Thanks for this review. I’m new to the hobby and I have been buying all different size trucks. I wanted to go with something bigger than a 1/10 and was looking hard at this the other night. I almost bought it and thought never buy the first edition of anything. Just ran across your channel and have to say very well done. The wife and I are looking to soak up as much info as possible. It looks like your the guy to come to…
The only Recats I have are a Rampage and an Everest. Rampage was used and dirt cheap, and the Everest was a freebie. Don't think I'll be adding any Redcat products to the collection. My 8s Outcast kills driveshafts, but it is twice the weight, twice as fast, and a whole lot of fun. Putting up with breakage sucks, but the fun factor has to be there. My Primal Grave Digger tends to fall apart, but the fun factor is always there.
@@DoRC I watched it and what I saw was a terrible design. Look at the Traxxas, the Aarmas, the Losis. All the great rc cars have fully flexible plastic arms. They bend. Kenny, that thing came down on dirt. Not concrete.Putting in that chunk of cheap aluminum is just a really bad design.
Oh yeah we are definitely in agreement there and I'm not entirely convinced that an extra couple of threads in the plastic is going to make that much difference but it is worth noting and it definitely will make some difference. But like you said unless it needs to be adjustable a single piece of plastic is the best option.
No that wasn’t ideal, but u did say it weighs almost 15lbs. All the impact was directly on that tire, so the break is understandable. It’s just not desirable. They should make those arms super solid to withstand the mass of the vehicle.
I really don't think the break is understandable. Yes it was a bad landing but it was also from like two feet in the air at like 10 miles an hour. I have bashed dozens of cars hundreds of times off that ramp and I don't think I've ever broken another car despite landing every way imaginable including worse than that by far. The sad thing is that four piece three material design that they used probably cost them more to make than it would have cost them just to make the arm out of a single piece of plastic which almost certainly wouldn't have done that. Hopefully they'll come up with an updated design or some other solution.
I get what you're saying but in this case I disagree. Yes it came down on one wheel but it came down from like 2 ft in the air at 10 mph. I have literally jumped dozens of cars off that ramp hundreds of times and crashed in every conceivable way. I don't think I've ever broken another car on that ramp. Any modern basher should be able to handle a landing from two feet in the air at 10 mph in any orientation.
Redcat stepped up and already said the arms are a weak point and offer revised ones for free if you own the first run of them. That's pretty awesome if you ask me. Most companies would just offer upgrades months later for more $
That's true but it's very easy to reverse the direction of the motor. You can either do it in the ESC programming or just switch any two wires between the ESC and the motor and it reverses motor direction. Thanks for watching :-)
Yeah I'm not sure what caused them to change the ESC but it would have been nice to have a Max 8. Maybe hobby Wing isn't supplying the Max ate anymore because of the G2 and the G2 is too expensive. Not sure.
I was actually going to order one of these once Redcat put the V2 out in a few weeks but I decided to check the PDF manual to see what it takes to access the diffs. OH MY GOODNESS, it's a dang project just to access the front and rear diffs!!! I couldn't believe, unless I'm missing something, that the bulk heads are integrated with the shock towers so everything kinda clam shells together??? This is a crazy design and makes things more time consuming than it should be. For this reason, I'm out. It's a shame, the $500 price point is where all 1/8ths scale should be at.
It's not really too bad. The whole end of the car comes off as a module with a few screws and then it splits apart. I would say with power tools it can be done in 2 to 3 minutes.
@@DoRC Dang, sorry for the late reply. Well, while we all wait for the updated Machete to come back into stock, do you mind doing a diff tear down video? Don't need to see both ends, the front end should be enough. I still want this truck, I think a few M2C upgrades would put this up there with the current big name bashers. I'm also considering an XRT but I'd need $600 worth of M2C upgrades to be happy with it. Had a 6S XMAXX and didn't like it since it was a hughe POS. The diffs on the Xmaxx and XRT aren't user friendly to access either.
Im interested in changing up motor position on this thing. For the cost of it id be willing to experiment and make some custom parts. Hopefully the aftermarket jumps on this platform. With more power, shocks that dont sag and a few weak points addressed this would be a bad ass handling truck. Definitely won't ever be a basher
Awesome first look and what a shame this is probably the reason why we don't get the Redcat line in the UK . I really liked the look of this truck also . Keep us informed on what Redcat says about what is a minor crash . Keep up the good work buddy and hello from Wales UK Chris
Yeah I won't get to talk to them till Monday. This wasn't a sponsored video or anything I just bought the car and reviewed it so I'm just a regular old customer.
Very disappointed would be an understatement for how weak that crash was & producing that much damage to not only snap the upper arm, but that CVD tho!!! Oooooooof! Freakin' A maaaan! Unequivocally should not have broken like this!!!!
Yeah I will withhold judgment on the axle given that it could have been put under a lot of stress when the arm broke but the arm breaking makes no sense. I'd really don't understand why they even have a designed like that. It has to cost them more money to make it that way than just to make it out of a single piece of plastic and there's absolutely no advantage of doing it that way.
Too Bad they didn't get it right - Just got done with them today discussing why my shocks completely fell apart upon 5 minutes of driving and had them tell me multiple complaints came in today while I was trying to resolve my issue. Then I just got a email that they are taking it off the market now .. FUN TIMES - a few weeks before the parts are available or something because if you look at the Machete on the RedCat page you can clearly see the shocks are different with the springs not being the same from what they are doing on the assembly line.
Yeah it'll be interesting to see what they're working on fixing. I had issues with my arms and you had issues with your shocks. We'll see how it goes. I do have a lot of respect for the fact that they are willing to stop sales and address problems though. I know some other companies that would not do that.
Damn!!! Was really pumped for redcat to have a new release!! That upper arm tho!! I don’t even like the design of them!! I do love how low slung and long this is tho!! Thanks for the great try!!! Now back to r n d !!🤙🏻👍🏻😁
Yeah I was really hopeful for this and I really hope they come up with an updated arm that is a single plastic piece. Maybe I can find something else that will fit it :-) anyway thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated!
Nice. Too bad it landed right on that front tire. I wouldn't be too worried about it. That's why I hate to use those ramps that only have a very small angle. I prefer to jump my rigs on the other ramp you have. I always mess up more and have more breakages if I land wrong with small angled ramps 😂. Thanks for the video. I would still buy one. The drivetrain looks stout.
I've jumped dozens of different cars literally hundreds of time off that ramp. I've landed worse than that many many times. That landed was a bad angle but it was from two feet in the air at a very slow speed into dirt. No modern basher should break from that regardless of the angle. Drivetrain definitely seems sweet though!
@@philthyco1 Yeah it's not the ideal ramp but that doesn't change the fact that I've jumped tons of other cars many many times off that ramp and landed badly many many times and never broken anything. It's a tiny jump and no modern bashing car should break no matter how it lands off that jump. That was essentially equivalent to just dropping it from your hands.
@@philthyco1 he probably meant to crash. It’s a durability test. No RC I own would break from that. That’s absurd ! But in his short, it looks they manufactured it wrong with the assembly.
Where exactly does it say that? They show the machete jumping higher than I did when it broke in their own video. They use words like extreme and bash and tough and durable in their overview of the vehicle on there website. If it's really true that they did not intend this thing to be jumped a couple feet in the air then they one shouldn't have shown it jumping a couple feet in the air on their video and two would be pretty tone deaf to modern bashing requirements because pretty much everybody jumps their cars these days.
Yeah it really boggles the mind why they decided to do it like that. I guarantee you it cost them more to make a four-piece arm and then it wouldn't make a single piece plastic arm. Plus they have to pay someone to put it together.
Redcat is interesting when it comes to quality, for a while the only Redcat product I owned was the Blackout XBE buggy brushed and it was fun for a little while. Then I put a Castle Creations SCT system in it with the stock gearing and plastic spur gear, even though the steering links liked to pop on hard crashes literally nothing on that thing broke and I even put the paddle tires on it and could hydroplane across water with it. At least the upgraded arms seem to far more durable than the stock ones for the Machete.
Yeah a lot of their older stuff was pretty low quality but they stepped it up a bit with the Kaiju and after the quick updates that they did to the arms the machete is actually pretty good. That's especially true given that you can get it for 300 bucks right now.
@@DoRC yeah, I have been out of hobby for 6-7 years, started out with a used 2wd Rustler and my second purchase has been the 4s Machete (easily the biggest RC I have ever owned). As I am more of a light basher I highly doubt the 4s power is going to be enough to cause this thing to implode.
The angle of The hit was bad but I have jumped literally dozens of cars hundreds of times off that jump and landed every single way imaginable including way worse than that and I don't think I've ever broken another car off that jump.
