Man those HBX RCs are awesome, especially with a couple upgrades like oil shocks. The brushless version is a beast. Super affordable and durable. Good entryway for people to get into the hobby without a bad taste
Yeah the 16889A pro is the one I used to recommend to everyone back in the day. This particular model is not a good representation of their brand unfortunately it is the most popular one on Amazon Prime so it was the one I had to pick.
I have the Haiboxing 18859a brushless version and I freaking love it. It's tough and pretty dang quick! Comes with metal gears, oil filled shocks, and a better radio over the brushed one. I got it January of 2023 and I believe at the time it was about $110 with a coupon. I brought it out to my local rc groups end of season bbq and everyone was crazy impressed with it. I have plenty of big name brands and all different scales but man does that little thing put a big smile on my face!
A lot of ppl buy this simply because of its price. Yes, for most ppl $150 for Mini-B or Fury 550 Mega is a lot. And $200 for 2wd Rustler is crazy expensive. Thats the kind of economy we live in today.
For sure I just think that for most people spending a little extra money will get them a much better experience. Obviously given the reviews the people who are buying these are happy with them and as others have pointed out these things are often on sale. They weren't when I bought them but they often are.
@@DoRC I would have done anything to get anywhere near this quality of RC cars when I was a wee kid. I remember having WIRED remotely controlled cars that could only go forward and turn left in reverse.
@@n00b247 Nah I think he's right, 95% of the people buying these don't know any better. Even being on a budget id rather buy a used hobby grade rc off marketplace than any of these cheaper options that market themselves as hobby grade. I am curious to test out a rlaarlo though.
When I see rc's like this i think back at what I used to think was an awesome rc. Back then Sears had the Lobo 1 and Lobo 2. Tyco had all their rc's. And Radio Shack had some awesome ones. I look at what we expect these days and we are spoiled.
it's incredible. I look back on the cars my parents spend sooo much money on in the early 90s and how crazy durable and well built the cars are now it's just amazing.
@LyleH-13 Yeah! I do extreme bashing. Very involved in the forums. And so many people complain about durability. And sometimes I wish I could bring them out to my bash sessions and have them stand next to where the rig lands. It shakes the earth. It's a true testament to modern engineering and manufacturing that these things stay together. I remember getting a Lamborghini from Radio Shack. I remember it being "so fast". It probably did 15 mph. 😆 🤣
@edwinlomonacofoolsend totally. I remember back in the days of the T-Maxx If you landed a jump poorly you were guaranteed to break something and even if you landed it perfectly you still might break something
I think most Americans have Phillips head screw divers and maybe some Allen wrenches, but not 1.5mm hex drivers. It makes sense to use Phillips for mass marketed products in America... not sure about the rest of the world though. We use Phillips for most stuff and almost every home has them. I prefer hex, but I bought all the tools for RC cars and know the benefits of hex, most people don't.
Yes and no. Most people will have a Philips screwdriver but the way these are designed you need to have a fairly specialized one for some of the screws. It needs to be thin enough to fit down in the hole but still have the right size bit. Phillips screws are also far more likely to strip than hex screws are. They're inherent design causes a camming action which tries to drive the bit out of the head of the screw.
I got that hyper go as my first rc can back in the hobby I previously had a brushed ftx vantage about 5 years ago and man them hyper go they sure do go
After seeing some of the quality issues in this video, it's good to know that sticking to a main brand means you're less-likely to get burned. Even a Losi Micro-B feels like a better choice than these bigger rigs, despite the comparative increase in cost. The quality is just so much better for mainline brands.
Yeah inconsistency I think is one of the biggest problems with these brands. Although given the reviews it seems like most people are happy with their purchase so maybe I'm just too picky
Dude, you are so fun to watch! I for one am very happy this kind of stuff is available to get people in the hobby, and yes these are people who don't know and are looking to play
Yeah and again based on the reviews obviously people are happy with their purchases. They might not be the thing I would want but plenty of people are buying these and plenty of people are liking them.
The hbx was my first rc as an adult and its been great for my kid to learn on. The only thing we upgraded was the shocks. We have the 2996a and 2997a now for our larger bashers but the 18859e is still fun to take to a skate park because it is so light it takes hits much better
I've been into RC for a loooooong time, I've got loads of large/expensive rigs, and i've got two Hyper Go's, the clone infraction, and the buggy. both run great, support 3s, are super tough, and are little rockets on 11 volts.
They are fast. My problem with the little hyper goes on big power is that they don't handle very well and I have a hard time controlling them. The infraction has a gyro which helps a lot but it doesn't really fix the problem
I've been into this hobby since 1987, The MJX are decent monu for what they are, however, with a steel differential gear, and A Dumbo X6FG /Gyro Receiver, it's definitely 100% Better, but for most introductory RC cars for beginners, that won't be an option.
Awesome Video. I had the 1st Version of this car back in 2017. Haiboxing Rampage. 1/18 brushed but no metal nothing but susp springs. Everything was plastic.
I have the mjx 16208 version of the one you have here and it's bee an awesome little basher. It's very durable and fast plus parts are easily available in the uk. I did have to upgrade all the drive train to steal though after around 20 2s packs. It's great
Great video! I like the comparison of the two. The Hyper Go could be a great starting point for a kid getting into the hobby, and having a good assortment of spare parts to learn how to tear down and repair. My 5 year old bashes around her Losi Mini-T, but I think I am going to get her into the Typhon Grom for her next RC... and I think me one too 😅.
I think the Groms make a nearly perfect first RC car as long as you've got the right terrain to run them on. They are fairly cheap and about as simple of a design as you can get for a four-wheel drive RC car.
Great comparison & I think you gave Solid advice. If I was in the market for a mini it would definitely be the Typhon Grom with some big old truck tires 🛞
I got the hbx 2 years ago when it was on sale for like 35usd. Eventually upgraded it to brushless, changed the shocks and the only issues I had were the plastic gears stripping. I'd say if you want to upgrade it, toss the extra cash and get the brushless one out of the box, regardless the only real limitation is the battery size 2 years later with endless bashes and nothing else has broken since tossing in the "upgraded" parts Try tossing in Grom parts 👀
My wife picked up a pair of the HBX trucks for just over $60usd each. Which is probably also why it's so popular currently but it's always had decent sales numbers. They are not the fastest, but they hit the top speed quick and I have no fear of giving it to someone to have a quick run.
HBX is also the OEM for a lot of brands like redcat or Maverick for example. The volcano 16 and their twister series of vehicles from years ago are HBX rebrands. The 1/16 and 1/12 scale HPI Maverik series of vehicles are also rebranded HBX models.
@@DoRC HBX is the manufacturer. They’re very popular in china and if I had to guess selling cars in bulk to companies like Redcat, maverick, etc to rebrand and sell as their own is a clever way to avoid/pay less in import tax or tariffs while being able to capture more market share. Hosim and HSP are another big manufacturer that a lot of smaller companies will buy from, slap their name on it and call it their own. Some companies will buy parts from these manufacturers like diffs or suspension parts and they themselves will only manufacture a small percentage of the car, like the chassis for example to save money and tooling. I suspect this is why the MJX seems so “similar” to the HBX. I’d wager to bet MJX is outsourcing a large part of their car to another manufacturer.
Great review and I agree you are on point with your conclusion. On sale you can pick up a Redcat Piranha or Maverick Phantom which I feel are vastly superior. Disclaimer* I am not a fan of any of thing smaller than 1/10. That said, I look at parts availability. As long as parts are available, anything is better than walmart vehicles IMO. Just wish people did not rely on Amazon for EVERYTHING. With a little research they can quickly find out there are much better options from true hobby centers including the ones you mentioned. That was my 2 cents. Loved your breakdown and test drive of them. Keep up the awesome content!
Yeah there are a lot of people that don't like sub 1/10 scale cars. I think it primarily depends on where you bash. I'm around a lot of small confined areas and that makes The little car is a lot more appealing.
Depends on which ones you're talking about. The ones on the Grom are sintered. The ones on the 3S and 4S cars are as well though the EXB upgrade differentials That used to be available separately were machined. Most of the gears on the 6S trucks are machined though the Typhon uses sintered ring and pinion gears and all of the internal differential gears are sintered.
