My (short) Corally Dementor experience.

[m4inbrain]

Well, 

 

after X-Maxx, DBXL-E etc i decided, i need something smaller, to faff around with when i can't be arsed to lug one of the big guys around. After a bit of deliberation, i had a look around, and read a lot of praise for the new Team Corally range (Kronos, Dementor etc) - which led me, of course, to buy one. 

 

Here it is. 

 

 

Actually, that's a lie. I should say, there it was. Because after 10 minutes into the first run, on grass and sand, for no immediately apparent reason, the truck looked like this.

 

 

 

 

To be very clear here. The truck ran 4s (i don't have 6packs anymore), it ran for a whopping 10 minutes before it folded in half, it did not jump (though it did have a few tumbles and cartwheels, as it happens) - this is purely from wheelies, and a few cartwheels on even ground after said wheelies failed. 

 

Good, i thought - great. Order spares, £60? Cheaper than i thought, at least that's something. All the spares arrived this morning, so off i go transferring all the undamaged bits over to the non-bent chassis. In my wisdom, i also recognised that the motor was pretty hot to the touch when i ran it for an eternity 10 minutes, so i decided to get a smaller pinion for it as well.

After spending the entire day faffing around with what is without a doubt the worst manual i've ever seen in an RC (and i had a few), finally, an hour ago, everything was done. There it was, sitting shiny, straight, ready to go tomorrow. 

 

Remember the pinion? Yeah. I didn't mount it. Why?

 

 

So far i've spend £40 in upgrades, £70 in spares and a pinion, £400 on the truck itself - and i managed to drive it once for 10 minutes, and now it'll be out of commission again for a long time - i haven't  figured out yet what to do even. 

 

So then i started digging around a little, less watching the videos, and more the comments by the people who made said videos, and alas.. For "many" of them (there isn't that many out there in the first place), the chassis bent as well for no apparent reason. By that, i mean no "stupid bashing", just normal driving with the usual tumbles, of which i have dozens every time i take out my X-Maxx. 

 

I'm incredibly disappointed, and more so frustrated. This is by a huge margin the worst RC i've ever bought - i don't know if i got one that was assembled by a drunk on a monday morning, but this isn't fun anymore. Yeah, i'm venting here, but since i've seen someone mention that he was considering a Dementor too - don't. Get an Outcast or Notorious, or anything else. 

 

With this one? I'll fix it, once i figured out how even. Then i'll cut my losses. Hell, depending on the price on this new fix now, i'll sell it as a roller to some other poor sod. 

 

edit: lol.

Edited October 1, 2020 by m4inbrain

[Bajadre]

thats a honest review experience there never seen that with a rear bulk head pull through the chassis before DAMN were you jumping it hard OP?

am not arrmas biggest fan but have seen two outcasts in our group now take beatings like you wouldnt believe sad to see this doesnt deliver that quality too :(

[monkeyboy_uk]

Melt it down for scrap metal and cut your losses

 

[tomr]

Is the  noodle looking thing the rear dog bone? 
That’s the sort of quality I’d expect from a Nitrotek RC .

Have you had a chance to speak to Corally about replacing the truck or at least the parts ?

Edited October 2, 2020 by tomr

[.AJ.]

This is a recurring problem with the Dementor, the design and the material of the chassis/braces aren’t up to the job... It’s a shame Corally couldn’t have used the rear bracing design of the Kronos/Shogun, they rarely show this problem  

[m4inbrain]

3 hours ago, Bajadre said:

thats a honest review experience there never seen that with a rear bulk head pull through the chassis before DAMN were you jumping it hard OP?

am not arrmas biggest fan but have seen two outcasts in our group now take beatings like you wouldnt believe sad to see this doesnt deliver that quality too

 

I wasn't jumping at all lol. A few hops maybe, but the area is generally flat. That's all the chassis brace being the worst and flimsiest thing i've ever seen, and the wheelie bar mounted so it pulls the end of the chassis plate up, while simultaneously pushing against the shock tower on top. 

 

3 hours ago, monkeyboy_uk said:

Melt it down for scrap metal and cut your losses

 

 

Yeah, feel like i should. I really am frustrated with that thing.

 

3 hours ago, tomr said:

Is the  noodle looking thing the rear dog bone? 
That’s the sort of quality I’d expect from a Nitrotek RC .

Have had a chance to speak to Corally about replacing the truck or at least the parts ?

