There is a poll on another site thats run by one of the magazines. I thought it was a great idea and figured it'd be cool to put one up here too. The beauty of Hobby Talk, none of the magazines are moderators here so its an even playing field for all.

Here's the question: What's your favorite r/c magazine?

You don't have to, but if you'd like, tell us why. From another country and don't see yours there? Let me know and I'll add it.

Let's try to keep this from starting arguements, everyone is entitled to there opinions and we should all respect that. I'm sure all the magazines read here so don't be shy. We're always looking for feedback so tell us what you like, and don't like.

Enjoy!

I'll be the first to vote. I voted for Driver (suprise suprise) :)

Driver all the way!!! It has what I like to see oval coverage!!!!

To tell the truth, the only magazine worth a dime went under years ago. Competition Plus! That was a magazine that really covered racing, was sorry to see it go. None of the rags on the market now cover enough racing to even be interesting. My $.02 Ralf 13

By far the best mag is R/C Car (www.rc-car.com) not as many adds and have good reviews, unlike some that every review is positive, even if it is a pile of crap! Look at what company's own the publications......

Right now I am giving an ever so slight edge to XRC over RCD. I just like their article and test items a little better. Can't agree more on RCD giving oval some looks though and they are to be commended for that. :thumbsup: RCD just doesn't seem to give quite the detail in tests and races that XRC does. Right now I subscribe to XRC, RCD, and R/C Car. Of the three it seems R/C Car is going down hill the most. It just doesn't seem like they are packing the mag with the same amount of good items as they used to. Thinner and thinner are words that come to mind. I look at RCCA at the news stand and put it back on the shelf. Good for looking at the new items in ads but content is lacking.

Competiton Plus WAS very good but I think R/C Model Cars (think that's what is was called) was THE best all around magazine I've ever seen. It's to bad that these 2 excellent magazines went the way of the dodo in the early 90's. :cry:

RCCA:dude:

Rc Driver,the only magazine with oval coverage.

RCDriver - I like how the articles are written, they're easy to read and well explained for us 'newbies'. I've read a few different ones, but seem to get more out of RC Driver. (Plus, I don't have to weed through the pictures that have NOTHING to do with R/C, if you catch my drift.) GirlsRC2!

I love RCCA

Competition Plus was a true "Racers" magazine..


Something we have to remember however is that for a magazine to survive they have to have good sales numbers. RCCA to me always had the "Glitz" to make that happen, it's just too bad all they have is "Glitz"

I think RCDriver is a great magazine and would probably put RCCar not too far behind...

Happy to see that someone else remembers Competition Plus, I was begining to feel REAL OLD! ;) Ralf 13

Def. RCDriver, the only magazine that will cover oval. Last would be XRC.

Ralf,

THIS year marks my 20th year of RC Racing...and still LOVING IT...

Over the years I've hated the battery wars, the bickering, the politics...etc, but always loved the racing...

Now for OVAL survival...I run the SHOW...create the politics...and am forced to listen to the bickering...and don't get to race as much as I'd like to...and STILL LOVING IT...AND, I am grooming my 13 year old son to have a lifetime hobby w/ RC Racing~

Joe Myers
South-West Tour "Championship R/C Oval Series"
www.southwesttour.com

Driver is the best Mag out there just plain cents . Keep up the good work guys see you at the track . :wave: Ken

XRC and RCD. I've read everything else on the market and they'r all 1 month behind in reviews and coverage. It's nice to have mags that give some knowledgable reviews!

No contest ... RC Driver!! :dude:

I voted for driver, before i saw the results i was expecting action or rc car to lead but i was pleasantly surprised to see driver #1. best race coverage. best unbiased reviews of product. the mag has better quality pics and is on better paper too.Don't get me wrong i used to own a t-maxx but in the last issue of driver every vehicle reviewed was off-road/monster truck. nothing wrong with offroad but how about a little diversity? i like the boats too, i don't own one but you never know...

I voted for driver, before i saw the results i was expecting action or rc car to lead but i was pleasantly surprised to see driver #1. best race coverage. best unbiased reviews of product. the mag has better quality pics and is on better paper too.Don't get me wrong i used to own a t-maxx but in the last issue of driver every vehicle reviewed was off-road/monster truck. nothing wrong with offroad but how about a little diversity? i like the boats too, i don't own one but you never know...