I've had both of these RCs. The 18859 was actually great. I couldn't find a way to break it. Concrete skate park, bad landings, hitting stuff, didn't matter. It was indestructible. Not great handling or anything, but it did front flips at the skate park pretty well and never broke on me. So I liked it. I ended up giving it away to a kid at the skate park. The MJX stuff.. totally different experience. I've had a few different MJX 1/16 vehicles and they are all pretty much junk. Even though they had metal gears, I've stripped more of those than any plastic gears on any other RC combined. Electronics cut out on crashes, and bad handling just made them no fun to me. I never really had a "breakage" from wrecking, but it seemed like every 3-4 batteries, I was pulling the entire truck apart to replace a diff, input gear, or spur gear. I've thrown both of my MJX products in the garbage. I will still side with the bigger name brands though. The GROMs specifically are twice as fast, twice as tough, insanely easy to work on, handle significantly better, and are just so much better to own, for not a whole lot more money.
My biggest problem with the small MJX cars is their handling. At low power it's not bad but as soon as you start putting any real power to them they become nearly uncontrollable.
@DoRC yeah they are terrible. No matter the tires, no matter the tuning, they are better at being an RC top than a car. Maybe if donuts are your thing, sure.. 🤣
@@DoRC do you wanna know something crazy when I first got into RC I started with Hyper go specifically the H16-BM and it was actually a very good car at the time for me especially as a beginner although I did break it with a small hit to the curb, and I want more speed then I was introduced to Arrma now that I look back I see that I wasted 150 bucks when I could’ve just gotten a better mind you this was before the grom was released lol but yeah, those little cars are very overpriced, especially the recent released from hypergo that cost like $300 for I feel is a budget RC
Can the hbx shove grease into the shock or fuel tube on the shaft? I agree, most peeps aren't into rc and don't know or care or don't expect their kids to remain in it.
Fuel tube you can use but that'll be more of a bump stop than damping. You probably could put grease inside though there really isn't a whole lot to keep it from coming back out so you might just end up with a mess. Ultimately your best alternative is just to buy shocks for it. You can get them pretty inexpensively. The problem I have with those sorts of things is once you start doing upgrades to these little cars you often end up spending as much as you would have spent just to buy a better version of whatever it is that you bought. Of course we all do that but when things are this inexpensive it's often only a matter of 20-30 maybe $40 to step up to something that's quite a bit better.
It's just the MEW4 and you can find it on Amazon. Depending on how much money you want to spend though I'd recommend looking at the Groms as you're going to have a better experience with them than most other small RCs. If you need any other specific recommendations feel free to ask!
I'm surprised you didn't comment on how goofy the 2nd "buggy" looks. These exist to take advantage of parents who won't do 5 minutes of research. These cant even really be bashed in the backyard. I'm not speaking about you or this video, but I don't like people reviewing these Chinese cars where they're all rebadged. That new FMS 1/7 scale truck is just a 650-dollar rebadge of a 450-dollar Aliexpress truck. I appreciate you recommending a grom.
Yeah I don't normally talk about looks that much because they're really subjective and what one person thinks is awful another person might think is the best looking car in the world. As far as these specific cars they would not be my choice but it wasn't really my decision. These are just the most popular brushed and brushless cars on Amazon Prime right now.
@DoRC agreed, in the context of the video I thought it was interesting. I wish distributors would sell certain brands on Amazon, but at the same time I want to say "support your local hobby shop!" Thanks for doing what you do!
Its completely different situation here in EU. Here I can buy mjx 16 scale for 95euros, typhon grom for 172euros which is essentially double. Granite grom for 160e. Me personally i bought 16208 for my son and i got vorteks boost which i will upgrade as i go to brushless 4x4. Fun little hobby. Thx for your videos
For sure. Anything I say talking about pricing and availability is here in the United States. They can be wildly different depending on what country you're in
I don't usually do links. They're always changing and I don't want people to think I'm trying to sell them anything. You can find them on Amazon pretty easily though they should be fairly high on the list :-)
I guess these cheaper cars get great reviews mostly because of two things: 1) the majority of the buyers are far from educated in the RC hobby and have little knowledge of what else is available/durability/aftermarket, etc and 2) 99% of the reviews are given just after checking if the car runs or in the first couple of days of ownership. If people had more knowledge about RC modelling and gave the reviews after long term experience with these cars, their rating wouldn't be so high. I still think these products do have a place inside of the RC modelling community; some people love getting this cheap stuff, tinkering with them, modifying, upgrading, etc. Another relevant subject covered by our favourite RC channel, Do RC. 😁
Yeah I think that as long as whoever buys it is happy with it, and most people that do buy them seem to be, there's nothing wrong with it. I'm not terribly excited by either one of these but I'm just one person.
I would definitely recommend it. You're going to spend a little bit more out of the box than you would for something equivalent in specification from other brands but I think it's worth it
Double commenting to add an FYI: In China they use JIS bits not Phillips. I assume not knowing that a JIS cross-head and a Phillips are not the same size or profile is why so many people in the RC hobby have so much trouble with cross-head screws. A Phillips head bit literally can't fully engage with a JIS cross-head because of the geometry of both bits and using a Phillips head on a JIS screw is ruining it. This is also true of hex bits; in Asia they use JIS standard hex bits not Metric, but the sizes are close enough that you're not going to strip out the head without working real hard at it.
I've actually seen both come from China. That's an even better reason not to have them on RC cars because Just about no one in the US will have a set of JIS bits and no newcomer to the RC hobby is going to be sitting there looking to differentiate between them.
@@DoRC Nah we can change. Phillips constantly cams out even when you are using the right bit; JIS are specifically designed to stop that. As you know this is important in RC because we need tight fits, and we often use thread locker. JIS is the superior choice for this purpose and thus should be the standard if a company is going to us a cross-headed screw.
@CDRaff oh I agree that j i s is superior. The problem is that we aren't China and China uses both sometimes in the same vehicle. We aren't going to change that because they just use whatever is cheapest on builds like this unless they are very specifically told by the contracting company not to. You also aren't going to get people to use the right bits even if everybody was using j i s. The other big problem with cross slot type bits is that people can inherently use the wrong one and it'll still sort of work. Because people can use the wrong one people will use the wrong one. Socket head screws have none of these issues.
@@DoRC I mean... while I get your point I look at it like this: Most Americans have a Phillips driver in their house, and a Phillips driver will work with a JIS cross head(you just demonstrated it). On the other hand not many Americans have a set of metric hex drivers/bits around and if they do they'll likely be bigger ones for cars, bikes, and furniture so most Americans will have to go out and buy a set when they start to get more serious about the hobby. So in a "This is my first kinda serious RC" car I would prefer the "it'll get me by" that a JIS cross-head affords over the "Oh crap I need to go to Home Depot/Amazon/an LHS to get a small metric hex driver" that a hex screw is adding. I think that the change we need to make is first off calling it what it is so that there isn't this continual confusion as to why screws strip so often and two start adding JIS bits and drivers to all RC targeted tool kits. JIS screws have been in the hobby basically as long as the hobby has existed(Tamiya has always used JIS screws as an example) yet most people in the hobby don't even know they exist. This is a knowledge issue not a gear issue; we all know that GAS(gear acquisition syndrome) is something we all deal with and that many of us would welcome the idea of adding a few more tools to our kits if we knew we needed them.
I suspect that they are both coming out of the same factory. I don't think HBX makes them nor does Arrma. From what I've heard there are only a handful of factories that make pretty much all RC cars for the world in China.
I have the Jetwood branded version of this buggy and those phillips head differential cup screws back out and rub the inside of the diff housing causing all kinds of problems. Bought replacement diff. Same result.
Seeing that HBX run has me suspicious. On the remote is a throttle switch from slow to fast. I had an older HBX as a teenager, and truck was much faster.
Machine screws typically have a much finer pitch than these do. The course pitch screws like this are generally called self-tappers I think because they look like self-tapping wood screws. Technically both these and machine screws self tap into plastic but that's just the nomenclature.
The brushless Haiboxing MT is much better than the brushed version. I have a few of these Amazon specials and they are hit and miss, especially those 2in1 ESC's 🤪
I completely agree. Unfortunately I didn't really pick these cars they were just the first hobby grade result that came up when I searched for the most popular RC car with Prime shipping. If I had my choice neither one of these cars would be the ones I would pick.
I have had several different versions of the hypergo and I prefer the jetwood version they seem to be like the blx version. Come with some art skids on the bottom. They look tougher than they r but still take a beating.
Yep. I don't usually differentiate between lithium ion and lipo because most people don't know the difference. But yes there are two 18650s inside these packs
I'm still NOT A FAN of my GROM because of the battery system and the low ground clearance...gets stuck on EVERYTHING! You can get a DEERC 14210 or a Bezgar HP14S which are rocket ships for similar $$$ to the GROM or Rlaarlo.
