Best long-term option for electronics and IR battle system.

[twelvebears]

I can already feel this is going to become an obsession and I've not even got my first tank due to the Xmas break....

So I'm going to be buying a HL Tiger from Steve at Welsh Dragon but I'm already thinking about what to do about the electronics long term.

I want to have the option of taking part in IR battles which means that I need a Tamiya compatible system. I'm therefore assuming that I should just get a normal S&S HL rather than one with an IR system as I'd just have to ditch it anyway.

The thing is I'm puzzled as to what the best route is. I've heard good and bad things about most of the systems and although the El Mod sounds exciting for some of the advanced features, I've got reservations about it's ease of use/installation and potentially it's level of back-up and support.

The only system which doesn't seem to get stick (other than because of it's cost) is the one from Tamyia. The obvious other plus being that the Tamiya can work with any Rx/Tx setup, meaning having more than 4 channels could be possible for adding addition features/functions.

I'd be very grateful for guidance for anyone who runs a HL tank with a Tamiya compatible IR systems as to what they have done and perhaps what they would recommend to someone starting with a clean sheet.

Cheers

Steve

[wibblywobbly]

You have several choices if you just want a compatible battle system, but if you want the sound as well it's either Tamiya or Elmod.

You needn't worry about back up/reliability/installation with the Elmod if you choose to go that way, they really are a piece of cake to install, and the factory will answer any questions that you have. The latest boards are very much improved design-wise over the early ones. There is a wealth of help available on the forums too.

The huge difference between the Tamiya and Elmod systems is that the Elmod is completely programmable, you can create, or download, your own sound files and make your tank sound as realistic as you want, and change the way that the tank performs. It also makes a tx use much simpler than a Tamiya system does, there is no fumbling around with sliders, everything works off the two sticks in a perfectly logical way.

The Elmod boards can be hooked straight up to HL electronics, they plug right in, and you can use anything from a 4 channel upwards tx as well, with the cheaper 4 ch 2.4ghz ones being ideal at around £50. You also have additional outputs on the boards for a multitude of tx controlled extras (brake lights if you want them, extra machine guns, muzzle flash etc, as well as servo's).

The benefit of Tamiya is that it is all in neat sealed boxes, but you will have to do some wiring to get it working with HL internals.

Any more questions just ask, we are all happy to help.

Rob G