I'm glad Redcat is addressing the arms. I still don't understand the concept of a metal section as they have it. And wouldn't you know that's the problem area. Would just an entire plastic upper arm be all that bad?
A monolithic plastic arm would have been better. This arm is both more expensive for them to make and a worst design. The only reason I can think that they would have done this is that someone got tunnel vision during design and just didn't think about using a single piece arm. There's no point in having this type of setup if the arm isn't adjustable
Yeah I'm pretty annoyed. I just don't understand who would make the decision to make a more complicated, more expensive yet weaker design. A simple single plastic piece would have been superior in every way.
Iam ready for my 6s one to come n tomorrow hope it’s easy to get parts bc when I order my truck on Tuesday morning last week there was no parts I was able to buy extra for this kind of stuff breaking so easily. I learned that the hard way and I first got my Kalju from Redcat I always like to get extra parts when ordering new trucks I dt have yet
Still no parts that I've been able to find. Hopefully tomorrow they'll be available cuz I need to get some :-) Did you see my short update on the breakage?
@@DoRC I was on Jat Tees live last night, my Shogun is 22"long and 15" wide. It's bigger than an Asuga. I just put Radix tires on it and I have a poor man's Asuga. Lol. Definitely getting Asuga tires!
Yeah it's possible that my break was a fluke but I don't think so. I've jumped so many cars off that jump so many times and landed pretty much every way imaginable. I don't think I've ever broken another car off that jump.
Surprisingly it seemed to have a decent amount of power and the electronics weren't getting that hot. I'm sure it wouldn't be an absolute speed demon but I think for general bashing it would probably be sufficient.
It sucks that the arm broke but let’s be honest here my arrma outcast 8s rtr stock arm’s shattered so easy on first run never made a full pack . Outcast 4s chassis broke , stock xmaxx hinge pins pop out need a upgrade same with monkey metal gears . Etc etc I have yet to buy a rc and it’s 100 ready to go . So if rpm makes some good arms I’m fine with this and will buy the car.
That may be true but I've jumped literally dozens of cars hundreds of times off that little jump over the years and have crashed them much worse than that at higher speeds and I'm pretty sure this is the only car that's ever broken off that jump. Maybe it was a fluke but looking at the design I don't think so.
So, Redcat just announced they have suspended sales of both the 4s and 6s Machetes due to a defect not found in testing. Huh? A clue. Kenny, not sure this video had anything to do with it, but there are things that make you go hmm.
Yes I put out a short last night about them halting sales. I'm also not sure their reasoning because I don't know exactly what they're fixing but if it turns out they're fixing upper arms I would have to imagine that it has something to do with the upper arm breakages that have happened.
wow that boke very quickly Those upper arms look like a very bad weak spot !!! almost the same problem as the Kaiju did !!! I am really considering buying the Team Corally Asuga buggy now !!!!
The asuga is a really good car. It definitely stood up to a lot of abuse in my video. Given that this arm isn't adjustable I really don't understand why they made it that way. I pretty much guarantee it cost them more to manufacture than a single plastic arm would have been.
Yeah it's crazy to me that they made the arm like that. I guarantee you that it is more expensive for them to make a four-piece arm like that then it would be just to make it a single plastic piece. I also guarantee you if properly made a single plastic piece would not have broken like that. Thanks for the sub :-)
They do it on purpose guys , they don't want any heat from other companies when they succeed with thier own niche rcs . After watching the guy that design it and your review that's my opinion. Just ask arrma hpi hellos and many others
Titanium screws are cool but I prefer just to use good carbon steel. Titanium tends to gum up especially into aluminum and you could end up with galling and a seized fastener.
I don't know. I'm hoping that if we can get a few of the issues worked out it'll be a good rig. It's definitely cool and for the few minutes I got to drive it it was fun.
Seems like it has a lot of power for the small motor and ESC. Landslide had a similar upper arm set up and it didn't hold.up well. But easy and cheap to fix. Rest of it helps up well. Thanks bud. You just saved me 500.bucks 🤙
I just don't understand why they have the landslide and the Kaiju and Kaiju EXT all with the same arm style all with the same problem and yet they still made this one the same way. It's just baffling given the fact that this four piece design has to be more expensive to manufacture and assemble then a simple one piece plastic arm would have been. You can't even adjust it so why is it like that? I hope they decide to come out with an update that is just a single piece of plastic.
So the Can diameter isn’t the problem? It’s the length? I was about to order one since I just got the vigilante and thank god I saw your video! because when I saw that they have 10th scale electronics in the 4s and 8 scale in the 6s I immediately went to looking at my go to electronic set ups that I put on everything which is the hobby wing max G2 series electronics. Will a 42mm can fit in it? Because a Max 6 esc with the 4278 2250kv motor would be straight up perfect for the machete
I'm sure there is a diameter limitation as well though I'm not aware of what it is. I haven't tried a bunch of different motors in this car. I would recommend getting on the machete group on Facebook and asking on there as they would know exactly what Will and will not fit.
I'm kind of in a holding pattern at the moment. I've got some really cool ideas for making more room for the motor and keeping the battery trays intact but I'm probably going to do much more until I can get it fixed.
100% understandable and I really liked the idea you had about creating more space for the motor so I’m definitely on the look out for that update video
The crazy thing is that most of this design is good. I like a lot of what they did it just seems like they miss the mark really badly on a couple of things.
Let's just hope this is a 1-time thing... if multiple models end up experiencing this SAME result... we are going to have a problem... I believe it was the KAIJU that had to have its ARMs redone as well. The original arms on it snapped just like this. Could be thinking of something else but I am pretty sure it was the KAIJU.
Yes it was the Kaiju that had the same problem. I really don't understand why they would make this arm the way that they did. It's not adjustable so the multi-piece design makes no sense whatsoever. Yes it is possible that that my issue was a one-off but I really don't think so. That was a very low jump at a very low speed into dirt. I guess we'll see though. Anyway thanks for watching and if you enjoy my videos a sub to my channel is appreciated :-)
Agreed. I would much rather have non-adjustable flexible strong plastic arms links etcetera than be able to adjust something that I really don't want to adjust anyway.
Yeah it's a known weak point down there as well. They did do an update to the arms very quickly though and the updated arms are more durable by quite a bit.
Yeah I really don't understand why that isn't just a single plastic piece. I can guarantee you that that four piece design cost them more to make and makes no sense whatsoever given that the arm isn't even adjustable.
It's funny cause when I first seen those upper arms I was a little concerned as they looked like they might be cheaply made but was hoping looks can be deceiving. That being said that might've been just one of those bad luck type landings. It seemed to dig in on the hit just right but I agree that it should've held up on that hit. Let's hope it's a fluke. But like I commented on your last video I'm not happy they showed a max8 and gave us a sc8 rtr. What was also concerning was Rc driver online Greg didn't get one of these early for review like normal and thought I hope they aren't hiding a known flaw/weak spot. I'm kind of glad my order is on hold pending me making a decision on what wheels I'm adding on the order for another truck. Maybe I'll hold out a month or so and see how it does. Please keep bashing it as much as possible and could keep us updated. I'm anxious to see how it holds up for you
Yeah it is possible that it was a fluke but I have jumped literally dozens of cars hundreds of times off that jump and landed plenty of times way worse than that and I don't think I've ever broken another car from that jump. The force is on that were pretty much equal to just dropping it from your hands. I really don't think it should have broken no matter how it landed.
@@philthyco1 correct. When I made my original video only the renders existed. They added all the actual pictures a little bit later which is why my video doesn't have any of those pictures in it. It seems like they were planning on using the Max 8 to begin with and then switch to the 8bl150 or maybe whoever did the render just didn't use the right asset when they made it. Not sure
I don't get it . These companies must run these things before releasing and there's no way they don't break them parts. That wasn't a hard hit at all. Sucks to get excited then see it break so easy. It is disappointing. Thank you for your honesty and showing the real deal.👍
Yeah I find it kind of baffling myself. There are so many times when I get a new vehicle or part and it has very obvious issues that would be very simple to correct. The only thing I can think is that the people that are designing these vehicles simply aren't bashers. They don't understand what we use them for. Another great example is the motor mount. People are absolutely going to one of a bigger motors in this and they designed it so that you pretty much can't without modifying it. The sad thing is it would be ridiculously easy to correct the problem. All they had to do is instead of making the battery mount adjustable in length just move it back that amount and then move the motor mount back of that amount. Problem solved it would give an extra 20 mm of length in front of the motor for a larger cans. Yeah you'd lose the ability to run really big batteries in there but it's already long enough to run decent sized batteries. Those were 7,600s in the test.