Well everything has its positives and negatives. You can increase ground clearance with larger tires. You can either change the connector on the ESC or get an adapter and run whatever battery you want to.
@@DoRC True but I feel like the reason most of those 20,000 people bought is because they just wanted a cheap car to play with and they don't want to be mini car mechanics (they are missing out on good fun). By the time you start having to source out alternative tires and batteries or batter adapters you've raised the bar on the ... I just want to hand this to my kid and watch them smile for hours crowd. I think they are two distinctly different groups.
@@DOUGandNIKI For sure and it's a bummer that you end up buying something that isn't meeting your needs. If you have a granite or typhon I would definitely recommend getting the wider proline tires specifically made for them. They're not very much money take about 5 minutes to swap out and will dramatically increase the versatility of the little car.
@@DoRC I've got an Army of cars and prefer a little larger car. I bought it mostly because everybody ooh's and aah's about and I wanted to check it out. My favorite driver for the last year has been my Rlaarlo Terminator Carbon.
@DOUGandNIKI The Terminator is awesome. The Groms are in my opinion the best minis you can get but they are still minis and they'll always be limited by their ground clearance. I think they're great for bashing in small areas that you couldn't get away with bashing a larger vehicle but conversely there are plenty of trains they simply won't work on.
I bought one of them and I did a brushless motor conver and put oil shocks and a 3s lipo battery it was way better the ECU did fry without going through water before I did the upgrades
Yeah with a few upgrades this could definitely be a lot better though at that point you're probably better off just buying their higher-end vehicles that already have upgraded bits in them
I love this video. A grom is definitely better if you wanted brushed for a little kid. The hyper go is OK if you buy it on aliexpress for under 100 but still not amazing although I’d take that hyper go buggy and have fun with it!
I think that the HBX 2995 and Rlaarlo Desert Truck are so much better than these. The HBX is currently $112 on Amazon. I have put a 3s system on my HBX 2995 and is is awesome. The HBX and Rlaarlo are so much fun to drive together, speed and bashing. Please do a comparison with your thoughts on a 3s HBX 2995 vs Rlaarlo Desert truck.
I have no interest in these cars, but thanks for spending your time doing your usual superb break down of the model, part by part. Look forward to what you have planned.
Haiboxing is more durable stock for stock. Maybe bc it has less power and all metal drive terrain. But my granite grom broke wayyy more than my 7 year old neighbor’s haiboxing hailstorm it now has the stock electronics from my granite and I’ve got a castle 1010 and a momba micro and the haiboxing has only broken a wing mount in about 5 months of 1 hour every other day flips off trees shins sidwalks fences.. haiboxing just needs different hardware and it’s a top contender for 1/18-1/16 at least
I don't understand why reviewers compare scale sizes as though any company is using actual scale measurements. I mean the TRX4-M and the Grom series are supposed to both be 1:18 scale, but try and imagine one of the Mojave Grom drivers sitting in the drivers seat of that 1:18 scale Bronco. His little head would fill half the cab. Scale is as meaningless as C rating; it's all obviously based of internal company documentation, and not an industry standard.
True. The mjx 16th scale isn't even always called 1/16 like when it's a "1/18" scale colorado. Also the ROG1 other brands disagree on the scale of the same truck as well
Neighbor kid has the HBX and has yet to break it. Not really any power to do anything to it hence the high rating - Amazon ratings on the more powerful options are all around breakage which I get but users like us know what is reasonable expectations for breakage vs a true design flaw. It is a sad reality of RC cars on Amazon vs people buying them at local hobby shops.
@dorc have you ever tested the "WD-40 on your plastics method" ? I did it to my MAXX year's ago and ive never broken anything but id like your expertise to test/debunk it once and for all... might be video worthy 😅🤙
Yeah it's something people used to do a long time ago. The hydrocarbons in the WD-40 will soften nylon but that's not always going to be a good thing. Modern plastics are usually pretty well tuned especially on bigger name brand vehicles and if you make them too soft you sometimes risk doing things like breaking output cups bending axle shafts etc. There are still plenty of people that do it and swear by it but it's a practice that I dropped several years ago.
That brushed turd must have some predatory marketing😳… seriously, they must have people going around putting a weapon to their head making them write reviews!! Or 20k people are very lacking in prior RC experience…
I used to have a hbx hailstorm which was a little smaller then a mini e revo and I got it for like $50 and man that thing was a tank it never broke now they are hard to find and up to $100 if I find one inflation is crazy
Yeah and that's probably why these things have such good reviews. It's not going to take much for a little kid to be thrilled at Christmas by one of these.
I convinced my 9yo to use his saved up money on the 1/16 Hyper Go buggy that you reviewed here after seeing so many positive reviews for the monster truck (but he wanted the buggy!). It is uncontrollably fast and has broken the rear shock tower twice and one rear shock. Overall pretty disappointed in the durability so I would stick with the monster truck. Overall for offroad I think the larger sizes are better since they have more weight and are easier to control so I don't think I'll be getting any more 1/16 stuff.
Correct. It definitely has the ability to be more powerful but to be honest with you even at the power level I was using it was too much. The biggest problem I have with these smaller MJX cars is that they lack the precision to actually handle the power that they have. Even at the lower power in the video it was all over the place.
Nothing wrong with that. It's not a terrible car and I'm sure you'll be happy like with it just like most people who buy them on Amazon are. I just think that there are some better options for a lot of people
OK the second is about 5% better having brushless. 😅 one other question has your giveaway ended thank you for your time I appreciate it great Channel bud✌️👍
12:30 aaaahhh hahhahahh It's a Christmas miracle. Man like fire. You got me. I didn't expect that. I'm gonna link this video in every comment i see about "monkey 🐒metal" because that's not an industry term (afaik) and the people, they need to be educated. What better way to educate people than to entertain them, with fire? Excellent lesson plan sir, you are hired. Unfortunately as a teacher, your salary is now 17 cents an hour, because American taxpayers don't value education.
Maybe but these cars have been out for quite a while and they have a lot of reviews. I'm not convinced that all of them are fake. I think it's more likely that it's just a lot of people that aren't really in the hobby and are just happy with what they got.
@DoRC if you cut the sticker on 1 side and open the container youll i belive it were 18650 li ion accu i found that out on a video from tomley who accidently opend by crashing and thought they are a lot smaller when you take them out and its treu they are smaller so now i can fit them in a lot more cars/boats
@politie_jip112 Yeah they are 18650s. I honestly usually don't differentiate between lipos and lithium ion batteries because most people don't really know the difference and on these small vehicles especially functionally there is no difference (assuming the lithium ion battery has enough jam)
@@DoRC lipo has a lot more punch there is where you see the most difference did you knew they where li ions? i just looked it up in the video from tomley wich is called The Most Overpowered RC Car I've ever tested! then go to 10 minute 07 seconds you will see that it is an li ion
That brushed version sucks donkey poo! I have the pro and love that little thing though. Its hard to believe they are even on the same platform. I have a few of those MJX cars..before the Groms and Rlaarlos I dont think you could beat them for the price but times have certainly changed and I dont see the value like I used to. I still love them for what they are but if i didnt already have them I would definitely pass and go for one of the Grom or Rlaarlo cars. I am willing to pay more just for hex hardware these days.
I agree. Honestly after spending a lot of time with the Groms I really have a hard time with any other mini. The design is just so much easier to deal with.
I 100% disagree with every rc reviewer who wants hex hardware on their cars, self tappers? yea ok those are bad. but with phillips hardware, no matter how dirty or tight the screw is, 9 times out of 10 if I pull up with an electric power tool with some bit thats vaguely in the size dimension of the phillips screw im trying to pull out, (flathead and phillips will work) it will just go out, no questions asked, and then back in. meanwhile any hex screw i gotta pull out my screw cleaning thingy, check if theyre clean then manually undo them by hand cus god be with you if u tighten them down too much or screw them out with too much force at an angle, the head will strip INSTANTLY and if they strip I end up pulling out my dremel cutter and just cutting in a big slit into the screw essentially converting it to flathead which makes it much easier to work on AND technically giving it more leverage to tighten it down (usefull for motor mount screws for example) you have to keep replacing the tools as they wear out with "high quality" new stuff because after a while they just become useless. sorry for the big rant but i really dont see the point, its just an extra pain for me.
