Traxxas Slash Fox 4WD 1/10 Scale RC Short Course Truck Review

Today I examine the fastest ground based RC toy I have ever experienced. It’s the Traxxas Slash Fox 4WD 1/10 Scale RC Short Course Truck – In White / Black, and it is every bit as impressive as it sounds. Keep reading to learn all about this mid-range monster with above average speed. If this truck were just a little bit bigger, you’d be driving it to work!

Initial Impressions

The Traxxas Slash Fox is something between a traditional monster truck and a sleek racecar. I was initially impressed by its overall size, but somewhat concerned about the smaller size of its tires in comparison to both the Traxxas Stampede and the Traxxas Summit. More on that below.

One thing I especially like about the Fox is its sharp, black and white colour scheme. Of course, it’s fairly heavy as well, but not nearly as heavy as the Summit. I also could not believe what I was reading when I noticed on the Fox’s rather large box that it can reach speeds of up to 100 Km/h. That seems just crazy to me! I just couldn’t wait to get it outside in a nice open space to see just exactly what that might look like.

Charting the Key Considerations

Testing & Play

Playing with the Fox proved rather more difficult than I initially expected. When you have a remote control truck that can go 100 Km/h, you need a good chunk of real estate to drive it in. First of all, I DO NOT recommend playing with this thing on any road surface that real cars and trucks drive on―for a number of reasons. For one thing, it could be very dangerous. And for another, you may damage both your toy and someone’s actual motor vehicle. So be careful where you play with this thing. In my case, I had a tough time finding a good place to drive it. I usually go to a local park or do some testing in my back lane, but the Fox moves far too quickly to drive in any narrow lane, and there are usually people all over my local park. This normally isn’t an overly big deal, but you really don’t want to hit anyone with something that goes as fast as this truck moves, so having hordes of kids chasing it all over the park isn’t exactly ideal.

Even so, I did find some quiet times to do my testing, but no matter where I went, I just didn’t have enough space to really open things up fully. The Fox covers ground so fast that you’re constantly having to turn, even if you’re on a surface the size of a soccer field. If you do plan to get a Fox, scout around and find some good open spaces to play with it in. Canada is full of such places, but if you live in a city, it will be a bit more difficult to find an ideal spot.

As for the results of my testing, I found that the Fox is one of the most fun RC toys to play with that I have ever tested. There’s nothing like raw speed to make things super fun, and the Fox holds the road reasonably well, though spin-outs and fishtailing isn’t as uncommon as the Fox’s literature would have you think. It definitely performs better on a dry, flat, paved surface than on bumpy or wet ground (whether grass, dirt, or otherwise). The only time I had a bit of trouble keeping the Fox on all 4 wheels at all was when I found a sloped road to drive on. Although it was paved, the pavement was wet that day, and the Fox found things a bit slippery when going down the slope. Going up hill, however, was an absolute pleasure. The Fox flew up the hill at top speed and with near perfect traction and control. It was mainly just on the way back down the hill where control became an issue and I spun out a and flipped over. All up, the Fox is fun, but not perfect.

On a side note, take a look at some of the Fox’s included accessories (tools, decals, fast charger, and additional minor parts) in the photo at right. There’s not as much as you get with the Summit, but there’s still plenty to work with for fixing, upgrading, or decorating your vehicle.

