New to RC of any time and tanks look mighty interesting :)

[Veqlargh]

Little over month ago i bought a 1/16th e-revo vxl just to get out of the house. This prompted me to then decide to go abit bigger and get a 1/10th traxxas Ford raptor so i had a couple RC's so my kiddos could play with me. Yeah i know these are hobby level so i'll have to keep a close eye on them and be sure we're very clear of anyone and anything.

Fast forward to yesterday, recurring idle interest, and i got to thinking of RC tanks so i started looking around, but i am completely clueless. For starters i was thinking i might get a couple of these http://www.matomart.com/prodview.php?p=587 as it appears they are RTR and can fire airsoft, and fight using an IR system. Any thoughts on these? I figure they're cheap enough to get into tanks on a trial, and knowing my boys will want to play as well the price point makes me far less concerned if they happen to have an accident. Granted i can't let them use the airsoft feature as their simply too young yet to be trusted with that.

[43rdRecceReg]

Welcome! It looks like the rctank virus is now in your system.
The latest iterations of some Heng Long tanks have a revised V6.0 (and it must be V6 or V6.1) control system. This allows IR battling as well as airsoft. If, for obvious reasons you don't want the kids firing airsoft, fitting the IR apple module in the Commander's cupola negates the Airsoft function. It's quite simple, and very neat.

[jarndice]

Welcome to the Forum
As you have found MATO first I am assuming you are somewhere in North America because the Europeans among us would be unlikely to go to that dealer first,
Don't mistake me they are an ok dealer BUT if you are after an I/R with Airsoft Tank at a price that wont break the Bank I suggest you start with a Heng Long Version 6.0/1,
Be careful because not all Heng Long Tanks are V6.0/1,
These are about the cheapest new Tanks that come with all the bells and whistles.
You will have lots of members of the Forum with suggestions of what maker and what type of Tank but thinking of your pocket book the Heng Long Tiger 1 V6.0/1 would be my start point,
Whatever you decide enjoy this place and ask all the questions that I know you will have.

[Veqlargh]

Yeah i've actually thought about RC tanks on and off since high school, i'm now 42, so obviously i'm quite the procrastinator. I actually did in fact pick up on the Heng long tanks first but i wasn't seeing any that seemed to indicate they were air soft/IR out of the box. And MATO had that particular tank listed much cheaper then even amazon AND it specifically mentioned both air soft and IR which the amazon listing did not.

It appears it will be very difficult to determine which are which due to folks not properly listing their products to differentiate them.

[Veqlargh]

and yes i live in Happy valley Oregon USA.

[Jimster]

Seeing that you’re a fellow colonist, I suggest you look at this USA based vendor. https://www.taigentanks.com/

[Wildboar44]

Welcome to the forum

[Veqlargh]

I did look at the taigen tanks as well, but as i understand it arn't those ALL not compatible with other brands in IR battles? If i understand that correctly and folks still think taigen is better then heng long how difficult/expensive would it be to update it to be compatible? This of course assumes i find some folks in the portland metro area to battle with

[jarndice]

Hi,
The Heng Long V6.0/1 is good to go with all tanks fighting under international rules as its built in I/R equipment is Tamiya compatible,
Taigen I/R Tanks do NOT conform to the Tamiya standard which is the only standard a club will recognise BUT there is a fix,
Tankbear `yet another member of the Forum is the main man @-----------
http://www.rctankelectronics.com
This dealer is the main Agent for North America and the UK, As a customer I can vouch for his honest and straight dealings.
He sells the MAKO2018 Battle Unit which is a plug in PCB that converts the Taigen I/R Signal into a Tamiya compatible signal,
Any extra peripherals that you might need for a Taigen I/R Tank conversion are readily available from this dealer.
If you have any questions about converting a Taigen Tank to Tamiya standard I/R He will be happy to answer them.
Both Tankbear and the MAKO PCB Battle Unit are tried and tested
The cost of the MAKO2018 is £25 +Postage.
If later in your journey through this hobby you decide to upgrade your control board this dealer is the main agent and one of the developers of the IBU2/3 which is far superior to Taigen or Heng Long Control Boards and various other Tank related magical electronic devices as well as the full range of "TARR" Smokers.
I hope that helps.
There is at least one other Oregon resident who is a member of the Forum

[Veqlargh]

Thanks for the info. That makes researching and deciding much easier