This is an interesting viewpoint. Hex hardware is objectively better than Philips hardware and can take more torque. This is because the geometry of a Phillips bit and socket inherently tries to cam the bit out of the socket as you're turning it whereas a hex bit does not. Yes you do need the right size bit and you need to make sure the socket is clean but there's a reason why you don't see Phillips hardware anywhere on higher quality industrial commercial or mechanical equipment.
That's probably correct That being said there's a huge subset of people who buy and run these cars that don't know and will maybe never know anything about the hobby and that's okay. Ultimately if the people buying the thing are happy with the thing then there's nothing wrong with that and based on the reviews the vast majority of people who buy these are happy with them.
Or maybe just the right amount of time on my hands :-) The main reason for making the video is I suspect there will be quite a few people buying last-minute RC car gifts for people and Amazon Prime's a great place for that. These are the most popular brushed and brushless cars on Prime right now so I thought they were worth looking at
@DoRC Yep lot of amateurs in this hobby. Lineing the pockets of the Chinese with money. I already know what they are saying and laughing. Stupid Americans.
I'm glad you did this video so I could see how much of a dishonest corporate shill you are. The haibixing is not anywhere close to $90 it's like $60 and it's always on sale or accompanied by a coupon. If you wanted to make an honest comparison you would have used the hbx 18859A instead.
I based my review on the price I paid for the vehicles when I bought them a few days ago. I paid $87 plus tax for it. Feel free to go look it up. That's the price it still is right now on Amazon. As far as which one I used I didn't pick these for their price I picked them because they were the top result when I searched for RC car on Prime and then sorted for most popular. That was kind of the point of the video.
I bought the haiboxing for my son 2 years ago for like $65 and when he got pretty good at driving it I upgraded it to brushless and upgraded the suspension and and steering and I wasn't that into rc and didn't know hardly anything because when I was into rc 25 years ago my brother was building nitro cars. But anyways I didn't know much so I went to the factory page to buy the brushless upgrades and it had all the parts I needed in stock. The brushless version comes with oil shocks and better wheels etc.. so there was a lot to work on. And by the time I was done working on his car I started shopping for one for myself. But saying stuff like parts won't always be available and you wouldn't recommend that car 2 years ago I probably would have just found him a different birthday present all together and I wouldn't have a shed full of different rc cars. Not every parent has $180 to spend on their preteen kid for a hobby grade car he might not even be into driving. So if you want to buy something from haiboxing and compare it size wise to the groms then get the 2997a and compare it to them. It says 1/12 scale but it's Chinese so It runs smaller so it's about the size of the Mojave. And it's between 160 and 200, brushless runs on a small 3s and it would be a little more fair. Because your missing the point of these 2 cars.
@@joshuaabren You might be right but I feel like my audience is probably primarily filled with people who are hobby enthusiasts not random people buying these things for their little kids. I generally make my videos with the actual audience in mind. Again I didn't pick these cars. They picked themselves because of the requirements for the video. That being said I definitely appreciate your feedback and I appreciate you watching and commenting :-)
I feel this video is such a good explanation of why hobby grade is worth the price you’re paying. I mean, look at what you get for just a bit more money than what these toys cost. I mean, Phillips hardware? Just spend another $20-$40 and get something hobby grade! Someone mentioned lazy parents not doing research getting these for Christmas, and that’s about right.
I would consider these to be hobby grade. For me hobby grade is anything you can buy parts for and fix. There are definitely higher end things out there but these are repairable if they break.
I wouldn't say they're junk. They obviously are great for a certain group of people otherwise they wouldn't have so many sales and so many good reviews on Amazon. I don't think they're good for the enthusiast necessarily but they do fill a role
@@L.U.C.K.Y333 Yeah I think that's where the bigger brands can definitely be beneficial. It's almost always going to be easier for a newcomer to fix and upgrade something that comes from a major brand
Man those HBX RCs are awesome, especially with a couple upgrades like oil shocks. The brushless version is a beast. Super affordable and durable. Good entryway for people to get into the hobby without a bad taste
Yeah the 16889A pro is the one I used to recommend to everyone back in the day. This particular model is not a good representation of their brand unfortunately it is the most popular one on Amazon Prime so it was the one I had to pick.
This is way better than any rc i had as a kid.
Absolutely!
They have come such a long way you can buy basically any hobby rc nowadays and it be impressive
I have the Haiboxing 18859a brushless version and I freaking love it. It's tough and pretty dang quick! Comes with metal gears, oil filled shocks, and a better radio over the brushed one. I got it January of 2023 and I believe at the time it was about $110 with a coupon. I brought it out to my local rc groups end of season bbq and everyone was crazy impressed with it. I have plenty of big name brands and all different scales but man does that little thing put a big smile on my face!
A lot of ppl buy this simply because of its price. Yes, for most ppl $150 for Mini-B or Fury 550 Mega is a lot. And $200 for 2wd Rustler is crazy expensive. Thats the kind of economy we live in today.
For sure I just think that for most people spending a little extra money will get them a much better experience. Obviously given the reviews the people who are buying these are happy with them and as others have pointed out these things are often on sale. They weren't when I bought them but they often are.
@@DoRC i 200% agree that $150 is a minimum for a decent rtr. but unfortunately, most will get the cheapest.
@@DoRC I would have done anything to get anywhere near this quality of RC cars when I was a wee kid. I remember having WIRED remotely controlled cars that could only go forward and turn left in reverse.
2wd Rustler is above these minis. It has a large 550 titan motor 3 times larger than these cans. Can push 35 mph on nimh batteries
@@n00b247 Nah I think he's right, 95% of the people buying these don't know any better. Even being on a budget id rather buy a used hobby grade rc off marketplace than any of these cheaper options that market themselves as hobby grade. I am curious to test out a rlaarlo though.
When I see rc's like this i think back at what I used to think was an awesome rc. Back then Sears had the Lobo 1 and Lobo 2. Tyco had all their rc's. And Radio Shack had some awesome ones. I look at what we expect these days and we are spoiled.
Look at my comment, I was just telling him the same thing I started with hyper go as well, and I used to think they were so awesome lol
it's incredible. I look back on the cars my parents spend sooo much money on in the early 90s and how crazy durable and well built the cars are now it's just amazing.
There definitely have been some big improvements!
@LyleH-13 Yeah! I do extreme bashing. Very involved in the forums. And so many people complain about durability. And sometimes I wish I could bring them out to my bash sessions and have them stand next to where the rig lands. It shakes the earth. It's a true testament to modern engineering and manufacturing that these things stay together. I remember getting a Lamborghini from Radio Shack. I remember it being "so fast". It probably did 15 mph. 😆 🤣
@edwinlomonacofoolsend totally. I remember back in the days of the T-Maxx If you landed a jump poorly you were guaranteed to break something and even if you landed it perfectly you still might break something
Awesome I always enjoy watching the teardown and your enthusiasm for the hobby 🤙
I'm glad you enjoyed and thanks for watching!
I think most Americans have Phillips head screw divers and maybe some Allen wrenches, but not 1.5mm hex drivers. It makes sense to use Phillips for mass marketed products in America... not sure about the rest of the world though. We use Phillips for most stuff and almost every home has them.
I prefer hex, but I bought all the tools for RC cars and know the benefits of hex, most people don't.
Yes and no. Most people will have a Philips screwdriver but the way these are designed you need to have a fairly specialized one for some of the screws. It needs to be thin enough to fit down in the hole but still have the right size bit. Phillips screws are also far more likely to strip than hex screws are.
They're inherent design causes a camming action which tries to drive the bit out of the head of the screw.
That is why,absolutely every manufacturer includes a basic setup of hex wrenches with their kits.
@@richiefrank15productions most do yes.
@@DoRCyeah cheap metal makes it soo much worse. I do residential electrical and I always use my own screws for anything I install.
I got that hyper go as my first rc can back in the hobby I previously had a brushed ftx vantage about 5 years ago and man them hyper go they sure do go
After seeing some of the quality issues in this video, it's good to know that sticking to a main brand means you're less-likely to get burned. Even a Losi Micro-B feels like a better choice than these bigger rigs, despite the comparative increase in cost. The quality is just so much better for mainline brands.
Yeah inconsistency I think is one of the biggest problems with these brands. Although given the reviews it seems like most people are happy with their purchase so maybe I'm just too picky
5:04 kitty spotted
I am the eggman.
I am the walrus
Coo coo ca choo
Merry holidays, boils and ghouls.