The Fox’s transmitter falls somewhere in between that of the Stampede and the Summit. Once again it is a 2.4GHz unit with the same steering and throttle setup as the others. Similarly, the placement of the On / Off switch and the 4 AA batteries is also the same. The only extras that this controller has over the Stampede’s are a Multi-Function Knob (to adjust the TSM, or Traxxas Stability Management, which is meant to make controlling your Fox easier when driving on such slippery surfaces such as ice, snow, loose gravel or dirt, and wet or very smooth concrete), a “Neutral” switch (which adjusts the Neutral position of the throttle trigger between a 50 / 50 split and a 70 / 30 split to provide more room in the throttle forward position), and a red “Menu” button at the top next to the “Set” button. This controller has no High & Low Gear option (like the Summit’s transmitter has) and no T-Lock Differentials either. As I mentioned above, I did not find the Fox to have the greatest skid control, even though it has the TSM feature mentioned. In one case, during testing, the Fox did a roughly 40 foot skid when I broke hard from a high speed in my back lane. This isn’t really so bad though, and it only flipped over once, when I hit a speed bump (ramp) at high speed with my camera attached to the front of the Fox to capture the driver’s eye view. The extra weight in the front made the jumps a bit less stable. See the footage in my video below to experience for yourself the full-on thrill of riding in the Fox!

For & Against

The biggest factor in favour of the Traxxas Slash Fox is that if you feel the need―the need for speed, then this awesome truck provides total satisfaction. I’ve really never seen anything quite like it. The Fox literally goes as fast as some people drive on the highway! Of course, you don’t have to drive it at top speed, and you can even adjust the control settings to cut its top speed down for safer driving and easier control. But, why on Earth would anyone want to do that???

On the down side here is simply the amount of space you need to really get the most out of your truck. I have said repeatedly in this review that finding enough open space for full-on driving is the biggest challenge here, and that’s just how it is when your RC truck can drive at 100 K. Just find yourself a good sized driving area (I’m thinking of something along the lines of the Utah Salt Flats here), and all of your problems with the Fox will be solved!

Examining the Video Evidence

Please check out my video overview of the Traxxas Slash Fox:

Batteries & Chargers 

The battery for this one (shown at left) is a rechargeable, 7-Cell, 8.4V, NiMH, 3000 MAH, Power Cell ID Battery. It takes about 45 minutes to charge with the (included) fast charger (shown below) or with the more versatile Traxxas EZ-Peak Plus Charger (shown further below). All up you should get about 15 minutes of play time out of this particular battery. For more speed, however, upgrade to an even more powerful Traxxas battery. Several are compatible.

Included with the Stampede is a fast charger that plugs into a standard car cigarette lighter (shown immediate right). I DO NOT recommend charging your batteries while driving, as this could be very dangerous. You may even cause a fire or have your battery explode. Instead, you may want to get a Traxxas AC to DC Power Supply Adapter that allows you to use this charger with a standard wall plug (shown far right).

Better still, you could just pick up a Traxxas EZ-Peak Plus Charger, which is both safe and easy to use. These chargers employ a system called “iD Auto Battery Identification” to automatically recognize (and adapt to) your specific Traxxas iD Battery. The charger can then optimize the charging conditions for that specific battery, which is very useful. Simply plug the battery (or cell pack) into the EZ-Peak Charger and press & hold the start button for 2 seconds. No extensive battery knowledge is required, and you’ll achieve the highest level of performance from both your batteries and your model.

Even If the batteries you use are not iD batteries, you can still charge them with the EZ-Peak Charger. You’ll just have to manually adjust the settings to get a proper charge. This is rather easy to do, and the charger even knows whether youre using NiMH or LiPo batteries & will adjust its function accordingly in the case of iD batteries. You can even get a Traxxas EZ-Peak Dual Charger for charging 2 sets of batteries at once. This is especially useful if your model requires 2 separate battery packs to operate.

Final Thoughts

I like the Traxxas Slash Fox very much, and I expect that most RC enthusiasts will as well. As a mid-range Traxxas vehicle, I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners. Beginners should opt for a lower end model. If, however, you’ve got some preexisting Traxxas experience, plenty of space to drive this thing in, and it fits within your budget, then I certainly do recommend it for you. Just remember, as you move up the Traxxas price range, the hobby becomes more and more specialized and more and more serious. I would suggest that the Traxxas Slash Fox is best suited to committed RC hobbyists. If this sounds like you, you’re sure to have a blast with it!

Mini Gallery of Additional Photos