Yeah I'm really not sure what happened here. It's very strange because this arm design is almost certainly more expensive to produce than a single piece plastic one would have been and the plastic one would have been superior. I really don't get it and I hope they come up with an updated one that's just a single plastic piece in the future. Anyway thanks for watching and commenting and if you enjoy my videos a sub to my channel is appreciated :-)
@@johnellefa The machete is not a bad RC car. It's not really on the same level as the kagama but it's still fun. For general bashing the Kaiju with a few upgrades might be a better option though.
Just wish there was more room for a bigger motor that is a huge mistake. Motor is way too small needs a hobbystar 4585 1580kv or hobbywing 4985 1650kv so I'm out and that sucks
I think it would be pretty easy to modify for a bigger motor but he really shouldn't have to. It should have just been a single battery tray and then have the motor relocated. I mean what's the point of having two battery trays these days if you can't do 8s anyway.
This is the second video I watched with that same thing happened I believe that is a very big weakness too bad but just like an Arma you got to upgrade everything before it's decent
Depends on your goal is. Are you just looking for a good reliable basher or Do you already have a bunch of cars and you want to get a redcat specifically?
@Blimpus only a tough one. They're both good vehicles with a few weak points. I'd say the EXT will be easier to resolve those weak points because upgrades already exist for it. Personally I think the machete is cooler because it's a new platform that has some pretty significant differences from anything else but I think I would just suggest picking whichever one you think looks cooler and go with that. I don't think you'll be particularly disappointed either way especially since you already own a bunch of red cats and are familiar with the quality and durability of them.
@@DoRC Thank you my friend, I sure enjoy your take on these vehicles, yeah I dig the machete, but I think the overall use I would do is suited for kaiju, thanks again my friend, have a bash weekend!
Yeah maybe it was just a fluke but given their track record with upper arms on previous vehicles and the fact that I don't think I've ever broken another car off of that little ramp I have a hard time believing it's going to be a one off.
Maybe. It does seem to be quite a bit of glass fiber in the arm. It might be too much causing it to be brittle. Unfortunately it doesn't even seem like they have replacement parts available for those arms yet so I'm going to have to contact them and see what they want to do.
No it's pretty much as simple I showed the video. You just take the center brace off the top, undo the two little grub screws that secure the sleeves over the center drive shafts, take the four screws out of the bottom of the chassis that hold the whole power module in and then take all of the screws off the one side of the power module to take it apart. There's nothing complex about it other than needing a .050 hex bit for those little grub screws.
Definitely not. It's going to be over revved on 12S. You might be able to get away with 8s but even that's going to be pushing it. Glad you enjoyed and if you aren't already subscribed a sub to my channel is appreciated :-)
It's a solid maybe. You'll definitely be spinning the motor faster than it's specified to but whether or not that will actually cause it to self-destruct is unknown
That aluminium tube over the upper arm was an immediate red flag for me. All they did was create a big weakpoint in front and behind the tube. It would be much sturdier if they kept it all plastic honestly. The price point is really nice. Honestly, once RPM does parts for this, you might have a good truggy for bashing. I also find 5mm for the drive shaft not big enough. The Cen Reeper has like 8 or 10mm. Even my old 1/8 corally dementor had 5mm drive shafts. But that car was much smaller and lighter.
Yeah I really don't understand why they decided to design it this way. The only reason to have a multi-piece arm is if it needs to be adjustable and this one inherently isn't. Where it broke is the exact spot that it goes from plastic with a steel rod going through it encased in aluminum to a hollow bit of plastic. It was pretty much destined to fail there.
What a let down.. I started off with redcat. Realize it was too cheap on parts . Like a Walmart sale, that being said. Still not a truck I wanna buy.thanks for the video. Have Fun
Definitely not the best. I just don't understand why they don't have a single piece plastic arm there. There's literally no advantage to the way they designed it.
I really don't know. I would love to talk to the engineer that decided that that arm was the right way to go. Thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated!
It just depends what you're looking for. This is significantly larger than the Kraton and isn't just the same old arrma 6s platform. I'd say if you just want a single good basher than yes the Arrma is a better bet but this is definitely a unique and fun car. Thanks for watching and if you enjoy the videos a sub is appreciated :-)
It's cool , but not going be good for bashing . I think they worry about being sued . That's reason for the funky arms . They did touch on this not trying to compete with the big boys . Why not ?? . Take away those arms and they could . Diffs = 100k 100k 100k they must be filled and you only turned one side .
They haven't actually specified what they're fixing yet From what I've seen. I assume it's the arms but we'll see how it goes. Keep in mind I made this video before the recall happened. Mine was the first video out about the car.
Doesn't seem like more power is a good idea, after all, if it cant even take that minor crash. I knew those top arms would be a weak point, because I knew that arm plastic would run through those aluminum "cylinders", and that driveshaft bent a hell of a lot. Thing sure as hell looks great and seems like an amazing price, though. Get what ya pay for🤷
I'm not sure the drive shaft is necessarily going to be a problem. Anytime you have an arm break like that it's going to put some pretty weird forces on the drive shaft that it wouldn't encounter normally. The arm really is a problem though. I don't understand why they made it a four piece design like that. Just make it a single piece of plastic and it would be better and cheaper for them to manufacture to. Anyway thanks for watching and if you enjoy my videos a sub to my channel is appreciated :-)
@@DoRC Thats true, driveshafts DO bend, just seemed to happen too easy on here and they obviously just wanted those top arms to look cool. Too bad, its not a functional look. Anyway, thanks for the video, man.
I disagree. This truck really isn't that big. The Traxxas X-Max and XRT are both bigger and heavier. Neither one of those would have broken with a hit like that. Being bigger and heavier means you get to make your stuff bigger and stronger too. I really think this was just a poor design choice.
@@DoRC neither of them use a flat alloy chassis design though, which seems to be quite problematic in the durability area once you go to larger scale vehicles
Maybe so though I will say that with the 8S Arrma flying the primary problems usually are in the arms / shocks. The chassis do tend to bend on extreme stuff though. Honestly I think that it can be done properly no matter what the configuration. My 30° north 1/5 scale buggy is way bigger than this and bigger and heavier than an X-Maxx. It uses a flat aluminum chassis and so far it has been nearly indestructible. It's taking hits on single wheels many times from way higher than what you saw in the video on this one and just shrugged them off. It weighs 30 lb with fuel
@@DoRC yeah I guess as they only make large scale vehicles they know what they are doing in that area. Not sure you can send a petrol car as high as an electric car, petrol cars don't have that instant power, Redcat is under powered for a large scale vehicle though. Not sure why Redcat haven't just worked on perfecting their 8th scale line up.
Maybe not as high but check out the bashing in this video. I bashed it quite a few times since then equally as hard and I haven't broken a single thing on it yet. ua-cam.com/video/i-JLw6EPL5c/v-deo.html
Yeah having one strength of material abruptly end into another strength like that especially with a hole in the middle really is not a good design. Just give me a single plastic piece please.
@@DoRC exactly. I think it was just to look good. Hoping a few kinks worked out will make this a winner. Price is certainly right for someone’s first large scale
Yep. I'll definitely be keeping a hold of mine for a while in hopes that we can get some of the stuff sorted out. I don't know when my next video will be out because I can't even find replacement arms right now but we'll see how it goes.
I'd say it's about 1/7th scale. That being said scale is such a weird thing in this hobby that it's really subjective. It's obviously bigger than one 8th scale and sits kind of right in between a 1/8 scale truggy and Traxxas calls a 1/5 scale truggy so who knows....
It really has some potential if we can get the upper arms strengthened. I guess if you're not really planning I never landing badly it would be okay though :-)
This truck is not going to take a cartwheel Tumble Wumble very well. Might explode like the arms on the mammoth rc car. Maybe this is why they stretched an 8th scale vehicle here to try and prevent that.just by looking at it I knew the tires where the same size as the more popular 8th scale basher side by side.
Yeah it's got the same basic form factor as the shredder that it replaced. That being there's really no excuse for the design choice they made for the upper arm. It's inherently weak and really didn't need to be.
don't take any offense, personally I think this is junk, the Hobao MT+2 is a much betterererer platform and works out around the same $. I don't think there is anything unique on this platform, it's built to a price but it seems inferior with MT+2 sane sized truck. I don't have anything against Redcat, just that this sees very average especially the 6S platform.
