If you don't like that I call them problems then that's problem 7 😂 it's a great way to look at a obstacle and helps the mind work to solve the problem. Great channel, great info 🤘
In my experience, I never ran the stock tires, straight to Proline trenchers predator and alum wheels. I got this truck together with a Phoenix, I replace all the electronics with the same Fusion SE1800 and Amazon 35kg servo, same wheels and proline predator tires on both, no upgrades to chassis or overdrive or suspension, so out of the box same basic modes on both the Zuul outperformed the Phoenix, I got the Phoenix to performer better with a proline body, then I added weights to the front of the Phoenix and 4 corners on the Zuul, and the Zuul it’s a rock crawling monster
@oswaldomesia2354 Nice one. Check out my later phoenix videos to see how to bring that car to a better performance level (I found it mainly needed 10mm longer shocks and links to suit, to fix the geometry, after much testing). That Ecto and Zuul outperform the phoenix is no surprise. It's a solid platform.
@thedailyride8704, There's no difference on hot rock, like in summer. But in cooler temperatures, the G8 will struggle compared to predator compound, all else being equal. I run predator here because summer is about 2 months long and it's cool to cold the rest of the year.
To me? It's now, that you add, just a touch of weight to the wheels...and do it again. And after that run? do something you feel you need. a little at a time is what I find, Works. Always enjoy watching and your thoughts on the challenges as you go? Priceless. ;) Have a great weekend
Thanks. My testing suggests larger diameter tires are the single best mod for this situation. Weight could help too, but for better crawling, this car really needs a better break over angle. Larger tires are the simplest way to address this! Cheers
So true what you say about taller tires , I put 108 mm Super Swampers on my Ecto 12 and a metal gear Servo and it's a Beast now , does 1/10 scale lines no problem
That was painful to watch & you are definitely correct about tire size I have a Carisma 1:10 Coyote 2.1 I believe you also have one it had the same small tires on it & as soon as I replaced them with bigger 1.9 tires it changed the the performance by a lot it was so much better.
Defo, needs to change tyre tread, bro, I changed my kanyon tyres which were, 2.2 louise rowdy,s for hyrax 1.9 on kanyon, crawls so much more better now, ftx kanyon is only supposed to be a traily ,😁😉👍
To be fair, there are times that smaller tires work better. I had a few obstacles that were very difficult on the larger tires, but were very easy on the smaller tires.
You are technically correct (the best kind of correct!) for obstacles where break-over and diff pumpkin clearance isn't needed and where lowest centre of gravity is favourable. Broadly, this won't be the case, but I do agree with you for specific terrain!
Interesting results! Would also be interesting to see how the RGT challenger stacks up against them? I know the challenger is more of a trail rig but it performs really well out of the box…I just got one the other same (same green as yours) impressed with all the features at its price point ….and performance.
Thanks, this one was interesting. You can see how the Challenger goes on the 6 problems in this video: ruclips.net/video/7ha7g4RkIqo/видео.html Cheers 👍
It did with the stock tires, but get some 4.75" donuts on the Element and it'll dominate. But both are excellent value and fun machines, and yes, the Challenger is the clear winner in stock form!
Stills reckon, you should try an rgt desert fox, & reely freemen crawler on your course,,you will be so surprised with thier performance considering their price range, & as i mentioned i changed my kanyon tyres which were standard 2 .0 for smaller 1.9 hyrax tyres, & wow what a difference, but i am Stills a noob, so what does i know,s 🤪😅😁😉👍
I wouldn't be surprised if the EX86120 is capable, given how the other RGT 1/10 RTRs I've tested have been also so capable (EX86010, EX86110, EX86130, EX86170, EX86190). Glad you're enjoying your FTX crawlers :)
Have to agree, the 323mm wheelbase combined with those 4.19 tires are not doing this any favors on the bigger rocks. That said, I didn't expect to see it struggle this much simply going from the 4.65 to a 4.19. I don't think the Grabbers are even a full 4.75 if memory serves
@@RCTNT Yes I believe same size as Canyon Trails. Tough day indeed, but we know its potential! Stock Ecto is great, and I can't imagine the Zuul body weighs enough to negatively impact the cg height compared to the Ecto body
@Andy_Yates for sure. They'll be so close in weight as to be negligible. Really, I need to get bigger tires onto both Zuul and the RGT Pro Runner next!