Yeah our neighbor feeds the strays so we have a few around. They've actually chased a few of my cars in the past. It's pretty funny
I love it😂
@DoRC in the meanwhile, my 4 cats are more than scared of my rcs. 😐
Dude, you are so fun to watch! I for one am very happy this kind of stuff is available to get people in the hobby, and yes these are people who don't know and are looking to play
Yeah and again based on the reviews obviously people are happy with their purchases. They might not be the thing I would want but plenty of people are buying these and plenty of people are liking them.
The hbx was my first rc as an adult and its been great for my kid to learn on. The only thing we upgraded was the shocks.
We have the 2996a and 2997a now for our larger bashers but the 18859e is still fun to take to a skate park because it is so light it takes hits much better
Yeah, I’d spring a little extra for the Typhon for sure. Great informative video!
Me too.
I've been into RC for a loooooong time, I've got loads of large/expensive rigs, and i've got two Hyper Go's, the clone infraction, and the buggy. both run great, support 3s, are super tough, and are little rockets on 11 volts.
They are fast. My problem with the little hyper goes on big power is that they don't handle very well and I have a hard time controlling them. The infraction has a gyro which helps a lot but it doesn't really fix the problem
The Jetwood JC16W is a great budget basher, and has alot more to offer than the HBX. Love your channel
Nice job bro!.....all the best for the season buddy🎉🎉
Thanks you too!
I've been into this hobby since 1987, The MJX are decent monu for what they are, however, with a steel differential gear, and A Dumbo X6FG /Gyro Receiver, it's definitely 100% Better, but for most introductory RC cars for beginners, that won't be an option.
I love how Arrma and Horizon Hobby are taking out the Chinese competition. Grom and Grom BLX are huge bang for buck.
I think the BLX is definitely the better value but the platform itself is really good
I love buying these cheaper rc's . Great video , love how you show everything.
Awesome Video. I had the 1st Version of this car back in 2017. Haiboxing Rampage. 1/18 brushed but no metal nothing but susp springs. Everything was plastic.
Get what you pay for. Thanks for the great videos in 2024 ... Merry Christmas from New Zealand bro.
Pretty much :-) thanks you too
The best $40 bashers I’ve had are the HoSpeed 1:18 (any of the 3 versions) and the Laegendary Triton 1:20, they do about 15 mph and refuse to break
I have the mjx 16208 version of the one you have here and it's bee an awesome little basher. It's very durable and fast plus parts are easily available in the uk. I did have to upgrade all the drive train to steal though after around 20 2s packs. It's great
Great video! I like the comparison of the two. The Hyper Go could be a great starting point for a kid getting into the hobby, and having a good assortment of spare parts to learn how to tear down and repair. My 5 year old bashes around her Losi Mini-T, but I think I am going to get her into the Typhon Grom for her next RC... and I think me one too 😅.
I think the Groms make a nearly perfect first RC car as long as you've got the right terrain to run them on. They are fairly cheap and about as simple of a design as you can get for a four-wheel drive RC car.
Great comparison & I think you gave Solid advice. If I was in the market for a mini it would definitely be the Typhon Grom with some big old truck tires 🛞
The Typhon Grom blx is awesome!
I got the hbx 2 years ago when it was on sale for like 35usd. Eventually upgraded it to brushless, changed the shocks and the only issues I had were the plastic gears stripping. I'd say if you want to upgrade it, toss the extra cash and get the brushless one out of the box, regardless the only real limitation is the battery size
2 years later with endless bashes and nothing else has broken since tossing in the "upgraded" parts
Try tossing in Grom parts 👀
Nothing wrong with that and this does still go on sale pretty frequently but that's the price I paid for it so that's the price I reviewed it at.
My wife picked up a pair of the HBX trucks for just over $60usd each. Which is probably also why it's so popular currently but it's always had decent sales numbers. They are not the fastest, but they hit the top speed quick and I have no fear of giving it to someone to have a quick run.
HBX is also the OEM for a lot of brands like redcat or Maverick for example. The volcano 16 and their twister series of vehicles from years ago are HBX rebrands. The 1/16 and 1/12 scale HPI Maverik series of vehicles are also rebranded HBX models.
@jacobbuckles6741 Is it that HBx is the OEM or is the same OEM making the car for multiple companies including HBX?
@@DoRC HBX is the manufacturer. They’re very popular in china and if I had to guess selling cars in bulk to companies like Redcat, maverick, etc to rebrand and sell as their own is a clever way to avoid/pay less in import tax or tariffs while being able to capture more market share.
Hosim and HSP are another big manufacturer that a lot of smaller companies will buy from, slap their name on it and call it their own. Some companies will buy parts from these manufacturers like diffs or suspension parts and they themselves will only manufacture a small percentage of the car, like the chassis for example to save money and tooling. I suspect this is why the MJX seems so “similar” to the HBX. I’d wager to bet MJX is outsourcing a large part of their car to another manufacturer.
Great review and I agree you are on point with your conclusion. On sale you can pick up a Redcat Piranha or Maverick Phantom which I feel are vastly superior. Disclaimer* I am not a fan of any of thing smaller than 1/10. That said, I look at parts availability. As long as parts are available, anything is better than walmart vehicles IMO. Just wish people did not rely on Amazon for EVERYTHING. With a little research they can quickly find out there are much better options from true hobby centers including the ones you mentioned. That was my 2 cents. Loved your breakdown and test drive of them. Keep up the awesome content!
Yeah there are a lot of people that don't like sub 1/10 scale cars. I think it primarily depends on where you bash. I'm around a lot of small confined areas and that makes The little car is a lot more appealing.
Are arrma gears ⚙️ sintered ? Definitely not machined right?
Depends on which ones you're talking about. The ones on the Grom are sintered. The ones on the 3S and 4S cars are as well though the EXB upgrade differentials That used to be available separately were machined. Most of the gears on the 6S trucks are machined though the Typhon uses sintered ring and pinion gears and all of the internal differential gears are sintered.
I've had both of these RCs.
The 18859 was actually great. I couldn't find a way to break it. Concrete skate park, bad landings, hitting stuff, didn't matter. It was indestructible. Not great handling or anything, but it did front flips at the skate park pretty well and never broke on me. So I liked it. I ended up giving it away to a kid at the skate park.
The MJX stuff.. totally different experience. I've had a few different MJX 1/16 vehicles and they are all pretty much junk. Even though they had metal gears, I've stripped more of those than any plastic gears on any other RC combined. Electronics cut out on crashes, and bad handling just made them no fun to me. I never really had a "breakage" from wrecking, but it seemed like every 3-4 batteries, I was pulling the entire truck apart to replace a diff, input gear, or spur gear. I've thrown both of my MJX products in the garbage.
I will still side with the bigger name brands though. The GROMs specifically are twice as fast, twice as tough, insanely easy to work on, handle significantly better, and are just so much better to own, for not a whole lot more money.
My biggest problem with the small MJX cars is their handling. At low power it's not bad but as soon as you start putting any real power to them they become nearly uncontrollable.
@DoRC yeah they are terrible. No matter the tires, no matter the tuning, they are better at being an RC top than a car. Maybe if donuts are your thing, sure.. 🤣
@@K5_RC Yeah they're not terrible and there's definitely fun to be had with them but there are certainly better options
@@DoRC eh. Terrible to me lol. I'll never touch one again. Spent more on repairs than the truck is worth, and it's not even enjoyable to drive imo.
Yesss finally a new vid and im finally the first person to make the first comment love your vids bro your awesome your def my favorite rc reviewer!!!
Thanks enjoy it!
@@DoRC do you wanna know something crazy when I first got into RC I started with Hyper go specifically the H16-BM and it was actually a very good car at the time for me especially as a beginner although I did break it with a small hit to the curb, and I want more speed then I was introduced to Arrma now that I look back I see that I wasted 150 bucks when I could’ve just gotten a better mind you this was before the grom was released lol but yeah, those little cars are very overpriced, especially the recent released from hypergo that cost like $300 for I feel is a budget RC
Can the hbx shove grease into the shock or fuel tube on the shaft? I agree, most peeps aren't into rc and don't know or care or don't expect their kids to remain in it.
Fuel tube you can use but that'll be more of a bump stop than damping. You probably could put grease inside though there really isn't a whole lot to keep it from coming back out so you might just end up with a mess. Ultimately your best alternative is just to buy shocks for it. You can get them pretty inexpensively. The problem I have with those sorts of things is once you start doing upgrades to these little cars you often end up spending as much as you would have spent just to buy a better version of whatever it is that you bought. Of course we all do that but when things are this inexpensive it's often only a matter of 20-30 maybe $40 to step up to something that's quite a bit better.