I agree that the plus two is a better truck but it also costs almost $700. It's a 30% increase over the price of this car. That's not a ton but it's also not nothing. And don't worry you're not going to offend me It's not my brand :-)
@@DoRC The Machette is $798 AUD but I don't know about shipping, the MT+2 or MTX is $980 AUD delivered. It's a really fine balance as Hobao is cheaper here than in the US. On Traxxas side of things, what you guys pay 1K USD we pay 2K AUD. Parity is insane. I really want a SCX6 Honcho lol
Yeah overall it seems like a pretty beefy design I just am baffled why they made those upper arms like that. A single plastic piece would have been infinitely stronger and probably a lot cheaper for them to make.
L car. It broke so easily and the axle bent so bad from a small crash. Any good basher should be able to take small hits like those. Not trying to say its a bad company, for all i know the arm could have been a fluke. But the car breaking from that crash is just unacceptable and should be something the company would work on preventing.
Yeah I just don't understand why they made the arm like that. A single piece plastic arm would have been cheaper, taken less time for them to assemble and been stronger. There's literally no advantage to the way they made the arm. I'm not sure I want to fault the axle shaft yet. They can experience some pretty serious loads that they're not designed to take in the event of an arm breaking. The real bummer is I can't find a replacement arm.
Okay yeah I'll probably be messing with it at some point. I need to get with redcat and actually see about getting replacement parts before I go much further. I can't find them on their website. Thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated!
Yeah they definitely make good cars but they have their weak points too. That being said this upper arm thing is pretty annoying. Thanks for watching :-)
This thing looked cool in the pictures. But what a pile of junk! Like why build them like that 🤣 oh well. Hopefully they learn again and one day make something worth it… or just leave RCs alone forever haha
@@DoRC ahhh yes of course the installation out of the factory!!! That’s the last thing I would have checked :/ hopefully they warranty it. Would be the least they could do..
Honestly I think the car is worth the money if they can get the durability fixed. I don't really know how durable the rest of it is unfortunately because I haven't gotten a chance to test it. It really is a cool car though overall. We'll just have to see what happens in the future. Thanks for watching and if you enjoy my videos a sub is appreciated :-)
Redcat has a few good cars but overall their quality just isn't there in my opinion, I'd rather spend twice as much and get a much better car. For example on this car you can see in the video the waviness of the plastic side guards, that screams cheap crap quality plastic to me. Maybe it looks different in person but looking at the video nothing about this rig (except the chassis) looks well made to me.
I think this could be a good car. I really hope that there's some sort of solution to the arm problem so I can find out. Thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated :-)
Maybe. They do provide less expensive alternatives for people who don't want to spend a lot of money and don't want to bash too hard. They've also been trying to up their game. There are a lot of really neat design aspects to this truck that I really like and if they can get these issues worked out it could be a really cool thing.
@@DoRC yea I kno I have 4 of ther vehicles including that big dumb stupid shredder that’s only a 4s.. ther made cheaply so u get wat u pay for with redcat.. this machete is built wrong too low to the ground and wen u jump n bash it it’s Gona break parts n the chassis wil bend.. so leave it on the shelf at the store
I don't really mind it being low to the ground It actually seemed to jump okay though I really didn't get too much opportunity to with it. I really do think it has potential.
I was planning to buy that,thanks video, I’ll get an Arma instead..the drive shaft thin it bent really easy for a soft crash on soft ground..imagine same crash on skateboard park lol
I'm not sure I would default the drive shaft yet. 5 mm is nice and thick and it experienced forces that it wouldn't normally experience because of the upper arm snapping.
Absolutely I agree. I just hope that there will be an upgraded part for it. Thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated :-)
I may have found part of the problem!
ua-cam.com/users/shortsijS5SWzK4Wo?feature=share
Thanks for this review. I’m new to the hobby and I have been buying all different size trucks. I wanted to go with something bigger than a 1/10 and was looking hard at this the other night. I almost bought it and thought never buy the first edition of anything. Just ran across your channel and have to say very well done. The wife and I are looking to soak up as much info as possible. It looks like your the guy to come to…
The only Recats I have are a Rampage and an Everest. Rampage was used and dirt cheap, and the Everest was a freebie. Don't think I'll be adding any Redcat products to the collection. My 8s Outcast kills driveshafts, but it is twice the weight, twice as fast, and a whole lot of fun. Putting up with breakage sucks, but the fun factor has to be there. My Primal Grave Digger tends to fall apart, but the fun factor is always there.
Check out my update short. I might have found part of the problem.
@@DoRC I watched it and what I saw was a terrible design. Look at the Traxxas, the Aarmas, the Losis. All the great rc cars have fully flexible plastic arms. They bend. Kenny, that thing came down on dirt. Not concrete.Putting in that chunk of cheap aluminum is just a really bad design.
Oh yeah we are definitely in agreement there and I'm not entirely convinced that an extra couple of threads in the plastic is going to make that much difference but it is worth noting and it definitely will make some difference.
But like you said unless it needs to be adjustable a single piece of plastic is the best option.
No that wasn’t ideal, but u did say it weighs almost 15lbs. All the impact was directly on that tire, so the break is understandable. It’s just not desirable. They should make those arms super solid to withstand the mass of the vehicle.
I really don't think the break is understandable. Yes it was a bad landing but it was also from like two feet in the air at like 10 miles an hour. I have bashed dozens of cars hundreds of times off that ramp and I don't think I've ever broken another car despite landing every way imaginable including worse than that by far.
The sad thing is that four piece three material design that they used probably cost them more to make than it would have cost them just to make the arm out of a single piece of plastic which almost certainly wouldn't have done that.
Hopefully they'll come up with an updated design or some other solution.
I like your unique scientific approach. Subscribed!!
Awesome glad you enjoyed!
Nice overview! I mean coming down directly on the one wheel it’s expected from any rig. Good first run though, don’t think it’s going to be an issue!
I get what you're saying but in this case I disagree. Yes it came down on one wheel but it came down from like 2 ft in the air at 10 mph. I have literally jumped dozens of cars off that ramp hundreds of times and crashed in every conceivable way. I don't think I've ever broken another car on that ramp.
Any modern basher should be able to handle a landing from two feet in the air at 10 mph in any orientation.
C'mon man. Don't be a troll.
Redcat stepped up and already said the arms are a weak point and offer revised ones for free if you own the first run of them. That's pretty awesome if you ask me. Most companies would just offer upgrades months later for more $
Yup. Check out my latest video
They now sell them with the included upgraded parts as spares. Cant wait to order one
Yep. I have a video about it. I actually worked with them too figure out the problems initially :-)
Thorough review👍
Thanks for watching :-)
Hey , great vid.
I'd like to mention that if you flip the motor unit around to have a bigger motor . Your foward will be reverse and visa versa.
That's true but it's very easy to reverse the direction of the motor. You can either do it in the ESC programming or just switch any two wires between the ESC and the motor and it reverses motor direction. Thanks for watching :-)
Why didn't you put it next to xrt is it what I think and we leave at that lol .
They showed a max8 on the website. Went with the kaiju esc instead with 4mm bullets. Nice tires though.
Yeah I'm not sure what caused them to change the ESC but it would have been nice to have a Max 8. Maybe hobby Wing isn't supplying the Max ate anymore because of the G2 and the G2 is too expensive. Not sure.
I was actually going to order one of these once Redcat put the V2 out in a few weeks but I decided to check the PDF manual to see what it takes to access the diffs. OH MY GOODNESS, it's a dang project just to access the front and rear diffs!!! I couldn't believe, unless I'm missing something, that the bulk heads are integrated with the shock towers so everything kinda clam shells together??? This is a crazy design and makes things more time consuming than it should be. For this reason, I'm out. It's a shame, the $500 price point is where all 1/8ths scale should be at.
It's not really too bad. The whole end of the car comes off as a module with a few screws and then it splits apart. I would say with power tools it can be done in 2 to 3 minutes.
@@DoRC Dang, sorry for the late reply. Well, while we all wait for the updated Machete to come back into stock, do you mind doing a diff tear down video? Don't need to see both ends, the front end should be enough. I still want this truck, I think a few M2C upgrades would put this up there with the current big name bashers. I'm also considering an XRT but I'd need $600 worth of M2C upgrades to be happy with it. Had a 6S XMAXX and didn't like it since it was a hughe POS. The diffs on the Xmaxx and XRT aren't user friendly to access either.
Im interested in changing up motor position on this thing. For the cost of it id be willing to experiment and make some custom parts. Hopefully the aftermarket jumps on this platform. With more power, shocks that dont sag and a few weak points addressed this would be a bad ass handling truck. Definitely won't ever be a basher
Yeah a couple people have moved the motor mount without issue. I didn't try it myself.
Awesome first look and what a shame this is probably the reason why we don't get the Redcat line in the UK .
