The M4 AC is a decent budget option

Parts needed to get up and running

Operating instructions

Operation of this charger couldn't be easier - it only has 1 button! After you have plugged the discharge (main) connector in and the balance plug, it'll give you feedback on total battery voltage and the voltage of individual cells. After a brief delay it will automatically perform the function you are currently set to, those being:

1. Regular balance charge to 4.2v per cell (display: "4.20")
2. High volt balance charge to 4.35v per cell (display: "4.35")
3. Lipo storage charge/discharge to 3.85v per cell (display: "3.85v")
4. Li-Fe storage charge/discharge to 3.60v per cell (display: "3.60")

You can easily cycle through the above options by short pressing the single button.

You can also adjust the charge current by long pressing the button. Your options are:

1. 0.5A
2. 1.0A
3. 2.0A
4. 2.5A

In order to maximise battery life I recommend charging at 1c-2c i.e. if your battery is 1000Mah (1.0Ah) then charge at 1.0A - 2.0A.

And that is it, it's really that simple to connect and charge your batteries. You get a surprising amount of useful information from the charger as I'll explain here:

Understanding the display elements

Summary

In summary the Iflight M4 AC is an excellent budget charger for small scale RC cars 1/10 and smaller where batteries are 4s or less and have a capacity of about 3000mah or less. It's fair to say if you had bigger batteries for a bigger you'd be more interested in buying a larger charger like one from the excellent ISDT range. For those of us who enjoy small cars though this is an easy to use low cost model that has the perfect amount of features and does the basics really well. Should you be looking to upgrade your RTR cars USB charger (and you should) then the $20-$30 outlay on this little unit is much more palatable that the $50 plus we needed to spend on something decent in the past like the ISDT 608AC I reviewed here. Even though it is much cheaper it is still accurate and gives you all the features and information you need to keep your LiPo batteries in top condition to maximise your run time and the life of your batteries. For this reason I award this charger 4 stars - driven by the excellent value for money.

MJX have been absolutely hitting it out of the park recently, especially on their range of large 1/14 scale RC cars like the onroad basher 14301 on road basher I reviewed here and 14210 off-road truggy I reviewed here. Both were so good I had to award them with on and offroad cars of the year respectively. The MJX Hyper Go 14209 I'm reviewing here shares the same chassis and parts especially with the 14210 truggy, so where does this leave this car in the hierarchy? Read on to find out more

1/10 scale short course trucks are an excellent format for bashing about with. In general they have a good mix of performance on and off-road and the large size means the handling is more life-like. Arrma, Traxxas and many of the racing manufacturers have great offerings here. In general the bashing options have pretty disappointing tyres from stock but none moreso that the SG Pincone 1002s I reviewed recently here. These Streetfighter 1/10 scale Short Course Truck (SCT) wheels I've found recently offer a great alternative and fit practically any car in this scale. Read on for more.

Each MJX RC car I have reviewed is a substantial improvement on the one previous. The Hyper Go H16E (reviewed here) was a 4wd 1/16 scale truck that had built in GPS speed but was overly complex and a little expensive for a brushed car but it performed well and was very durable. The Hyper Go 16208 switched to brushless and took out the expensive GPS and remains an excellent budget option that is fast and durable, better even than the super popular HBX 16889a pro. Their first larger 1/14 released is the on-road Hyper Go 142301 basher and I chose this as my on-road car of the gear - driving (and drift) performance is hard to believe for a relatively low cost RTR car. Now we have the Hyper Go 14210 as reviewed here which uses the same core chassis but wraps it in big suspension, big grippy wheels and a lot of fine touches that make this my favourite offroad RC car of the year. Read on for more

In this article:

• MJX Hyper GO 14210: RTR 1/14 Brushless 4WD truggy
• MJX Hyper GO 14210: A closer look at the equipment
• MJX Hyper GO 14210: After a month's worth of driving
• MJX Hyper GO 14210: Wrap up - It's hard not to be impressed​

The ​MJX HYPER GO 14301 (and 14302) are brushless 1/14 scale on road cars that are equipped for grip style bashing and drifting. They are not only well featured but well built making for a solid driving experience with a lot of thought having gone into the build. In this review I'll look at the car in close detail and of course offer a full review of the driving performance.

MJX are a brand that are quietly going about building a solid body of work in the budget RC car scene. I've reviewed the MJX HYPER GO H16E here which is a very durable small scale brushed monster truck that outperformed my expectations. They have also made a brushless version of this truck, the MJX 16208 which I've driven but haven't reviewed. It is my belief that MJX have even been contracted to make the WLToys 124008. It is my appreciation of these cars that piqued my interest for the 14301 as reviewed here and the 14302 by association. These are an onroad version based around the same car but with shorter arms, a discrete gyro and altered bodywork which makes them a solid onroad basher. First, lets look at what is included in the box.

