Customer Reviews

Megatech Megapro RCB Buggy 1:18

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Comes mostly assembled so it was up and running in a matter of minutes -- took it out on the street and it zooms up the block in no time (suprised me how fast it was). First time out in the street I must have gotten some interference on the controller or something because the car ended up going 30 MPH into a curb drainage hole! Luckily I could take the manhole cover off and recover it, and NO problems with the car.. Still ran like a champ (NOTE: I might have been responsible for the driving into the drainage hole, but I'm a seasoned remote control car operator and had over 3 minutes behind the wheel before this horrible accident!)..

Likes:
Super Fast!
Turns on a dime!
Has reverse!
4 wheel drive!

Dislikes:
Range on the remote could be better (luckily it stops by itself when it goes out of range)

This car will really surprise you the first time you fire it up. It has lightning acceleration, and a top speed that would have dogs and bicycles eating its dust. It's a blast to play with.

When I first purchased the car, seven months ago, I was a little discouraged about losing a piece from my front shock absorber, on one of my first outings. The manufacturer offers many replacement parts, but they are high in price, and the part that fell off my car was going to cost me ten bucks. I fabricated a fix out of some epoxy putty, and then bought a spare parts car.

Since then, I've ran and ran this car, and it has functioned flawlessly, and held up marvelously to all of my abuse. The only real problem I've had with the car is a stripped differential gear; a result of me tightening the diff too much in an attempt to get some wheelie action. My recommendation is to leave the diff at the factory setting, and not to bother trying to get wheelies out of this car (the weight distribution is just too balanced to wheelie).

One of the best things I've learned during this time is that when the car does need a replacement part, you can save some money by taking advantage of cross-compatibility with the Associated RC18t on some parts. Shock absorbers and differentials are two examples where the RC18t part will work on the Megapro. The benefit here is that parts for the RC18 are about one third the price of the Megapro. Do a little research before you buy.

Overall, I'm completely satisfied with this car. Great fun!

I received my 'buggy' a little over a month ago. First few times I ran it with no problems. Within a week, the front strutpost had broke (mainly due to me running it into a tire), both of the front shocks had popped open and fell off. I also had one of the axles break while just driving in a straight line, and not hitting anything. Finally after receiving most of my replacements parts in the mail to include a new steering motor (that had broke) and one of the upgrade motors I put everything back together and ready for a test run. The receiver box got extreamly hot just moments after pluging the battery back in. Now it will not back up at the same rate that it will drives forward. Its lucky to back up at all. With all the problems aside, I enjoy the car when it is running. A few of the guys that I live/work with have asked me to get them one, but I keep putting it off for I have spent more money on parts than I did on the whole thing, and I still need more parts to just keep it running. If you have what it takes to keep replacing stuff, and do not mind doing it, this is a good car.

This R/C car bombs. I bought it just to have a little fun, but was blow away to see how fast it goes. The included charger takes 10 hours to charge, so you'll want to pick up the fast charger which is around [...]. If you can drop the money, its worth it!

I only just got this car three days ago, and had to wait until we had a dry day, but today I finally got to try it out - wow! It is pretty crazy fun stuff. It's very fast (rated top speed out of the box is 25 mph - I don't know if it makes that or not, but it is definitely fast.) I also found it to be durable as I sure had some spectacular crashes quite a few times and, while ending up with some scrapes, it is working perfectly still. Then, in what can only be described as a moment of true horror, it was driven straight into a gutter! Poof! - it disappeared. I was pretty distraught for hours afterward but later, in a moment of inspiration, I ran down the cellar and fashioned a "fishing line" out of some sort of gear in my kids tackle box that I have no idea what it is for - a piece of rope with a long aluminum piece on the end which I bent into a crude hook, went gutter fishing and managed to get it back! I can't tell you how happy I was right then - and the car, though disheveled, was still working great. This is a fantastic little radio control car. Highly recommended, but do yourself a favor and keep it away from gutters.

I purchased this car for my nine year-old son as an upgrade to his Nikko rc cars. While this is much more expensive, the performance is far superior. He is interested in competing at rc tracks in this area, so this is a good starter-car for him.

As others have mentioned, the car is extremely fast and and very agile. Although the description states the 7.2 battery pack is not included, mine actually came with it, which was a nice surprise!

We've only taken it out once, and I was a little dissapointed in how long the battery kept its charge. I was expecting 20-25 minutes, but it kept its charge about 15 minutes. Regardless, those 15 minutes were a LOT of fun.

