The WL Toys 144010 is a brushless 4WD 1/14 scale RC Car. It comes ready to run (RTR) meaning that everything except 4 x AA batteries for your transmitter is included. My tests have shown this car to be extremely quick and I will share all of that information and more in this review. In addition to this I have also added a section for tuning tips and other RC cars to consider in this category.

WL Toys is a Chinese-based manufacturer of RC cars that has been really popular over the last 2-3 years because of the great balance of price, speed and handling. The 144010 I am reviewing here is based on the same car that was released back then but has had 5-6 rounds of iterations with multiple improvements since that have culminated in a very well rounded car. This latest iteration includes all of those improvements and the latest brushless power system from WL Toys making it extremely quick as well. In fact I'd go so far as to say that you cannot buy faster for cheaper. Below I will break down the main systems of the car and will then give you quantified tests results plus my own opinion and finally my recommendations. Grab yourself a drink or bite to eat and let's get started.

The Flyhal 1/10 scale brushless RC monster truck is an RC car that is lacking something of a clear name but it is fairly clear this a thinly rebranded XLF X03a RC Truggy with a number of upgrades that has made it stronger. If you are unfamiliar with this model it is a lightweight ready to run 4wd 1/10 scale truck-buggy (truggy) with brushless power train and large monster truck wheels well suited to off road. Read on for a full review including my honest opinion of the truck after running it for a number of weeks

It's become clear to me the the 'Flyhal' brand is unique to the Chinese retailer Banggood and appears to be a shadow brand. This means that they are not a manufacture but a thinly disguised house brand that may be used to sell large job lots of RC models at a discount or as an exclusive bundle. For example it is clear that the Flyhal FC650 was a rebranded XLF F16 (brushless) and the Flyhal FC600 is a HBX 16890a pro. This particular Flyhal model is also made by XLF, in this case the X03a brushless 4WD truggy. As I have not reviewed the XLF F03a I will not compare to that model and so please ignore a direct comparison because from what I can see, a number of components seem to have been upgraded.

The Diatone Q33 RTR is a micro RC car, similar in dimensions to a matchbox or hotwheels toy. This car is a buggy style which by no means suggest that you can run offroad with this car but it does make it more durable and simple than closed body style cars. It claims to run for 60 minutes and is available in regular car, FPV car and FPV car & goggle kits. All cars come with remote, inbuilt battery and charger - everything you need to run except AA batteries for the remote.

If you are strictly into RC cars you probably won't recognise the Diatone brand but if you ever dabbled in quadcopter then you will. They are in fact one of my favourite brands in that category because of their balance with price and quality. The Diatone Roma F5 and F4 LR are some of my favourite quads. So far as I know this is the first RC car they have released and was done as part of their 10th anniversary. This is not the first micro RC car I have reviewed, I looked at the Turbo Racing C71 1/76 scale as part of review on the MyRCFamily youtube review. This is however the first buggy that has been released in this size. Don't expect off-road capability but do expect better durability and reliability, something the C71 struggled with. I'll keep this review short and simple since this can be considered a toy grade RC car since it can't be easily upgraded or have parts replaced. Read on for more...

The WL Toys 284131 is a mini 1/28 scale 4WD RC car that was released in the second half of 2021. It has fully proportional steering and throttle with independent suspension and is an updated and upgraded version of WL Toys own k969 and k989 cars. The body is based on Ken Block's Hoonitruck, made popular in the RC Scene by the Arrma Infraction. It not only looks the part but it's actually a great little performer in it's own right and hard to pass up at a price of between $55 and $65.

WL Toys are infamous for taking well designed cars and making much cheaper versions of them. You can either take offense because of the copying or embrace the fact that this opens up the category to a group of consumers that was never going to buy the full priced model. For example the 104001 copied the 2016 XRAY XB4, the 144001 copied the LC racing EMB-1 and here the K989 / 284131 copied the Kyosho Mini-Z. As much as I wanted one, I could never justify the $200 needed for a Kyosho mini-z but at around $60 the new 284131 is much easier to stomach. Clearly the price point puts in an entirely different market and for this reason I will aim to keep this review as a more stand alone rather than directly comparing to the mini-z range.

The WL Toys 104009 is a recently released a 4WD RC monster truck. It is made by WL Toys, one of the lower cost RC Car manufacturers that tend to strike a good balance between performance and affordability. This particular car is stated as 1/10 scale but is about the size of a typical 1/12 scale, still big enough to perform off-road. In this review I'll cover what I like about this car and what I don't like so you can make a decision to see if it will suit you or not.

