Like many ready to run RC cars, the ZD Racing EX16 has terrible throttle and steering sensitivity out of the box but. The good news it is very easy to fix as you'll find in my brief guide below. This is the first of a 3 part series of tuning guides for the ZD Racing EX16. The others can be found here: Hobby grade RC cars have proportional steering and throttle meaning the amount you squeeze the trigger or turn the steering wheel is reflected by the RC with a proportional amount of motor speed or wheel turning. In theory that is. The ZD Racing EX16 is poorly setup from the factory which, to be fair is the same of most cars but it's really easy to fix with the dials on your transmitter.
The Ultimate pinion gear guide for WL Toys 144001 144002 144010 124016 124017 124018 12401930/4/2022 The WL toys 1/14 and 1/12 scale cars are fanstastic value and offer a myriad of options for tinkering and modding. One area where they are woefully inadequate though is gearing. They have chosen a very uncommon mod 0.7 gear pitch meaning there are very few options outside of stock because the standard 27t or even the more recent 19t offer very tall gearing only. In this gearing guide I have laid out all known available options in this guide to help you get the most out of your car. Let's start this conversation by saying that the stick spur gear for these cars (44 teeth) is fixed - an immovable object with no alternative options*. Thus it is only the pinions we can change to alter gear ratios. Next we can say that motors with a 36mm diameter (ie stock 550 brushed, 3650 brushless, 3652 brushless and 3660 brushless cannot move closer to the top brace and therefore cannot use a smaller pinion, even with this adjustable mount. This with these motors you can use the stock 27t pinion only and the tall gearing (4.074:1)
This means that the only way to alter gear ratio is to use a smaller motor suck as a brushed 380 or 390 or a brushless 2440, 2445, 2838, 2845, 2850. This is a good thing because for the brushless motors in particular they are smaller, lighter, faster, more efficient and run cooler but with less torque they need the smaller pinions which provide shorter gearing. This is the basis of every brushless upgrade I have written which provide a much more well rounded performance for these cars. Anyway lets go directly to the options readily available. *Custom made Mod1 spurs are available, talk to Michael Koebbe on the QuadifyRC facebook group. 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 ISDT AIR8 charger is a DC powered battery charger made by ISDT. It is capable of charging lipos and batteries of all chemistry at up to 500W (up to 20a) using an industry leading user interface with multiple idiot-proofed systems. This is the first charger that supports BATTAIR - a new technology that allows you to retain battery specs and charge history with a lightweight and low cost balance connector that connect to a phone app via blue tooth For this review I will start out with the charger itself first before I cover off the BATTAIR TECH and how it allows the battery to interface with the app
For those who have been tinkering with WLToys RC buggies over the last few years, it has become pretty common knowledge that the now famous 144001, 124019 and 124018 are clones of the lesser-known LC Racing EMB series. So, who is LC Racing? They are an RC brand that has been around since 2012 when they launched their 1/14 scale EMB platform. In 2013, they began to sell in the USA under the Tacon brand, offering the product line in both brushed and brushless models. The Tacon and LC Racing product ranges consists of a short wheel-base buggy (the EMB-1), which the 144001 is a clone of and the short wheelbase monster truck (EMB-MT) which the 144002 is a clone of. They also have longer wheelbase 1/14 versions for their Truggy (EMB-TG), Desert Truck (EMB-DT), Short Course Truck (EMB-SC) and Rally Car (EMB-WRC) that the 124019 and 124018 are based on. They have since expanded to larger 1/10 scale RC’s, but their bread-and-butter products are still the 1/14 and 1/12 scale categories. Looking at the two images of the LC Racing EMB1 and WLToys 144001, one would be very hard pressed to distinguish the differences on the surface. The EMB-T and 124019 visually look different mainly because of the body styles and wheels, but they share the same architecture underneath the covers. But still equally difficult to see in pictures is why an LC Racing model commands a 2x price premium compared to the WLToys model. As a point of reference for when this article was written (November 2021), a brushed 124019 with 3 batteries retailed for USD$139 and an LC Racing EMB-T with 3 batteries for USD$270 on Banggood.com. LC Racing EMB1 vs WLToys 144001 LC Racing EMB-T vs. WLToys 124019
The WL Toys 284131 (which I reviewed here) and the K989 that precedes is described as a micro drift car but the lack of gyro (such as appears standard in the SG1603 drifter) makes this difficult. In this article I've installed a gyro, added a low friction aluminium wheel and tyre set and have improved steering lock which vastly improves the drifting experience. Drift wheels and tyres The 284131 and of course the K989/969 which is it is based on have and excellent weight balance and handle well which makes them great grip/track driving micro rc cars but no so good for drifting. First of all let's address the wheels - the stock tyres have too much traction so we need to swap these out for a set that have much less. Rather than messing about with trying to put PVC piping over the stock wheels you can change them out for a set of bold on aluminium drift wheels cheaply and easily with this part: Metal PO Fitting Wheels Hub Rims Tires with Drift Tire For Wltoys 1/28. 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 144002 1/14 scale RC Monster Truck is a recent release from WL Toys setup as a monster truck and based on the hugely popular 144001 buggy which I have extensively reviewed, modified and tuned in over 40 guides here. This newest version looks to be better suited off-road with the larger wheels and has a number of improvements that are not noticed at first glance. Here I'll review the car in full and let you know what I like about it and what I don't like about it (+how to fix it) The 144002 is now the 7th time the original 144001 platform and gear have been recycled by WL toys and I've reviewed them and modified every step of the way. In case you are wondering:
This summary is simplified but all along the way WL toys have been making evolutionary improvements to poorly setup or weak points of this car meaning that this latest truck is very much improved over the original 144001. I will of course detail these in the review. Sadly there are still some fundamental flaws too which I will also outline. Let's have a closer look at the car before we take it for a drive so we know what we are dealing with. I'll break this down into sections of power train, driveline, suspension, steering, body and chassis to give it a bit of structure. Then, I'll follow up with a full review of the performance in all areas (including GPS-measured top speed) and my conclusions and recommendations.
The HBX 901a 1/12 brushless truck as reviewed here is a brushless 1/12 scale desert buggy and one of my favourite RC cars of 2021. It was light yet very durable with a very efficient power system and drive train. Short gearing ensured very lengthy battery life and ensured motor and ESC temps remained extremely low with the preference of strong acceleration over top speed. In this article I'll show you how to install a larger 14t pinion gear and talk about the performance improvements. In my original review I mentioned that the motor mount for this car had preset motor holes that should allow the fitment of a 14t pinion and recommended the Surpass Hobby M0.6 13-17t pack. I can now confirm that these do fit as expected - see the images and steps below to do this yourself - it is very easy and takes around 5-10 minutes. 14t Pinion Install Guide
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