I really liked the look of this truck also .
Keep us informed on what Redcat says about what is a minor crash .
Keep up the good work buddy and hello from Wales UK
Chris
Yeah I won't get to talk to them till Monday. This wasn't a sponsored video or anything I just bought the car and reviewed it so I'm just a regular old customer.
Very disappointed would be an understatement for how weak that crash was & producing that much damage to not only snap the upper arm, but that CVD tho!!! Oooooooof! Freakin' A maaaan! Unequivocally should not have broken like this!!!!
Yeah I will withhold judgment on the axle given that it could have been put under a lot of stress when the arm broke but the arm breaking makes no sense. I'd really don't understand why they even have a designed like that. It has to cost them more money to make it that way than just to make it out of a single piece of plastic and there's absolutely no advantage of doing it that way.
Facts. That was a deal breaker for me. No longer interested
Well hopefully they can get it figured out.
Too Bad they didn't get it right - Just got done with them today discussing why my shocks completely fell apart upon 5 minutes of driving and had them tell me multiple complaints came in today while I was trying to resolve my issue. Then I just got a email that they are taking it off the market now .. FUN TIMES - a few weeks before the parts are available or something because if you look at the Machete on the RedCat page you can clearly see the shocks are different with the springs not being the same from what they are doing on the assembly line.
Yeah it'll be interesting to see what they're working on fixing. I had issues with my arms and you had issues with your shocks. We'll see how it goes. I do have a lot of respect for the fact that they are willing to stop sales and address problems though. I know some other companies that would not do that.
Damn!!! Was really pumped for redcat to have a new release!! That upper arm tho!! I don’t even like the design of them!! I do love how low slung and long this is tho!! Thanks for the great try!!! Now back to r n d !!🤙🏻👍🏻😁
Yeah I was really hopeful for this and I really hope they come up with an updated arm that is a single plastic piece. Maybe I can find something else that will fit it :-) anyway thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated!
Nice. Too bad it landed right on that front tire. I wouldn't be too worried about it. That's why I hate to use those ramps that only have a very small angle. I prefer to jump my rigs on the other ramp you have. I always mess up more and have more breakages if I land wrong with small angled ramps 😂. Thanks for the video. I would still buy one. The drivetrain looks stout.
I've jumped dozens of different cars literally hundreds of time off that ramp. I've landed worse than that many many times. That landed was a bad angle but it was from two feet in the air at a very slow speed into dirt. No modern basher should break from that regardless of the angle.
Drivetrain definitely seems sweet though!
@@philthyco1 Yeah it's not the ideal ramp but that doesn't change the fact that I've jumped tons of other cars many many times off that ramp and landed badly many many times and never broken anything. It's a tiny jump and no modern bashing car should break no matter how it lands off that jump. That was essentially equivalent to just dropping it from your hands.
@@philthyco1 he probably meant to crash. It’s a durability test. No RC I own would break from that. That’s absurd ! But in his short, it looks they manufactured it wrong with the assembly.
Lol redcat literally said this is not for jumps
Where exactly does it say that? They show the machete jumping higher than I did when it broke in their own video. They use words like extreme and bash and tough and durable in their overview of the vehicle on there website. If it's really true that they did not intend this thing to be jumped a couple feet in the air then they one shouldn't have shown it jumping a couple feet in the air on their video and two would be pretty tone deaf to modern bashing requirements because pretty much everybody jumps their cars these days.
Upper arm definitely needs to be one solid piece of plastic
Yeah it really boggles the mind why they decided to do it like that. I guarantee you it cost them more to make a four-piece arm and then it wouldn't make a single piece plastic arm. Plus they have to pay someone to put it together.
Redcat is interesting when it comes to quality, for a while the only Redcat product I owned was the Blackout XBE buggy brushed and it was fun for a little while. Then I put a Castle Creations SCT system in it with the stock gearing and plastic spur gear, even though the steering links liked to pop on hard crashes literally nothing on that thing broke and I even put the paddle tires on it and could hydroplane across water with it. At least the upgraded arms seem to far more durable than the stock ones for the Machete.
Yeah a lot of their older stuff was pretty low quality but they stepped it up a bit with the Kaiju and after the quick updates that they did to the arms the machete is actually pretty good. That's especially true given that you can get it for 300 bucks right now.
@@DoRC yeah, I have been out of hobby for 6-7 years, started out with a used 2wd Rustler and my second purchase has been the 4s Machete (easily the biggest RC I have ever owned). As I am more of a light basher I highly doubt the 4s power is going to be enough to cause this thing to implode.
@awesomeblader45 no if you're light bashing on 4S with the machete it'll probably last forever.
NIIIICE 👌
To be fair that was a bad side hit 🤷 lol
The angle of The hit was bad but I have jumped literally dozens of cars hundreds of times off that jump and landed every single way imaginable including way worse than that and I don't think I've ever broken another car off that jump.
@@DoRC That's sad looked like a really good truck. Hopefully it want need but a few upgrades, we shall see 🤔 lol
Yeah if someone makes an upgraded arm for it...
I'm glad Redcat is addressing the arms. I still don't understand the concept of a metal section as they have it. And wouldn't you know that's the problem area. Would just an entire plastic upper arm be all that bad?
A monolithic plastic arm would have been better. This arm is both more expensive for them to make and a worst design. The only reason I can think that they would have done this is that someone got tunnel vision during design and just didn't think about using a single piece arm. There's no point in having this type of setup if the arm isn't adjustable
this truck looks fierce! certainly my kind of truck: Aggressive!
Yeah it's pretty cool. Not much of a stunt truck but definitely good for high speed and just general bombing around.
Really great information
Thanks for watching :-)
What a disappointment, I was expecting this to be good, you didnt even get one minute out of it.
Yeah I'm pretty annoyed. I just don't understand who would make the decision to make a more complicated, more expensive yet weaker design. A simple single plastic piece would have been superior in every way.
What is so bad at 1 minute? The clip holders?
Iam ready for my 6s one to come n tomorrow hope it’s easy to get parts bc when I order my truck on Tuesday morning last week there was no parts I was able to buy extra for this kind of stuff breaking so easily. I learned that the hard way and I first got my Kalju from Redcat I always like to get extra parts when ordering new trucks I dt have yet
Still no parts that I've been able to find. Hopefully tomorrow they'll be available cuz I need to get some :-) Did you see my short update on the breakage?
That's why I waited to see the reviews, I don't wanna be the test dummy!
Yep. That's me:)
Asuga 1, Machete 0
Yeah I broke the asuga too but I was doing stupid things with it and it didn't break that badly
@@DoRC I was on Jat Tees live last night, my Shogun is 22"long and 15" wide. It's bigger than an Asuga. I just put Radix tires on it and I have a poor man's Asuga. Lol. Definitely getting Asuga tires!
Cheaper putting Arrma diffs in a Shredder for 6s.
Thanks sharing
Thanks for watching!
Awesome break down. Cannot wait until mines arrive. Thanks for the vid
Hope you have better luck than I did
Hope you didn’t pay too much. Seems like you’re taking a big chance. Someone’s got to find out though. Good luck
Yeah it's possible that my break was a fluke but I don't think so. I've jumped so many cars off that jump so many times and landed pretty much every way imaginable. I don't think I've ever broken another car off that jump.
it’s redcat, what do u expect? 15lbs and 6s electronics? that’s already a red flag right there. and sad to see it break so fast.
Surprisingly it seemed to have a decent amount of power and the electronics weren't getting that hot. I'm sure it wouldn't be an absolute speed demon but I think for general bashing it would probably be sufficient.
Cool set up
Yeah hopefully we can figure out a stronger upper arm. Thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated :-)
It sucks that the arm broke but let’s be honest here my arrma outcast 8s rtr stock arm’s shattered so easy on first run never made a full pack . Outcast 4s chassis broke , stock xmaxx hinge pins pop out need a upgrade same with monkey metal gears . Etc etc I have yet to buy a rc and it’s 100 ready to go . So if rpm makes some good arms I’m fine with this and will buy the car.
That may be true but I've jumped literally dozens of cars hundreds of times off that little jump over the years and have crashed them much worse than that at higher speeds and I'm pretty sure this is the only car that's ever broken off that jump. Maybe it was a fluke but looking at the design I don't think so.
Great video mate, rig seems a bit underwelming though 👍
Yeah overall I really like it I just wish they had done something better with those upper arms.
So, Redcat just announced they have suspended sales of both the 4s and 6s Machetes due to a defect not found in testing. Huh? A clue. Kenny, not sure this video had anything to do with it, but there are things that make you go hmm.
