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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.
ThinkGeek sucks. I ordered this item from ThinkGeek and they never delivered.
here
Live web cams
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!
Now about 17,000 RPM???
http://www.hondaf1.com/english/info/engine.htm
There is even a link to find out what it sounds like on a dyno.
Because anyone who would do that to the actual thing deserves to be drawn and quartered.
Oh, yeah, and these cars aren't roadsters. In fact, there's not even a single roadster in the bunch. Not your quote, of course, but that of the article. Just pointing it out. To claim they have roadsters, they would need cars like the Boxster, Z3 series or M roadster (hrm, it's in the name!), Audi TT, Honda S2000, or even a Miata. But a 911 is not a roadster (the Turbo is only available as a coupe, but the 996 cab is considered a 911, so technically the 911 is available as coupe or cabriolet), nor is a Mustang Cobra (coupe), Honda Civic (coupe), nor a PT Cruiser (not sure what the heck that is -- sport compact utility vehicle? then again, it's just a Neon frame with a fancy body shell, so maybe it's a compact sedan?). Silly journalists don't know their car terms.
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.
Actually, they are a cheap knock-off of Bit Char-Gs which are sold as MicroSizers in the US. Take a look at http://tinyrc.com/forums for a comparison of the ZZs and BC-Gs, the ZZs are a poor quality knock-off.
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).
You friend don't know much, then. ZipZaps and BitChar-G's are not identical. ZipZaps have a longer wheelbase and use a slightly different form factor motor, among other things.
People have swapped the gears and axles from a Zip onto a Bit, though.
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