Traxxas 1/8th scale Sledge Monster Truck

Never bought or owned a Traxxas, and this wont change that

what the 😂😂😂😂 thats apparantly part of the PDF Traxxas put out….

 

If the servo is good, fair one, but the tyres Id argue are worse on the Traxxas. Radio is subjective 

Edited March 17, 2022 by Kpowell911

A flat ally chassis is a piece of flat ally, it's prone to bending, they all are. 

 

My X2 is still straight, but that's because it's been jumped, not sent. The Super 5sc gets sent with it's TVPs, I've yet to bend that. 

 

Traxxas haven't solved anything, the chassis will bend, the sintered crown gears will explode, the ESC will smoke and the servo will last six runs. 

I think this is well designed after a quick look at the images/video, apart from the battery holder as not sure how flexible this is for a range of different lipo sizes. The flat chassis will bend if you send it to the moon etc but T-shaped bracing mitigates this to a large degree. Any rear wing hanging off the back will get damaged on a truggy or other types. The R-clipless body at least stays on unlike the Xmaxx.  Will it make me buy a new one? No. A second hand roller may though.

I think it's a fair competitor to the ARRMA Kraton which seems quite clear where they wanted to go with this. Their brand sells and while it's not covering any new ground, it isn't a turd either. ARRMA have had some great success with their 1/8th range, and not really challenged even with Corally coming in the last few years with way more affordable models. Traxxas shoved their foot in the door and it was needed because it is the only brand that would get people talking.

 

Traxxas have a history of positively reinventing their product range, so while this isn't jaw dropping release, and perhaps a quick fire response to cut a slice out of ARRMAs cake, it will be interesting to see how they change and improve things in a few years time with the Sledge (and now there's a new player in town, that applies to the Kraton too). 😉

 

20 hours ago, m4inbrain said:

 

Can't be worse than a Kraton EXBs, tbh. 

 

I had that style tray in both the Maxx and the X-Maxx, and i quite like it. Considerably better than velcro imho. 

 

edit: i should say considerably more convenient, not necessarily better - i've ejected packs out of either.  That said: it's even smaller than the EXBs, which already wasn't big enough to fit hard packs. That's a dealbreaker for me, actually - 45mm total height is stupid. On the upside, within weeks there will be an upgraded "clamp bar" available, increasing the space/height in the tray. Happened with the Maxx too. Not an excuse, that's still stupid, but at least fixable whereas i had to get new packs (that still don't fit right) for the EXB. 

The battery tray is like the Maxx/Xmaxx and then there’s additional body pins to ‘lock’ the brace too.

 

Velcro straps on the Arrma series was horrendous, how that passed QA i dont know.

So.... so this is an 1/8th truggy... but made from plastic and cheap cast metal.... wow.

 

With enough advertising you can sell anything.

Id prefer some kind of webbed plastic chassis and plastic shock towers, think that would perform better and potentially be cheaper.

 

It looks like a big Rustler 4x4, which is a massive success for me (admittedly upgraded. 
 

Im worried about blowing tyres too, looks very balloony and Im not interested in diff oil tuning etc

I can’t understand why anyone would buy it to be honest.

 

You could buy a New Corally Roller £405 and kit it out for the same money but end up with a top notch truggy instead of a run of the mill rtr 

 

Or there’s the New Associated MT8 due in end of the month at £449 that’s £300 cheaper 😂😂

 

So how can anyone justify the price ? Your simply paying for a name nothing more 

 

 

I think this is gonna be the price of RTRs to come. Arrma are gonna look at this and say well the Kraton V6 is now £699-749. 
 

I honestly expected £649 for this. Look, Im a fanboy, and Im gonna end up with it, but just wish it had more plastic. 

I'm not a fanboy of any brand, yes I own quite a few Arrma's and yes they need upgrades but let's be honest what doesn't need upgrades..!!

 

In my opinion the current king of truggies is the 2022 Corally Kronos XTR, you can't beat it for value and quality of parts.. Period..!!

I own both the Kronos and an EXB Kraton, as far as I'm concerned there is no competition the Kronos is much better, current Arrma's just need too many upgrades to make them good. 

 

I don't currently own any Traxxass, I'm not a hater but they are just too expensive for what they offer ( I do keep looking at that damn TRX Bronco though 🤣 )

 

I said a while ago that I wouldn't buy anymore Arrma's and I doubt that will change, I don't buy into all this 💩💩 of the prices keep going up because of this and that... I find it funny how it only seems to be certain brands that keep increasing their prices..

I bought a Tekno MT410 2 years ago, it's the same price now as when I bought it and it was the same price the year before I bought it...!!

 

Has Kevin Talbot put a video the Sledge out yet ?? Because I'm sure he'll destroy it and say it's the best truck ever..🤣🤣

 

Edit: I've just noticed the Tekno has gone down in price.!!😉

Edited March 19, 2022 by BashingBrian

 

It's pretty naff, isn't it? 

 

I get the impression that my 3s buggies outrun that. Doesn't look particularly bonkers to me - and you can't do anything to it without changing tyres either, they seem stupendously soft. 

Not impressed. 

 

This will never be a must have RC, and the reason for that is this. If you look at the Maxx and X-Maxx, they're desirable due to the way they drive/behave on their suspension. It's just amazing to see the X-Maxx (and in extension, the Maxx) squat, lean, dive etc when driving. It's fun to just watch it "behave", and there's no other truck on the market that quite behaves like it. The Sledge? Looks like any other truggy. Nothing special to look at. And the problem here is simply that you can't change that. It's a truggy, they all look the same while driving. 

