Caldera 10E 1/10 Scale Brushless Truck (Blue)

I very hesitantly bought this truck after a bad experience with a Volcano EPX Pro (don't buy one, see my review on said truck to find out why). If I did this again, I would've just bought the Caldera, although I don't think it's worth raving about.Out of the box, my Caldera's wheels and tires are horribly out of balance, which isn't too big of a deal for me, since I am going to replace them. The rubber compound is too hard, and the foam inserts feel too firm. The tires will work great on pavement and hard pack dirt since they won't wear out easily, but beyond that, they aren't impressive.The included NiMH battery had suffered a memory effect (basically wouldn't hold a decent charge). Again, not too big of a deal for me, since I run LiPo batteries in it, and I was able to cycle and revive the NiMH battery with my Hitec X1 charger, but if you buy this and use the included wall charger, it will be a pain.My Caldera also had way too much follow through on the steering; It was a pain to get it to steer when and where I wanted it to. A tip from a Redcat Racing customer service rep fixed that; Just take some needle nosed pliers and gently, but firmly, squeeze all the ball linkage sockets to increase their inner diameter so the ball linkages will move freely. Don't squeeze too much or too hard, or you'll deform the socket, and have to buy and install a replacement.Now, onto the truck. Much to my surprise, this truck DOES NOT have a 540 sized brushless motor, it is a 380 sized with large fins to cool it. It does move the truck quite nicely, and the truck is easier to control because of it, but it won't keep up with other vehicles with 540 sized brushless motors, like the Traxxas Stampede or Vaterra Halix. Since this truck is lower slung with a servo that has a huge range of motion, it will outmaneuver the other trucks, hands down. This truck is the first vehicle I've owned in which I turned the steering dual rate DOWN because it just has too much steering. Most of the plastic used on this truck is quite flexible, I've bashed this truck pretty hard, and haven't had any breakages, which is always nice!So, I would actually recommend this to someone getting into the hobby. Yes, you're going to have to work on it right out of the box, no, it's not the most powerful machine. But you're going to have to wrench on any hobby grade RC vehicle at some point, and this truck is still potent enough to impress. It has nice, flexible parts, so it won't break easily (unless you keep slamming into curbs/walls, and huck it 20 feet into the air and land on pavement, but again, that will kill any hobby grade RC)My recommendation now leads me into kicking the dead horse again: This is a hobby grade RC, NOT A TOY!! These vehicles will break when crashed, bashed, and smashed, and you can buy replacement parts to fix or replace broken components. All too often, parents buy vehicles like this for their children, the kids crash it, the vehicle breaks, the kids get upset, and the parents get mad. if you buy a vehicle like this, it will break or wear out eventually, and when that happens, you are expected to buy replacement parts and make the repairs yourself. If you can accept that, you will enjoy this hobby, and most hobby grade vehicles will make the Toy grade RC vehicles from Wal Mart look like they're standing still!

I got this Caldera to get back into the hobby grade trucks with my son. Way back in the day I had a bunch of Kyosho kits but sold them after they sat for a while. I didn't want to spend $500 on a big name truck but I did want to go brushless and Lipo ready. This truck fit the bill and was only $209 shipped.It got here quickly with everything in the box. I charged up the 3800 mah battery and off it went. The only build quality issue I have is one front wheel has a pretty large wobble. It doesn't seem to affect the way the truck drives. I think I may change the wheels out in the future anyway, the stock tires seem to be average at best. It's pretty quick even with the stock battery and I went through several cycles with it. Other than the charger being really, really slow the truck was perfect. I've purchased a different charger to remedy that issue. I had a few cartwheels and other crashes with no harm done. Then I went over the truck checking everything out. The wheel nuts tend to loosen so keep an eye on those. The shocks were filled with what I bet is 30 weight. I also used CA glue on all the screws that I felt needed it. Otherwise they will loosen also.In the past 2 days I've been running a 2s Lipo in the truck and it hauls a$$. It's borderline uncontrollable but I have the accelaration setting at max. Also, it's winter here and the ground is cold keeping the tires from hooking up. I have done plenty of jumps and run it through very wet snow with only one problem. The rear driveshaft screw loosened up leaving me with front wheel drive only. Initially I thought I destroyed the rear diff with the lipo but after I looked at the truck I saw it was an easy fix. Even though it had red Loctite the tiny screw had loosened. I snugged it up and put more loctite on it.So far I really like it! I have bought some spares for it but I haven't had to install any of them. Even the stock servo (Hexfly 3kg) is still working! I have a metal gear upgrade servo waiting to go in if/when the stock one dies.Because this truck has been so reliable so far I purchased a Redcat Sumo for the kid to use inside. So far it's been fine too.I really want to like Redcat Racing. They seem to be fixing the known issues with their vehicles as they update the products. Two examples are the new model Hexfly servo and the fact that the body that came on my truck seems to be quite substantial. Hopefully this truck will continue to be reliable and I can't wait for spring to find some nice places to run this thing.

I own several RC trucks like this, and have quite a bit of experience. You won't find a 1/10 scale 4WD brushless truck out there at this price. That said, it isn't a perfect buy.The first time I ran it, the steering servo stripped. After inspecting it, it's no wonder, they only put a 3KG servo in these! Way undersized for a 4WD truck with tires like this. The good news is I contacted Redcat, and they mailed me a replacement 6KG servo immediately. So they stand behind their products, a great thing.For speed, this is PLENTY fast for beginners. It's faster than my brushed Traxxas Slash, which is about the same price. But it's definitely slower than other equivalent (but more expensive) brushless LiPo cars. My brushless traxxas rustler vxl runs circles around this, but it's also nearly twice the price. If you want this to really go fast, you need to put a 3-cell LiPo in it. (Be sure to modify your ESC fan for the added heat.)Final "nit pick" note: The speed control in these isn't quite as fine-tuned as I'd hoped. It feels like it goes in 10% increments or something, and going from forward to reverse is sometimes a little clunky. Again, this is probably because I'm use to Traxxas speed controllers that are a little smoother. But worth noting.Overall, a great alternative to much higher priced brushless cars.

Nice looking vehicle. Have a blast at 40mph.Runs only 2s. Can be upgradable to 3s.