Great job on the review 👍I say buy whatever makes you happy. I always buy name brand rc's for parts support and better quality 👍
Absolutely and based on the average reviews these cars do make the people that buy them happy.
I wish that you would list your recommendations over these 2. I can't seem to find this hyper go mew04
It's just the MEW4 and you can find it on Amazon. Depending on how much money you want to spend though I'd recommend looking at the Groms as you're going to have a better experience with them than most other small RCs. If you need any other specific recommendations feel free to ask!
@@DoRCLike the granite grom if I want a truck?
The hbx (green car) is often on sale to bring the price down to $65, which makes it still a good starter/entry I think
For sure. Sales will always change the equation. Those are the prices I bought them at those so those are the prices I had to review them at.
Awesome bashing and comparison, dude! 😃
Merry Christmas!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Thank you too!
The mjx hyper go 10208 v2 or maverick Quantum 2flux ?
I'm surprised you didn't comment on how goofy the 2nd "buggy" looks. These exist to take advantage of parents who won't do 5 minutes of research. These cant even really be bashed in the backyard. I'm not speaking about you or this video, but I don't like people reviewing these Chinese cars where they're all rebadged. That new FMS 1/7 scale truck is just a 650-dollar rebadge of a 450-dollar Aliexpress truck. I appreciate you recommending a grom.
Yeah I don't normally talk about looks that much because they're really subjective and what one person thinks is awful another person might think is the best looking car in the world. As far as these specific cars they would not be my choice but it wasn't really my decision. These are just the most popular brushed and brushless cars on Amazon Prime right now.
@DoRC agreed, in the context of the video I thought it was interesting. I wish distributors would sell certain brands on Amazon, but at the same time I want to say "support your local hobby shop!" Thanks for doing what you do!
Thank you for the metal lesson 🙏
Thanks for watching!
Its completely different situation here in EU. Here I can buy mjx 16 scale for 95euros, typhon grom for 172euros which is essentially double. Granite grom for 160e. Me personally i bought 16208 for my son and i got vorteks boost which i will upgrade as i go to brushless 4x4. Fun little hobby. Thx for your videos
For sure. Anything I say talking about pricing and availability is here in the United States. They can be wildly different depending on what country you're in
@@DoRC sure thing, i know, just mentioned that for other peeps. ;)
No links to the RCs ?
I don't usually do links. They're always changing and I don't want people to think I'm trying to sell them anything. You can find them on Amazon pretty easily though they should be fairly high on the list :-)
I guess these cheaper cars get great reviews mostly because of two things: 1) the majority of the buyers are far from educated in the RC hobby and have little knowledge of what else is available/durability/aftermarket, etc and 2) 99% of the reviews are given just after checking if the car runs or in the first couple of days of ownership.
If people had more knowledge about RC modelling and gave the reviews after long term experience with these cars, their rating wouldn't be so high.
I still think these products do have a place inside of the RC modelling community; some people love getting this cheap stuff, tinkering with them, modifying, upgrading, etc.
Another relevant subject covered by our favourite RC channel, Do RC. 😁
Yeah I think that as long as whoever buys it is happy with it, and most people that do buy them seem to be, there's nothing wrong with it. I'm not terribly excited by either one of these but I'm just one person.
Gonna get the 223s Typhon when it is in stock for the stock price. It looks awesome!
I would definitely recommend it. You're going to spend a little bit more out of the box than you would for something equivalent in specification from other brands but I think it's worth it
Double commenting to add an FYI: In China they use JIS bits not Phillips. I assume not knowing that a JIS cross-head and a Phillips are not the same size or profile is why so many people in the RC hobby have so much trouble with cross-head screws. A Phillips head bit literally can't fully engage with a JIS cross-head because of the geometry of both bits and using a Phillips head on a JIS screw is ruining it. This is also true of hex bits; in Asia they use JIS standard hex bits not Metric, but the sizes are close enough that you're not going to strip out the head without working real hard at it.
I've actually seen both come from China. That's an even better reason not to have them on RC cars because Just about no one in the US will have a set of JIS bits and no newcomer to the RC hobby is going to be sitting there looking to differentiate between them.
@@DoRC Nah we can change. Phillips constantly cams out even when you are using the right bit; JIS are specifically designed to stop that. As you know this is important in RC because we need tight fits, and we often use thread locker. JIS is the superior choice for this purpose and thus should be the standard if a company is going to us a cross-headed screw.
@CDRaff oh I agree that j i s is superior. The problem is that we aren't China and China uses both sometimes in the same vehicle. We aren't going to change that because they just use whatever is cheapest on builds like this unless they are very specifically told by the contracting company not to.
You also aren't going to get people to use the right bits even if everybody was using j i s. The other big problem with cross slot type bits is that people can inherently use the wrong one and it'll still sort of work. Because people can use the wrong one people will use the wrong one. Socket head screws have none of these issues.
@@DoRC I mean... while I get your point I look at it like this: Most Americans have a Phillips driver in their house, and a Phillips driver will work with a JIS cross head(you just demonstrated it). On the other hand not many Americans have a set of metric hex drivers/bits around and if they do they'll likely be bigger ones for cars, bikes, and furniture so most Americans will have to go out and buy a set when they start to get more serious about the hobby.
So in a "This is my first kinda serious RC" car I would prefer the "it'll get me by" that a JIS cross-head affords over the "Oh crap I need to go to Home Depot/Amazon/an LHS to get a small metric hex driver" that a hex screw is adding.
I think that the change we need to make is first off calling it what it is so that there isn't this continual confusion as to why screws strip so often and two start adding JIS bits and drivers to all RC targeted tool kits. JIS screws have been in the hobby basically as long as the hobby has existed(Tamiya has always used JIS screws as an example) yet most people in the hobby don't even know they exist.
This is a knowledge issue not a gear issue; we all know that GAS(gear acquisition syndrome) is something we all deal with and that many of us would welcome the idea of adding a few more tools to our kits if we knew we needed them.
I'm still convinced that HBX makes the Groms for Arrma.
I suspect that they are both coming out of the same factory. I don't think HBX makes them nor does Arrma. From what I've heard there are only a handful of factories that make pretty much all RC cars for the world in China.
I think the FORST one would be good for a 4-9 year old. They are better than any toy grade rc. (Some toy grades are way overpriced)
I have the Jetwood branded version of this buggy and those phillips head differential cup screws back out and rub the inside of the diff housing causing all kinds of problems. Bought replacement diff. Same result.
That's unfortunate. Self tappers are more likely to back out from vibration than machine screws due to their steeper helix angle.
the brushless 18859a has a lot more metal parts and is darned near indestructible
Yeah I would have preferred to review different vehicles from both brands but I didn't really get a choice
Seeing that HBX run has me suspicious. On the remote is a throttle switch from slow to fast. I had an older HBX as a teenager, and truck was much faster.
Why do you call those "self tappers"? Aren't they machine screws?
Machine screws typically have a much finer pitch than these do. The course pitch screws like this are generally called self-tappers I think because they look like self-tapping wood screws. Technically both these and machine screws self tap into plastic but that's just the nomenclature.
@DoRC oh I had no idea. I only know the screws with the little drill bit tip for sheet metal to be called self tappers. Thank man!
The brushless Haiboxing MT is much better than the brushed version. I have a few of these Amazon specials and they are hit and miss, especially those 2in1 ESC's 🤪
I completely agree. Unfortunately I didn't really pick these cars they were just the first hobby grade result that came up when I searched for the most popular RC car with Prime shipping. If I had my choice neither one of these cars would be the ones I would pick.
The thing is the HBX only cost RMB250, which is around less than $40 at Asia where I am at. And the MJX will not be more than $80.
Yeah depending on where you are pricing will be wildly different.
I have had several different versions of the hypergo and I prefer the jetwood version they seem to be like the blx version. Come with some art skids on the bottom. They look tougher than they r but still take a beating.
I haven't tried the jetwood ones
Bought a couple of those haiboxing rc's. Indestructible little things. But the hypergo 16208 is way better for the same price.
Yeah this platform is pretty strong.
Those angry snail batteries are actually Lith-Ion, I've taken them apart and the are Definitely 2 Roundv Lith-Ion Batterires.