Yes I put out a short last night about them halting sales. I'm also not sure their reasoning because I don't know exactly what they're fixing but if it turns out they're fixing upper arms I would have to imagine that it has something to do with the upper arm breakages that have happened.
I had a feeling that was gona happen , hopefully it was just a fluke and not end up becoming another R5 recall type of rig .
Yeah I don't think it'll get recalled but I also don't think it was a fluke. It's a really obvious weak point now that I've seen how it broke.
@Do RC Well I'm sry that happened to ya but I'm just gona go with the XRT , I hate to see what happens if you Send it !
Well hopefully I can get replacement parts and try again soon :-)
wow that boke very quickly Those upper arms look like a very bad weak spot !!! almost the same problem as the Kaiju did !!! I am really considering buying the Team Corally Asuga buggy now !!!!
The asuga is a really good car. It definitely stood up to a lot of abuse in my video.
Given that this arm isn't adjustable I really don't understand why they made it that way. I pretty much guarantee it cost them more to manufacture than a single plastic arm would have been.
Do it that buggy is the business. And that's from someone that runs Arrma faithfully and uses a 6s Typhon all the time.
Agreed. For a stock vehicle that thing definitely can take some abuse.
Sorry to see this happened, you was really stoked, then this had to happen
Definitely disappointing but I'm excited to see that they are working on correcting the problem.
Wow!!! That's a big manufacturer defect!!! They Need more R&D before they pump them out 2 the public!!!! But awesome vid!! Just subbed!!!
Yeah it's crazy to me that they made the arm like that. I guarantee you that it is more expensive for them to make a four-piece arm like that then it would be just to make it a single plastic piece. I also guarantee you if properly made a single plastic piece would not have broken like that.
Thanks for the sub :-)
They do it on purpose guys , they don't want any heat from other companies when they succeed with thier own niche rcs . After watching the guy that design it and your review that's my opinion. Just ask arrma hpi hellos and many others
You can get titanium motor mount screws from Scorched rc
Titanium screws are cool but I prefer just to use good carbon steel. Titanium tends to gum up especially into aluminum and you could end up with galling and a seized fastener.
Excellent video. Subbed!
Thanks!
The 7075 chassis is nice but as soon as you mentioned how heavy and rigid the rig is I new it wasn't going to end well.
I don't know. I'm hoping that if we can get a few of the issues worked out it'll be a good rig. It's definitely cool and for the few minutes I got to drive it it was fun.
Good afternoon. Nice review
Thank you :-) if you enjoy my videos a sub to my channel is appreciated!
i just did
Seems like it has a lot of power for the small motor and ESC. Landslide had a similar upper arm set up and it didn't hold.up well. But easy and cheap to fix. Rest of it helps up well. Thanks bud. You just saved me 500.bucks 🤙
I just don't understand why they have the landslide and the Kaiju and Kaiju EXT all with the same arm style all with the same problem and yet they still made this one the same way. It's just baffling given the fact that this four piece design has to be more expensive to manufacture and assemble then a simple one piece plastic arm would have been. You can't even adjust it so why is it like that? I hope they decide to come out with an update that is just a single piece of plastic.
@@DoRC I wonder if an Arrma upper arm would fit lol
@@arrmamafia I don't think so.
@@DoRC that chassis looks solid .. I like the ridges. Adds more rigidity lol.
Yeah. The whole thing seems pretty good
What's the replacement screws you use for the motor mount?
Fortunately I don't know. I've got a big bag of screws that I dig from and I am not sure exactly which they were.
So the Can diameter isn’t the problem? It’s the length? I was about to order one since I just got the vigilante and thank god I saw your video! because when I saw that they have 10th scale electronics in the 4s and 8 scale in the 6s I immediately went to looking at my go to electronic set ups that I put on everything which is the hobby wing max G2 series electronics. Will a 42mm can fit in it? Because a Max 6 esc with the 4278 2250kv motor would be straight up perfect for the machete
I'm sure there is a diameter limitation as well though I'm not aware of what it is. I haven't tried a bunch of different motors in this car. I would recommend getting on the machete group on Facebook and asking on there as they would know exactly what Will and will not fit.
Definitely want see the upgrade video!
I'm kind of in a holding pattern at the moment. I've got some really cool ideas for making more room for the motor and keeping the battery trays intact but I'm probably going to do much more until I can get it fixed.
100% understandable and I really liked the idea you had about creating more space for the motor so I’m definitely on the look out for that update video
Hopefully soon :-)
Great Review Kenny! Bummer about the breakages. That wasn’t a bad crash at all
No it wasn't. Bad angle but that's the first time I've ever broken a car off that little ramp.
I have to keep reminding myself that the kraton 4s is smaller and is 200 more then the machete 4s.
It is but I think it's also a more versatile basher.
Redcat can't build a basher but they can build a crawler.
The crazy thing is that most of this design is good. I like a lot of what they did it just seems like they miss the mark really badly on a couple of things.
Let's just hope this is a 1-time thing... if multiple models end up experiencing this SAME result... we are going to have a problem... I believe it was the KAIJU that had to have its ARMs redone as well. The original arms on it snapped just like this. Could be thinking of something else but I am pretty sure it was the KAIJU.
Yes it was the Kaiju that had the same problem. I really don't understand why they would make this arm the way that they did. It's not adjustable so the multi-piece design makes no sense whatsoever. Yes it is possible that that my issue was a one-off but I really don't think so. That was a very low jump at a very low speed into dirt. I guess we'll see though. Anyway thanks for watching and if you enjoy my videos a sub to my channel is appreciated :-)
@@DoRC would have been better if they were plastic like the newer Corally stuff is doing giving some nice lovely flex
I completely agree. There's just no reason to have metal in the arms unless you're going to make them adjustable.
@@DoRC I think for bashing adjustable isn't really necessary, can always offer that as an option
Agreed. I would much rather have non-adjustable flexible strong plastic arms links etcetera than be able to adjust something that I really don't want to adjust anyway.
My redcat Kaiju broke the same spot every time i drove it. Unfortunately its the last redcat ill purchase
Yeah it's a known weak point down there as well. They did do an update to the arms very quickly though and the updated arms are more durable by quite a bit.
Thicker center diff fluid is a must
Yeah I think so too. I really hope they revise the upper arms just to make them a single piece.
@@DoRC i knew it would break there just didnt know which sude
Yeah a guy from redcat on their video said all 3 diffs have 100k so probably throw a million in the center and maybe 200k in the front?
Yeah I really don't understand why that isn't just a single plastic piece. I can guarantee you that that four piece design cost them more to make and makes no sense whatsoever given that the arm isn't even adjustable.
Interesting. It definitely felt like the center diff had thicker fluid in it but it may have just had more fluid in it.
What batteries are you using?
I don't remember which batteries I was using on it specifically. I think I was using a single 6s SMC
It's funny cause when I first seen those upper arms I was a little concerned as they looked like they might be cheaply made but was hoping looks can be deceiving. That being said that might've been just one of those bad luck type landings. It seemed to dig in on the hit just right but I agree that it should've held up on that hit. Let's hope it's a fluke. But like I commented on your last video I'm not happy they showed a max8 and gave us a sc8 rtr. What was also concerning was Rc driver online Greg didn't get one of these early for review like normal and thought I hope they aren't hiding a known flaw/weak spot. I'm kind of glad my order is on hold pending me making a decision on what wheels I'm adding on the order for another truck. Maybe I'll hold out a month or so and see how it does. Please keep bashing it as much as possible and could keep us updated. I'm anxious to see how it holds up for you
Yeah it is possible that it was a fluke but I have jumped literally dozens of cars hundreds of times off that jump and landed plenty of times way worse than that and I don't think I've ever broken another car from that jump. The force is on that were pretty much equal to just dropping it from your hands. I really don't think it should have broken no matter how it landed.
The renders that they showed originally show a Max 8.
Look at my video about it being announced. You can see the Max 8 in the render.
Also go to the product page and scroll down. Where it shows the power system it shows a Max 8 still in the render.
@@philthyco1 correct. When I made my original video only the renders existed. They added all the actual pictures a little bit later which is why my video doesn't have any of those pictures in it.
