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Pocket-Sized RC Cars Hit U.S. Soil
airrage writes "RC cars are nothing new. But apparently, ZipZaps, now being sold at RadioShack, are pocket-sized, modifiable, and can be tricked out with body kits and other accessories. Even more impressive, "A 16,000-RPM performance motor is included with all starter kits". The story at extremetech here is." Kinda like the Thinkgeek cars. Yes, TG is part of OSDN - obligatory disclosure.
i have seen these exact toys in airports for well over a year in the states. hope you spend the kickback money wisely taco...
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
I'll take two! Too Bad they don't run well on carpet.
All it is a Bit Char-g with English instructions I'm sure
moo.
ThinkGeek sucks. I ordered this item from ThinkGeek and they never delivered.
here
Live web cams
These little cars are all the rage in Asia as Bit Char-G (bit charge) and Europe as Compact Char-G. Check out http://www.blackadderhall.com/bitchar-g/index.html for the scoop.
Cheers,
_GP_
You mean Radio Shack has been out of stock for months on their cars, too?
Neat!
blog
I work at Radioshack, and we've had these in for about a week. We took apart a couple of the cars and mod kits, and they really aren't that impressive, you'd think that the 23,000 rpm engine would really make the car zoom, but it doesn't.
The Fast and the Furious mods are pretty cool, though.
My friend got one of these in an airport a while back and it freaking rocks. He can do all sorts of things with it, and it is totally customizable...you can even get different gears for it to do tricks and whatnot. This is awesome..I just got paid today (tech support *is* worth 8 bucks an hour I guess)...so I'm gonna try and pick one of these up on the way home! Woohoo!
The anti-salmon
Yeah! Now I can gat into a pocket-sized Road Rage!
I hope that they offer really small Type-R stickers...
They've been for sale at the Discovery Stores in america for a while now, although they are hard to find due to their popularity. Check your local mall.
Connon O'brian showed this on his show last night. It was kind of funny watching him pimp this stupid product ...
man
No manual entry for
Actually no, i had the lucky fortune on clicking reload at just the right second and saw my oppurtunity. I was so happy - could this day be the day i get the illoustrious first post? I was excited and my palms started sweating. Faster than I ever have moved the mouse or typed on the keyboard I posted the comment, the only place i slowed down was to wait 20 seconds before i can post. And I do not use a bot and will not sue a bot - because thats just not nice!
Kyle "DotCom" Lynch
...I need some cheeze-its...
Where is my dog robot that fecthes beer - bring me one of those.
1. Buy lots of RC cars
2. ???
3. Profit!!!
I saw these while on a business trip to Irvine for sale in the Spectrum.
This is not big, new or interesting news. Blah!
You will have to find it somewhere else. Their inventory seems to be slashdotted.
I saw someone playing with one of these type of RC cars in our cafeteria. They were driving it around annoying people. Unfortunately, it was so small that someone accidently stepped on it. Didn't work after that.
You can find the Zip Zaps website here, at least until it gets /.'ed.
So where can I get the hydro/bass kit?
I can just see my co-worker driving around the office thumping his kit car through my cube.
Or how about the "hummer" kit so I can drive my car through the bath tub or a parking lot puddle?
And we definitely need a neon underglow kit for those late night office parties.
ZipZap tools allow users to play with three different gear ratios to adjust the "horsepower"
To be pedantic, a different gear will give you different axel torque. Higher torque usually gives you quicker acceleration, at a possible (not always) lowering of top speed - you essentially run out of RPM before the motor is maxed out. Since this has no transmission so no way of playing with different RPM bands, I bet it does lower top speed a bit.
Horsepower is work per unit of time. A different gear ratio changes the work (effort) and the time in equal opposite amounts, horsepower remains constant.
Am I allowed to drive one of these things?
These have been in Japan for a while, namely the brand "DigiQ" pocket RC cars.
/ www.takaratoys.co.jp/digiq/a .com/
Some links:
http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~muro/
http:/
http://digiq.s12.xre
They're about 600-900 yen each, or about $5-$8 US for the basic cars.