 

Well, it's the rear driveshaft, yes. I did get a response on facebook,  multiple actually - the first one suggesting that i was jumping it 30 feet high etc (a single scratch on the bottom of the chassis btw, i did not jump it). He then messaged me which i didn't immediately see, asking for my address which i gave him - but no answer since. That was like a week ago, so i don't think anything's coming from that. 

 

1 hour ago, .AJ. said:

This is a recurring problem with the Dementor, the design and the material of the chassis/braces aren’t up to the job... It’s a shame Corally couldn’t have used the rear bracing design of the Kronos/Shogun, they rarely show this problem  

 

It's the wheelie bar. 100%. It's an awful design, in fact i've never seen a wheelie bar mounted that stiff against the absolute weakest parts of the chassis. The chassis bent right under the shock tower, because obviously that's where it'd bend if you pull the rear end up and the shock tower forward every time the truck goes onto the wheelie bar. The wheelie bar axle is steel, proper thick - bent after the second proper wheelie, because there's literally zero give. Everything is mounted to aluminium on the wheelie bar, with metal braces ensuring that all energy goes straight into that weak part of the chassis. 

 

That definitely was my last corally. I'm not happy with how they accused me that i drove like an idiot (sidenote, they actually deleted that posting shortly after) considering half of all Dementors bent in the first few runs. The bolt snapping was just the icing on the cake - and in fact happened to quite a few people (judging by facebook), so that's a reoccurring problem too. 

 

Blegh, sorry, i'm just really frustrated. Which frustrates me even more, because RCs are supposed to be fun. 

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by m4inbrain

[tomr]

For me it’s return the truck for a full refund,a replacement truck or at the very least replacement parts .

I’d get back onto Corally ASAP 

[m4inbrain]

Just now, tomr said:

For me it’s return the truck for a full refund,a replacement truck or at the very least replacement parts .

I’d get back onto Corally ASAP 

 

We'll see where it leads. 

 

Next week the new bolts arrive (sigh), i'll have another go at it on the road in front of the house - if i get some enjoyment out of it, i'll get a 7075 bracing skidplate for it which should fix the biggest problem and go from there. I like the concept of the truck, i just got to see how much coin i have to throw at it to make it decent. The brace is like £25 which isn't unreasonable, i took the wheelie bar off entirely as well - if that fixes it, fine. If not, i'll throw it off a cliff and buy an EXB, and get pee'd off at that because the rear diff will break seconds into the first run.

 

[Lone-wolf]

In some ways i am not qualified to comment as i run budget rigs (more of that later)

    

   But this rig should take way more abuse than little hops on slightly uneven ground, TBH i would be asking the vendor to take it back for a minimum 75% refund, preferably full refund as it seems to me its not fit for purpose  coupled to other angry/unhappy users of same model

 

back to budget, i run a FTX vantage 2.0 for my basher, at the time i bought it i was told it would not hold up to much rough treatment, so this was £125 rtr posted and if you take the cost of shipped 1800 NI-MH of the price this is a £112 model, very little, and so far despite all my attempts at killing it i have yet to even put a crack in the shell, though its done somersaults, hit various hard objects and generally abused, so if my cheap as chips rig can take proper abuse i would expect a lot more from this one of yours

[PraetoR]

That's appalling! What a let-down!

 

Surprising, too... especially when you see how tough some of the other 1/8 Corallys have been. In-fact, even my 1/10 Corally Triton has been a tank.

 

Best of luck.

[m4inbrain]

1 hour ago, PraetoR said:

That's appalling! What a let-down!

 

Surprising, too... especially when you see how tough some of the other 1/8 Corallys have been. In-fact, even my 1/10 Corally Triton has been a tank.

 

Best of luck.

 

Cheers. 

 

It's almost fixed, waiting for the screws now (2 bucks the screws, 5 bucks delivery - of course), then it should be ready to go. Threw all beefed braces, arms, wingmount brace etc at it, removed the wheelie bar entirely (gonna go commando), will get this brace:

 

 

And then give it one more go - don't want to let it go without giving it a fighting chance. I think it'll be what it should've been out of the box when i'm done with it, but, i mean.. That's a lot of hassle that i shouldn't have to go through on a brand new RC.

[Stormbringer]

im, with @PraetoR there my Corally Triton is built like a  brick out  house awesome truck and i am looking to get a Kronos instead of a Kraton 

seriously tho give Corally another email mate 🍻

 

 

[m4inbrain]

I already bought and paid for my spares and upgrades, there's not much point in messaging them again. I don't need any more spares, if it bends again i'll take of the electrics and bin the rest. 

