Traxxas Slash and Slash 4x4

The Traxxas Slash has been around for a while and most people have fallen in love with it. Out of the box they are not only a good racer around a short course track but they are good at bashing around the backyard as well. It comes out of the box with everything you need to have fun and enjoy yourself but in my opinion it was lacking some power.

Then Traxxas released the Traxxas Slash 4x4 VXL. Not only is it a 4x4 version of the slash its also waterproof and brushless. With the stock battery it provides around 25 minutes of fun at up to 40mph. When that gets boring you can drop in a 3s LiPo. With the 3s this thing gos ballistic every time you pull the throttle. Drop on the spare pinion and you will find yourself touching 60mph or faster.

So if your just wanting a fun toy for the backyard, a short course truck you can race with or a vehicle that can touch 60+ mph the slash is for you.

Keith Bell
The Great Escape Greenville

Before the cold weather set in the Roper Mountain Science Center hosted a open house with "The Wheel" as a theme. They had a small drive-in, some Lego Robotics, a speech from the inventor of the Tweel as well as a couple of other vendors. They invited the hobby department at The Great Escape to come out and give a demo of some of our R/C cars so of course we said would would be happy to. This event was open to anyone but was geared to younger kids, the boy scouts and girl scouts so they could learn about the wheel and how it was and is used today.

We setup a small canopy, a couple of tables, a tv to play some videos of other R/C cars and several cars to demo. We brought a Traxxas Slash 4x4 VXL on a 4000mAh 3s LiPo, a RedCat Rockslide, a couple of Electrix Circuts, Traxxas T-Maxx and a RC18MT to show off and play with. As the kids started to pile in the oooos and ahhhs started as they watched us drive up and down the road with the circuts. Soon the questions started, "How much do they cost?" "How fast do they go?" and finally "Can I drive it?". Seeing as how the rockslide was mine I charged the battery and let the kids have at it. Its a large 1/8 scale rock crawler that isn't exactly fast and very very hard to break so its perfect for kids to drive.

When the battery died on the rockslide all the kids started to watch us drive the circuts back and forth on the road. Seeing as how we were given these tucks to demo were we chasing each other down and running each other over. Soon we had the Slash 4x4 doing full throttle passes and had everyone's attention. And the one thing I learned that day is that the slash is one very fast truck on a 3s. It my only go 50mph but it launches like a rocket and doesn't stop until it has done a couple of 360s with you holding the breaks praying that you don't hit anything. Then we pulled out the ramps and started to jump the trucks to keep the kids attention. Apparently we were doing exactly that too well as I had several parents as me to stop playing with the trucks as they wanted the kids to check out the rest of the open house. So we would take a break, charge batteries and answer questions before starting that same routine all over again.

At the end of the day almost everyone left with a smile on their face. We all had fun with this little demo and I would jump at the chance to do it again.

Adam Sherrick
The Great Escape Greenville

Video link of some of the fun we had.
Roper Mountain Science Center Demo Day

808 Key Chain Camera

This summer I finally bought a 808 key chain camera. I have to say that when I received it, it was a little smaller then I though it was going to be. I was thinking it was going to be a regular key fob size but its actually a little smaller than that. After some shots around work I found the picture resolution isnt that great but its the video quality that really matters. After some of the quick videos I soon realized that the video quality is about (if not better) then my FlyCamOne2.

After using the first camera for a couple of months I bought another one so I could have a couple of different angles on the plane in flight. I ended up strapping one to a very overpowered plane and the wing snapped on the first flight and ended up in multiple pieces. This is when I found the only downside to these cameras. If the power is turned off or the battery runs out in mid flight you will loose the entire video as the camera wont save it.

After using these little cameras for the last 11 months I can say its the best camera I have ever owned for the price. The camera takes a decent picture and the video quality is good. For the price I can afford a handful of them and Im not worried about destroying or losing one.

Here are some links to some on board video of my Typhoon 2 and a Jato 3.3
Typhoon 2 Compilation
Jato 3.3 Onboard

Adam Sherrick

The Great Escape - Greenville