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
Are they steerable? Or are they like those ones where it can only turn in reverse, and only one way? Or can it be steered left/right in both forward and reverse?
Why are they using a radio frequency with a wavelength the size of a real car? Why not use a more efficient frequency in the microwave band?
These look amazing,
but are they coming to Canada?
Radioshack doesn't have shipping info, although I did email someone there.
Sig: "Examine the road over which the fault has passed"
Which means that they'll be around for a couple of months at most before plunging down the toilet.
Only Much Much cheaper.
Fastest combination I got from the website was 411 Feet Per Minute. 411 * 60 = 24660 Feet Per Hour or 4.67 Miles Per Hour -- not much faster than walking speed (how fast do they really need to go anyway). Who cares though... I still think they're nifty!
Still, in my mind, a car just isn't cool as a pocket tank. Oh yeah, time to mod one of these puppies for Warhammer 40K...
"I'm not really a sysadmin, I just play one at work..."
There's no wrong way, to eat a Rhesus...
Stink Geek Cars
Disclaimer: Battery charge lasts 10 seconds. Hubcabs not included!
I'm going to buy one and strap a doggie cookie to the roof, and have my pup chase it. This will save me tons of time spent in walking her every day. Hope the car is strong enough to stand up to repeated dog bites.
sporadic
pick up an hpi racing super nitro and upgrade the engine to a 3.5cc engine. if you get a good one you can get about 2.8hp and 44,200 rpm. of course, you'll have to pick up a lot more parts to get it runnin really well but, this is not really a good starting point. you can spend probably under 200 bucks and get a much better car. www.towerhobbies.com
While on a recent trip to Radio Shack, longtime automotive hobbiest Grant Holman found a solution to a longtime problem.
"I just never felt it was big enough," explained Grant. "I've tried everything possible to compensate - tried extreme hobbies, got on steroids and worked out, and drove only the biggest, fastest cars. But it seemed that the bigger the compensation I tried, the smaller my pecker felt."
But after seeing the new ZipZap pocket sized RC cars, Grant's problems were solved. "I realized that I'd been looking at this all wrong. Bigger wasn't the answer. These cars are so small and so fun, I feel a lot better about my pecker's potential."
Eunice Abrahms, Grant's girlfriend, concured. "Ever since he bought his first ZipZap my sexual satisfaction has increased immensely," she added while trying out various models at the store. "Grant even lets me help pick which one we get next," she said. "You can hold the really powerful ones in your hand and run the motor and they really shake! Those are my favorite."
paintball
I saw a bit on conan obrien the other day where he did a commercial for these things, and then they zoomed on some girl in the audience and she said "And I thought I was a prostitute!" and walked out.
when am I gonna see a shriner rolling around in one of these things? Better yet, how many circus clowns can fit in one?
I guess the obligatory disclosure worked: ThinkGeek is already sold out!
Amazing magic tricks
A 16,000 RPM motor just isn't that much. I remember many 540 type motors pulling more RPM's about 15 years ago. I'm sure they're over 30k these days. In addition, there are plenty of gas powered engines that go well over 16k.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
From the thinkgeek page:
...
...
* Dual Ni-MH batteries allows a 15-min run time w/ a 10-min charge
* 4x AA batteries required (not included). NiMH cannot be used.
Whats that mean?
And one would have to say... 'Who gives a f*cking shit about first posting?'
For god's sake, there's hell of a lot of things more worthy things to get excited about... and posting 'first' on a website such as this is not one of them... god damn...
And the other guy to get angry over it... f*cking hell... get a damn life people... get a life...
...but where's the option to install a bunch of subwoofers that rattle the trunk lid, making the stereo sound like crap? And how about coffee can sized exhaust tips that make the engine sound like a bicycle with playing cards in the spokes?
Stickers are essential, too. How else can you show off your Ford Escort Evolution IV or your Chevy Beretta Type R?
SIGFEH
This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."
Hello
;-) - this is not a RC car
This is just a big scam
running on a gasoline engine. Hence now way you can boost it with turbo, NOS etc.. It's just like
the Turbo Hoover - I would love to see a turbo boosted Hoover but I think that will never become true.