Very good feedback from all. Its hard sometime to keep it mixed up very evenly. It all depends on what we have in at the time.

Nothing beats RCDriver :) :)

There is a poll on another site thats run by one of the magazines. I thought it was a great idea and figured it'd be cool to put one up here too. The beauty of Hobby Talk, none of the magazines are moderators here so its an even playing field for all.

I am assuming that you are referring to my website, R/C Tech, since I created the poll there. I am not sure where you get the idea that it is "run" by a magazine; it is 100% owned, operated, and financed by myself. Additionally, there are exactly twice as many RC Driver-affiliated moderators at R/C Tech than XRC-affiliated moderators.

Not meant as an attack, just a clarification. Thanks.

I am assuming that you are referring to my website, R/C Tech, since I created the poll there. I am not sure where you get the idea that it is "run" by a magazine; it is 100% owned, operated, and financed by myself. Additionally, there are exactly twice as many RC Driver-affiliated moderators at R/C Tech than XRC-affiliated moderators.

Not meant as an attack, just a clarification. Thanks.

Yes Shane, I did mean your site but out of respect for this one I didn't say the name (I would do the same on yours out of respect to you too). I thought your poll was a great idea and started something very usefull for all of us so I thought it be cool to get more input. I didn't mean to start an arguement about the magazine thing either and I don't wish to start one now either, but you do work for XRC. That wasn't my point anyway but I apoligize if you took it as flaming you or Tech. As I don't mod on Tech, I don't know who is a mod there except for Jarrod who is a contributor... there are no employees of Driver (to my knowledge at least) that are moderators.

My only intention here was to continue a great idea. In I've only recently began to participate on your forum but have as much fun there as I do here. :thumbsup: :wave:

Troy Shear (the co-administrator there) and Jarrod are both moderators; aside from me no other Xtreme employees are part of the staff.

Anyway, no harm done. I only clarify it because I don't want people thinking that R/C Tech is just another Xtreme bulletin board. :)

Hotdang!! the latest issue of rc flyer has some pics of my flying buddy holding an airplane
that I built and covered and flew at the funflys nationals in Mucie Ind. like oval racing we dont get much coverage.The guy that wrote the artilce is Dave Baron.. I dont know if any of you guys at rc driver have anything to do with the airplane end of the mag. but it is great to see a little coverage on things that dont get much.. keep up[ the good work.

p.s i also race rc cars onroad, off and oval. mostly off these days i just got back from racind offroad i won!! lol

i Prefer RC Driver, Xtreme is good and RC Car isnt to bad, i cant stand RCCA, its huge but mainly due to all the ads

Since I live in Brazil, it is difficult for me to buy RC magazines on the newsstands, as we don't have a local magazine, and the USA magazines are very hard to find. So I subscribe to RCCA, RC Nitro and RC Driver. :D

My vote was for RC Driver, but it was not an easy decision. I think RC Driver is very well written, is printed in very good paper, has good product reviews, and some nice reports. I really don't care much about the oval racing reports and the boat stuff, but I know the magazine has to cover other sides of the hobby, too.

A few months ago I was really thinking in not renewing my RCCA subscription, since I thought that they were leaning too much towards the entry-level market and forgetting a bit about the competitive side of the hobby, but their latest IFMAR Worlds reports (1/10 nitro and 1/12 and electric touring) made me change my mind, since I found them very good!

R/C Car is also nice, but as someone pointed out, they seem to be always a bit late when it comes on new product reviews. But I like their action pictures! ;)

As for XRC, some time ago my LHS got an issue from a customer that travelled to USA, and I read the magazine there and found it very nice. So I decided to buy some back issues over the internet, to see if all the issues were that good and probably subscribe to it later. But I was very disappointed with their customer service, since my credit card was billed, but I never received the magazines. :mad: They said that they sent the magazines, but I never got them. After many e-mails complaining about it, they promised me a refund, that I never got, either. So I gave up on XRC, not because of the magazine itself, but because of their bad customer service.

My vote goes to.. none of them.

I haven't been satisfied by any R/C magazines offering in a number of years, as the balance between RTR and racing is far too heavily in RTRs favour now. I no longer subscribe to any mags because of this, however I do pick up issues that sound interesting (usually 1, sometimes 2 a month).
This month I picked up 3; XRC, RC Car, and RCCA, because from glancing at them, some of the cover stories sounded interesting - but when I got them home, I realized that every single one of those articles was about RTRs. Every one!

