...on the tube...

[BitHed]

...JUST got this in from one of the boys at HPI...

...more eye-candy :D

http://www.youtube.com/user/GCRad1

[Fulgore]

Must have one...

[larsenracing]

Looks like they were having a little fun. Video seems pretty speed up as those tires balloon like crazy if really at that speed (Eye sights(meaning looks like its halling)).

[RedLine]

That thing is just oozing with power. Most excellent! :cool: Makes me wonder how someone could keep it caged in a box....not going to mention names...but his name rhymes with Generits ;) Sorry to whomever I might be referring to...:p

[terrorsavage]

Yea the flux is a handful to handle.I never thought I would say this but there IS such thing as too much power in a rc vehicle.

[generis]

It's a plane doing speed runs

This is the quote of the year...
I never thought I would say this but there IS such thing as too much power in a rc vehicle.

[RedLine]

Can you imagine what will happen when someone puts a Mamba Monster/2200kV combo in the RB3? You know someone out there probably will, too. Judging by the flip on 3S with a 3100kV, it is already going to be a bullet. The RB3 platform will be begging someone to get silly and could make the Flux look reasonably powered by comparison.

Generis - I promise I will stop jabbing you about the Flux. :o You are probably buried under a bunch of snow, so it is not like you can make a killer video anytime soon. That said, I cannot wait to see it in action! I will play nice from now on...:)

[BitHed]

...is it just me or has ANYONE else noticed the Baja 'lurking' in the deepest darkest parts of the Flux's soul? I mean you watch that video, and then watch THIS video (its Bajas...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiLRkl92G94&feature=channel_page

...I mean imagine running a locked center diff, just to the rear, with the whole front savage bulkhead EMPTY and just running the front axles w/o dogies or anything...In a much longer chassis...The weight out of the front will make it MUCH lighter (BitHed believes the 'biggest' culprit to be the necessary evils of the alloy diff cases)...Lock all of this up in a MUCH extended chassis with the same / similar shock setup to the HFX and you have an instant Baja...1:8 scale...Thats electric...The medusas could power it EASY!!

[terrorsavage]

I dont know about that one BitHed but im glad I own both a savage flux and a baja 5b ss :D:cool:

[Joey]

Yeah the flux is powerful, but why are so many people going bonkers over it when there are many custom RC 1:8ths that are even more powerful? Ive seen some rediculous e-revos, and candymans max bling emaxx with the REDICULOUS bigmaxximum motor Im SURE is faster than the flux. And his truck was on NIMH....

[BitHed]

Yeah the flux is powerful, but why are so many people going bonkers over it when there are many custom RC 1:8ths that are even more powerful? Ive seen some rediculous e-revos, and candymans max bling emaxx with the REDICULOUS bigmaxximum motor Im SURE is faster than the flux. And his truck was on NIMH....

...the voice of reason :D TOTALLY agree with this...once again we need to beware of the media machine and look at what has been done so far...I mean the Flux is merely a mass produced version of what has been popular (for the Savage) at RC Monster for a while...

...CandyMan is my hero :o

[Slave-One]

Maybe it's also because it's a good tough truck, with enough power to don't care about it, somehow cheap and no brain hassle ?
Don't get me wrong, I love my E-Savy (my first big truck) but it had cost me more than twice ['cuz all the mods] the price of the Savage Flux, for less power and more fear to break something each time I drive it. And finding spare parts and after-market support is much much much easier for a Savage : all my LHS support Savage [I mean in stock], none for the E-Savy. Just my personal case...

[terrorsavage]

Everyone is so excited over the new savage flux because it is far more durable than any emaxx/revo will ever be.Hands down savage has been known for a while to be the toughest truck out.Only people that are in love with truggies or tmaxx's or what have you will disagree.Even a few of the magazines did a poll and a side by side comparison on which monster truck was the most durable,savage won hands down,then the lst,then revo.And now we have a ignorant amount of power strapped in a savage that can be unleashed at any given time with brushless power.

[Joey]

I see what youre saying about it being the first ultra durable ultra fast out of box electric and that IS cause for excitement. And the money this makes sense too.. But I just dont like when people act like it is the elite, cant-get-any-better, rc.

And are the gp savage parts perfectly interchangeable with the flux? Is it the same scale as .25 or an x?





