Traxxas Mini E-Revo Brushed Edition 1/16

The 1/16th scale E-revo (or mini erevo) is an all in one hobby grade RC kit. Included in the box is the truck, radio, toolset, battery, wall charger and a library of reading material and promotions from Traxxas. Lets take a look at each of the contents and see how it all stacks up. I'll get the boring stuff out of the way so we can focus on the truck.

[Radio]

Traxxas has really stepped up it's game with the addition of a 2.4 ghz radio set in all of the vxl lines. Whats so special about 2.4 ghz? Simply put, that included radio provides a dependable connection to the truck, near perfect response times and you will never have to worry about someone else being on the same channel. No more swapping out crystals to change your frequency. Way to go Traxxas!

[Battery/ Charger]

The included battery is a six cell, 1200mah nimh pack. For those of you who have no idea what that means, just know that the battery will last you about 15-20 min of runtime. There are actually 2 battery trays on the truck, you can load up one or both!

The included charger is honestly, kind of a joke. The standard wall charger (Or trickle charger) takes about 4 hours for a single charge! If you read about the battery above you can see the problem here. I highly reccomend going and getting a good battery charger. Most hobby grade battery chargers could have the included battery ready to go in 30 min. or less. Yes, it does make that much of a difference.

[Extras]

Nearly all RTR (ready-to-run) RC kits include the same items. A small wrench for taking off the wheels, hex screws, and instructions. Since the VXL can handle 2 batteries going at once,I highly suggest reading through the manual so you dont break the truck or put in too much power for comfort

[The Truck Itself]

The Mini Erevo is a small scale version of the famous Traxxas E-Revo. When I say scale, I mean it is really a darn near exact replica of the big guy it's modeled after! At it's heart, the Mini Erevo is a monster truck, with a few key design features. Most notably are the lay down shocks that use cantalevers to distribute force. We will take a look later on to see how they hold up. But for now Im going to split this review into the Mini Erevo's electronics and how the truck did at driving on multiple surfaces, so let's go!

[Electronics]

Traxxas is renowned for thier awesome electronics that coe standard on their vehicles. The Mini Erevo is o exception. First off, everything is waterproof. Yes, everything. This however does not mean its a submarine, but rather it's built for mud and puddles. The servo provides a quick response time so you can keep control in turns. The ESC and motor are brushless and as we will read a little later, are more than this truck needs to get around quickly!

[Driving]

I am going to split my driving experiences up based on the terrain I drove on. Those surfaces are a dirt track, high traction, grass and mud.

[Dirt Track]

The Mini Erevo did fairly well on the track. Keep in mind this was meant to be an off-road vehicle. The suspension had a lot of body roll (meaning the shocks were not soaking up the force of a fall or sharp turn) and the truck kept rolling over on turns. So I took it back into my shop and changed out the shock oil to the heaviest grade I had. That solved the suspension problem, but the truck just didnt feel at home here. Also to note, I tracked the truck at 26 mph.

[High Traction]

High traction is any surface that does not give out under the power of the truck (I.e. carpet, asphault etc.). I took this sucker out to my road and drove it up and down and I have to say, the suspension is just way too soft. I spent a great deal of time just running to the truck to flip it over. Out here I clocked the truck at closer to 28 mph.

[Grass and Mud]

This was it. This is where the Mini Erevo is home. All of that loose suspension that made it hard to drive on other surfaces acted perfectly in the mud. The truck seemed flexible and in control through all the terrain I threw at it. It took dirt mounds like a beast and it's ride height is high enough to travel over most grass without worries. it was just plain ol' fun to ram this thing into a wall of dirt and watch it tackle it and fly right over. It really is a monster truck!