It seems like they were planning on using the Max 8 to begin with and then switch to the 8bl150 or maybe whoever did the render just didn't use the right asset when they made it. Not sure
I don't get it . These companies must run these things before releasing and there's no way they don't break them parts. That wasn't a hard hit at all. Sucks to get excited then see it break so easy. It is disappointing. Thank you for your honesty and showing the real deal.👍
Yeah I find it kind of baffling myself. There are so many times when I get a new vehicle or part and it has very obvious issues that would be very simple to correct. The only thing I can think is that the people that are designing these vehicles simply aren't bashers. They don't understand what we use them for. Another great example is the motor mount. People are absolutely going to one of a bigger motors in this and they designed it so that you pretty much can't without modifying it. The sad thing is it would be ridiculously easy to correct the problem. All they had to do is instead of making the battery mount adjustable in length just move it back that amount and then move the motor mount back of that amount. Problem solved it would give an extra 20 mm of length in front of the motor for a larger cans. Yeah you'd lose the ability to run really big batteries in there but it's already long enough to run decent sized batteries. Those were 7,600s in the test.
Didn't they test this thing?? it's like they only tested it on offroad surface and just drive it a few times and call if a day
Yeah I'm really not sure what happened here. It's very strange because this arm design is almost certainly more expensive to produce than a single piece plastic one would have been and the plastic one would have been superior. I really don't get it and I hope they come up with an updated one that's just a single plastic piece in the future. Anyway thanks for watching and commenting and if you enjoy my videos a sub to my channel is appreciated :-)
The arms with the red look a bit like those from the Kagama. Are they the same?
No. They do have a somewhat similar design but I don't think they come from the same company.
@@DoRC figured I'll ask. Local hobby store seem to only offer Redcats. Clearing a Kagama through customs is an additional 200+USD apparently 😅
@@johnellefa The machete is not a bad RC car. It's not really on the same level as the kagama but it's still fun. For general bashing the Kaiju with a few upgrades might be a better option though.
@@DoRC noted. Thanks for the advice. They do sell the classic Kaiju as well as the EXT
@johnellefa yeah the classic is pretty good. It does have a few fairly significant weak points but they've mostly all been addressed through upgrades.
Just wish there was more room for a bigger motor that is a huge mistake. Motor is way too small needs a hobbystar 4585 1580kv or hobbywing 4985 1650kv so I'm out and that sucks
I think it would be pretty easy to modify for a bigger motor but he really shouldn't have to. It should have just been a single battery tray and then have the motor relocated. I mean what's the point of having two battery trays these days if you can't do 8s anyway.
This is the second video I watched with that same thing happened I believe that is a very big weakness too bad but just like an Arma you got to upgrade everything before it's decent
Yeah let's just hope upgrades are available at some point.
@@DoRC Yes indeed hopefully it'll get them back in the game always liked redcat I have two landslides one for me and one for my son take care be safe
Now that the issues have been addressed , in your wisdom should I get this , or the kaiju ext?
Depends on your goal is. Are you just looking for a good reliable basher or Do you already have a bunch of cars and you want to get a redcat specifically?
@@DoRC I own all redcats, I just have one shot to get a new one, so I am very torn, trying to get opinions from owners ya know!
@Blimpus only a tough one. They're both good vehicles with a few weak points. I'd say the EXT will be easier to resolve those weak points because upgrades already exist for it. Personally I think the machete is cooler because it's a new platform that has some pretty significant differences from anything else but I think I would just suggest picking whichever one you think looks cooler and go with that. I don't think you'll be particularly disappointed either way especially since you already own a bunch of red cats and are familiar with the quality and durability of them.
@@DoRC Thank you my friend, I sure enjoy your take on these vehicles, yeah I dig the machete, but I think the overall use I would do is suited for kaiju, thanks again my friend, have a bash weekend!
@Blimpus you too!
Now try those diffs in a Shredder!
I don't think they'll fit
Bummer to see that man, I just got mine tonight. Haven't got to rip into it yet.
Yeah maybe it was just a fluke but given their track record with upper arms on previous vehicles and the fact that I don't think I've ever broken another car off of that little ramp I have a hard time believing it's going to be a one off.
@Do RC hopefully its like the kaiju ext upper arm problems. Lol
Maybe. It does seem to be quite a bit of glass fiber in the arm. It might be too much causing it to be brittle. Unfortunately it doesn't even seem like they have replacement parts available for those arms yet so I'm going to have to contact them and see what they want to do.
@@DoRC any advice on ripping into the center diff? I'm planning on putting 20mil traxxas gravy in mine tomorrow before the maiden voyage
No it's pretty much as simple I showed the video. You just take the center brace off the top, undo the two little grub screws that secure the sleeves over the center drive shafts, take the four screws out of the bottom of the chassis that hold the whole power module in and then take all of the screws off the one side of the power module to take it apart. There's nothing complex about it other than needing a .050 hex bit for those little grub screws.
Love the review!!! Do you think the motor could take an 12s esc?
Definitely not. It's going to be over revved on 12S. You might be able to get away with 8s but even that's going to be pushing it. Glad you enjoyed and if you aren't already subscribed a sub to my channel is appreciated :-)
I was meaning a 8s. Lol
It's a solid maybe. You'll definitely be spinning the motor faster than it's specified to but whether or not that will actually cause it to self-destruct is unknown
@@tramontawilliams715 that motor won't take 8s lol
I've run similar motors on 8S before. As long as you're aware of its limitations it probably would be fine.
That aluminium tube over the upper arm was an immediate red flag for me. All they did was create a big weakpoint in front and behind the tube. It would be much sturdier if they kept it all plastic honestly. The price point is really nice. Honestly, once RPM does parts for this, you might have a good truggy for bashing. I also find 5mm for the drive shaft not big enough. The Cen Reeper has like 8 or 10mm. Even my old 1/8 corally dementor had 5mm drive shafts. But that car was much smaller and lighter.
Yeah I really don't understand why they decided to design it this way. The only reason to have a multi-piece arm is if it needs to be adjustable and this one inherently isn't. Where it broke is the exact spot that it goes from plastic with a steel rod going through it encased in aluminum to a hollow bit of plastic. It was pretty much destined to fail there.
What a let down.. I started off with redcat. Realize it was too cheap on parts . Like a Walmart sale, that being said. Still not a truck I wanna buy.thanks for the video.
Have Fun
I still hope that we can make something out of it though. This has some really cool parts to an overall looks like it could be a fun truck.
Wow
Definitely not the best. I just don't understand why they don't have a single piece plastic arm there. There's literally no advantage to the way they designed it.
Yes that crazy... Did they designed this rig to quick..?
I really don't know. I would love to talk to the engineer that decided that that arm was the right way to go. Thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated!
For a bit more just get a Krayton.
It just depends what you're looking for. This is significantly larger than the Kraton and isn't just the same old arrma 6s platform. I'd say if you just want a single good basher than yes the Arrma is a better bet but this is definitely a unique and fun car. Thanks for watching and if you enjoy the videos a sub is appreciated :-)
It's cool , but not going be good for bashing . I think they worry about being sued . That's reason for the funky arms . They did touch on this not trying to compete with the big boys . Why not ?? . Take away those arms and they could . Diffs = 100k 100k 100k they must be filled and you only turned one side .
I don't think they would make their design intentionally weak for fear of being sued. What would they be sued for?
No intention is to be somewhat different. They said it's not a basher . Put next to xrt fir reference
Where do they say it's not a basher?
They recalled the a arms. Everyone needs to chill. They’ll send you new a arms
They haven't actually specified what they're fixing yet From what I've seen. I assume it's the arms but we'll see how it goes.
Keep in mind I made this video before the recall happened. Mine was the first video out about the car.
Doesn't seem like more power is a good idea, after all, if it cant even take that minor crash. I knew those top arms would be a weak point, because I knew that arm plastic would run through those aluminum "cylinders", and that driveshaft bent a hell of a lot. Thing sure as hell looks great and seems like an amazing price, though.
Get what ya pay for🤷
I'm not sure the drive shaft is necessarily going to be a problem. Anytime you have an arm break like that it's going to put some pretty weird forces on the drive shaft that it wouldn't encounter normally. The arm really is a problem though. I don't understand why they made it a four piece design like that. Just make it a single piece of plastic and it would be better and cheaper for them to manufacture to. Anyway thanks for watching and if you enjoy my videos a sub to my channel is appreciated :-)
@@DoRC Thats true, driveshafts DO bend, just seemed to happen too easy on here and they obviously just wanted those top arms to look cool. Too bad, its not a functional look.
Anyway, thanks for the video, man.
Thanks for watching and commenting :-)
That's the problem with the bigger and heavier stuff
I disagree. This truck really isn't that big. The Traxxas X-Max and XRT are both bigger and heavier. Neither one of those would have broken with a hit like that. Being bigger and heavier means you get to make your stuff bigger and stronger too. I really think this was just a poor design choice.
@@DoRC neither of them use a flat alloy chassis design though, which seems to be quite problematic in the durability area once you go to larger scale vehicles
Maybe so though I will say that with the 8S Arrma flying the primary problems usually are in the arms / shocks. The chassis do tend to bend on extreme stuff though.