And candyman is a BA mo-fo... I wont deny!! I had a long email back and forth stint with him a couple years ago... he helped me learn alot. Great guy.

[terrorsavage]

Most of the parts from the gp savages will bolt right on to the savage flux.Transmission,a arms,shock towers,skids,everything except for the bulkheads(they have different size bearing on the ring gear side,if I remember correctly) and the chassis/motor plates.

[rabosi]

Unless I'm mistaken I think the flux is the only RTR brushless vehicle of it's size currently available. For the price ($580 for me) I think it's perfect (until something else comes out) for the RCer who for reasons such as time and money cannot do one of those max bling builds. I've got a 3905 emaxx that's brushless but it cost me a lot more with chassis/drive train/electrics upgrade. Only time will tell about the overall durabilty and performance in summer heat but so far I think it's a great deal.

[Joey]

Isnt there a RTR brushless erevo out now?

[BitHed]

...thats why HPI released the Flux...HPI says that the Flux is 'thought of' to be the direct rival to the BL E-Revo...

[generis]

I did the brushless e-revo thing, and this flux is nothing like it. The e-revo spent most of it's life dragging the undercarriage in the dirt, and turning corners fast. The flux does neither. Both will jump garbage cans equally well.

[DARKWAV]

The Savage Flux is to large scale custom-build monster trucks as RTRs have been to R/C's in general.

In the past the only way to get into hobby-grade R/C vehicles was to build one from a kit. So that kept some degree of exclusivity in the hobby because you had to be committed to join the club. Then RTRs came along and any shmuck could be driving a hobby-grade R/C within a couple minutes of pulling it out of the box and loading-up freshly charged batteries.

Now with the Savage Flux any shmuck with money can just buy their way into insanely powered R/Cs without having done all the research, experimentation, and building to get a truck as fast and durable.

Of course how many people are just going to walk up the street with no R/C background and drop down the cash to buy a Savage Flux, LiPos, and Charger. Probably not really that many. I think the first set of customers will be those that worked their way into brushless/LiPo setups on 1/10s...even if this was all accomplished with RTRs and wanted to get into the larger trucks but all the research and work to put something together would be a daunting task.

What's interesting now is Savage Flux videos are beginning to pop up all over YouTube if you go looking for them. They are still impressive and fun to watch, but I guess to some extent it looses its charm in the sense that up to just a few weeks ago when you saw a cool video of a wicked brushless monster truck bash session, besides just the entertainment value, you also had some sense of respect for the commitment it took the build that vehicle.

But hey, that's the past. This kind of progress is a good thing for the hobby.

Maybe we will start seeing that same spirit of experimenation and taking these systems beyond their specified factor of safety limits right to the edge of their actual operating envelope to power vehicles larger yet! That is for folks not so much concerned about warranties!

[generis]

Dark, I love reading your stuff...

[Aero007]

Then RTRs came along and any shmuck could be driving a hobby-grade R/C within a couple minutes of pulling it out of the box and loading-up freshly charged batteries.

Any idiot can pour nitro in a tank lol. maybe nitro ppl see us electrics that way, we dont need no needle valve to adjust or any piston ring to replace. well i havent had the 'nitro ride' xp (lets keep gas for lawnmovers and up) i sure dont want the noise..it attracts kindergardens

Now with the Savage Flux any shmuck with money can just buy their way into insanely powered R/Cs without having done all the research, experimentation, and building to get a truck as fast and durable.

yes and they only know 3 parts: the truck, the transmitter, and the batteries for the transmitter lol. they may sure be able to ID a wheeland charger too lol. some of those people also have NO sense of weight distribution and handling, usually drive that carefully that they only damage the body shell, (if the truck outlasts the body shell..ok) having a totally standard truck, and doing no maintenance, those will sure go sell their revo and get a new flux truck. to them, a truck is either broken or working. fx go figure this add: 'for sale: fg truck, working, half year old' :D. whaat a 14yo kid has a 20 lbs truck, darn. well who can expect everyone to go totally knee deep with this rc hobby, it takes time and money..but then things arent considered definite broken ;) like tiny gears, packing and shim, rebuilding shocks, diffs, gear boxes whatever. along the way one consider 'RTR' more and more less.. some part of rc hobby is kinda joyful and few others 'get it over with' tasks, boring. i find repeated damage how to say 'pitiful'? or culprit? and boring to do.

a tiny mix of warranty claims and knowledge make hpi make better rtr trucks. same clever mind uses effort to make several parts un-universal rather than adaptable. they ignore the esav alot! if only the esav had the field size of a stampede or maxx..