The only other downside is you have to unmount the body to remove/instert the battery pack. This uses body clips that can be a little tricky, thus it takes a little time to get everything set up.

All in all I would certainly recommend this product to beginning rc car enthusiasts who are considering pursuing rc racing as a hobby.

My boys and I loved the car when we got it - fast and fun. After about 10 uses it started to have problems. We never wrecked it or had any hard hits. It starts very rough and does not go from forward to reverse or stop to start nearly as fast as when we first got it. It jitters and stutters horribly. It was after the 90 day warranty, so I ordered and installed a new motor ($30). No change. So I sent an email to support and they suggested a new Electronic Speed Control and offered a discount for it ($19.99) since I was having problems but it was out of warranty. Unfortunately, that didn't fix it either. So I sent another email to support, ready to give up. I was pleasantly surprised when they wrote back saying they would send me a new buggy free. That was beyond my expectations. Hence the positive review.

In reading other's feedback, my car appears to have been a rare bad apple. I doubt the company could do this for a lot of customers, but it appears they haven't had to.

Anyone who reads this and thinks about trying to get a 'free' replacement car to fix something you broke yourself - remember that the company went above and beyond what they had to do. Respect them back and only raise issues if it really is a defective car that was not your fault.

When I purchased the buggy (2 of them), the title listed "with battery", but it does not come with the rechargeable battery. I complained to Amazon and I notice they have corrected the title to remove the "with battery". I haven't used the cars yet (it's a gift for my sons). It looks of good quality (I've had many RC models cars, trucks, helis). I ended up ordering the battery. One thing about the battery, although it needs 7.2V it is not a standard 7.2V you can buy in any hobby shop. You need to get the 1200 Nimh Battery and Charger Combo by Megatech. It needed the special battery because of the scale of the buggy 1:18 (small but not mini). I wanted to by a better battery with more mh but this is the only one available. I considered returning to purchase net next size up on scale model buggies, but the costs went up considerably that I could find (all without batteries), and I needed 2 of them for 2 kids. For the price I do believe it is of good value, but I'm concerned if I will be able to purchase a replacement battery in 1 or 2 years.

bought this from MegaTech themselves (same unit) to use with my 4 yr old (she likes to chase, and be chased by it, in our large, flat backyard). The video and narration on their website claims this truck is s "serious, professional quality racing car" with "4 wheel drive to handle even the most demanding racing course." They show it going thru water puddles, dirt tracks with pebbles, clearly driving it to its limits.

3 months and $325 later, I've replaced every part I can pronounce, and some that I can't, at my local hobby store. My daughter and I go to the park, swings, play catch, Frisbee, and I thought this would be a nice addition to our "Daddy / Daughter" repertoire. AND, since this car NEVER touched a dirt track, water, raced professionally, nor crashed into anything more egregious than a few sprinkler heads (not running water), from the website and video claims, I never expected I'd need major repairs so quickly. I wound up purchasing TWO new cars from this company for spare parts before I realized enough was enough.

As a doctor, I don't have oodles of time with my family as it, so anything I buy for fun with the kids must be at least marginally durable and ready to be played with on a moment's notice. This car is NOT that toy. Despite the claims and video, DON'T run it on anything but pavement, perhaps an abandoned parking lot you've swept out. Or maybe a gymnasium. Anything else, and you're heading into what my local hobby store owner calls "the bottomless RC money pit."

A few things about this rc. Although they are 4wd, with an open pinion gear they are not protected from dirt and the electronics are extremely sensative to water- both will void the warranty. Add to that the fact that these do 25+ MPH out of the box and you really cant run them indoors- they are designed to fail outside the warranty. Essentially they are throw away toys. Radioshack used to carry them under the name ProPulse, had so many problems they ended up sending the entire lot back to Megatech. The radios on these have gotten a lot of customer complaints as well, most of the issue being that they take 8 AA batteries, the low battery light never comes on even when the batteries are low. Rechargable batteries wont work in the remotes, as they are a slightly lower voltage, and cause the radios to malfunction. The battery pack that comes with the car is fine, but you will only get 10 mins tops out of it, and it takes 10 hours to charge with included charger.


This rc is a 1/18 scale car, and besides Megatech there are many other companies that make 1/18 rcs, Associated being one of them. Megatech does make a fantastic product, but keep the prices low by stonewalling the customer when it involves genuine warranty claims. Associated makes a sealed drive rc18t2, comes with a 2.4ghz radio that has essentially unlimited range, and Associated has a much better name for itself than Megatech. In my opinion, its well worth the few dollars more. If you want a toy, buy Megatech, thats all it is.