@@BrettB-n1s Agreed. At least we know an Ecto with bigger tires make short work of this, so a set of Amazon beadlocks with decent tires/inserts will have the Zuul performing much better. Throw in a Fusion SE and it'll get even better
Great video! Did you allready try the IFS or IFS2. In new to crawling, which one would you consider better for rockcrawling? The IFS version or single front axle?
Haven't tried IFS2 yet, but it's on my list. IFS is good for handling at speed. I've covered that in the Knightrunner review a while back. For crawling, live axles give the best capability. It's a question of compromise, basically. Better trail and road manners come with IFS, while a dedicated crawler should be all live axle, and the body roll and poor handing at speed that this comes with. There are some suspension and geometry tricks you can apply to mitigate the cost of compromise, but for a crawler, yeah, live axles for the win.
@@RCTNT thanks for the great explenation! Will probably go for the zuul and change to bigger tires as I love the body more from the zuul more as from the Ecto. Thanks for doing great reviews on both! I do wonder though how they score quite well even with the back suspension system they have. Don’t remember the name of it, but Ive seen your explanation. Kind regards from the Netherlands!🇳🇱
@@RCTNT thanks again, learning a lot from your channel! Would you still consider the ecto to be the best crawler out of the box? or do you have any other thoughts on which 10th scale I could consider next to these now we are a few months further?
For RTR crawlers that are most capable out of the box (ie. With no mods), I'd say the VRD Stance, then the 4WS Capra, then the Ecto. All excellent vehicles. Even better would be the VRD Carbon kit, as you get better quality gears among other things, while it also isn't hard to make the Ecto very capable indeed. It won't touch the Vanquish rigs, but it's very good. The poor old Redcat Ascent Fusion is alright too, once you've done my overhaul for it, but IMO, it won't beat any of the above vehicles, all else being equal.
10 месяцев назад+1
Hi, what do you think about metal protections under the diffs. ?
I wonder if a tire that was more gnarly and luggy would help grapple some of those rocks better. Seems like these are almost road tires vs rock crawling tires. There really isnt any room in between those lugs to let traction develop, seems too smooth to me. Either way man, nice test, clearly the tires were the downfall of this thing. :) EDIT, and by having that small tires really does stop it from gettin its pumpkin up and over a lot of obstacles, seemed to get hung up on that thing quite a bit. :)
I like the smoother 'road'-looking tires on rocks, they generally seem to do better. But a small diameter is a recipe for failure vs larger donuts, yeah!
Could you easily swap the tires of the Zuul for the ones from the Ecto? Because if it is easy, the body of the Zuul is much better looking than the ecto
Not necessary, as they're the same vehicle. I showed the Ecto eating all 6 problems at the start of this video. Plop the Zuul body on the Ecto chassis and there you go, Zuul with different tires!
I've had various different wheels and tyres on the Ecto and it's one of the best performing general purpose crawlers out of the box money can buy. The Zuul is the same as the Ecto once the wheels and tyres are changed. By all means go for it if you're considering it. Brilliant rig.
Totally fine. You'll fit up to maybe 5.2 before you start having problems, maybe even 5.4. Funny, I was just thinking about testing that! But 4.75 on an Ecto is really common. Zuul is the same car, with a similarly narrow body, so no worries.
@@RCTNT OH CRAP I just noticed that, ecto, zuul...DOH.....lol I'm like a really talented kangaroo driving a car. I might go up on the curb a few times but I'll get there eventually hahahaha (you can use that one)
I think you need to lay out a course specific to scale reality for testing true scale vehicles especially ones that come with leaf springs, that way you could score those cars separately from the climbers with unreal over sized wheels and tyres which aren't based on anything in real life apart from the model makers imagination, plus it would add new content for you 🤷♂️
I did create a course just like that but didn't commit to filming all the appropriate cars because I realised that such vehicles are primarily about scale and trail driving, so capability just isn't as relevant. That said, it would still be nice to have an idea of relative performance between them. Maybe I should reconsider!
@@RCTNT yes definitely, I love the scale look so when I'm thinking about getting a truck that's scale I want to know the relative performance compared to others in it's class so I can make a good purchasing decision like I do when buying tyres based on yours and other channel reviews.
