back in the game..losi micro trail trekker review, and build
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 9:10 pm
Hello all..after a little break from rc stuff, I found myself wanting something new to play around with. With paycheck in hand I took a trip down to my local hobby store with a plan to buy a losi micro crawler..of course upon arrival I discovered that they were out of stock. After looking around, I found this little beauty. The guy at the front counter informed me that this was the newest losi product they just got in, and that I may like it more than the crawler.
Hop ups...nothing, not even a lipo battery. After lightening my wallet to the tune of $160, I rushed home to try it out.
Out of the box I was happy to find a wall charger, instead of the crappy box of batteries shit that came with my microT..as well as four AA's for the transmitter.
The chassis consists of two aluminum frame rails connected by plastic cross bracings, four link suspension with brass ball style joints , cheap plastic shocks with soft springs. The axles themselves are very realistic looking, and perform as good as they look. One thing that surprised me was that this is the only losi I ever bought that came with ball bearings! Very cool..
Transfer case / motor is situated in the center connected to both axles by plastic driveshafts. Above that is where the esc and battery resides. Beadlock wheels are fairly realistic looking, but quite narrow. Tires are fairly tame in regards to tread pattern, but seem to be somewhat soft and sticky.
First charge took about an hour, and according to the instruction "poster" losi calls for an average charge time of two to three hours..gay.
First drive, well to be honest this is my first somewhat "crawler type truck" so I didn't know to what to expect. I did know it would be slow, and I was right..I started out with some small obstacles. It took to the small shit quite well, did notice the suspension articulation was limited due to spacers installed on the shock shafts. After removing them, articulation was much better, and the truck performed nicely. After getting some time under my belt, I moved on to bigger obstacles...this is where I noticed some of the shortcomings. The truck kept flipping over, rolling over, getting Hung up on the suspension links and frame, etc. Another problem is losi's weak servos, so steering was poor at best. Now keep in mind this is supposed to be a trail rig and not a true crawler, but since I am stubborn, and not afraid to chop a brand new rc up, I started off with moving the battery pack to the front placing it in between the frame rails, over the steering servo. I then started trimming the body for better tire clearance, and the front to allow the shell to be lowered on the chassis.
So far so good..it performs quite well now, of course I will be looking for ways to widen the track, and mount bigger, more aggressive crawling tires. A lipo battery is also in order...
So if you're looking for a trail rig with the potential to be an adequate crawler, this is a pretty good truck to go with
Some pics...when I figure out how to do it on my stupid phone.
Hop ups...nothing, not even a lipo battery. After lightening my wallet to the tune of $160, I rushed home to try it out.
Out of the box I was happy to find a wall charger, instead of the crappy box of batteries shit that came with my microT..as well as four AA's for the transmitter.
The chassis consists of two aluminum frame rails connected by plastic cross bracings, four link suspension with brass ball style joints , cheap plastic shocks with soft springs. The axles themselves are very realistic looking, and perform as good as they look. One thing that surprised me was that this is the only losi I ever bought that came with ball bearings! Very cool..
Transfer case / motor is situated in the center connected to both axles by plastic driveshafts. Above that is where the esc and battery resides. Beadlock wheels are fairly realistic looking, but quite narrow. Tires are fairly tame in regards to tread pattern, but seem to be somewhat soft and sticky.
First charge took about an hour, and according to the instruction "poster" losi calls for an average charge time of two to three hours..gay.
First drive, well to be honest this is my first somewhat "crawler type truck" so I didn't know to what to expect. I did know it would be slow, and I was right..I started out with some small obstacles. It took to the small shit quite well, did notice the suspension articulation was limited due to spacers installed on the shock shafts. After removing them, articulation was much better, and the truck performed nicely. After getting some time under my belt, I moved on to bigger obstacles...this is where I noticed some of the shortcomings. The truck kept flipping over, rolling over, getting Hung up on the suspension links and frame, etc. Another problem is losi's weak servos, so steering was poor at best. Now keep in mind this is supposed to be a trail rig and not a true crawler, but since I am stubborn, and not afraid to chop a brand new rc up, I started off with moving the battery pack to the front placing it in between the frame rails, over the steering servo. I then started trimming the body for better tire clearance, and the front to allow the shell to be lowered on the chassis.
So far so good..it performs quite well now, of course I will be looking for ways to widen the track, and mount bigger, more aggressive crawling tires. A lipo battery is also in order...
So if you're looking for a trail rig with the potential to be an adequate crawler, this is a pretty good truck to go with
Some pics...when I figure out how to do it on my stupid phone.
