Hello, I want to post my review of my rovan baja 5t to inform those looking to get one rather than the hpi.
I bought my Rovan Baja 5t on ebay for around $530 sometime in June 2012. First, I did have problems starting the 29cc engine but after contacting the seller, he gave me some tips and it started easily. On my first break in run, I crashed into steel trash bin(somewhere on youtube if you would like to laugh) and the front of the 5t body shattered because it was a brittle lexan. I continued to drive the truck because I had never controlled a 30 pound radio control beast and it was too much fun to stop for a cracked body. A few months later, I accidentaly overcharged the battery and it exploded but that was entirely my fault so b careful. My next complaint is the quality of the drive cups. I broke 2 of them. However, the design of the cups are taken from the actual hpi and it is a bad design. The clutch shoes and springs are also very low quality so be careful of that. Recently, I took it to a bmx track and broke one of the front lower a arms after jumping a rather large jump, then I broke the other side hitting a curb. The plastic structural pieces seem to be very weak so I replace the a arms with rpm or kraken only.
Now that the cons are out of the way, on to the pros.
The seller i recieved this from was very helpful and gave me a free battery and pre filters. The trucks performance is incredible compared to anything I have driven(my first 1/5 scale btw) and every time I drive it, I smile like a child. The quality of the chassis seems to be bulletproof unlike some of the plastics. The tire tread has also worn very little after fishtailing it on gravel a bunch. The engines sound with the ss exhaust draws lots of attentions from my neighbors and I love it.
So overall, I have spent somewhere around $100-150 on replacement parts and supplies for my truck and I would say the quality is at par or above a stock hpi baja now. In total the truck has cost me between $630 and $680 which is about half the price of an hpi. And I LOVE IT!
I hope this review is informative and may sway those on a budget as I was when I purchased mine.
I bought my Rovan Baja 5t on ebay for around $530 sometime in June 2012. First, I did have problems starting the 29cc engine but after contacting the seller, he gave me some tips and it started easily. On my first break in run, I crashed into steel trash bin(somewhere on youtube if you would like to laugh) and the front of the 5t body shattered because it was a brittle lexan. I continued to drive the truck because I had never controlled a 30 pound radio control beast and it was too much fun to stop for a cracked body. A few months later, I accidentaly overcharged the battery and it exploded but that was entirely my fault so b careful. My next complaint is the quality of the drive cups. I broke 2 of them. However, the design of the cups are taken from the actual hpi and it is a bad design. The clutch shoes and springs are also very low quality so be careful of that. Recently, I took it to a bmx track and broke one of the front lower a arms after jumping a rather large jump, then I broke the other side hitting a curb. The plastic structural pieces seem to be very weak so I replace the a arms with rpm or kraken only.
Now that the cons are out of the way, on to the pros.
The seller i recieved this from was very helpful and gave me a free battery and pre filters. The trucks performance is incredible compared to anything I have driven(my first 1/5 scale btw) and every time I drive it, I smile like a child. The quality of the chassis seems to be bulletproof unlike some of the plastics. The tire tread has also worn very little after fishtailing it on gravel a bunch. The engines sound with the ss exhaust draws lots of attentions from my neighbors and I love it.
So overall, I have spent somewhere around $100-150 on replacement parts and supplies for my truck and I would say the quality is at par or above a stock hpi baja now. In total the truck has cost me between $630 and $680 which is about half the price of an hpi. And I LOVE IT!
I hope this review is informative and may sway those on a budget as I was when I purchased mine.