I think the first set of customers will be those that worked their way into brushless/LiPo setups on 1/10s...even if this was all accomplished with RTRs and wanted to get into the larger trucks but all the research and work to put something together would be a daunting task.

year, they will know this is hpi flux ripping off hpi gp savage x/xl. though that does benefit us, alot. still the manual was hard to find, the parts and dimensions here and there, hpi hid the details ahem! like a premiere movie, making ppl go buy a ticket. probably alot of those pre-ordered the truck as well..

Maybe we will start seeing that same spirit of experimenation and taking these systems beyond their specified factor of safety limits right to the edge of their actual operating envelope to power vehicles larger yet! That is for folks not so much concerned about warranties!

recently i saw some fg 4wd brushless conversions..oh my

[RedLine]

Nice comments by Darkwav and Aero. Darkwav - You have hit on something I have thought for awhile now...the resentment factor. For old school RC people, hobby grade meant that you built it. When I came back to RC and found everything RTR, I was annoyed. I really wanted to build my truck. I got over it when I was able to run my E-Savage the first day it came home. :D Now that the E-Savage gang has been doing these innovative builds, the Flux gives my gut the same feeling RTR did when I first learned about it. :mad: That said, it is hard not to like the Flux. Begrudgingly. I do agree that the Flux is good for HPI and the hobby. I will still feel proud of my E-Savage, though. Of my 3 trucks, it has (by far) the most mods. Even if I had the Flux, which I may some day, I would not have that "proud papa" feeling the E-Savage gives me when it tears around the neighborhood. It is the apple of my eye... :o

[lilredmachine]

My attitude toward the Flux has changed greatly. Initially I was really up for it, ready to drop big bucks and welcome it with a pair of 3s lipos and a set of phaltlines.

But then I thought about it, and came to the same conclusion that Darkwav was hitting on, the Flux is not what the hobby is about. The Flux is nothing but a nitro truck with battery boxes and a motor slung down in there. It's a hacked up and frankensteined conversion in which the ESC is taped and tie wrapped in place in such a position that it can be wacked by the shock tower in a crash, the battery boxes will eject their contents in a mild roll over, the diffs still need to be swapped out for CEN items, the radio is the sort of thing you'd have got with a Tamiya and it has all the pitfalls of a heavy nitro with the crippling power of electric. All this and you're $640 lighter and left with a sneaking suspicion that you could have done it better yourself.

There is an edgy feeling about large scale HV BL, it's always been the preserve of companies like MGM that'll sell you a controller for $400, then shrug at you when you push it too far and crisp it. You've just gotta suck it up and buy another. Same with all these supermaxx's, big bling trucks, E-truggies around, they are built by folks who have pioneered the super bl truck scene from the beginning, none are light on cash and all are heavy on experience. They are so respected that any testing needing to be done even by companies like Castle will be given to these guys first, as they usually have the recording equipment necessary. And nearly all will view the Flux as a quick route that cuts all the fat, and will resent it for it. Not least because it's a quick job of a conversion and still exhibits all the usual Savage weakspots.

I cannot bring myself to buy one. I think about the fun I had spending a year building my E-zilla up, all the money I dropped on it and enjoyed having something different. Being able to rebuff all the 'E-maxx great, E-savage sucks' chat on RCU. The Flux bothers me because it isn't an electric truck, not a proper one. It's a truck built so that people who would usually use nitro will buy an electric truck. For me that's just not right. Electric should be different, cleaner, lighter, more efficient, bespoke. Not just a nitro truck with a motor. Yes, it's an elitist point of view of the dirty knuckledragging noisemakers, but they will simply never understand.

I don't want an E-LST from Losi, an E-MGT from AE or an E-MMT from XTM, I want someone, just for once, to put the god damn effort into designing a decent electric large scale truck from the ground up, with a strong drivetrain, robust construction and good spec (IE no cheaping out on materials, looking at you Traxxas). The only thing that stopped it before was the lack of an affordable power system. Now that we have the MMM, Losi and Tekin 1/8th systems there seems to be little excuse to keep churning out hacked up versions of their nitro trucks. Here's looking at you, RC companies.