Just my two cent tip
Odd what version of Mozilla are you using and what OS. I'm hitting it with Moz on Windows 2000 (have to at work and stuff) just fine.
Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
Sweet!
Anybody know how to get this working in a real full-size car? That shit would FLY! Maybe there's an adaptor available?
1. Make Tiny RC car
2. Market through Radio Shack
3. ????????
4. Profit!!!!!
-Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
While I don't necessarily disagree with your evaluation of their collective intelligence, you haven't quite justified your use of profanity.
I can see the fnords!
to look the product up at RadioShack.com, here is a direct link to the Micro RC Porsche 911 Car. Product No. 60-7001
For only $20, I think it'd be a fun toy for any geek, girl or boy.
In a press conference Wednesday, Radio Shack introduced the ZipZap line of miniature RC cars. Each is based upon real-life roadster, and can be tricked out with body kits and other accessories. Customers also have the option of upgrading and tweaking the gear ratios to give their car an extra boost.
:)
So you can fit out your Porsche 911 RC with a spoiler, super charger, nitros, chrome alloy mag wheels, cool purple fog downlights, tinted windows, a "SPEEED DEEEMON" windscreen decal, and tiny little "extra large" beverage holders and it will still be defeated by a carpet with only a moderate shag-pile rating.
Pffft!
Is anyone working on a Linux port?
www.teamassociated.com and www.teamlosi.com for real RC cars not gay ass radioshack shit
From the linked article:
The Starter Kit for each ZipZaps model comes complete with a stock chassis, "performance" motor, 12:1 gearing, factory tires, factory wheels, custom rims, realistic body shell, owner's manual, a collectable trading card, and a six-way controller/charger with removable wrist strap.
Okay, I see forward/reverse and left/right. What're the other two ways or is it talking about something else?
I am using Moz 1.1 and it comes thru just fine.
Michael Loves Me!
Mozilla 1.0 on FreeBSD 4.5-RELEASE works just fine.
That being said, I'll still buy one.
Somewhat OT, but a quick googling turned up this page about the old customizable motorized toy cars from the 80's. I remember family christmas gatherings where uncles and cousins brought in their "Stomper Kits" (tackleboxes full of wheels, gears, chassis, and other bits) and we'd have Stomper races and "tractor pulls" (one relative built a small trailer that he could add weights to). They didn't have the fancy remote control mechanism, but they sure were fun to play with! Perhaps these new toys can add a little fun to our next X-mas gathering :)
Hum, I'll buy the RX-7 upgrade, then swap in a real rotary, the OS Wankel 0.303 cu in, 1.27 bhp(ps)/17,000 rpm, and 11.8 oz. a Power to weight ratio of 1:10 rivals the real RX-7 Type RZ. MMmmmm
running mozilla 1.0 on "debian gnu/linux". it works.
http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/020924/65/da96v.html
The sound of F1 music!
Racing cars have roared along the main straight at the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1909. This year, history will be made as fans hear an engine exceeding 19,000 rpm along that historic straight for the first time during the weekend of the SAP United States Grand Prix. It isn't noise. The sound of a racing engine being pushed to its limit - that roar, that howl, that scream - is music to the ears. And BMW has composed a new symphony for those who attend this year's SAP United States Grand Prix.
At the recent Italian Grand Prix, BMW became the first engine to ever to top the 19,000-rpm mark. True, other F1 engines have exceeded 19,000 rpm, but they have not lived long to tell the tale. That's more than three times the maximum rpm of most passenger-car engines and more than six times the rpm of a passenger-car engine cruising at highway speeds.
Nineteen-thousand revolutions per minute means 9,500 ignitions per minute per cylinder. That translates to 158 ignitions per second for each cylinder, or one ignition every six-thousandths of a second. The shriek of V10 engines revving up past the 18,000-rpm mark is a glorious sound. Place it in an opera house like Monaco, where the engine note reverberates off the walls of the buildings, or down Indy's long front stretch, and the effect is even more magnificent.