 

I can't comment on the Kronos, AJ appears to have good luck with it. There's plenty of people in the corally fb group with melted diffs on the Kronos - it bends less than the Dementor though, so there's that. I was an avid fan of corally (without even owning one), due to the way they market themselves as the company "that takes care of you even after purchase". And, i suppose, that's not a false promise - i did get a big upgrade pack for cheap, though these parts should come as standard if a truck is made from bubble gum and glued milk bottle tops. 

 

Without a doubt, this was my last Corally.  While, yes, they offer these parts for cheap (for owners), with my kind of driving i usually don't need spares at all. In 6 years of buying and driving RCs, a single item broke and that was my X-Maxx' ESC, without me doing anything to it. Turned it on, turned itself off and that was that. That's the only part i've ever broken on an RC, and on top of the once mentioned under my name on the left i had monster trucks (Losi XXL2e), truggies (Trophy 4.6), multiple short course trucks (associated sc10.2ft etc), i have multiple drones and fixed wings, i had a drift rc (MS01D), a Blade SR200X, multiple crawlers (Trail King, TRX-4), etc pp and a few more. 

 

If, with my "style" of driving, an RC has such catastrophic damage, something's severely wrong. 

 

Nah, no Kronos for me. I am in the market for another truggy, the new batch of EXBs allegedly (according to wheelspin models) had its diffs fixed, so i'm going to flip the coin and get one.  

 

Sidenote, this is my XXL2e after three years of ownership, it's a picture i took for the ad when i was selling it.

 

 

I'm what people would call a "snowflake" when it comes to my RCs, i don't bash them hard, i don't jump them high. Yet the Dementor looks mangled as if i ballsed up a 100feet landing. 

Edited October 3, 2020 by m4inbrain

[Lone-wolf]

@m4inbrain im with you on not running them to hard, plenty of my mates crash there fixed wing planes, my oldest is over 2.5 years old and still in good flying condition (Ranger 1600)

My main crawler is pretty tough (FS ford) but i wont use the shell for extreme stuff, if i know im going on a tough track with expected rolls i will use the old red shell, but i have as previously said, i run my Carnage pretty hard and it has handled it with ease i guess its had more abuse than your corally in question.......though once i get the new shell on it i wont be running it hard (66 Ford F100)

this is not being a snowflake its a case of these things cost money, some of us have plenty.....many of us have to save and scrimp for that next rc purchase, plus there is the "hiding it from the wife/partner!  im lucky on that count if i want something the wife lets me get on 

[.AJ.]

The Dementor is a lemon, Nick has bent the chassis on his test rig 😬 

[monkeyboy_uk]

28 minutes ago, .AJ. said:

The Dementor is a lemon, Nick has bent the chassis on his test rig 😬 

I'm guessing that's why it hasn't shown up in the competition section yet?

[m4inbrain]

2 hours ago, Jack Reacher said:

@m4inbrain im with you on not running them to hard, plenty of my mates crash there fixed wing planes, my oldest is over 2.5 years old and still in good flying condition (Ranger 1600)

My main crawler is pretty tough (FS ford) but i wont use the shell for extreme stuff, if i know im going on a tough track with expected rolls i will use the old red shell, but i have as previously said, i run my Carnage pretty hard and it has handled it with ease i guess its had more abuse than your corally in question.......though once i get the new shell on it i wont be running it hard (66 Ford F100)

this is not being a snowflake its a case of these things cost money, some of us have plenty.....many of us have to save and scrimp for that next rc purchase, plus there is the "hiding it from the wife/partner!  im lucky on that count if i want something the wife lets me get on 

 

It's less the money, it's more that i'm "mechanically empathic". I cringe every time i hear metal scraping etc - those are me babies, gotta baby them. Apart from the X-Maxx, for some reason i drive that pretty "hard" (from my point of view), but it's holding up very well.

 

2 hours ago, .AJ. said:

The Dementor is a lemon, Nick has bent the chassis on his test rig 😬 

 

Not even gonna say anything. But i certainly won't be suggesting Corallies anymore - just now on facebook another guy who melted the diff housings on the Kronos running 4s. 

 

I'm disappointed more than anything, honestly. I'm grounded enough to recognise that I'm bad at dealing with disappointment.

Edited October 3, 2020 by m4inbrain