As I mentioned WL Toys have made some very popular cars based around a common 144001 platform which I have written EXTENSIVELY about here: All my WL Toys RC Car review and upgrade guides. This car however is not based on that platform, rather it is and upgraded version of a lesser-known WL toys car, the 12402. Upgrades include oil shocks instead of friction dampeners, metal suspension arms front and rear, a much better looking body heavily inspired <cough> by the traxxas Maxx and XMaxx plus a whole lot of LED lights. Let get straight into the review.

The HBX 901a is a new 4WD brushless truck from HBX. Being 1/12 scale, it is larger than the cars they typically make. In this review we will cover off the specs and build of the truck, give you all of the performance results and finish up with a summary and recommendations plus some ideas for improvements. If available I'll post a discount coupon on my coupons and discount page

HBX have made some great releases in the 1/16 scale recently of which I've reviewed both - the 16886 Spectre desert buggy and the 16889a pro monster truck. Both have performed very well - good speed, battery life and perhaps above all else, outstanding durability. It's great to see then that they have stretched themselves and extended this brushless offering to a 1/12 scale car. This larger scale can open up a bit more heavy offroad locations with the larger size - wheels, ground clearance and presence. Before we jump into the specs, you'll see I'll reference the HBX 16889a pro a lot because a lot of the parts have been lifted from this truck. That's no bad thing as you'll find out below...

The HBX 16889a Pro is a highly specced 1/16 scale 4wd offroad RC monster truck from Haiboxing (HBX). It is based on the same car released under the names SG 1601, SG 1602 and HBX 16889 that I reviewed over a year ago here which also won my basher of the year in 2020. This version has many upgrades which I'll cover in full in this article and will let you know how they all come together to make this car better. 

Recently we've seen a lot of releases in the 1/14 and 1/16 scale off road bashing RC car class; some of them good like the HBX 16886 Spectre and some of them not so good like the Bonsai 141600. Before these we've had the excellent WL Toys 144001 for which I have written over 30 upgrade articles and of course the HBX 16889 which won my budget basher of the year for 2020. This year we are seeing a higher spec version for both of these models - announced but still some months away is the 144010 (a brushless version of the 144001) and the subject of this review is the 16889 Pro - still brushless but with upgrades across the board.

I've written this review in such a way so that people new to the HBX 16889 will be able to see all of its features while people who are familiar with the 16889 will be able to see the upgrades. First we'll start with a close up look at the specs and components followed by a review of the car as it actually drives. At the end I'll sum up with which I think is better for different consumers. 

The HBX 16886 Spectre is an all-new 1/14 scale 4WD desert buggy from the company that bought you my favourite car of 2020; the brushless HBX 16889. This package comes with the car, transmitter, battery and charger - everything you need to get running. In this review we'll take a close look at the car with the hood off and then see how it performs and I'll give you my thoughts on how this compares to other cars in the category,

Haiboxing - better known as HBX have been coming out with some really good value cars recently. As I mentioned above the 16889 was my favourite budget basher of 2020 with its durability, speed and battery life and the little HBX 2098B devastator crawler is probably the most capable micro crawler out. So you can understand why I was so keen to get my hands on this all new car. Let's first take a closer look at the specs and what they mean as they relate to the car

I've now built up quite a library of articles for the WL Toys 144001 (and 124019 / 124018) and thought I would use this page to share them. As of 3 August 2021 I've finally done a bit of an overhaul to make sure all articles are included and have added some new categories plus reviews. Enjoy!

The WPL C24 1/16 2.4G 4WD Crawler Truck Is a highly realistic 1/16 scale radio “crawler” RC truck. It has proportional steering and throttle (forward and reverse) and has a huge list of upgradable parts making it a legitimately hobby grade vehicle. Being a crawler it runs at low speed but is very powerful = this in combination with 4wd, grippy tyres and large suspension range makes it very capable in scaling obstacles. Best of all it is extremely cheap - less than $50 with everything you need to run. In this article I will review this truck in full

The small scale crawler market has really taken off recently based on the following because they can be used in so many ways:

• Small scale and low speed means you don’t need to travel to find fun spots to run – in your backyard, local park or even inside your house or garage. This also makes them really suitable for beginners
• Price is very low for a hobby grade car
• Reaplcement parts are inexpensive
• There is a huge range of upgrades – more powerful motors, metal parts, grippier wheels with weights and even a 2 speed gearbox controlled by a third channer
• Even stationary the plastic moulded body looks fantastic and is very presentable even as a scale model of the legendary Toyota Hilux