It's like every issue these days is another installment in a beginners guide to R/C - what happened to beginners picking up *actual* beginners guides to learn about the simple things?

I hear ya Nutter, and believe me there are times I wish we didn't do so many rtr's. The simple and straight of it is that 90% of whats available in the market is rtr. If we ignored that we (all mags) wouldn't have enough for a magazine. As far as beginners guides... I've been in this since 86 and buying magazines since 88 and although I took from 95-98 off, I don't ever remember any beginners guides. Thanks for the input I certainly agree to a point but you have to look at where the entire industry (for the most part) has gone to. I personally thing the RTR's aren't the best thing for this hobby in the long term but it's a trade off. They attract more people to the hobby than kits ever did, but the flip side is that a small percentage of those people actually get past the rtr phase and into kits and few ever really learn to work on their vehicles. Well, either way, they are the way the industry has gone and we can't change that. The input is much appreciated though.
:thumbsup:

You guys want to see something funny? Watch as I get Erich going on this one...


White Castle Sucks ;)

And so does Steak and Shake :)

You see Gary... this is why people talk about you on the internet. :p

Dude, you can't say after the service we got in Indy, I don't have a right to be down on Steak and Shake. And you can't say that White Castle is all that great either.

But Jack in the Box...Now there's some good eats :nod:

no... YOU got bad service, everyone else's was fine... I can hardly blame them either. LOL :freak:

That waitress was horrible.

My vote goes to.. none of them.

I haven't been satisfied by any R/C magazines offering in a number of years, as the balance between RTR and racing is far too heavily in RTRs favour now. I no longer subscribe to any mags because of this, however I do pick up issues that sound interesting (usually 1, sometimes 2 a month).
This month I picked up 3; XRC, RC Car, and RCCA, because from glancing at them, some of the cover stories sounded interesting - but when I got them home, I realized that every single one of those articles was about RTRs. Every one!

It's like every issue these days is another installment in a beginners guide to R/C - what happened to beginners picking up *actual* beginners guides to learn about the simple things?

What are you talking about? We have 1 (One) dedicated column for beginners and the rest is more techical. Did you really read XRC?

Derek, from the May cover..
"NEW TRAXXAS TRUCK: SEE THE NEW JATO INSIDE".. RTR.
"SAVAGE POWER! HPI's Latest SAVAGE SS 4.6 gets down and dirty!".. Not RTR, but includes an engine (ok, that's picky).
"DRIVEN: SCHUMACHER MENACE GTR, TEAM LOSI XXX-S RTR2, XTM 1/6-SCALE BUGGY".. RTR, RTR, and Almost-RTR.
"LEARN TO: GLUE TIRES, MOUNT A BODY, BUILD A BATTERY PACK, CARB RESTRICTOR BASICS".. uhh, those are definitely for beginners.
and finally,
"RACE COVERAGE: 6th ANNUAL NITRO CHALLENGE & TRINITY SNOWBIRDS" - this is the reason I bought the mag.

Derek, from the May cover..
"NEW TRAXXAS TRUCK: SEE THE NEW JATO INSIDE".. RTR.
"SAVAGE POWER! HPI's Latest SAVAGE SS 4.6 gets down and dirty!".. Not RTR, but includes an engine (ok, that's picky).
"DRIVEN: SCHUMACHER MENACE GTR, TEAM LOSI XXX-S RTR2, XTM 1/6-SCALE BUGGY".. RTR, RTR, and Almost-RTR.
"LEARN TO: GLUE TIRES, MOUNT A BODY, BUILD A BATTERY PACK, CARB RESTRICTOR BASICS".. uhh, those are definitely for beginners.
and finally,
"RACE COVERAGE: 6th ANNUAL NITRO CHALLENGE & TRINITY SNOWBIRDS" - this is the reason I bought the mag.