Honestly I think that it can be done properly no matter what the configuration. My 30° north 1/5 scale buggy is way bigger than this and bigger and heavier than an X-Maxx. It uses a flat aluminum chassis and so far it has been nearly indestructible. It's taking hits on single wheels many times from way higher than what you saw in the video on this one and just shrugged them off. It weighs 30 lb with fuel
@@DoRC yeah I guess as they only make large scale vehicles they know what they are doing in that area. Not sure you can send a petrol car as high as an electric car, petrol cars don't have that instant power, Redcat is under powered for a large scale vehicle though. Not sure why Redcat haven't just worked on perfecting their 8th scale line up.
Maybe not as high but check out the bashing in this video. I bashed it quite a few times since then equally as hard and I haven't broken a single thing on it yet.
ua-cam.com/video/i-JLw6EPL5c/v-deo.html
Almost posted those arms are going to break where the aluminum meets the plastic on the arm.
Yeah having one strength of material abruptly end into another strength like that especially with a hole in the middle really is not a good design. Just give me a single plastic piece please.
@@DoRC exactly. I think it was just to look good.
Hoping a few kinks worked out will make this a winner. Price is certainly right for someone’s first large scale
Yep. I'll definitely be keeping a hold of mine for a while in hopes that we can get some of the stuff sorted out. I don't know when my next video will be out because I can't even find replacement arms right now but we'll see how it goes.
Sucks that the arm broke and the shaft bent like it did.
Yeah it's pretty disappointing. I don't understand why they made the arm like that. It's not even adjustable so it's pointless to have that design.
So what’s 1/6 about it?
I'd say it's about 1/7th scale. That being said scale is such a weird thing in this hobby that it's really subjective. It's obviously bigger than one 8th scale and sits kind of right in between a 1/8 scale truggy and Traxxas calls a 1/5 scale truggy so who knows....
@@DoRC have a Kraton or Sledge to compare the wheelbase to? Outcast is kind of 1/8 buggy length
It's about 3 and 1/2 in longer than a sledge.
I think this truggy is just a better looking shredder that still sucks🤷♂️
It really has some potential if we can get the upper arms strengthened. I guess if you're not really planning I never landing badly it would be okay though :-)
That sucks.
That the car broke.
It was a defect. They have sijce updated the parts.
This truck is not going to take a cartwheel Tumble Wumble very well. Might explode like the arms on the mammoth rc car. Maybe this is why they stretched an 8th scale vehicle here to try and prevent that.just by looking at it I knew the tires where the same size as the more popular 8th scale basher side by side.
Yeah it's got the same basic form factor as the shredder that it replaced. That being there's really no excuse for the design choice they made for the upper arm. It's inherently weak and really didn't need to be.
don't take any offense, personally I think this is junk, the Hobao MT+2 is a much betterererer platform and works out around the same $.
I don't think there is anything unique on this platform, it's built to a price but it seems inferior with MT+2 sane sized truck.
I don't have anything against Redcat, just that this sees very average especially the 6S platform.
I agree that the plus two is a better truck but it also costs almost $700. It's a 30% increase over the price of this car. That's not a ton but it's also not nothing.
And don't worry you're not going to offend me It's not my brand :-)
@@DoRC The Machette is $798 AUD but I don't know about shipping, the MT+2 or MTX is $980 AUD delivered.
It's a really fine balance as Hobao is cheaper here than in the US.
On Traxxas side of things, what you guys pay 1K USD we pay 2K AUD.
Parity is insane.
I really want a SCX6 Honcho lol
The SCX6 is an awesome looking truck. If I didn't live in a completely flat state with no rocks I would definitely be interested in it :-)
@@DoRC Fwiw JayTee sent me here.
Awesome glad you're here!
that weight seems to be its greatest downfall
Yeah overall it seems like a pretty beefy design I just am baffled why they made those upper arms like that. A single plastic piece would have been infinitely stronger and probably a lot cheaper for them to make.
L car. It broke so easily and the axle bent so bad from a small crash. Any good basher should be able to take small hits like those. Not trying to say its a bad company, for all i know the arm could have been a fluke. But the car breaking from that crash is just unacceptable and should be something the company would work on preventing.
Yeah I just don't understand why they made the arm like that. A single piece plastic arm would have been cheaper, taken less time for them to assemble and been stronger. There's literally no advantage to the way they made the arm.
I'm not sure I want to fault the axle shaft yet. They can experience some pretty serious loads that they're not designed to take in the event of an arm breaking.
The real bummer is I can't find a replacement arm.
@@DoRC wow it really sucks when they release a car and don't release parts with it. Maybe they think that no one will break it yet 😆.
Maybe. I didn't think I was going to break it yet either. I was intentionally being easy on it for this run.
Do you think a 4274 motor would fit?
I don't want to say yes but I think so. I'd have to check to be sure though.
@@DoRC let me know when you do go around to checking what motors fit.
Okay yeah I'll probably be messing with it at some point. I need to get with redcat and actually see about getting replacement parts before I go much further. I can't find them on their website. Thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated!
@@DoRC I did subscribe.
Awesome thank you :-)
ARRMA😎
Yeah they definitely make good cars but they have their weak points too. That being said this upper arm thing is pretty annoying. Thanks for watching :-)
Redcat Racing... Prepare to be disappointed.!
Check out My update short video. I might have found part of the problem.
This thing looked cool in the pictures. But what a pile of junk! Like why build them like that 🤣 oh well. Hopefully they learn again and one day make something worth it… or just leave RCs alone forever haha
Take a look at the short I just released. There's a little bit more to the story but I think it's still not a great design.
@@DoRC ya like they had such a good platform and they totally ruined it :/ what were they thinking!!!
@@DoRC ahhh yes of course the installation out of the factory!!! That’s the last thing I would have checked :/ hopefully they warranty it. Would be the least they could do..
Well if it's a sub $100 car , then it's not too bad...😜 Anything more then that and it seems a waist of money..wouldn't even buy it for my nephew...
Honestly I think the car is worth the money if they can get the durability fixed. I don't really know how durable the rest of it is unfortunately because I haven't gotten a chance to test it. It really is a cool car though overall. We'll just have to see what happens in the future. Thanks for watching and if you enjoy my videos a sub is appreciated :-)
Redcat is not worth the money, there cars are shit always breaking, they make them cheap so people can afford them and it shows
I think it depends on which model you get. There are a few like the machete and the Kaiju that are a step above a lot of the rest of them
Redcat has a few good cars but overall their quality just isn't there in my opinion, I'd rather spend twice as much and get a much better car. For example on this car you can see in the video the waviness of the plastic side guards, that screams cheap crap quality plastic to me. Maybe it looks different in person but looking at the video nothing about this rig (except the chassis) looks well made to me.
Check out the update short video I just put out. I might have found part of the problem.
Red cat never good cars omg 3 minutes run omg
I think this could be a good car. I really hope that there's some sort of solution to the arm problem so I can find out. Thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated :-)
Redcat sucks!
Poor designs.
Poor quality.
The money you end up spending on repairs and upgrades dosent make sense!
Surprised there still in business.
Maybe. They do provide less expensive alternatives for people who don't want to spend a lot of money and don't want to bash too hard. They've also been trying to up their game. There are a lot of really neat design aspects to this truck that I really like and if they can get these issues worked out it could be a really cool thing.
Redcat junk!!
The sad thing is most of the car looks pretty sweet They just made a couple of really weird design choices.
@@DoRC yea I kno I have 4 of ther vehicles including that big dumb stupid shredder that’s only a 4s.. ther made cheaply so u get wat u pay for with redcat.. this machete is built wrong too low to the ground and wen u jump n bash it it’s Gona break parts n the chassis wil bend.. so leave it on the shelf at the store
I don't really mind it being low to the ground It actually seemed to jump okay though I really didn't get too much opportunity to with it. I really do think it has potential.
@@DoRC yea potential to break.. lol 😂
I hear you. I still have hope for it though but maybe that's just because I just spent a bunch of money on it :-)
I was planning to buy that,thanks video, I’ll get an Arma instead..the drive shaft thin it bent really easy for a soft crash on soft ground..imagine same crash on skateboard park lol
I'm not sure I would default the drive shaft yet. 5 mm is nice and thick and it experienced forces that it wouldn't normally experience because of the upper arm snapping.
Yeah that's definitely a weak spot. Well there's one spot for upgraded part. It's got potential after a few modification. 👍🦘🤪😁😁
Absolutely I agree. I just hope that there will be an upgraded part for it. Thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated :-)