Yep. I don't usually differentiate between lithium ion and lipo because most people don't know the difference. But yes there are two 18650s inside these packs
15:45 You and Derby City Rc share the same problem LOL
I think it's anybody who tries to get close up shots of the cars they're driving. Sometimes you hit yourself :-)
I'm still NOT A FAN of my GROM because of the battery system and the low ground clearance...gets stuck on EVERYTHING! You can get a DEERC 14210 or a Bezgar HP14S which are rocket ships for similar $$$ to the GROM or Rlaarlo.
Well everything has its positives and negatives. You can increase ground clearance with larger tires. You can either change the connector on the ESC or get an adapter and run whatever battery you want to.
@@DoRC True but I feel like the reason most of those 20,000 people bought is because they just wanted a cheap car to play with and they don't want to be mini car mechanics (they are missing out on good fun). By the time you start having to source out alternative tires and batteries or batter adapters you've raised the bar on the ... I just want to hand this to my kid and watch them smile for hours crowd. I think they are two distinctly different groups.
@@DOUGandNIKI For sure and it's a bummer that you end up buying something that isn't meeting your needs. If you have a granite or typhon I would definitely recommend getting the wider proline tires specifically made for them. They're not very much money take about 5 minutes to swap out and will dramatically increase the versatility of the little car.
@@DoRC I've got an Army of cars and prefer a little larger car. I bought it mostly because everybody ooh's and aah's about and I wanted to check it out. My favorite driver for the last year has been my Rlaarlo Terminator Carbon.
@DOUGandNIKI The Terminator is awesome. The Groms are in my opinion the best minis you can get but they are still minis and they'll always be limited by their ground clearance. I think they're great for bashing in small areas that you couldn't get away with bashing a larger vehicle but conversely there are plenty of trains they simply won't work on.
I bought one of them and I did a brushless motor conver and put oil shocks and a 3s lipo battery it was way better the ECU did fry without going through water before I did the upgrades
Yeah with a few upgrades this could definitely be a lot better though at that point you're probably better off just buying their higher-end vehicles that already have upgraded bits in them
I love this video. A grom is definitely better if you wanted brushed for a little kid. The hyper go is OK if you buy it on aliexpress for under 100 but still not amazing although I’d take that hyper go buggy and have fun with it!
Yeah neither car is terrible but neither one of them also represent the best their respective brands have to offer.
I think that the HBX 2995 and Rlaarlo Desert Truck are so much better than these. The HBX is currently $112 on Amazon. I have put a 3s system on my HBX 2995 and is is awesome. The HBX and Rlaarlo are so much fun to drive together, speed and bashing.
Please do a comparison with your thoughts on a 3s HBX 2995 vs Rlaarlo Desert truck.
Yeah there are definitely better options at both of these price points. I'll take a look at them!
I had a couple HBX 903A. Which is the brushless version It was ok for what it was
Yeah I think okay for what they are is pretty much how I would describe both of these.
$90 for the HBX is very high. I have two of the older version that were $35 each, at they price they're great.
Yeah it's the price on Amazon that I paid for it so it's the price I have to review it at.
The mjx go on sale all the time. I've seen the 1/16 brushless go for $80-$150 it changes a couple times a day sometimes it feels like.
For sure. I can only review them at the price I paid for them but sales do happen all the time
I have no interest in these cars, but thanks for spending your time doing your usual superb break down of the model, part by part. Look forward to what you have planned.
Stay tuned plenty more to come!
Haiboxing is more durable stock for stock. Maybe bc it has less power and all metal drive terrain. But my granite grom broke wayyy more than my 7 year old neighbor’s haiboxing hailstorm it now has the stock electronics from my granite and I’ve got a castle 1010 and a momba micro and the haiboxing has only broken a wing mount in about 5 months of 1 hour every other day flips off trees shins sidwalks fences.. haiboxing just needs different hardware and it’s a top contender for 1/18-1/16 at least
I know you prob won't post during Christmas so I'm going to say this now.
Hope you have a very merry christmas
Thanks you too though I might have a video out before then :-)
Hope you make another video before Christmas but it will be tight 😅
I don't understand why reviewers compare scale sizes as though any company is using actual scale measurements. I mean the TRX4-M and the Grom series are supposed to both be 1:18 scale, but try and imagine one of the Mojave Grom drivers sitting in the drivers seat of that 1:18 scale Bronco. His little head would fill half the cab. Scale is as meaningless as C rating; it's all obviously based of internal company documentation, and not an industry standard.
Yeah that's why I show them next to the Grom so you could see how big they really are.
True. The mjx 16th scale isn't even always called 1/16 like when it's a "1/18" scale colorado. Also the ROG1 other brands disagree on the scale of the same truck as well
@16driver16 Yeah scale is all over the place. Traxxas is one of the worst for it.
Neighbor kid has the HBX and has yet to break it. Not really any power to do anything to it hence the high rating - Amazon ratings on the more powerful options are all around breakage which I get but users like us know what is reasonable expectations for breakage vs a true design flaw. It is a sad reality of RC cars on Amazon vs people buying them at local hobby shops.
You're totally correct. Something that small with that little amount of power is going to be hard to break.
@dorc have you ever tested the "WD-40 on your plastics method" ? I did it to my MAXX year's ago and ive never broken anything but id like your expertise to test/debunk it once and for all... might be video worthy 😅🤙
Yeah it's something people used to do a long time ago. The hydrocarbons in the WD-40 will soften nylon but that's not always going to be a good thing. Modern plastics are usually pretty well tuned especially on bigger name brand vehicles and if you make them too soft you sometimes risk doing things like breaking output cups bending axle shafts etc. There are still plenty of people that do it and swear by it but it's a practice that I dropped several years ago.
That brushed turd must have some predatory marketing😳… seriously, they must have people going around putting a weapon to their head making them write reviews!! Or 20k people are very lacking in prior RC experience…
I used to have a hbx hailstorm which was a little smaller then a mini e revo and I got it for like $50 and man that thing was a tank it never broke now they are hard to find and up to $100 if I find one inflation is crazy
Good Christmas or in general gift for the little kiddies. I don’t think any hobbyist take these seriously.
Yeah and that's probably why these things have such good reviews. It's not going to take much for a little kid to be thrilled at Christmas by one of these.
@ exactly, I doubt mom or dad are going to change out the back diff when it goes bad.
@@jagergerg9771 Yeah probably not.
I convinced my 9yo to use his saved up money on the 1/16 Hyper Go buggy that you reviewed here after seeing so many positive reviews for the monster truck (but he wanted the buggy!). It is uncontrollably fast and has broken the rear shock tower twice and one rear shock. Overall pretty disappointed in the durability so I would stick with the monster truck. Overall for offroad I think the larger sizes are better since they have more weight and are easier to control so I don't think I'll be getting any more 1/16 stuff.
Yeah control is always a problem with these smaller hyper go cars. They just aren't made precisely enough to handle the power
I have the the mjx has 2 settings in he esc power on press 5 times has s 2s and 3s mode
Correct. It definitely has the ability to be more powerful but to be honest with you even at the power level I was using it was too much. The biggest problem I have with these smaller MJX cars is that they lack the precision to actually handle the power that they have. Even at the lower power in the video it was all over the place.
@DoRC yea there very twitchy at best lol
I just got that hyper go 😂
Nothing wrong with that. It's not a terrible car and I'm sure you'll be happy like with it just like most people who buy them on Amazon are. I just think that there are some better options for a lot of people
OK the second is about 5% better having brushless. 😅 one other question has your giveaway ended thank you for your time I appreciate it great Channel bud✌️👍
The first one for the Rlaarlo has but I have two more that have not.
@@DoRC
🤔 How do I get in on the giveaways ??
The average person buying this are probably coming from a Walmart toy grade RC and the HBX is a huge upgrade.
I completely agree
Wow I can't believe how good they I must sell all my Tekno Losi, Kysoho, Mugen and Xray rc vehicles , yeah right lol
@Do RC Are you an engineer?
No but I did stay at a holiday express last night :-)
thanks for the video. toy grade
How many guys that uou know actually take a torch to the gears in a RC cars ??
:)
12:30 aaaahhh hahhahahh
It's a Christmas miracle.
Man like fire.
You got me. I didn't expect that.
I'm gonna link this video in every comment i see about "monkey 🐒metal" because that's not an industry term (afaik) and the people, they need to be educated. What better way to educate people than to entertain them, with fire?
