RC Vehicles by Land, Sea, and Air!

There’s no doubt about it—RC vehicles come in a great variety of forms. Join me today as I consider the great variety in this amazing hobby. The plan is to examine 2 unique vehicles in each of the following categories: land, sea, and air. By the end of the article, you’re sure to see that the RC hobby truly has something for everyone. Keep on reading to get the full picture!

RC Vehicles by Land

The first of our land based RC vehicles is the Traxxas Rustler 2WD 1/10 Scale RC Truck—a super fun monster truck that’s also fast and powerful. In fact, the Rustler’s top speed is 56 Km/h (or 35 mph), and that ain’t slow! I actually reviewed the Rustler late last year and found it to be one of the best Traxxas vehicles that I’ve ever had the pleasure of testing. Among its top features are waterproof electronics and an independent suspension system (complete with oil filled shocks and coil springs). These features allow the Rustler to perform marvellously in most weather conditions and on a variety of surfaces. With its 7-Cell NiMH Traxxas iD battery, the Rustler is good to go for approximately 15 minutes of super fun running time on each full charge. Personally, if I had to choose one, and only one, RC vehicle to have from now until the end of time, I’m pretty sure it would be the Traxxas Rustler (though possibly with a few upgrades and modifications).

If super speed isn’t an absolute necessity, and you’d enjoy something with a cool military theme, the Heng Long 3908 1/16 RC 2.4G Smoke&Sound British Challenger 2 Tank is pretty awesome! This highly authentic model is a 1/16th scale replica of the real life British Challenger tank. It has excellent maneuverability and a working turret that can both rotate from side to side as well as raise and lower the cannon. It can even shoot plastic pellets to a distance of up to 5 metres. The pellets are fired via a built-in Airsoft gun that can hold up to 50 rounds at a time and features a realistic recoil action. It’s pretty cool! The tank’s top speed is only 5 Km/h, but it does feature 2.4 GHz radio control and can run for up to 30 minutes on a single battery charge. If you’re a military buff that also happens to be an RC enthusiast, this incredible tank was simply made for you!

RC Vehicles by Sea

Turning to water based RC vehicles, the first one I’d like to consider is the LiteHawk Champ RC Speedboat. I actually featured this boat in another article earlier this week called Take to the Water with LiteHawk RC Boats! Highlights of this model include a top speed of 30 Km/h (or 18 mph) and a running time in the neighbourhood of 10 minutes or so. The Champ is controlled by a 2.4 GHz spread spectrum transmitter, and it runs on a 7.4 V 800mAh Lithium-Ion battery that’s included in the box. Possibly the best thing of all about the LiteHawk Champ, though, is that it’s a realistic scale replica of an actual Formula 1 racing boat. So if you’re a fan of F1 racing on the water, now you can have your own little RC version of a real life racing boat. It’s super cool!

Another water based RC vehicle—and one I didn’t get to highlight in my previous article, is the Traxxas Spartan 1/10 Scale RC Boat. The main reason that I skipped this model before is because it’s not really an entry level product, which is what I wanted to show in that article. However, if you’re interested in going all in with water based RC vehicles, then you really can’t do better than to try the Traxxas Spartan. This thing is both BIG and fast! If the measurements I found are correct, then this thing is nearly 3 and a half feet long, which just seems crazy to me! It can also travel at 48 Km/h (30 mph), but is further upgradable to 80 Km/h (50 mph). Insane! The Spartan’s typical running time is between 10 and 15 minutes, and it comes fully assembled and ready to run right out of the box. There are many, many more specs to consider for this incredible model, so be sure to check out its Best Buy product page if you’re interested in learning more. I definitely don’t think that this boat is for everyone, but if you’ll settle for nothing less than the absolute best, only the Spartan will do!

RC Vehicles by Air

Perhaps the broadest RC vehicle category of all is that of flying drones. This is because there are numerous configurations available, such as helicopters, quadcopters, and even a few planes. But also, there are drones with different purposes, like hobby drones and professional photography drones. Since today’s article is mostly about having fun, my primary concern here is hobby drones. Take, for instance, the LiteHawk II Helicopter—a familiar design configuration that’s suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. With a 3D Gyro stabilizer and multi-directional controls, this mini copter is relatively easy to fly (suitable for those ages 8 and up) and can remain in the air for up to 10 minutes of flight time on a single battery charge. The LiteHawk II definitely makes a great first drone for beginning RC enthusiasts!

If a quadcopter is more your style, or if you want something with fun and unique features, you can’t do any better than to try the Parrot Mambo Quadcopter Mini Drone with Camera. This little quad has some of the coolest little extras that I’ve ever seen with a drone. For instance, there’s a small grabber claw that attaches to the front of the drone and is controllable with the freely downloadable Parrot App. There’s also a tiny cannon that mounts on top of the drone and can be fired by similar means. The cannon actually holds a few (5 or 6) of the 50 or so small green BBs that are included with the drone, and when you fire them, they actually go several feet away. Of course, they’re also super soft and not really dangerous, and the ability to shoot them means you can get together with friends that also own a Parrot Mambo Drone and have little dogfight type air battles. Quite honestly, this drone is one of the coolest little fliers currently in production! I actually reviewed one of these a while ago—a review that you can read HERE. It might not be a bad idea to check that review out actually, because I’ve barely scratched the surface of what the Mambo can do here. For instance, I haven’t even talked about its camera yet!

In any case, I trust that I’ve made my point: there’s so much variety available in the RC hobby today that there’s truly something for everyone! In fact, I’d love to hear in the comments section below whether all of you you prefer land based, airborne, or seafaring RC vehicles? As for myself, I’m still undecided as I haven’t tested any RC boats yet. I suspect that it might be between water and land based vehicles for me though, as I’ve grown somewhat tired of rescuing drones out of trees! 🙂 Until next time, have an excellent day!