The BMW V10s in the Williams cars driven by 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher both will rev more than 19,000 rpm in qualifying and perhaps in the race. BMW has tested its P82 specification engine sufficiently to allow it to turn 19,000 rpm in qualifying, and its engineers are in the process of testing the engine so that the magic 19,000-rpm mark can be used in the race, too.
"Everything we develop is aimed at racing it and not just using it in qualifying," said BMW Motorsport Director Dr. Mario Theissen. "But we have a two- step release procedure. After the engine has successfully done 250 km (155 miles) on the dyno, more than once, and a successful (on- track) 250-km test, then it is released for qualifying. As soon as it has completed 400 km (250 miles), it will be released for a race. I cannot say today if we will manage to do this before Indy."
BMW aimed to hit 19,000 rpm ever since it started designing the current engine.
"You can only do this if the concept itself carries the potential," Theissen said. "So it was a clear target from the very beginning of the design phase of P82 that it had to be able to go up to 19,000, among other targets. As usual, we started with making the engine reliable, and only then did we start to increase power step by step, and this means to increase revs, and what we have achieved is the final step for P82."
While BMW is the first to reach the 19,000-rpm plateau, other engine manufacturers are getting close. Mercedes-Benz's V10 is only about 100 to 150 rpm below the numbers being reached by BMW. Put together 20 sophisticated V10s - the entire lineup for this year's SAP United States Grand Prix - all singing to 18,000 rpm and above, and you have F1's wonderful sound of music.
The symphony starts with the opening round of practice at 11 a.m. (EST) Friday and we will bring you information, live timing and photographs from the entire weekend.
What's the battery life? It's not mentioned anywhere and I'm curious for how long you'd be able to play with these cars - 10? 15 mins?
:)
I think these things would need a "page" button too
Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
-NT-
Jeez, these things were on sale for $10 in Thailand the last time I visited. What a markup!
I saw a story on CNN about it as well! This is not news, this is advertising.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Can't wait. Windows 2000 Pro CDs as obstacles.
Luck favors the prepared, darling.
You probably need to feed their cookie monster.
is that other stores will now carry them so I don't have to spend my money at Radio Shack.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Oh great. I only needed one more reason to go to RS.
These are flooding the market now and there appear to be many different manufacturers using the same basic design. See the following link for a sample.
. ht ml
http://www.sheldonshobbies.com/listing/tinycars
I've had a Z-car for a few months and my one year old daughter loves chasing it around the kitchen floor. A friend of mine bought a BIT CHAR-G for twice the price and we compared the two.
Nearly identical car design. Z-car has a much faster gear ratio out of the box. My friend had to buy a gear mod to get the same speed. Z-car has a red led that lights up during radio reception which is nice. Bit Char-G has a stronger electromagnet for slightly better steering. Bit Char-G has a better radio & charger. My Z-Car doesn't fit into the charger very well. Have to hold it in place usually. both have about a 40 second charge time.
Same range. Same amount of fun.
We also test drove some of the infra-red/C cars with two motor steering (one for each wheel) instead of an electromagnet but found them to be hard to control.
I get the same error with Internet Explorer. I suspect it's because I have persistent cookies disabled.
Works fine here, Mozilla1.1 & Windows 98.
Reading the other posts, seems to be a problem on your system.
Now who's the Dumbfuck?
Should I just write that check to you directly Taco and skip the formalities?
What are you using, a .8 version of Mozilla?!? I tried it out, and the site works fine in both Mozilla 1.1 and Netscape 6.2.
Sure the Tommy Bit Char-G chars are cuter, but I prefer a car that is faster and looks nicer, say, like my Dodge Viper ...
http://www.kyosho.com/cars/kyod01x3.html
"Under the hood":
http://www.kyosho.com/cars/kyod01x1.html
--
"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite."
- Thomas Jefferson
The problem is that the site requires cookies. I got the same error until I allowed cookies. Deleting the cookies and blocking them cause the errors to reappear.
you had to push them around by hand and make a kinda vroooommm sound.