Can you run it on li-ion battery insteed of lipo? :D, I'll have to stay away from buying it xD but it's hard xD PS can you run anny rc car on li-ion? :) thinking to upgrade my hsp to li-ion :3
Most crawlers will run okay on Li-ion, but higher performance parts such as direct power servos and punchy brushed motors will over-tax a Li-ion pack and possibly damage it. You'll get away with it on an RTR level of gear though. Of course, nimh makes more sense given how common the packs are. Cheap and easy to get. I literally give them away.
@@RCTNT yeah i run it on nimh :), i dont have anny safe place to store lipos :), So I'm sticking to nimh :D, will probably upgrade to 8.4v nimh before the summer :D
@RatBoraFTW the risk with lipos is when charging, broadly speaking. If they're stored at nominal voltage of 3.7v per cell, they're pretty stable. But regardless, the extra 1.2v from that extra nimh cell will help make it a bit more like a 2s lipo, in speed if not punch! Weight is the only real drawback of nimh vs lipo. And if you're not running in comps, who really cares 🤷 If you're having fun, you're doing it right!
If you don't like that I call them problems then that's problem 7 😂 it's a great way to look at a obstacle and helps the mind work to solve the problem. Great channel, great info 🤘
Thanks!
In my experience, I never ran the stock tires, straight to Proline trenchers predator and alum wheels. I got this truck together with a Phoenix, I replace all the electronics with the same Fusion SE1800 and Amazon 35kg servo, same wheels and proline predator tires on both, no upgrades to chassis or overdrive or suspension, so out of the box same basic modes on both the Zuul outperformed the Phoenix, I got the Phoenix to performer better with a proline body, then I added weights to the front of the Phoenix and 4 corners on the Zuul, and the Zuul it’s a rock crawling monster
@oswaldomesia2354 Nice one.
Check out my later phoenix videos to see how to bring that car to a better performance level (I found it mainly needed 10mm longer shocks and links to suit, to fix the geometry, after much testing).
That Ecto and Zuul outperform the phoenix is no surprise. It's a solid platform.
@thedailyride8704, There's no difference on hot rock, like in summer. But in cooler temperatures, the G8 will struggle compared to predator compound, all else being equal.
I run predator here because summer is about 2 months long and it's cool to cold the rest of the year.
To me? It's now, that you add, just a touch of weight to the wheels...and do it again. And after that run? do something you feel you need. a little at a time is what I find, Works. Always enjoy watching and your thoughts on the challenges as you go? Priceless. ;) Have a great weekend
Thanks.
My testing suggests larger diameter tires are the single best mod for this situation. Weight could help too, but for better crawling, this car really needs a better break over angle. Larger tires are the simplest way to address this! Cheers
So true what you say about taller tires , I put 108 mm Super Swampers on my Ecto 12 and a metal gear Servo and it's a Beast now , does 1/10 scale lines no problem
It's an Ecto waiting to be unlocked, yep!
The 7th problem! Perfect!
That was painful to watch & you are definitely correct about tire size I have a Carisma 1:10 Coyote 2.1 I believe you also have one it had the same small tires on it & as soon as I replaced them with bigger 1.9 tires it changed the the performance by a lot it was so much better.
Makes a difference, eh!
Defo, needs to change tyre tread, bro, I changed my kanyon tyres which were, 2.2 louise rowdy,s for hyrax 1.9 on kanyon, crawls so much more better now, ftx kanyon is only supposed to be a traily ,😁😉👍
To be fair, there are times that smaller tires work better.
I had a few obstacles that were very difficult on the larger tires, but were very easy on the smaller tires.
You are technically correct (the best kind of correct!) for obstacles where break-over and diff pumpkin clearance isn't needed and where lowest centre of gravity is favourable. Broadly, this won't be the case, but I do agree with you for specific terrain!
Interesting results! Would also be interesting to see how the RGT challenger stacks up against them? I know the challenger is more of a trail rig but it performs really well out of the box…I just got one the other same (same green as yours) impressed with all the features at its price point ….and performance.
Thanks, this one was interesting.
You can see how the Challenger goes on the 6 problems in this video:
ruclips.net/video/7ha7g4RkIqo/видео.html
Cheers 👍
Challenger blows it out the water. So impressed
It did with the stock tires, but get some 4.75" donuts on the Element and it'll dominate.
But both are excellent value and fun machines, and yes, the Challenger is the clear winner in stock form!
