The WL Toys 124019 is a 1/12 scale Ready To Run (RTR) radio controlled 4wd off road buggy which I will be reviewing in-depth for this article. It is an evolution of the hugely popular WL Toys 144001 1/14 scale which it shares over 95% of it's part with. It's also the same under the hood as the 124018 sand buggy. I have a lot of experience with these series of cars having written over a dozen guides which can be seen here so apologies in advance if I get a little technical (skip to the conclusions if needed!). WL Toys scored massive success with the 1/14th scale 144001 which based heavily on the LC racing EMB-1 and released in early 2019 - it was well made with good components as well as being fast and durable. Perhaps more importantly it hit a great price point of $80-100 USD. With popularity came a large amount of upgrade parts and people like me have taken this further to adapt brushless systems to suit this car for off-road fun and even for speed run build capable of 80-100mph. The 124019 is the subject of this review though and in essence this is just the same as the 144001 except for a wheelbase that has been stretched by 45mm. This is at least how it looks on the surface but there are a number of key improvements that many have missed and these have addressed: motor overheating, differential durability, chassis stiffness and wheel security. I'll cover these all in detail here plus feedback on the cars performance, handling and durability as per a typical review. What is included in the pack? Pretty much everything you need to get running (and nothing else) is in the box except for the 4 x AA batteries you need to power the transmitter. Specifically you will find:
This is what is included with the basic 124019 package. You can get other packages with more batteries included like this one Adjustments before running The 144001 needed a few key adjustments before running which I covered in this article and this article. Thankfully WL toys has listened to a few of these issues (most notably the shock fluid level) and so only a few adjustments are needed. I've ranked in order of importance:
WL TOYS 144001 SETUP: 3 THINGS YOU MUST DO BEFORE YOU EVEN TURN IT ON WL TOYS 144001: FREE OR BUDGET UPGRADES (PART 2) Improvements over the 144001 On paper, the only benefit the 124019 offers over the similar but cheaper 144001 is a longer wheelbase and a larger battery (2200mah vs 1500mah). I've dug in a lot deeper though and have found more improvements that are not well know or haven't been mentioned in any of the reviews show here we go... Upgraded Diffs. The listing for the 124019 and 124018 mentions upgraded diffs but what is the reality? At first glance the 124019 uses the same low quality aluminium diffs from the 144001 that many have complained about wearing down and stripping. But that isn't the whole story. I first noticed the diffs weren't as free spinning as those on the 144001 and when disassembling my diffs for greasing I noticed they have in fact been shimmed! Play between the spider and side gears has been greatly reduced by shims in the spider gears which have increased contact with the side (planet) gears. This is where the typical failure point was for the stock gears so I am very excited to see if this will indeed deliver on durability. This is really good news and even though the diffs use fairly low quality metal, this at least should make the most of them Shock fluid level is correct. The early versions of the 144001 didn't have enough shock fluid. Worse for the later versions - they had too much. This meant if you ran as is you would have limited shock travel and would blow the seals and leak. That's why I wrote this important article about removing some of the fluid so they wouldn't get damaged. I'm pleased to say that on my car at least (ordered from Banggood) had exactly the right amount so offers very good dampening, full suspension travel and it should perform well long term. Greatly reduced motor overheating. The 144001 follow the classic hot rod fundamentals - a large motor in small car. The 124019 is the same with a slightly longer chassis. Between the older brushed motor technology and large motor size (with tall gearing) this motor gets HOT. Great news is that WL toys have come up with a very clever fix - they have added a thermal heat transfer compound between the motor and a giant heatsink AKA the aluminium chassis. It works extremely well too. After a good 12 minute run in grass with a full battery, the motor was hot (not scorching hot) but you could feel the heat had spread to the entire chassis which is a much larger mass to act as a heat sink primarily and then secondarily a much larger exposed area for heat to be drawn off from. Simple, clever engineering with a solid practical outcome. This is a vastly better solution than having small aluminium heatsinks / fan setups on the motor. Check out the thermal transfer compound the creates a conductive heat path between the motor and the chassis. Genius idea. Stiffer chassis and better ESC mounting. Both the 144001 and 124019 share the same electronics, notably ESC/receiver unit and motor. Since there isn't much room in the 144001 to fit the large ESC/receiver unit and so it needs to go on the top deck. However, since the body has such a low profile, the deck has a kink in it to allow the ESC/receiver to sit lower. This caused 3 main issues:
