LaTrax Teton 1/18 Scale 4WD Monster Truck

Overview

Why go for a 18th scale RC truck? Well the answer to this question will be subject to personal taste and preference but also maybe help to highlight who the product is aimed at. For me I wanted something I could just pull out and go to the park with for 20 minutes of fun. Also something easy to take with me or portablle would be good at this means I might use it more. But I still wanted something durable, within reason, and a quality product, a serious RC car not a cheap toy grade car.

So why did I pick the Latrax Teton 1/18 scale monstertruck truck? Well after deciding on a smaller sized RC car (1/16 or 1/18) I researched what was avalibe there were some other possibilities such as the HPI Mini Recon, Maveric truck, and some from ECX. The reason I went for the LaTrax Teton is that they have had some experience and learnings in the 1/18 scale models with the Latrax Rally. Also Latrax is owned by Traxxas which have a good reputation, and also there are spare pasts avalible for this model.

When unboxing the LaTrax Teton I was reasonably impressed, it comes accross as a quality kit. The box highlights some key features which I felt were benificial and made it stand out from its competitors. Some of the key features are:

• Metal ring and pinion gears
• Water proof electronics
• Fully independent suspension with oil-filled shocks with variable mounting positions

As this is a RTR (Ready To Run) it comes with all you need to take the car for a spin but you will need to charge the battery first. In the box you get:

The included ESC seems a decent (a Traxxas ESC I believe) and has 3 modes of operation, forward and revers, forward and break, 50% power which is great for kids whilst learning. Enabling each of these modes is very easy and well explained within the instruction manual.

I would suggest that people get an additional battery and a fast charger if they do not already have one, the supplied charger does the job but the charge time for the included 1200mAH battery is 3.5 hours.

After a few outings with the Teton I have found it to be quite durable and a lot of fun. Thus far I have ran the truck on mixed terrain, footpaths and at parks on grass and some dirt tracks and thus far only small jumps. It has handled this terrain with out any issues. Its quite a quick truck and at speed over bumps can bounce around a little but this is not too serious and all in all the truck tracks and handles well. The run time off the fully charged battery 1200mAH stock battery is 11-15 minutes depending on how much time your at full throttle.