BSD RACING EP-8 HIGHVOLT 1:8TH BRUSHLESS BUGGY

[Garry Driffill]

Just come accross these - http://www.apexmodels.com/gbu0-prodshow/BS803T.html

Anyone had any experience with them? - Bargain price too

"The EP8 Highvolt is a next generation brushless powered buggy that provides stunning speeds that will simply take your breath away. Although quick, the EP8 has great control through straights, curves and bumps and is powered by 2 x 3200mAh,7.4v Lipo battery packs which are connected to the motor via a high power, 80A Cooled ESC. The EP8 provides you all the fun and excitment of 1/8th racing, but without the mess and noise!"

I know you pay for what you get in a sence but for £249.99 RTR with LiPos is really good value for a base car..

Specifacations:

The EP-8 Highvolt is a next generation brushless powered 1:8th off road buggy.

The EP-8 has amazing speed and control through the straights, curves and bumps. Power is provided by two 3200mAh, 7.4v LiPo battery packs connected to a high power 2230kv brushless motor via an 80A fan-cooled ESC.

The blue countersunk chassis, oversized oil filled shocks and sealed gearboxes with high strength diffs are just some of the high spec features.

The EP-8 Highvolt provides all the fun and excitement of 1:8th racing, but without the mess and noise!

• Fully assembled and Ready-To-Run
• Pre-painted buggy bodyshell
• Full function steerwheel RC system
• High performance 2230KV brushless motor
• EZRUN-80A brushless ESC
• 2 x 3200mAh 7.4V 20C hard-case Li-Po battery packs
• Deans style power plugs and JST-XH balance connectors
• Blue anodised 6061 aluminium countersunk chassis
• 4-wheel shaft drive system
• Aluminium alloy drive shafts
• Steel main gear
• 4mm shaft, MOD-1 pinion gear
• Aluminium motor mount plate
• Waterproof and dustproof sealed gearboxes
• Quality four bevel gear differentials
• Precise sealed ball bearings
• Coil spring oil damped suspension system
• Easy access receiver and battery box
• High downforce rear spoiler
• Adjustable rear wing mount
• 17mm hex drive hubs
• Racing dish wheels with pre-glued high-blox dirt tyres

• Length: 458mm
• Width: 305mm
• Height: 165mm
• Wheelbase: 335mm


Hummmm!

[Marvin]

Mmmmm... Looks great(!).

I wish these random manufacturers would stop putting electrics that are sort of up to the job in these things - do it properly or not at all...

14.8V with 3200mAh will not be enough for 10 minutes run time on the track, and at 20C, they will overheat, and after 30 or so cycles when the packs begin to 'wear off' they will probably puff as they won't be as capable.

The motor will be Feigao based at best (which is pretty poor to be honest), and will run very hot, and isn't particularly efficient.

The EZ-Run 80A ESC is the only OK piece of electric equipment in it, and even that I'd say that the 150A version would be better.

[matdodd]

Ive had ago of one and it wasn't to bad straight out of the box it handled quite well.
It did feel a bit slow but rtr's generally are & its a good price and seamed quite strong from the hits we gave it!

[Garry Driffill]

Sounds pretty cool on a sorta impulse buy and not to serious racing side of things then by the sounds of it.

I can appricate with the more you fork out the better quality of product you will get but at that price it seems pretty cool

I cant find any video of the car running anywhere on the net at all which sucks

[mark christopher]

Originally Posted by Marvin

Mmmmm... Looks great(!).

I wish these random manufacturers would stop putting electrics that are sort of up to the job in these things - do it properly or not at all...

14.8V with 3200mAh will not be enough for 10 minutes run time on the track, and at 20C, they will overheat, and after 30 or so cycles when the packs begin to 'wear off' they will probably puff as they won't be as capable.

The motor will be Feigao based at best (which is pretty poor to be honest), and will run very hot, and isn't particularly efficient.

The EZ-Run 80A ESC is the only OK piece of electric equipment in it, and even that I'd say that the 150A version would be better.

come on its rtr for little money, your attitude hardly promotes newbies into the sport, heck let em spend £1000 and see if its for them eh!

[MikePimlott]

This is reviewed in next months (March i think) Racer Magazine

[Marvin]

Originally Posted by mark christopher

come on its rtr for little money, your attitude hardly promotes newbies into the sport, heck let em spend £1000 and see if its for them eh!

But, no person is going to stay in the hobby if they buy something that is toted as 'good enough' which then turns out that they need to spend an extra x amount upgrading all the electrics which were apparantly good enough. From my experience, the kind of people who want to do 1/8th electric don't want to skimp out on costs - it's not a beginner's area at the moment - it's not developed enough for that - and this is proof - the only way it can be made cheaper at the moment is to cut too many corners in the wrong places.

If a company did a 1/8 electronics 'kit' for other cars, for around that price point - then that'd be a good solution. Fine, it still wouldn't be cheap (probably £5-600 RTR), but then it really would be 'good enough' - the approaches taken by Traxxas and HPI for the brushless 1/8 stuff seems to be the best to me, using proven, high quality electronics with a good warranty, and allowing the user to choose their own batteries. No matter which way you cut it, those 3200mAh 20C batteries included in that EP-8 just are not good enough, and the lifetime of those packs will be drastically reduced, won't provide a great run-time (10 minutes maybe?), and they probably aren't 'true 20C' anyway - like many of the 'cheap Ebay job-batteries' out there.

[mark christopher]

Originally Posted by Marvin

But, no person is going to stay in the hobby if they buy something that is toted as 'good enough' which then turns out that they need to spend an extra x amount upgrading all the electrics which were apparantly good enough. From my experience, the kind of people who want to do 1/8th electric don't want to skimp out on costs - it's not a beginner's area at the moment - it's not developed enough for that - and this is proof - the only way it can be made cheaper at the moment is to cut too many corners in the wrong places.

If a company did a 1/8 electronics 'kit' for other cars, for around that price point - then that'd be a good solution. Fine, it still wouldn't be cheap (probably £5-600 RTR), but then it really would be 'good enough' - the approaches taken by Traxxas and HPI for the brushless 1/8 stuff seems to be the best to me, using proven, high quality electronics with a good warranty, and allowing the user to choose their own batteries. No matter which way you cut it, those 3200mAh 20C batteries included in that EP-8 just are not good enough, and the lifetime of those packs will be drastically reduced, won't provide a great run-time (10 minutes maybe?), and they probably aren't 'true 20C' anyway - like many of the 'cheap Ebay job-batteries' out there.

then if they want good gear there not going to buy a cheap rtr

[Garry Driffill]

Finally found a video of this running if its of any interest to anyone..