Good news for the 124019 that this has been rectified - the extra length in the car means the ESC/receiver can now fit behind the servo on the lower deck and the top deck no longer has the kink so all the advantages now:
Wheels can be tightened correctly. The 144001 had an annoying combination of weak plastic hex adaptors for the wheels and low quality unflanged lock nuts. Using these was often a trade off of running nuts too loose and wheels falling off (plus losing drive pins) or tightening too much, damaging the plastic hex adaptor and having the wheel binding on the hub. The anodised aluminium hex adaptors did not help either, in fact their fit was even worse. I was surprised to find that the 124019 comes stock with solid aluminum hex adaptors. Unlike the 144001 aluminium "upgrade" versions they have the correct insets for the standard pins meaning they fit snugly without binding on the stationary hub. Better still, locknuts are now flanged meaning they do a better job of spreading force across the wheel. End result? You can tighten the wheels right up so they don't fall out during operation without the risk of binding the wheels up. Small win but a win nonetheless. Performance - Power and Efficiency You'll often hear people like me talk about brushless upgrades but don't underestimate how fast this brushed setup really is. The combination of a large, torquey brushed motor and tall gearing make for a very good top speed, even in off-road conditions. One benefit of the brushed motor (other than helping keeping the cost down) it that power comes on very smoothly and is very controllable as a result. Furthermore top speed can be limited electronically if needed by adjusting the throttle dual rate on the transmitter. A common complaint of the 144001 was that the battery didn't last long and the motor especially overheated. These issues are greatly minimised now as a result of the improved motor cooling as mentioned above, more room inside to body for cooling and of course the larger 2200mah battery included with the car which is 50% larger than the one in the 144001. This allowed me a solid 12 minutes of running on and off-road, starting with a full charged battery and finishing on an acceptably safe 3.7v per cell. Speaking of the battery, the 2s 2200mah lipo pack included is surprisingly good. It shipped at an acceptable storage charge of 3.85V per cell. Once charged and run for 12 minutes on the car, finishing at 3.7v per cell it took 2090mah power to charge suggesting capacity is legitimately 2200mah. Note: I could have run the battery down further to draw the full 2200mah but I don't like running below 3.7v per cell rested. Better yet, internal resistance of the cells was below 10milliohms. This tells me the battery is actually surprisingly good and should last well if treated well. Based on these stats I'd happily recommend these stock batteries if you need more batteries Performance - Handling With the toe and camber correctly dialed in, this car really does handle nicely indeed. The longer wheel base allows it to track really well in a straight line and I found I could control drifts and spins a lot better as well as a result. Like the 144001, the suspension geometry is very well sorted, simply because it has been copied directly from the excellent LC racing EMB-1. The big, heavy brushed motor in the 144001 made the weight distribution very much rear biased though and this overloaded the rear suspension and caused balance issues through corners and obstacles that made it feel a little uncomfortable (although this was largely disguised by the quality suspension). With the 124019, the extra length has been well utilised - particularly with the battery moving forward to offset the rear biased weight from the motor. Now weight split is close to 50/50 and this means it is much more balance on the straights, through corners, over jumps - everywhere. What this means in real life is that the car feels really predictable, even when grip is low. Speaking of grip, stock tyres are still not the grippiest but are fine for a combination of short grass, dirt and tarmac. Wheels are strong and foam filled so you don't need to worry about them falling apart on you until they are well and truly bald. If you are looking for a good upgrade wheel and tyre combo for offroad, I found a really good set in this review. Durability No doubt this is a tough car and can handle most spills in an offroad environment. However simple physics tells us that there is a lot of force transferred when crashing into a hard object at the speed this car can reach, there is simply no avoiding it. Below is an example of when my son smacked into a fixed park bench when racing on the tarmac at a local school whilst at full throttle. There is no way the impact could have been anything less than a breakage but at least it was a minor sacrificial part that took the hit rather the something major - in this case the front left steering knuckle as you can see below. You can of course upgrade to the aluminium parts as I did on another car in this guide but then that force may then transfer to somewhere you really don't want it, such as the diff case or chassis which is more difficult and expensive to fix. In this case I was lucky to have the part on hand and it was a 5 minute change over.