I think these are much cooler: http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/TechieMon/offroadbi ke.html (R/C controlled motorcycles with gyroscope technology so that they don't tip over) Anyone ever seen one of these in action? I want one ;)
...you're the kind of guy who would get a kick out of (or is a fan of) Beaterz. : )
And I agree, the modification community is way over the top. Spend that $25K on a used viper rather than a tricked out 02 civic.
Using OmniWeb and its default User-Agent string, I get "Cannot Load Address -- This page redirects the browser back to itself". I have cookies enabled, too.
Changed the User-Agent string to that of IE 5.2 (OS X), and it works. I lay the blame on the website's idiot coders.
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
I'm using Mozilla 1.1b on Linux... Works just fine.
Actually, I've been going to the RS web site for a long time... I remember the Mozilla pre-1.0 worked fine too.
"Morons, your train is leaving"
-dB
"It if was easy to do, we'd find someone cheaper than you to do it."
You know you are supporting the starvation of the children of 3rd world countries when you purchase anything from RadioShack.
Q: Why did they call themselves "Radio Shack" ?
A: Because back in the 40's, they experimented on wee little fluffy baby sea otters and sea lions to re-claim sunken torpedos the navy needed to re-use and in that same shack they broadcasted the anal rape of an 11 year-old boy and published it on RadioShack's official Corporate website (http://goatse.cx).
Thankyou.
Sincerily,
Wendie Whitebread
His web site is here. He has an excellent reputation, highly recommended.
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
a driver's license to race these fun little cars!
Disclaimer: You will however need to present, given that this is radio shack and all
your name
your address
your blood type
your birthday
you SSN (SIN in Canada)
and the serial number from your cue cat
leave it to the ZIPzaps to include a Honda Civic in the line of cars...
"...Ford SVT Mustang Cobra, Porsche 911 Turbo, Honda Civic or Chrysler PT Cruiser..."
wow. that civic! cant get the $#@^!$ away from them... uhhg.
"I think, therefore I get paid."
a beowulf cluster of th *whack!*
eleven plus two / twelve plus one
....imagine what fun you can have with a small camera attached....
this website is for you
I hate sigs.
I have one of these. According to my friend who knows a lot more about this shit than I do (note: that is a point of pride for me) they are identical to the Tomy at about US$10 less.
Atomic
The controller/charger is kinda cheesy but since it probably won't work but a few days anyway I doubt if it matters.
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
If you want to find out more about ZipZaps, DigiQ, iRacers, Bit Char-Gs, MiniZs, and a billion other micro rc cars, drop by microrccars.com and check out the forums.
The Radio Shack ZipZap is a cheap clone of the Original TOMY Bit Char-G, which was recently released in the US as the MicroSizer. You can get the REAL MicroSizers/Bit Char-Gs at: http://tinyrc.com/shop and then check out the Forums. TinyRC is the only place you can get the 38,000RPM motor too. ZipZaps are poor knock-offs, the bodies are awful, they sit way too high on the chassis and are very low detail vs. BC-Gs/MicroSizers. If you're looking for something bigger, try http://mini-zracer.com/shop - these are 1/28 scale cars w/ an amazing array of available upgrades.
Watch out, read the fine print -- these things only come in two different frequencies, which means only two of them can race against each other at a time. That's going to kill them. I was thinking of buying one of these for everybody on my team and having some great races, but not now...
These are just bad versions of Bit Chargers. Go look them up, they've been around in hawaii for a long time, and are pretty big in japan. note: Chargers not Racers, racers are the same size but require a triack.
keep them stock looking and usually they won't get broken into.
(don't laugh - tandy part #RS-14314, micro-vandal, blue w/mask is in next year's catalog.)
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
That would be it. I had cookies off...no go. Turned cookies on...the web page magically appeared.
I bought one of these after work today at a nearby RS. I went looking for a 5V AC/DC converter, but had no luck. As I was leaving, two of the guys working there were talking about these. I figured I'd easily get $20 worth of fun out of it.
I've run it for a couple hours already tonight, and it's been a blast. The recharge times are about a minute, and I've got a good 5-10 minutes from each charge.