Stills reckon, you should try an rgt desert fox, & reely freemen crawler on your course,,you will be so surprised with thier performance considering their price range, & as i mentioned i changed my kanyon tyres which were standard 2 .0 for smaller 1.9 hyrax tyres, & wow what a difference, but i am Stills a noob, so what does i know,s 🤪😅😁😉👍
I wouldn't be surprised if the EX86120 is capable, given how the other RGT 1/10 RTRs I've tested have been also so capable (EX86010, EX86110, EX86130, EX86170, EX86190). Glad you're enjoying your FTX crawlers :)
Have to agree, the 323mm wheelbase combined with those 4.19 tires are not doing this any favors on the bigger rocks. That said, I didn't expect to see it struggle this much simply going from the 4.65 to a 4.19. I don't think the Grabbers are even a full 4.75 if memory serves
They're 4.65 aren't they? Same size as the Traxxas canyon trails. Tough day in the office for poor old Zuul!
@@RCTNT Yes I believe same size as Canyon Trails. Tough day indeed, but we know its potential! Stock Ecto is great, and I can't imagine the Zuul body weighs enough to negatively impact the cg height compared to the Ecto body
@Andy_Yates for sure. They'll be so close in weight as to be negligible. Really, I need to get bigger tires onto both Zuul and the RGT Pro Runner next!
That was surprisingly painful to watch! It’s a good looking truck but ouch!
@@BrettB-n1s Agreed. At least we know an Ecto with bigger tires make short work of this, so a set of Amazon beadlocks with decent tires/inserts will have the Zuul performing much better. Throw in a Fusion SE and it'll get even better
It’s been awhile since you did a tire test it would definitely be welcomed. 👍
It's coming! Been working up to this behemoth of a video series for 18+ months!
Thankyou for the review.
My pleasure. Hope you found it useful. Cheers
The gatekeeper is the original version of the Ecto an the Zuul
And though the kit is discontinued, I believe the RTR is still selling. We've done quite a bit with the GK on this channel. Brilliant rig, I'm a fan 😊
Great video! Did you allready try the IFS or IFS2. In new to crawling, which one would you consider better for rockcrawling? The IFS version or single front axle?
Haven't tried IFS2 yet, but it's on my list.
IFS is good for handling at speed. I've covered that in the Knightrunner review a while back.
For crawling, live axles give the best capability.
It's a question of compromise, basically. Better trail and road manners come with IFS, while a dedicated crawler should be all live axle, and the body roll and poor handing at speed that this comes with.
There are some suspension and geometry tricks you can apply to mitigate the cost of compromise, but for a crawler, yeah, live axles for the win.
@@RCTNT thanks for the great explenation!
Will probably go for the zuul and change to bigger tires as I love the body more from the zuul more as from the Ecto. Thanks for doing great reviews on both!
I do wonder though how they score quite well even with the back suspension system they have. Don’t remember the name of it, but Ive seen your explanation.
Kind regards from the Netherlands!🇳🇱
@NS-cd5yg trailing arms. And yes, it surprised me too. But the formula works, can't argue with that! Cheers
@@RCTNT thanks again, learning a lot from your channel! Would you still consider the ecto to be the best crawler out of the box? or do you have any other thoughts on which 10th scale I could consider next to these now we are a few months further?
For RTR crawlers that are most capable out of the box (ie. With no mods), I'd say the VRD Stance, then the 4WS Capra, then the Ecto. All excellent vehicles.
Even better would be the VRD Carbon kit, as you get better quality gears among other things, while it also isn't hard to make the Ecto very capable indeed. It won't touch the Vanquish rigs, but it's very good.
The poor old Redcat Ascent Fusion is alright too, once you've done my overhaul for it, but IMO, it won't beat any of the above vehicles, all else being equal.
Hi, what do you think about metal protections under the diffs. ?
I think they're a bad idea on crawlers. Have tried them. They catch and grab rock, while plastic slides over better.
I wonder if a tire that was more gnarly and luggy would help grapple some of those rocks better. Seems like these are almost road tires vs rock crawling tires. There really isnt any room in between those lugs to let traction develop, seems too smooth to me. Either way man, nice test, clearly the tires were the downfall of this thing. :)
EDIT, and by having that small tires really does stop it from gettin its pumpkin up and over a lot of obstacles, seemed to get hung up on that thing quite a bit. :)
I like the smoother 'road'-looking tires on rocks, they generally seem to do better. But a small diameter is a recipe for failure vs larger donuts, yeah!