Potential As fast as this car is with the stock setup, the balance and handling tells us it is capable of more. Because of this there is a rapidly growing active community of modders who are further improving the performance for offroad play, racing and on road speed runs. It is these active communities that encourage manufacturers to add products to further upgrade and we have seen this apparent with the 144001. In fact since these cars share so many similar parts, pretty much everything bolts over other than chassis, driveshaft, top deck and shell. Potential is for further tinkering and modding is definitely a strong point of this car. Conclusion and Recommendations Quite simply the WL Toys 124019 is a very well designed car that has a number of subtle but crucial improvements over the hugely popular WL Toys 144001 that will make it more reliable with better handling and greater durability. Although it is better set up from the factory, there are still a few tweaks that need to be made on order to get it handling at its best but these do not take long and no special parts are needed - they are practically free. Although this car has impressive performance out of the box with its oversized brushed 550 motor, it also has a lot of potential to be upgraded, particularly a move to brushless power that can offer a more top speed, better acceleration and much better battery life. Because of its speed and the inevitability that something may break in hard impacts, I do not recommend for the WL Toys 124019 for a complete novice. This car will however reward you with quality and design in that practically all of the suspension geometry can be adjusted to suit your style and it can be upgraded in practically any direction - off-road basher, track racer and 100mph+ on road speed runner. If upgrading is your thing, there are wonderful groups on Facebook that offer guidance and support for upgrades and repairs and are a valuable resource for those that like to dig deeper. If you are wanting to upgrade or simply want to read about it, I have published over a dozen articles on 144001 upgrades which are relevant to the 124019 and will also be writing some 124019 specific articles shortly. For now, all of my 144001 articles are here: 144001/124018/124019 UPGRADES - EVERY ONE OF MY GUIDES HERE To close this review I can wholeheartedly recommend this WL Toys 124019 RTR radio controlled car, there is very little that comes close to the performance or design quality at this price point. To go one step further you can use code BGAFF10OFF to get a further 10% off your total purchase on Banggood. Note, the 124018 as pictured beside the 124019 below is an identical car except for the body. Thanks for reading, if you found this article useful please feel free to like or share, the facebook links below directly link/like this article. I don't believe in asking for money by patreon nor by paypal but if you do wish to help me, the affiliated links in these articles help me buy the bits and services I need to produce this type of content. If you are looking for RC cars, quads or parts check out my coupons and discounts page which I keep updated with only the RC cars, parts and quads I like at a proper discount
41 Comments
Willem Borst
23/12/2020 03:06:54 am
Funny to see that a lot of the improvements that you mentioned on the 124019 are also on the 144001 that i ordered on 11-11-20.
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QuadifyRC
23/12/2020 06:35:39 am
Interesting, makes sense that if they know about these improvements (they obviously do) that they apply them to newer 144001s as well. Thanks for the heads up, might need a fresh one.
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Ray Klein
20/3/2021 07:16:42 am
First time RC owner. I read a lot of reviews about the 124019 Wltoys buggy and decided what the heck, sounds like a good car to start with. After unboxing the car, I noticed the front wheels had a lot of play in them and the alignment was off. Is this normal? I have not driven the car yet as a lot of reviews i read mentioned doing some essential things before driving it. its like someone dared a co-worker to put it together blindfolded.?
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Quad
22/3/2021 09:39:48 am
Yeah I think there may be a bit of the going on at times! More the case that the people putting it together have no idea about RC cars and why it is important that the wheels are pointing forward. In fairness they are getting better though. Check out this guide for the fixes I needed to do https://www.quadifyrc.com/rccarreviews/124019-budget-setup-and-tuning-guide-2021-get-the-most-out-of-your-car
Brandon
23/12/2020 06:17:03 pm
I also have one of the newer batches of 144001 with washers in the spider gears of the diffs, flanged wheelnuts, thermal paste on motor. The biggest issue I have with the 144001 are the cvds and dogbones bending with relatively minor force and the diff cups being damaged by the cvds/dogbones. These metal parts are way too soft.
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QuadifyRC
29/12/2020 11:35:04 pm
Interesting, that is the second I've heard of this and expect to hear it more as new stock rolls out. Good to hear they are making gradual improvements outside major releases. I must be in the minority, this crash that broke my front hub carrier is the only time I've ever bent a drive shaft and it was a decent hit. I don't mind straightening it but weak cups is one to look out for.
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Shawn C
4/1/2021 12:53:27 pm
Got my 140001 as a Christmas present from my brother...
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QuadifyRC
4/1/2021 10:02:45 pm
Hey Shawn
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Shawn C
7/1/2021 03:32:19 pm
FWIW - I was having trouble trimming out the steering after my last comment. I could get it trimmed going forward, but then it would be curving once I put it in reverse or vice versa. Weird, right?
Michael
12/3/2021 10:13:56 pm
hello, first of all great articles! I'm thinking of buying a 124019 with my other rc cars. Would standard hardcase lipos fit in the 124019? (2s 7.4)
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Nimma Sherpa
13/3/2021 11:07:19 pm
Hi Michael
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Hello,
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QuadifyRC
30/3/2021 09:04:44 am
Hi Olivier
Reply
Hello,
QuadifyRC
31/3/2021 12:48:25 pm
No problem, Olivier have fun! If you are on FB, come and join my group and share your build: https://www.facebook.com/groups/quadifyrc
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PC
30/5/2021 03:31:49 pm
I have the 124019 too and mine had plastic hex adaptors as well.
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QuadifyRC
31/5/2021 04:45:54 pm
Sounds like luck of the draw? I've not seen the stock aluminium ones available unfortunately. Even the new 104001 has plastic ones.
Adrian
27/4/2021 06:27:23 am
How is the range on it? I can barely do 50 meters on my 144001.Tried some different antenna positions, but nothing help.