 

Nah, hard pass on that one. Not because of the price (never stopped me), but because this is just nothing special. 

Edited March 20, 2022 by m4inbrain

4 minutes ago, m4inbrain said:

It's pretty naff, isn't it? 

 

I get the impression that my 3s buggies outrun that. Doesn't look particularly bonkers to me - and you can't do anything to it without changing tyres either, they seem stupendously soft. 

Not impressed. 

 

This will never be a must have RC, and the reason for that is this. If you look at the Maxx and X-Maxx, they're desirable due to the way they drive/behave on their suspension. It's just amazing to see the X-Maxx (and in extension, the Maxx) squat, lean, dive etc when driving. It's fun to just watch it "behave", and there's no other truck on the market that quite behaves like it. The Sledge? Looks like any other truggy. Nothing special to look at. And the problem here is simply that you can't change that. It's a truggy, they all look the same while driving. 

 

Nah, hard pass on that one. Not because of the price (never stopped me), but because this is just nothing special. 

 

I think Traxxas just had to push out this model just to battle their rising popularity and haven't put too much thought into it.

 

I agree with the driving style of models making them fun, my Hyper is good but it's kinda boring compared to a Slash 4x4 I used to have which shifted its weight around and stepped out on loose surfaces.

Same with my Tenacity DB Pro, it's insanely well balanced and corners like a demon (on road tyres) - it's just boring to watch though after 2 minutes.

 

But different folks, different strokes. Personally i'd take that money and buy another TRX. 

Im interested to see it geared up, cause it did look a little slow in that video. To be fair, Traxxas do benefit from gearing up. For £749, Id want this perfect out the box, the tyres look an issue, and Id prefer not to need spend £200 on a Max 8, a servo and some tyres. 
 

I fully intend buying this, Ive sold two RCs this weekend to fund towards it, but Im on the fence, A bigger Rustler 4x4 is perfect for us, and this looks to be that. But Ive had decent luck with used RCs, £749 would buy a fair bit on the used market.

 

Cant agree more with the ‘boring’ driving style. Truggies/Buggies are born on the race track, and as good as they are, that doesnt translate to a fun basher.

 

I had a Tekno ET48 and an EB48. I sold them because they were too good. They were literally perfect but wasted on me.

Yes! I'm almost tempted to sell my Hyper for a Traxxas model again... but I don't know if this would make me use it any more.

 

17 minutes ago, Kpowell911 said:

Im interested to see it geared up, cause it did look a little slow in that video. To be fair, Traxxas do benefit from gearing up. For £749, Id want this perfect out the box, the tyres look an issue, and Id prefer not to need spend £200 on a Max 8, a servo and some tyres. 
 

I fully intend buying this, Ive sold two RCs this weekend to fund towards it, but Im on the fence, A bigger Rustler 4x4 is perfect for us, and this looks to be that. But Ive had decent luck with used RCs, £749 would buy a fair bit on the used market.

 

Cant agree more with the ‘boring’ driving style. Truggies/Buggies are born on the race track, and as good as they are, that doesnt translate to a fun basher.

 

I had a Tekno ET48 and an EB48. I sold them because they were too good. They were literally perfect but wasted on me.

 

You are spot on about the tyres this  guy has already blown one 

 

 

Only ever owned one Truggy, was boring to drive because it handled too well. Sold it. 

 

I prefer something engaging to drive, something imperfect. (Not including the X2, I just love that thing!)

Honestly thought this was an early april's fools when i first saw it.  Nothing really to add that's not been said multiple times.  

 

Biggest take for me is pricing, it's ridiculous.  Traxxas drivetrain's rarely inspire confidence, especially on V1's, add to that the VXL esc's and it's a big no from me.  Will it sell? Do bears defecate in the woods?

Nothing to see here over a Kraton EXB in my opinion.

 

Wheelbase looks too short for the power, Centre diff isn't set up well enough to stop fronts ballooning. Battery tray looks fiddly. Body mount system will come loose after a few knocks on the head.

 

But

 

I do like that motor brace, and a bigger selection of truggies is always a good thing. I have 1:14, 1:10, 1:8 and 1:8+ truggies and love them all, maybe a bit too much 🙂

The battery tray is the one good thing on that truggy. Having used that tray in the X-Maxx and Maxx, it's just better than anything Arrma etc offers. They can go strangle a tree with their stupid straps, one of the most annoying things in RCing. Almost drove me insane on the DBXL-E 2.0. 

Something that always put me off with the older Traxxas models that used these hinged/rigid battery cases is you couldn't drop a big battery in and there was no real option around it. Is there more freedom in the size of batteries you can use now?

32 minutes ago, Nick said:

Something that always put me off with the older Traxxas models that used these hinged/rigid battery cases is you couldn't drop a big battery in and there was no real option around it. Is there more freedom in the size of batteries you can use now?

 

They want you to use their batteries so the stock battery holder isnt flexible. K  Talbot shows this in part of his latest offering when reviewing it.

2 hours ago, Nick said:

Something that always put me off with the older Traxxas models that used these hinged/rigid battery cases is you couldn't drop a big battery in and there was no real option around it. Is there more freedom in the size of batteries you can use now?

After market companies make velcro straps, but certainly on the X Maxx and Maxx’ Ive not struggled to fit batteries