There's only one thing I don't like, and that's the wide turning radius. (Which is tight when moving in reverse.) Maybe one of their suspension upgrades would fix that? ;)
I'm not sure how the batteries will hold up, I'll post again here in a few days and let you know.
Micro R/C cars have been out in japan for at least 2 years. Ebay has facilitated their entry into the U.S. as early as last winter (as far as I can tell). More proof that Japan gets cool toys way before we do.
If you want a wider range of customization, go for a Bit Char-G from Tomy, which have very recently been launched as R/C MicroSizers in the States (and also under different names in Australia and the U.K.). There are also numerous knockoffs of "bits" coming from China which are generally of lower quality. Hell, even Wal*Mart has a line on these things.
I admit, I first saw micro r/c cars on ThinkGeek (which are called Digi-Q from Takara). After I finally decided to get a micro r/c car, I did some research:
Therefore, I went with a bit. ZipZaps have a 16k rpm motor? So what: You can get 38k rpm motors for bits.
One of the things going against all these toys in the U.S. is the body styles they produce, which are all Japanese. How many people outside of Japan know what a Nissan Skyline is? Tomy may be prepared, as you can see a Mach 5 and Mini Cooper scheduled for release soon. I want a Chevy SSR and a '69 GTO Judge (gotta be orange) personally.
BUT, these things are temendous fun. There's a huge online community around the micro r/c hobby. Check out www.tinyrc.com, www.bitchar-g.co.uk and QFM Racing (click the right side of the page).
Just browsing, but I bought a few of this. Best site I've found is www.rcmicroracers.com, cheepest prices on the net for these cars. Very professional and you typically get your order within 2 to 7 days if you select ground shipment.
This things are hot though, EVERYBODY is going to run out of them. First week of October they expect everybody to run out, prices to go up to $35-40 a car. RCMicroRacers has em for $29, you can't beat that. If you can wait 3 weeks for back ordered cars then don't worry, but if you want one find a site and order. There are a few on the net, but I highly recommend this one, they bought the most from the manufacturer next to toys-r-us who will be selling them for $35-40..
cheers..
WRXracer
PS you can find me on Gadgeteer. I'm big on RC.
Hahaha, joke's on you, chump. I can see everything just fine with Konqueror 3.0.3. Time to upgrade, ye olde fashioned Slackware user.
There are only two legal frequencies in the US. However, you can get Bit Char-Gs on 4 different freqs.
Humm, no Mozilla, I guess the don't want to support AOL user either. Idiots
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
I purchased a mini RC car at a dallas gun show for $10. Mine doesn't seem to have a chemical battery, but it only runs 1 1/2 minutes with 1 minute charge. I think it uses a large capaciter to hold the charge. Anyways its alot of fun for a geek like me.
Under WinXP at least...
So far, I've found it in an online shop at the humble price of SEK 650 which equals USD 65...
Sorry, no sale.
Hey! Boats! :D And best of all, the range of the transmitter is unfortunately not much bigger than your tub anyway, so.. ;)
Little things like, while the search field for the Battery Finder has been working for at least a year, the point&click method has been defunct this entire time. Why are the cheapo KVM switches in the Networking section?
I went out and got one tonight. They are kinda fun. Makes me think of the Stomper 4x4 another guy mentioned. Anyway, they are pretty danm good about batter use. They last about 10 min, but you dont (couldnt if you tried because of their size) put batteries in them. They seem to have a cap under the logic board. You put the car on top of the remote control and let it chage for about 40-50 seconds. The light on the remote turns green and you pop the little 1+" car off and letter rip. Not the fastest but still a bit of fun. I think these heavy plastic "mini's" radio shack is sell will take a better beating from the kids than the other cars you can get. ^_^
Are these the same ones they were selling at AX2002?
Go to http://www.toyeast.com to order the real thing: Bit Char-G Racers by Tomy. They also sell Takara's Digi-Q. They are based in Hong Kong and can get really good prices on the real thing.
