Furitek FX-118 1/18 RTR Review: BRUSHLESS POWER IS NOT EVEN THE BEST PART for this Crawler29/10/2023 The Furitek FX-118 RTR Brushless Crawler is simply the most capable RTR crawler you can buy. Features like the brushless power train, suspension adjustability and portal axles make this unlike any other crawler in this scale
Furitek are a new brand for me personally but after talking to my good friend and regular QuadifyRC contributor Geoffrey Chan, I've been enlightened on their activity in supplying aftermarket parts for 1/18 crawlers, especially for the 1/18 Traxxas TRX-4M where they practically rule the roost. Specifically their brushless ESC and motors and gearboxes come highly regarded but also their frame kits for extra suspension mounting options. The FX118 RTR has allowed them to bring all of this know-how together to create the ultimate RTR crawler. Read on for my review.
In this article:
Furitek FX118: RTR 1/18 Brushless 4WD Crawler
It doesn't take long to realise that the Furitek FX118 is an extremely high quality little RTR crawler. It's headline feature is the fact that it has a brushless powertrain but to ignore to other features is doing it an injustice. Although the $200+ seems like a lot of money for such a small crawler, it is not only STACKED with features but the build quality is simply amazing. I'll try cover these the best I can below when I'll take a look at the truck. I'll link the electronics where I can and you'll soon see that even the electronics alone on this RTR truck make it worth the price of admission.
The FX118 comes with very little in the way of spares, rather it focuses on doing the main parts well. There is of course the brushless crawler itself which includes a large (for this size) 2s 600mah lipo with molex connector, an OEM flysky remote that runs the latest ANT control protocol, a USB charger, a spare set of harder suspension springs and an instruction manual. Let's have a closer look at the car and remote below or see the embedded video above
Bangood carry a number of spares and upgrades but if you want to see all the detail, check out the Furitek website: https://furitek.com/
Lizard Brushless ESC Features
Just quickly, the ESC Furitek has included with this car is highly featured and you can access all of these features with the FuriCar App with IOS or Android, detail below. First of all I recommend updating the firmware to the latest version
As you would hope, this build comes together really well in terms of performance. I'm used to having brushless power systems in RC cars delivery more power, speed and efficiency but sometimes at the cost of delay which is why I thought this was an odd choice here. When the right ESC is used though brushless can provide a level low speed control that brushed motor can never match. I've only ever seen this on quadcopters though with advanced 32 bit ESCs, that is until I came across the Furitek FX118. As you can see below the brushless outrunner 1212 motor here can run at seriously low rpm but can still generate a signficant amount of torque - something a brushed motor simply cannot do. What does this mean for crawling? Use the throttle dual rate to change your top speed to match the conditions - you will not loose any low speed sensitivity. On a brushed car you would need to change to gear ration to get this kind of effect.
A quick note on the steering - you can get up to 45 degrees steering angle which it the absolutly limit that can be achieved on a 4wd car due to drive shafts being needed. I've never had this much steering in any car before and it makes maneuvering so much easier, a critical requirement for a good crawler. Check it out in the embedded video below:
Overall the suspension seems good. I didn't bother using the oil dampening as the model is so light but it's a nice option and means the shocks are well built. It rides quite low on the shocks standard which allows for the wheels to drop down on uneven surfaces as much as it does to lift up which ensures good traction. Tyres are good but a little narrow for my liking so loss of traction tends to be the limiting factor here. Portal axles offer really good ground clearance for this small scale truck. I don't personally like the look of the polycarbonate body and it's lack of detail compared to a injected plastic unit but there is no doubting it's functionality. Along with other build choices the lightweight body means the centre of gravity on this car is kept low. With that said any crawler will perform better with weighted wheels and hubs to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible, maximising grip and minimised rollover. The brief video below shows the suspension in action on a downhill run.
And a couple of final videos below, the first is a fairly relaxed surface to show you how the truck looks in action plus a patch of roughl land near my house with some gnarly weeds about.
I must admit, when I first decided to review this car I thought the fact it had a brushless power train was a gimmick but soon after testing it I found that the amazing low speed control it provides well and truly justifies it being there. What surprised me (but probably not others who knew the Furitek brand beforehand) was just how well designed and executed this truck is. Although it seems expensive, the value quickly adds up when you consider the spec and quality of the electronics and mechanical components let alone how well the total package comes together.
Put simply there is no small Ready To Run (RTR) crawler of any scale 1/16 and below that comes close to matching this truck. For example it makes the WPL C24 look like a cheap toy. I would have given this 5 star and even though this is good value for money when you work it through, I dropped one star to 4 to reflect it is still a fairly expensive purchase for a small truck.
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