Hi is Stephen from RCMAXX UK here.
Is been almost 2 yrs since I have had the dragon hammer and finally here is my review of it. It started as a V1 and throughout the ownership I bought a few of the improvements from the V2. Yes V1 had some problems, tyres and the stance causing the body rolls... both have been sorted out for the V2. V2 is perfect out of the box now. Even with it's flaws when it was a V1 I still loved it because of the awesome design and engineering.
For me, I would say this truck is really the best 5th scale out there. I know this quite a bold statement, but please understand this is just my view. Whilst owning a Losi 5ive T (which is also an awesome platform), I have found that I enjoy the dragon hammer a lot more. As only one can marvel the engineering that has gone into the design.
The drive is brilliant and it offers great handling with its V2 stance. Further with the extended hubs it just grips the terrain really well. With a Zenoah 320 you are going to get an excellent pick up, now I believe it even comes with a 36cc stock! Is got no problem in handling jumps at all. Yes there are some chats about nose diving. But taking a jump the right way you won't have the problem. One thing to recommend is to double check the brake pads is not holding onto the disc after letting go of the trigger on jumps. That was what I found for me, so no issues there.
Everyone will enjoy owning this truck! At the end of the day this is about the joy of ownership. Is it faster better and more agile than a losi 5ive? I don't think you can answer that question, due to choice in setups gearing and so on.
On a Losi 5T you have the choice of dropping in very large engines. The Dragon doesn’t have same flexibility in space. I am talking about these ALX engines, obviously then you have to go on spending money on everything else. Updated drive shafts uprated diff, diff cases...etc etc..
Are you looking to race with this or is it a basher? Again competitive 5th scale is quite niche right now, having said that, it is getting bigger and bigger with the 5B and the 30 degree buggies that are coming out.
To be fair I don't think the dragon is for competitive purposes, unless one day we are going to get a single rear axle class!!!
My 5ive T is pretty much standard, again with a Zenoah 320 with a Bartalone pipe, it definitely needs a throttle mounting brace. Putting the brakes on the whole assembly just moves with not a lot of rigidity. A better intake is required to force more air into the car. The Uber RC option is great, same could be done with a X2 obviously. With these mods I think the Losi 5ive T is perfect, might want to tune the shocks and diffs a bit tho.
But for most I think everyone will be looking for a hassle free reliable bit of kit which looks awesome, drives well, fast, noisey and aggressive looking. The dragon ticks all of these boxes.
A new Losi 5t is almost 1 and a half grand now standard, the dragon hammer is well underneath that price. With great support in the UK from RCModelz, you can't go wrong with owning this thing. Reliability is just 2nd to none not to say a 5ive T is not reliable. I am not even going to talk about the Kraken here... I think is been addressed over and over again that is also a great bit of kit. But is one that requires numerous of upgrades out of the box to make it reliable, which amounts to a small fortune. The choice is yrs get something great out of the box, or other choices which requires a bit more to make it in to a reliable bit of kit.
Joel from RCMAXX UK had a dragon, he loved the ownership too. He comes from a different angle that he enjoys to experiment what different kits have to offer, so he had to move on. This also give the videos more variety with interesting content going forwards.
For me the dragon is always going to be my first 5th scale, and one that I have had some great memories from it from the unboxing with Joel all the way to the upgrades and drag races which we have been doing.
From owning it I have made a lot of friends discovering this hobby. Hoss, John and the RCModelz crew.
Above all, is also a birthday present from my wife, so is not one that I am going to be selling.
I hope this helps anyone who is looking at getting a V2 dragon hammer or getting into 5th scale rc!! Check out the latest upgrade the one piece alloy rear axle!
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