Furitek FX-118 1/18 RTR Review: BRUSHLESS POWER IS NOT EVEN THE BEST PART for this Crawler

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

Like:
+I thought the brushless motor was a gimmick but low speed control is like nothing else
+Portal axles front and rear give excellent ground clearance 
+Multiple suspension geometry options, oil shocks
​+Stock electronics are high spec - radio, ESC with bluetooth control, large 2s 600mah battery
+45° steering lock

Don't like:
-I personally don't like the look of the body - polycarbonate is tough but lacks the scale detail of plastic
-A lot of money for a 1/18 RTR crawler (although it's a positive bargain when you consider value of upgrades)
-Very little in the way of spares other than harder suspension springs and USB charger

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I ordered the Furitek FX118  RTR 1/18 4WD Brushless RC Crawler from Banggood. They have it available with a single or double battery option.  Use code BG8e97aa at checkout to get it for $175 

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
• Furitek FX118: A closer look at truck 
• Furitek FX118: How does it perform?
• Furitek FX118: Believe the hype, this is the best 1/18 Crawler thanks to the brushless powertrain execution

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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.

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Furitek FX118: A closer look at truck 

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

The FX118 uses a brushless motor as you know but this one is an outrunner meaning the rotating stator is on the outside. These offer cooler running and are more precise as they have more magnets. This one is is 1212 size with 3450kV

The battery is a proper 2s lipo with 600mah capacity - actually quite a decent size for a car of this small scale. Discharge is via a mini losi (blade) molex connector

The receiver is one of the latest from Flysky using the new ANT protocol: the FS-R4P-BS. It is 4 channels and an intergrated antenna with range that is good for 100-300m - way more than you need on a small scale crawler

​ESC is a brushless Furitek Lizard pro. These are an amazing little ESC that can control brushed or brushless motors and can be fully configured via bluetooth with a phone app. These can even run 3s (as well as 2s) with a lower kV motor. More detail here: Furitek Lizard Pro 30A/50A Brushed/Brushless ESC

Check out the aluminium chassis railsm specifically the quality of the machining and the multiple options for suspension geometery

Speaking of the suspension, these shocks are very high quality and can be filled with oil for greater dampening if you want to top up. Check out the axle mounted servo for low CoG and minimal bump steer as well

Portal axles in the front

Portal axles in the rear

Metal gears for all the portal axles. These are very high quality and have been hardened.

Hardened metal diffs front and rear too. Brass bushings are used which are appropriate for this type of low speed axle.

Tyres are narrow but have a good soft rubber compound and offer decent grip

Rims offer a beadlock on the tyre

Furitek have chosen to use the Flysky FS-MG4 as an OEX radio which is a simple but high quality 4 channel rado that is easil upgraded

Channel 1 is steering, 2 throttle as usual. Channel 3 is a 3 position switch and 4 is a momentatry swith. Channel 3 and 4 are available but not used on the FX118 RTR

One downside it that this remote uses 4 x AAA batteries. They last a long time but I prefer AA size

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

First of all you'll want to update to the latest version of firmware (through the setting menu)

Telemetry screen will show you what the throttle position is at and instant and also what RPM the motor is spinning at. Battery voltage, current draw and ESC temp are also shown

"Running" screen allows you to change how the ESC runs, voltage protection for battery, servo power output (for high voltage servos) You can also change all of the other operating parameters shown

Throttle parameters let you fine tune trim and other ESC control parameters as shown

You can change the throttle curve to allow for expo and any other tuning you may want

Settings screen where you can update firmware and change setup to run brushed or brushless, detail on the motor for fine control and temperature shutoff. My guess is you could easily use this ESC on a non-crawler vehicle too.

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Furitek FX118: How does it perform?

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.

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Furitek FX118: Believe the hype, this is the best 1/18 Crawler thanks to the brushless powertrain execution

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.

I ordered the Furitek FX118  RTR 1/18 4WD Brushless RC Crawler from Banggood. They have it available with a single or double battery option.  Use code BG8e97aa at checkout to get it for $175 

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