Could you easily swap the tires of the Zuul for the ones from the Ecto? Because if it is easy, the body of the Zuul is much better looking than the ecto
Absolutely, yes. Wheels and tires are an easy swap :)
@@RCTNT do you plan on making a video (i wouldn't imagine it needing to be a long one) showing it with the Ecto tires?
Not necessary, as they're the same vehicle. I showed the Ecto eating all 6 problems at the start of this video. Plop the Zuul body on the Ecto chassis and there you go, Zuul with different tires!
hi mate im a bit late but did you ever try the zuul with different tyres? as i love the look of the body
I've had various different wheels and tyres on the Ecto and it's one of the best performing general purpose crawlers out of the box money can buy. The Zuul is the same as the Ecto once the wheels and tyres are changed. By all means go for it if you're considering it. Brilliant rig.
@@RCTNT thats awesome dude thanks. not many videos on the zuul at all so yours are a massive help👍🏻
Oh I'm glad! If it helps, watch all the Ecto videos you want for Zuul research. It's the same car, just different body and tires.
@@RCTNT would the zuul run 4.75” tires? Or are they too big for it.
Totally fine. You'll fit up to maybe 5.2 before you start having problems, maybe even 5.4. Funny, I was just thinking about testing that!
But 4.75 on an Ecto is really common. Zuul is the same car, with a similarly narrow body, so no worries.
I'm only here for the Zuul reference to the original Ghostbusters hehehe
They've got a theme going, haven't they!
@@RCTNT OH CRAP I just noticed that, ecto, zuul...DOH.....lol
I'm like a really talented kangaroo driving a car. I might go up on the curb a few times but I'll get there eventually hahahaha
(you can use that one)
Kangaroos driving? Lol.
...they always jump the Stop signs
Great vid as always thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it!
The tyres made a huge difference compared to the Ecto
Haha yes, didn't they just!
Wow, still surprises me how much tire diameter makes a difference on your six (7?🤣) problems
Tire diameter is king
I think you need to lay out a course specific to scale reality for testing true scale vehicles especially ones that come with leaf springs, that way you could score those cars separately from the climbers with unreal over sized wheels and tyres which aren't based on anything in real life apart from the model makers imagination, plus it would add new content for you 🤷♂️
I did create a course just like that but didn't commit to filming all the appropriate cars because I realised that such vehicles are primarily about scale and trail driving, so capability just isn't as relevant.
That said, it would still be nice to have an idea of relative performance between them. Maybe I should reconsider!
@@RCTNT yes definitely, I love the scale look so when I'm thinking about getting a truck that's scale I want to know the relative performance compared to others in it's class so I can make a good purchasing decision like I do when buying tyres based on yours and other channel reviews.
Yeah that's entirely reasonable. Thanks, I'll think on it.
Can you run it on li-ion battery insteed of lipo? :D, I'll have to stay away from buying it xD but it's hard xD PS can you run anny rc car on li-ion? :) thinking to upgrade my hsp to li-ion :3
Most crawlers will run okay on Li-ion, but higher performance parts such as direct power servos and punchy brushed motors will over-tax a Li-ion pack and possibly damage it. You'll get away with it on an RTR level of gear though.
Of course, nimh makes more sense given how common the packs are. Cheap and easy to get. I literally give them away.
@@RCTNT I was thinking of hsp boxer :D, PS AMAZING video and crawler! :D
It'll be fine, yep. Though it comes with a nimh battery pack, doesn't it? That'd be easier.
@@RCTNT yeah i run it on nimh :), i dont have anny safe place to store lipos :), So I'm sticking to nimh :D, will probably upgrade to 8.4v nimh before the summer :D
@RatBoraFTW the risk with lipos is when charging, broadly speaking. If they're stored at nominal voltage of 3.7v per cell, they're pretty stable.
But regardless, the extra 1.2v from that extra nimh cell will help make it a bit more like a 2s lipo, in speed if not punch! Weight is the only real drawback of nimh vs lipo. And if you're not running in comps, who really cares 🤷 If you're having fun, you're doing it right!
The zuul is just an ecto with a different body
Almost, yes. We covered this in detail in the previous video :)