[Joey]

Well said! Im assuming you dont feel the same way about our e-savages becuase it isnt jut a savage chassis with an electric motor, but a new redesigned chassis from scratch?

[lilredmachine]

Exactly. The E-zilla design is bespoke to electric.

I would have loved to see an extended, widened e-savage with a strong drivetrain as the Flux. Rather than a converted GP X.

[mpetrich]

My attitude toward the Flux has changed greatly. Initially I was really up for it, ready to drop big bucks and welcome it with a pair of 3s lipos and a set of phaltlines.

But then I thought about it, and came to the same conclusion that Darkwav was hitting on, the Flux is not what the hobby is about. The Flux is nothing but a nitro truck with battery boxes and a motor slung down in there. It's a hacked up and frankensteined conversion in which the ESC is taped and tie wrapped in place in such a position that it can be wacked by the shock tower in a crash, the battery boxes will eject their contents in a mild roll over, the diffs still need to be swapped out for CEN items, the radio is the sort of thing you'd have got with a Tamiya and it has all the pitfalls of a heavy nitro with the crippling power of electric. All this and you're $640 lighter and left with a sneaking suspicion that you could have done it better yourself.

There is an edgy feeling about large scale HV BL, it's always been the preserve of companies like MGM that'll sell you a controller for $400, then shrug at you when you push it too far and crisp it. You've just gotta suck it up and buy another. Same with all these supermaxx's, big bling trucks, E-truggies around, they are built by folks who have pioneered the super bl truck scene from the beginning, none are light on cash and all are heavy on experience. They are so respected that any testing needing to be done even by companies like Castle will be given to these guys first, as they usually have the recording equipment necessary. And nearly all will view the Flux as a quick route that cuts all the fat, and will resent it for it. Not least because it's a quick job of a conversion and still exhibits all the usual Savage weakspots.

I cannot bring myself to buy one. I think about the fun I had spending a year building my E-zilla up, all the money I dropped on it and enjoyed having something different. Being able to rebuff all the 'E-maxx great, E-savage sucks' chat on RCU. The Flux bothers me because it isn't an electric truck, not a proper one. It's a truck built so that people who would usually use nitro will buy an electric truck. For me that's just not right. Electric should be different, cleaner, lighter, more efficient, bespoke. Not just a nitro truck with a motor. Yes, it's an elitist point of view of the dirty knuckledragging noisemakers, but they will simply never understand.

I don't want an E-LST from Losi, an E-MGT from AE or an E-MMT from XTM, I want someone, just for once, to put the god damn effort into designing a decent electric large scale truck from the ground up, with a strong drivetrain, robust construction and good spec (IE no cheaping out on materials, looking at you Traxxas). The only thing that stopped it before was the lack of an affordable power system. Now that we have the MMM, Losi and Tekin 1/8th systems there seems to be little excuse to keep churning out hacked up versions of their nitro trucks. Here's looking at you, RC companies.

Sorry my friend, but you are really off on this post. The Flux is exactly what this hobby is about. Everyone has been asking for an 1/8th BL vehicle and HPI delivered. The Flux is well built, well designed and the drivetrain can withstand a lot of abouse without any problems at all. It is NOT hacked up. Amazing to me that someone can make all of these negative remarks when you don't even own it, I don't even know if you have ever run it. Castle did a great job on the motor and ESC, and the design works. No heat issues whatsoever. Last thought....The best place on the Net to get information on BL conversions that were being done YEARS ago (when the ESC's were not for cars, you constantly had heat issues, and the first LiPo chargers were just starting to appear) is at RC-MONSTER. Those guys do amazing work, heck, you can even see some of my early 1/18th scale conversions but my point is, this truck is better built and better designed than most all of them. Dude, don't buy it, you won't appreciate it for what it is.
Matt

[lilredmachine]

I know, I'm E-sav on RC-monster. I've had various large scale BL trucks, never really had the money to go big big though.

