VATERRA Twin Hammers 1.9 Rock Racer

[fhhhstix]

I have been wanting to get a 4X4 buggy so I bought one of these from my Local hobby shop. He made me a great deal on it and asked me for some feedback. To be truthful this is one of the most disappointing buggy's I have ever bought and I have owned well over 150 RC cars and trucks not including my semis. It is not a bad buggy it just has some issues that would be a big deal if it was someone’s first RC buggy. Before I make a list of my complaints about it I am wondering if anybody else here has bought one and what they think of the buggy.








Travis

[Tamiya Cowboy]

A buddy of mine that is a big racer and crawler bought one right away when it came out. He has broke a few parts and has replaced them with alum bits and also has had to do a fare amount of fine tuning to it to get it sort of where he thinks it should be so I would say you two are probably feeling the same way about it. I have seen it run since all the work to it and it looks like a good rig but I don't know how it went before..

[Dunga_CZE]

Any details or a link to these tires in backgroud?

[Acadieman]

I don't have one, but I know some local people had issues with the shifting servo. It was replaced under warranty.
Most have also locked the front diff as it was not able to climb all that well.
I didn't have anyone say that you need to buy one. I'll stay away.

[fhhhstix]

Originally Posted by Tamiya Cowboy

A buddy of mine that is a big racer and crawler bought one right away when it came out. He has broke a few parts and has replaced them with alum bits and also has had to do a fare amount of fine tuning to it to get it sort of where he thinks it should be so I would say you two are probably feeling the same way about it. I have seen it run since all the work to it and it looks like a good rig but I don't know how it went before..

Thanks Paul.

Originally Posted by Dunga_CZE

Any details or a link to these tires in backgroud?

They are from RC4WD and they call them DUKW 1.9" Military Offroad Tires. Here is a link to them.

http://rctruckandconstruction.com/ne...uote=1&p=83614

Originally Posted by Acadieman

I don't have one, but I know some local people had issues with the shifting servo. It was replaced under warranty.
Most have also locked the front diff as it was not able to climb all that well.
I didn't have anyone say that you need to buy one. I'll stay away.

Thanks.

OK my take on this buggy from an experienced RC addict and looking at it as if it was my first truck.

The operations manual yes you do need to read it even if it is incomplete. The buggy comes with a Li Po battery but it states in the manual that the esc is set up for NiMh and it is, so if you just slap the battery in and run it till it quits you just fried the battery. The manual offers no good explanation of the Spectrum radio system, in particular the binding. The receiver comes with leads pre wired coming out of it which is cool since that is how they water proffed it but the don't tell you that one is a bind lead and have it marked so you can just fish it out of the body and bind it without taking of the body (we will get to taking off the body later). The manual covers the esc and tells you it has the inputs you can change labeled A/B/C. A is the battery type Li Po/NiMh and the manual covers how to change that. B is teaching the esc the end points of the radio and the manual covers that. C is setting the drive type forward/revers with smart brake , forward/ with brake only, and crawler mode, this is where the manual stops and it is up to you to guess how to set it and what setting your in. So I suggest you download the manual for the Li Po Tazer 12T from horizon.

The truck which I new would not be a good crawler with the independent front suspension and open diff. What I did not expect is how tipsy it is as a bash-er it literally takes nothing to put it on its top. Now correcting the roll over problem is easy enough with the sway bar kits that are back ordered and in my opinion should have been included in a $400 buggy. Now I have not gotten the sway bar kit yet but it is ordered. I would assume it will help with keeping it upright as a bash-er but will make it less of a crawler since in the real world like Jeeps the sway bars are made for easy disconnect for off road so I would think the same would apply here. The body, to get it off requires you to remove at least 10 screws which makes the cage tough and able to take a hit but a pain for working on it.

I will post more on the truck when I get the sway bars and do some more testing.

Travis

[fhhhstix]

Well after some more time at the wheel of this one I added the sway bars which the front one helped some on the stability but the way the rear one attaches it is pretty well useless. I also added the front diff locker and it helped with the crawling part of the truck and helped some with the stability in a turn. Over all I was still not happy with the truck especially with the performance compared to the $400 price tag.

My friend and owner of the hobby shop I go to had all ready figured out I was not happy with the truck so he suggested I trade it in and look at something else. I had planed to get a Tamiya Super Hot Shot but I have been doing a lot of work on Nitro cars for some friends and started thinking about getting one again. I have always stayed away from nitro because my first experience with owning one did not go well. It was a Duratrax Maximum ST (piece of junk) and I disliked it so much I converted it to electric. But after working on some nicer trucks I decided to give it a try again. I traded in the Twin Hammer for an Associated Monster GT 4.60, 1 gallon of fuel, and a glow igniter even up. So far I am very happy with the new truck.




Travis

[pigeonfarmboy]

*Start with a disclaimer. I work for Horizon Hobby but my opinion is of my own. It may sound like I'm defending our product, but I'm just offering insight to this particular situation.*

To be fair I think this is a simple case of expecting the wrong performance out of a vehicle. I know several guys that use the TH and enjoy them for the right use. Technical Rock racing is what these are ideally made for and where they shine.

Regardless I'm happy you got the monster truck and are happy with that instead.