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QuadifyRC
27/4/2021 09:50:45 am
I've not had this issue sorry, my range on the stock gear has always been pretty good. Perhaps try using some new non-rechargeable batteries in the remote? They run at 1.5v per cell rather than 1.2v
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David
4/6/2021 10:39:53 pm
Hello, I Own a 3 weeks 144001 and 1 week 124019.
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QuadifyRC
24/6/2021 02:25:53 pm
Interesting - lots of variations out there. Thanks David!
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Mike S
23/6/2021 11:48:22 pm
Hi Quadifyrc, I would like to rerofit the thermal heat transfer compound to the standard motor of my 144001. Do you have any more information about what exactly is used, and where to get it? I don't know if it is anything like cpu/electronics thermal paste. I also wonder if adhesive thermal pads would be a suitable alternative.
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QuadifyRC
24/6/2021 02:26:30 pm
Hey Mike
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Scott
23/7/2021 12:00:47 am
Received my 124019 yesterday, around 4 months after i received a 144001. comparing the two, no one seems to mention that that the 124019 is actually about 10-15mm wider through the middle, mainly due to the plastic side bits. helps when looking at esc dimensions. the diff housings on the 124019 have ribbing on top of them too, which is pretty obvious, but not sure of the benefit (have people broken shock towers off the diff housings?). my 124019 did not come with the metal hexes, but i was not worried as i had lc racing alu hexes to put on it. shocks definitely felt much better than the 144001's, didn't even bother opening them up to check oil levels. diffs had a stripe of white grease around them, and probably had a little more grease inside them (vs the 144001's), but probably still a good idea opening up to add more grease before running.
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Jim
9/8/2021 10:12:34 am
Hello can anyone tell me,what makes this rc car go so fast?
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QuadifyRC
9/8/2021 10:18:11 am
Same reason race cars go fast - big motor in a small car. The 550 motor is oversized for this car which compromises handling a bit but does make it go fast in combination with the very tall gearing.
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Jim
9/8/2021 08:29:10 pm
Thanks for the reply,do you know how many rpm is the motor?
QuadifyRC
11/8/2021 05:42:31 pm
Sorry I don't know the peak motor RPM. You could probably back-calculate it using the gear ratios and wheel circumference if you wanted.
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Nels
4/11/2021 09:23:30 am
Fairly certain the 550 motor that comes in both is a 20,000 RPM motor.
Mark
24/9/2021 04:22:46 pm
Thank you for the great resource !
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QuadifyRC
28/9/2021 05:17:36 pm
Cheers Mark! Bummer about the damage. To me it sounds like you are hitting the low voltage cutout i.e. flat battery - are you able to confirm the voltage of the pack with either a multimeter or one of the little Lipo testers?
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Mike
15/1/2022 10:36:43 pm
Hi mate. The link to the ESC you recommend doesn’t work. I cannot find another reference to it on the site. Would you mind reposting the link please.
Mike
12/1/2022 06:42:47 pm
Hello, my 124019 also didnt come with aluminium hexes and shocks are far worse than on my 144001. Both front ones started to leak after 1 run from bottom side. Also diffs started to make funny noises. My 144001 seems to be much better car so far.
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curtisy
8/2/2022 08:14:55 pm
I just got my first RC car since i was 12, this last Christmas, a rebadged/remodelled but essentially an HBX 16889 which I love.
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Isaac
5/4/2022 02:09:25 pm
Hey Quad, I was looking back, and remembered this article. I was just trying to shim my 144001, I have one of the rear wheels off, and am looking for some suitable shims in a loose container of them that we have in our garage. My 144001 has flanged wheels nuts (the wheels nuts have an extra little "ring" or flange around the nut at the bottom, like shone in your pics).
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QuadifyRC
12/4/2022 12:27:05 pm
1) Most useful shims are inside the diffs themselves to decrease clearance between planet and conical gears
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Isaac
13/4/2022 08:00:14 am
Thanks Quad. I'll try to shim the diffs the next time I open them up.
Fernando Duarte
30/11/2022 05:44:02 am
Great review. Congratulations.
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QuadifyRC
1/12/2022 04:35:54 pm
Thanks Fernando. It sounds like you may have broken the small plastic piece that connects the steering wheel on the remote to the electronic potentiometer for steering. This is a little-known weak point. You can find the plastic replacement part on Aliexpress but it is fiddly work. Your best bet is to replace the remote. If you look on my facebook group someone may have a free or cheap remote near you.
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Fernando Duarte
1/12/2022 09:54:13 pm
Thank you for your help. If I open the remote control will I find any visible broken parts? To confirm if that is really the source of the problem. The car is new, I will ask them to repair under warranty, but I needed to identify what the problem is, because I bought it from Banggood and they will probably send me the part. Cheers. Leave a Reply. |
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