The Bit Char-Gs have lots of parts to upgrade (called Hop up parts) and there is a Toyota Trueno (Celica) set that comes with 3 different hardnesses of tires, 3 different suspensions, 4 different axel sets, two different bodies, 3 different gear ratios, the 2.2 rated (2200 rpm) motor, and some racing cones. It is a really good deal and runs at 27mhz.
I also have the Xanavi Hiroto GT-R special that has a 2.6 motor and uses 57mhz. It has a "cripple capacitor" in it, but you can go to http://www.ausmicro.com and search there for details on which cars have that and how to remove it. Once the capacitor is removed, the range dramatically improves.
Also look into the Booster cars. They have clear bodies that can be painted, have a motor that has a "stutter" setting for slower speeds (and longer battery life), and a booster speed that is normal. Motors are 2.2 and there is one car per each of the 4 frequencies (57mhz, 45mhz, 35mhz, and 27mhz). They use a special remote that can select any of the 4 freqs, but it has a terrible range. The remote for the boosters is sold separately and has a setting for use with future toy releases (tanks and subs are rumored).
The Bit Char-G advertise that they charge in 45secs on the controller (about right, sometimes longer), then race for 2 minutes (I get closer to 5 minutes). They are digital controlled, meaning no proportional speed or steering (but the booster cars' stutter speed gives effectively 2 speeds to cycle between). If you want that, look to the Takare Digi-Qs.
The Digi-Qs are a bit smaller, a lot faster, and suffer from a lag when sending signals. They run on infrared signals (the Bits are radio controlled), and have two motors (one per rear wheel). The cars mimic the real ones in performance, but a special controller (Digi Propo) can override the computer chips to change speed, breaking, steering, and acceleration. These cars cannot be modified as much as the Bits, but are awesome. They take around 10 minutes to charge and race for about 15 minutes.
Both cars types are not for carpet racing, and do require a bit of maintenance. Be prepared to play with the steering magnet on the Bits, clean out axels, and other odds and ends. Then hit the net to see the modified semis, monster trucks, and more!
Hi everyone. I'm COMPLETELY wet behind the ears with regards slashdot - hell, it took me almost 15mins to work out how to post this first ever reply - DOH! The only times I've really taken any notice of it was when my old *nix-lovin' flatmate used to try to highlight the errors in my Microsoft-lovin' ways.
:-o We moved about half of our average monthly traffic in ONE DAY. I phoned my old flatmate tonig
;-)
;-) After all, Aaron and I both have "day jobs" to bay the bills. This is just a hobby! But if want to get into the craze and need help in sourcing a car or two (particularly for Aussies), we can help. We'd just like to see more folks taking up the hobby and growing the racing scene.
I was having a pretty quiet Friday here in Sydney. I was at work, idling browsing the 'Net (I am pretty safe saying that in here as my boss even struggles to use MS Word spellcheck without online help) and I saw a post on our ausmicro.com forums mentioning micro RC cars on slashdot.
Next thing I know, our poor little web server is straining under the load and we're getting emails from all over the place. Certainly NOT how I expected another quiet Friday at work to pan out
Yes, Aaron and I (aka ausmicro.com) do import micro and mini radio control equipment into Oz. It all started when we both wanted a Bit Char-G and throught that the US-based vendors were a little on the exxy side (with the dodgy USD-AUD exchange rate et al). Aaron (who is in Canberra) and I (in Sydney) are good friends and both of us had a lot of business/market experience business in Japan and SE Asia. So the phone calls and emails started.
We got our first cars in and we were hooked. Colleagues at our workplaces wanted them and so the demand grew. We started ausmicro to see if anyone else wanted to join us for a group buy (save on freight). Suddenly it became much bigger than we'd ever hoped for.
Everyone's gotta have a vice/hobby and RC is one of ours. Running the website (which gives us great mod ideas!) is the most expensive part of the hobby. I know it sounds like tired rhetoric, but ausmicro.com is about a sense of community - not profit. We load up the landed/dutied cost of the items we import by 5%, which goes towards subsidising the site running costs (transferring ~3GB of traffic per month doesn't come cheaply) Put it this way, after 6mths we're still well and truly in the red. And we expect to stay that way for another 12-18mths. But we're still loving it!
