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Finally got a chance to putz around with my new Hornet today and so I took the opportunity to take some pics and vid. Here's the breakdown...

Note: To be a little gentler to the 56k'ers, I've attached small thumbnails of my images. For the larger sizes visit my Q-Steer page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lmennuti/s ... 753818445/

To the uninitiated, the Q-Steer is a line of micro sized, Infrared Controlled vehicles from a Company called Takara in Japan. Initially the Q-Steer line was made up of only cars, but Takara recently teamed up with Tamiya and are now offering a Buggy line of vehicles. The model in this review is the "Hornet".

Buggys are available in either A, B, C or D bands (this model is C), they use rechargeable batteries and are 2-speed (there's a "turbo" button on top of the controller and when pressed will make the buggy go much faster).

Alright, so that's a bit about the Q-Steer Buggy, let's get to the pics and vids...

The Packaging:


The Money Shot:


Size Comparison with Bit Char-g and a regular Q-Steer


Controls and Charging
As mentioned, the Q-Steer uses Infrared remote control. Which means you need constantly make sure you're pointing the front of the remote at the vehicle at all times for best and most reliable response. the IR Receiver is mounted inside the Buggy and receives signal through the clear windows. Here and there I did experience "stutter" where it seems the buggy didn't received commands properly, but for the most part things were smooth


Charging is the same as on Bits, you mount the buggy on the side of the controller. With the Q-Steer buggy you have to press the Turbo button to start the charge cycle and the charge light gradually fades toward the end of the charge cycle so you can easily see how much longer it will be till done...There's not much waiting anyway, the charger has a 1minute charge cycle and a single charge can have you running for over 10 minutes!


Suspension
Using what looks to almost be the steering spring from a Bit, the buggy's high level of rear suspension travel gives it quite a bit of versatility in managing hurdles.

And a close-up vid of the suspension in action:
[YouTube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJcjk7eTQlE[/YouTube]

In Action
So far I"m very happy with my new Q-Steer Hornet! While the non-turbo speed could certainly be faster, I find that considering it's a Buggy and how small it is...The slower speed is a great help in starting you off to where you want to go...THEN you hit that Turbo button and punch your way there!

And even Turbo speed could be better, but it's fast enough that it takes practice to maintain control at the higher speed and it's fast enough to spinout on hardwood!

Let's go to the Vid!

[YouTube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7-FZg1DVLM[/YouTube]
Unfortunately you can't tell how steep that ramp is on the right, but I used a hormel chili can and that ramp is actually a good 3" high and has a goodly incline getting over it.

I haven't seen how to take the body off yet, otherwise I'd have done so and taken shots of the internals.

The HotShot and Avante Buggys are do out soon and after having driven this buggy, I DEFINITELY going to trying to get my hands on those as well!

Nice review hulkster. I go the hornetand the grashopper. so far only played with the hornet. Not impressed with mine. charges like shit and the IR is piss poor. Total opposite to the q-steer cars I have .

Hopefully the one I got is a dud and theother is ok.

I really think the IR needs to be tweaked from it's position. It could be made a lot better considering that 90% of thetime the car is driving AWAY from me, lol... IR reception fromthe rear is piss poor.

Again, I hope it's only the one I've got here. Just not enough time to try the other one.

The TX takes 3 AAA's btw. Yet to get under the PCB to get to the batt.

Was your shell glued onto the chassis?

cheers mate.

ph2t.

Thanks for the review Namuna, just curious, but have you tested it off road yet or on an actual street. I'm curious because I got a zzmt and love it and would really like a little off road or outside rally racer kind of car. How does the speed compare to the normal Q-Steer's? It looked pretty fast.

These things definitely have their limitations, but at such a small size you need to set your expectations properly.

I think you might've gotten a bum q-steer ph2t, mine was charging fine and as long as you continually pointed the RX towards the car to maintain line-of-sight and it fine or me (for the most part, every so often I'd also get a glitch).

Glued? Damn, that would explain why I had a hard time taking the shell off!

As far as running it on the street, no I haven't. That's what my Losi Micro-T is for...These things are toys, not-cheap-had-to-import-from-japan toys.