Excellent lesson plan sir, you are hired. Unfortunately as a teacher, your salary is now 17 cents an hour, because American taxpayers don't value education.
:)
Be a great RC for a young kids starting out put a little too small for my taste and slow needs two speed😅👍
Yeah I don't think either car is terrible I just think that they don't represent the best possible value for money.
The manufacturers glaze the cars with fake reviews.
Maybe but these cars have been out for quite a while and they have a lot of reviews. I'm not convinced that all of them are fake. I think it's more likely that it's just a lot of people that aren't really in the hobby and are just happy with what they got.
the mjx has a 2s li ion not lipo
Thanks for the clarification
@DoRC if you cut the sticker on 1 side and open the container youll i belive it were 18650 li ion accu
i found that out on a video from tomley who accidently opend by crashing and thought they are a lot smaller when you take them out
and its treu they are smaller so now i can fit them in a lot more cars/boats
@politie_jip112 Yeah they are 18650s. I honestly usually don't differentiate between lipos and lithium ion batteries because most people don't really know the difference and on these small vehicles especially functionally there is no difference (assuming the lithium ion battery has enough jam)
@@DoRC lipo has a lot more punch there is where you see the most difference
did you knew they where li ions?
i just looked it up in the video from tomley wich is called
The Most Overpowered RC Car I've ever tested!
then go to 10 minute 07 seconds you will see that it is an li ion
@@DoRC what car do you suggest for about 200$ a name brand with good parts
hmm, in aliexpress you can get better deals with this money. The arrma grom is expensive as well.
Yes but this video was specifically about the top selling vehicles on Amazon Prime.
Amazon off brand cars stink? Who would have guessed
Everything has value at the right price though I don't think these represent the best value for money
Philips head screws are never a good sign.
I'm not a fan of them.
not a fan of "good cos its cheep" i wouldent give the 1st one a second look
Yeah it wouldn't be for me either. A lot of people that buy them do like them though
The best hbx 16889, ou Redcat volcáno 16 Is similar truk
Is any one else sick of hearing about scale or not scale. I just want to drive
What do you mean?
That brushed version sucks donkey poo! I have the pro and love that little thing though. Its hard to believe they are even on the same platform. I have a few of those MJX cars..before the Groms and Rlaarlos I dont think you could beat them for the price but times have certainly changed and I dont see the value like I used to. I still love them for what they are but if i didnt already have them I would definitely pass and go for one of the Grom or Rlaarlo cars. I am willing to pay more just for hex hardware these days.
I agree. Honestly after spending a lot of time with the Groms I really have a hard time with any other mini. The design is just so much easier to deal with.
@DoRC yup. That's another thing about some of the good budget cars. Some of them are a total nightmare to work on imo.
I 100% disagree with every rc reviewer who wants hex hardware on their cars, self tappers? yea ok those are bad. but with phillips hardware, no matter how dirty or tight the screw is, 9 times out of 10 if I pull up with an electric power tool with some bit thats vaguely in the size dimension of the phillips screw im trying to pull out, (flathead and phillips will work) it will just go out, no questions asked, and then back in. meanwhile any hex screw i gotta pull out my screw cleaning thingy, check if theyre clean then manually undo them by hand cus god be with you if u tighten them down too much or screw them out with too much force at an angle, the head will strip INSTANTLY and if they strip I end up pulling out my dremel cutter and just cutting in a big slit into the screw essentially converting it to flathead which makes it much easier to work on AND technically giving it more leverage to tighten it down (usefull for motor mount screws for example) you have to keep replacing the tools as they wear out with "high quality" new stuff because after a while they just become useless. sorry for the big rant but i really dont see the point, its just an extra pain for me.
This is an interesting viewpoint. Hex hardware is objectively better than Philips hardware and can take more torque. This is because the geometry of a Phillips bit and socket inherently tries to cam the bit out of the socket as you're turning it whereas a hex bit does not. Yes you do need the right size bit and you need to make sure the socket is clean but there's a reason why you don't see Phillips hardware anywhere on higher quality industrial commercial or mechanical equipment.
Sounds like a gentleman that doesnt have MIP drivers@@DoRC
@@richiefrank15productionsI don't think the people buying these are going to spend the money on mip drivers are they 🙄
Because the people buying these things don't know much about the rc hobby 👍it barely drives straight😂😂
That's probably correct That being said there's a huge subset of people who buy and run these cars that don't know and will maybe never know anything about the hobby and that's okay. Ultimately if the people buying the thing are happy with the thing then there's nothing wrong with that and based on the reviews the vast majority of people who buy these are happy with them.
You have entirely too much time on your hands buying junk like that.
Or maybe just the right amount of time on my hands :-)
The main reason for making the video is I suspect there will be quite a few people buying last-minute RC car gifts for people and Amazon Prime's a great place for that. These are the most popular brushed and brushless cars on Prime right now so I thought they were worth looking at
@DoRC Yep lot of amateurs in this hobby. Lineing the pockets of the Chinese with money. I already know what they are saying and laughing. Stupid Americans.
@DoRC kinda steering towards what I said.
I'm glad you did this video so I could see how much of a dishonest corporate shill you are. The haibixing is not anywhere close to $90 it's like $60 and it's always on sale or accompanied by a coupon. If you wanted to make an honest comparison you would have used the hbx 18859A instead.
I based my review on the price I paid for the vehicles when I bought them a few days ago. I paid $87 plus tax for it. Feel free to go look it up. That's the price it still is right now on Amazon.
As far as which one I used I didn't pick these for their price I picked them because they were the top result when I searched for RC car on Prime and then sorted for most popular. That was kind of the point of the video.
I bought the haiboxing for my son 2 years ago for like $65 and when he got pretty good at driving it I upgraded it to brushless and upgraded the suspension and and steering and I wasn't that into rc and didn't know hardly anything because when I was into rc 25 years ago my brother was building nitro cars. But anyways I didn't know much so I went to the factory page to buy the brushless upgrades and it had all the parts I needed in stock. The brushless version comes with oil shocks and better wheels etc.. so there was a lot to work on. And by the time I was done working on his car I started shopping for one for myself. But saying stuff like parts won't always be available and you wouldn't recommend that car 2 years ago I probably would have just found him a different birthday present all together and I wouldn't have a shed full of different rc cars. Not every parent has $180 to spend on their preteen kid for a hobby grade car he might not even be into driving. So if you want to buy something from haiboxing and compare it size wise to the groms then get the 2997a and compare it to them. It says 1/12 scale but it's Chinese so It runs smaller so it's about the size of the Mojave. And it's between 160 and 200, brushless runs on a small 3s and it would be a little more fair. Because your missing the point of these 2 cars.
Dude how u just going to come out with a bunch of attitude talking about corporate shill bs just to make yourself sound like an idiot 😂😂
@@joshuaabren You might be right but I feel like my audience is probably primarily filled with people who are hobby enthusiasts not random people buying these things for their little kids. I generally make my videos with the actual audience in mind. Again I didn't pick these cars. They picked themselves because of the requirements for the video.
That being said I definitely appreciate your feedback and I appreciate you watching and commenting :-)
I feel this video is such a good explanation of why hobby grade is worth the price you’re paying. I mean, look at what you get for just a bit more money than what these toys cost. I mean, Phillips hardware? Just spend another $20-$40 and get something hobby grade! Someone mentioned lazy parents not doing research getting these for Christmas, and that’s about right.
I would consider these to be hobby grade. For me hobby grade is anything you can buy parts for and fix. There are definitely higher end things out there but these are repairable if they break.
@ fair. It’s the Phillips screws that I can’t get past calling it hobby grade. Lipo, brushless and….Phillips? 😬
Both are junk save your money people
I wouldn't say they're junk. They obviously are great for a certain group of people otherwise they wouldn't have so many sales and so many good reviews on Amazon. I don't think they're good for the enthusiast necessarily but they do fill a role
@@DoRC yes they do,I totally agree for the noob that doesn’t know about rc,Parts support and replacement hardware is a nitemare,ask how I know lol
@@L.U.C.K.Y333 Yeah I think that's where the bigger brands can definitely be beneficial. It's almost always going to be easier for a newcomer to fix and upgrade something that comes from a major brand
@@DoRC for sure,but there fun for sure, awesome videos by tge way
@L.U.C.K.Y333 thanks Glad you enjoy!
Yea those amazon rc's were junk
I wouldn't say they're junk I just think that these don't necessarily represent the best value for money.
If you're careful, you can find good RC cars for cheap. IE, Rlaarlos.