DumboRC make (IMO) the best budget radios you can get with the original X6 series (covered here) and the new X6PM-350 (reviewed here). One weakness however on both models they included a horrible plasticky steering wheel which felt a bit unpleasant in hand. Good thing then that the have released a low cost foam steering wheel upgrade which I have reviewed here and also give feedback on which other models it fits.

As mentioned above the steering wheel on all the DumboRC radios I've reviewed feel cheap because of the plastic grip. It's a shame they didn't use foam from the outset because it's not like this is an expensive upgrade - even stock WLToys remotes use foam and feel better for it. The newly released DumboRC Controller Metal Handwheel directly addresses this however and at a cost of under $10 it won't break the bank. They are available in black or titanium grey and I went with the latter. I'll be really clear that this is not a metal wheel, it is still moulded plastic so will be recommending to Banggood that they change the description. Anyway, included in the pack is the plastic wheel with foam outer, 2 adaptor pieces shaped like vented brake discs, stick on "calipers" if you like that look, a hex screw for fitting and a DumboRC domed decal to cover over the screw after installation: ​

The WLToys 284010 is a 1/28 mini scale 4wd RC Car. They are cheap, Ready To Run (RTR) out of the box and a lot of fun. This particular model is a new and improved version of the very popular WLToys K989. In this review I'll give you more detail on the car and how it performs and point out the improvements over the earlier models

WL Toys make a wide range of budget RC cars that typically do a great job of mixing low cost with good performance. Their most well known car is probably the 1/14 scale 144001 and the variants they have spawned which I've covered extensively on this website. Next most successful for them would then be the K9XX series which have recently been updated and renamed as the 284XX series such as the 284131 Hoonitruck which I reviewed here. The 284010 as reviewed in this article is the latest and includes all of WL Toys latest improvements building on what is already a very enjoyable little RC Car. First lets look at what is included:

The ​DumboRC X6PM-350 is a new, compact 6 channel transmitter from DumboRC, my favourite budget wheel/trigger radio brand. Alongside the launch of this new transmitter, DumboRC have also released a whole lot of new receivers - 8 in total. This means they have something for every application from micro to full scale, gyro, no gyro, built-in brushed ESCs and even full lighting controls for your scale rigs. In this article I'll review the radio in full and help you understand which receiver will suit you best.

DumboRC have been really successful in the budget RC area with their X4, X5 and X6 range that I covered extensively in this guide here. The reason that they were so successful is that the price was sharp but more importantly they were VERY reliably even over a long range and they offered useful features like gyro and lighting control without overcomplicating the operation of the transmitter. For these reasons we have see DumboRC radio gear get used more and more as an OEM with companies like ZD Racing and Rlaarlo.

Clearly they lack multiple model options and digital adjustments but at this price you could have separate controllers for separate cars/tanks/boats/trucks etc. The new X6PM-350 as reviewed here offers all of the benefits of the X4-6 range but in a more compact package that fits easily into a backpack plus at an even sharper price.

The Diatone (SNT) Y60 3005 is an absolute mouthful of a name but this is a super tiny 1/64 scale 4wd Crawler RC truck that I have reviewed. The version I have reviewed has a built in First Person View (FPV) camera that transmits the image to a set of goggles that gives you a view from the car in real time. The amount of technology crammed into this tiny hotwheel-sized cars is just crazy and I hope to give you a full feel for it in the review.

If you haven't been involved with quadcopters before you probably won't know the brand "Diatone" but if you have you will know they are one of the bigger and well-supported brands that have become very popular due to the balance of quality and performance they have struck plus have the most aggressive product development schedule I've ever come across. They have partially re-branded to "SNT" as they start making consumer RC cars, working exclusively on the micro (1/64) scale which is roughly the size of a hotwheels car. I've reviewed 2 generations of these in the Q33 buggy and the Q25 240z replica which have both shown substantial improvements over the models they replace. Both are bult for speed but the weight and location of the FPV camera lets down the experience. As you'll see in this review the Y60 truck  is built to crawl slowly over bigger obstacles and so is much better suited to FPV.

If you are not already familiar with crawlers, they are a subset of RC cars that run at much slower speeds with a lot more torque and rather than travelling around tracks at speed, they are design for traversing rough terrain (like a full sale 4x4) with a scale look. Although the WPL C24 Waterproof has a fairly basic plastic build in order to achieve it's relatively low price point, there is a massive amount of upgrades available - everything from wheel weights for more grip to metal 2 speed gearboxes to larger diffs and of course grippier tyres. As you'll see from my review that follows though you'll realise that this truck performs great out of the box as is and will give you a great feel for crawling in all conditions (including water) with a minimal outlay.