up the fun factor. On the Kinexsis the Stealthwake was instantly quicker from a dead stop, with a nice increase in top speed.
The stock servo worked well for us, it had both enough speed and torque that none of testers complained about it.
We found very reasonable temps on both the motor and ESC, even on really hot days. The battery definitely got warm, but not insanely so.
Many of you will remember the included radio from various other ECX and Horizon products. We had no issues with the transmitter, it had enough range for our normal driving and we experienced no glitching with it.
Our noob driver got along well with both the power and handling of the Stealthwake. It wasn’t too much power, or too little, and the hull did a great job of being easy to drive for out noob. Our old school boat expert was impressed with the handling, but wanted just a tad bit more yank under the hood.
Conclusion- Our test unit performed well and had zero issues. Compared to other boats on the market in its price range, the Stealthwake 23 Deep-V was easy to drive and handled the worst our local lake could throw at it. Overall we were very impressed, the Stealthwake is a blast to drive and we can highly recommend it to you.