In the last couple of months we've jumped aboard the Mini-Z craze (1:24 scale vs 1:70 scale). These are GREAT fun, too. I can highly recommend http://www.minizworld.com as a good place to start if you're interested in learning about them.
Apologies if this post sounds cheesy/spammy. I assure you - it wasn't intended to be. I'll go as far to say as we're NOT the cheapest place to buy micro RC gear from. We DO NOT have a big range. Even our customer service SUCKS
Thanks again to those who contacted us (and all of the other suppliers/fansites mentioned in this story) for your interest in the hobby. If you have any questions feel free to email us (please be patient - the mail server is currently undergoing intensive care after its heart attack), or ask the community at http://www.ausmicro.com/forum
Cheers - and have a top weekend
Derek (aka DJ!)
derek@ausmicro.com
Although not that brand, it's pretty similar. I've got pictures on my website of my cat playing with mine (she didn't know what to make of it, but she was curious) here and a description here
The car is pretty cool (even though it was more expensive than the Radio shack model), and it runs on carpet pretty well. On our lamianate floor in the kitchen, it's pretty quick and nimble. I've even been able to get it to do a "bootlegger reverse" a couple of times.
I have to admit, the batteries last a lot longer in this toy than I expected. I've probably recharged the car about 20-30 times, and the batteries are still going strong (it takes about a minute to recharge the car, and it runs for 5-10 minutes from there).
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
A good site to read about a recent comparision of these two remote control cars is: Micro RC Cars
I had great service from Hobby Link Japan when I recently bought a Takara Digi Q that was on clearance for half price! Another popular website that sells these and which I've read good things about is Cosmo Games.
Happy racing!
Microsizers have been out a short time, and I've got two. They are available with various upgrade parts, the batteries charge in 45 seconds, and they're great for chasing housepets.
***
This is my Sig. This is my Glock, this is my Walther, and this is my Beretta.
Any questions?
Hey now! Don't casually lump in the car that reintroduced the roadster as a viable car again in the 90's.
Seriously, the Miata is generally considered a classic, C&D consistently puts it in their top 10, and I believe one of the car rags just put it into the top 10 cars of all time list, a weighted list that included value in its measures, putting the car right next to such lofty craft as the Ferrari Modena. And despite not having the supercar-horsepower of the other vehicles you mentioned, it is an incredibly performing roadster. For some reason, too, much of the public perceives it to be a cheap car, but mind that it tops out at ~$27k now. IMHO, it's the car that Austin Healey wishes they could've engineered (used to drive a 3000).
Of course, if you can afford German, by all means....I'd highly recommend it ;-).
DP -- former Miata driver
Watch out for meta-moderation...
You have been able to get these (pocket sized RC cars) in Japantown, SanFrancisco for a very long time...
Leave it to the Japanese to build the cool toys first...
l8,
AC
I regularly hit radioshack.com with Mozilla. Sounds like your lizard is smoking crack, sir.
Besides - isn't there a store somewhere near you?
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
WRONG! There are bunch of legal freqs in the US, go to your favorite local hobby store and look over the RC radio gear. If there were only two legal freqs, it sure would be hard on all the 10+ car and plane races I have seen in the past...
Hi, I just signed up for an account this morning and don't quite understand yet how to use this forum. I noticed yesterday a big jump in my page hits and they came from this site. I see my site was mentioned as it is a history page for the 1980 to current releases of the great Stomper 4X4 toys. I also have a page for the Micro RC cars, minature outboard motors and more. If anyone sees this message and figures the site would be interesting to your friends please post a message in the proper location so people can see it. The site address is www.stomper4x4.com and there are lots of link buttons at the bottom of the page. It's free to all with no pop-ups. Thanks for any help. Mick
I just resigned from working at a RadioShack, and glad I did but I will say one thing, zipzaps are HOT sellers, sold out the day we got them, good bad or indifferent, they are selling fast and will be hard to get. I dont care about the performance or the car, just saying they will be a hot seller and already are.
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