Don't really see what you can argue about in my post BTW, there are already many reports of drivetrain failures involving drive pinions and bevel gears. The Flux is just a factory conversion of a GP X edition savage, nothing special. It's insanely powerful, but that's not really impressive is it? That's hardly HPIs doing anyway, Maybe if they had developed their own brushless systems. But once again, no one is prepared to drop that much on R+D in electric, which is exactly the point I was making in the first post. You can't hide it, the Flux is just a converted X, nothing more. People were asking for a 1/8th electric truck and what they got was a heavy handed conversion of a GP Savage.

It's not what I expect from the hobby. If I want to convert a nitro vehicle I will damn well convert one. I do not want HPI to do it for me, I expect them to come up with a new truck, not just rest on their laurels by throwing someone elses brushless system in their converted nitro truck.

[Joey]

Do you feel this way about the BL e-revo?

[E-Savy_UK]

I have to say, i quite like the Savage flux, or at least the idea of one, but i get the feeling that the e-savage will be overlooked by HPI now. i would have rather they dropper the $ into the E-sav developement to make rock solid drivetrain and a BL version. along with TVP options.

The savage flux is more of a PR excersise from HPI, as in to say "We've gone BL too" and a way to meet the demands of people who want to get a BL truck straight away. Sure there are problems at the moment with pinions coming off etc... but i recon they will be addressed soon.

Personally i am preferring the low and light options more and more - making what i've got as efficient and good as possible. I'd also rather a BL truggy than a BL monster truck too.

[Slave-One]

Let's face that RC companies, like any others, try to make money with the less cost. So re-using a standard well established plateform is the quickest way to go [for them]. Look for the upcoming Losi and Associated : just E conversion of a popular nitro vehicle. Building something really new from scratch can be very cash consuming (we all not that with our higly modded trucks) and there is a risk that people and after-market don't follow the brand new truck. What would be the cost a completly new designed truck ? I bet a lot more than the actual 600$. What would be the reaction of common people ? Too expensive! What would be the reaction of hard core basher ? Too expensive, I can do better with my own conversion! So what's the solution ?

[Joey]

I have to say, i quite like the Savage flux, or at least the idea of one, but i get the feeling that the e-savage will be overlooked by HPI now.

Since when did HPI ever really pay much attention to or do anything for the esavage?? Maybe Im just mistaken but I dont recall them ever really advancing the design or working to get new parts out for it or anything.. except for that one hardened diff gear. :confused: Or maybe Im just not looking in the right places!!!:)

[lilredmachine]

What would be the cost a completly new designed truck ? I bet a lot more than the actual 600$. What would be the reaction of common people ? Too expensive! What would be the reaction of hard core basher ? Too expensive, I can do better with my own conversion! So what's the solution ?

Yeah, but by that logic Traxxas would have never released the T-maxx or the Revo, as they would have been too expensive to research and build from scratch. Hpi never would have released the original Savage, as that would have been too expensive to design and make. If you take my original point, that the electric market usually has to make do with a converted nitro, leading to issues with weight, chassis layout etc. Then you can eliminate your point of a conversion performed by the user themselves if you give them what I am asking for... A bespoke electric truck. My argument here is that the Flux is a nitro Savage converted to electric, the E-maxx is a converted T-maxx, the E-revo is a converted Revo, the Twin Force was a converted Mad Force, AE will no doubt be releasing an E-MGT and Losi an E-LST at some point... If you want an electric truck that is designed specifically for electric, what have you got? The E-savage. That's it. No other choices.

Someone has to start somewhere, they don't seem to have an issue with nitro trucks in this regard. They can pull a new nitro truck out of their ass without so much as blinking, eventually trundling out an electric conversion when they can be arsed. So why don't we have a new electric 1/8th platform from any of the main manufacturers? All the requirements have been met, there are a wealth of controllers and motors available to power them, lipos are coming down in price and digital radio systems are eliminating any glitching usually relating to RTR radio systems and brushless... It's very frustrating that electric is still an afterthought to these manufacturers.

A larger E-savage type platform with little to no GP DNA (over than maybe *some* input on the drivetrain) would have been preferable. Maybe XL sized, internal packs to center the weight, somewhere to y'know, actually mount the ESC, beefier diff gears rather than just making them out of a different material, 4 shock specific towers... But no, once again we are going to be relying on the aftermarket to fix these issues. I know it keeps companies like Kershaw and GCM in business but I tire of waiting for what should have been done a long time ago.