Not coming to anyones defense, or trying to start an arguement either but are we (non-beginners) all so perfect that we know how to do everything? I've been racing (that is what you consider the "non-beginnner side of this right?) for a long time and I've seen plenty of people that honestly DON'T know how to glue tires, mount bodies, build batteries the right way,or other various "how to" issues. And I have yet to meet a group of racers where the majority understand the fine tuning details of a nitro motor. You may be someone who does know how to do all this stuff the right way but you can't assume everyone around you does too. That doesn't make them beginners by any means. I've found that even though I know how to do stuff, its good to have a refresher once in a while. There are sometimes small details that make a difference that I was missing, and I would suggest that you don't discount how to's as "I don't need to read any of that". If it's written well, there may be something that can still help you, or show you a new way of doing something. As far as vehicles, try not to be so quick to assume that your cars (whatever you have) are so far superior. Just because something comes with a radio and other things doesn't mean it's not worthy of competing with you vehicles. Racing isn't the end all be all, uppercrust of this hobby either, therefore try not lable things as "beginner" just because it's not for racing. My best advise to anyone, and it reaches beyond this hobby to life in general, is be humble, no one, including you or I knows "everything" or is the absolute definition of "professional". We are, and I hate to say this, playing with toys. To say "my toy's better than yours" just seems silly to me. As for Derek, he may think he knows everything, but it's just an attempt to be my friend...LOL. :wave:

Not coming to anyones defense, or trying to start an arguement either but are we (non-beginners) all so perfect that we know how to do everything? I've been racing (that is what you consider the "non-beginnner side of this right?) for a long time and I've seen plenty of people that honestly DON'T know how to glue tires, mount bodies, build batteries the right way,or other various "how to" issues. And I have yet to meet a group of racers where the majority understand the fine tuning details of a nitro motor. You may be someone who does know how to do all this stuff the right way but you can't assume everyone around you does too. That doesn't make them beginners by any means. I've found that even though I know how to do stuff, its good to have a refresher once in a while. There are sometimes small details that make a difference that I was missing, and I would suggest that you don't discount how to's as "I don't need to read any of that". If it's written well, there may be something that can still help you, or show you a new way of doing something. As far as vehicles, try not to be so quick to assume that your cars (whatever you have) are so far superior. Just because something comes with a radio and other things doesn't mean it's not worthy of competing with you vehicles. Racing isn't the end all be all, uppercrust of this hobby either, therefore try not lable things as "beginner" just because it's not for racing. My best advise to anyone, and it reaches beyond this hobby to life in general, is be humble, no one, including you or I knows "everything" or is the absolute definition of "professional". We are, and I hate to say this, playing with toys. To say "my toy's better than yours" just seems silly to me. As for Derek, he may think he knows everything, but it's just an attempt to be my friend...LOL. :wave:


LOL, some corrections.

A. I know everything
B. You are not my friend
C. That's it...I got nothing.

I've posted this at least 3 times in my life. Once you are a "racer" there's little we can learn, or want to learn. I highly doubt Michael Schumacher or Dale JR is learning how to set up their car from the respective magazines, but somehow I think they understand the importance of bringing new people in.

Also, a magazine is at least 12 issues, so why base what a magazine is all about from one issue. If you're into this hobby you'll understand that RTRs come out every other day. Kits do not. :)

LOL, some corrections.

A. I know everything
B. You are not my friend
C. That's it...I got nothing.

I've posted this at least 3 times in my life. Once you are a "racer" there's little we can learn, or want to learn. I highly doubt Michael Schumacher or Dale JR is learning how to set up their car from the respective magazines, but somehow I think they understand the importance of bringing new people in.

Also, a magazine is at least 12 issues, so why base what a magazine is all about from one issue. If you're into this hobby you'll understand that RTRs come out every other day. Kits do not. :)

A. I like fried chicken
B. Oh ya... that's that other magazines guy! My bad. LOL
C. Sometimes my dogs eat my sneakers.

Schumacher and Jr. will be the first people to tell you, they don't need to know about setup just driving, but Jr. (at least I can say this of him) will also be the first to tell you he knows a lot but not everything what he does need to know, and that was my point with Nutter. Everyone should be getting stuff out of magazines and that's why I thought this poll thing was such a great idea. Your are right... one issue certainly shouldn't represent 11 others of ANY magazine.

ekid138: Hey, don't take that the wrong way - I know there's much for me yet to learn, and a lot I never truely will. But that doesn't change the fact that articles like those will not teach me anything; like you say, they'll be good for brushing up, but that isn't really learning now is it? I just feel really disappointed in the current offerings from mags since I know that there is a ton of stuff that I could learn if only the article was there to read. I'm the type of person who loves to learn, and hate to waste my time that could otherwise be spent learning something useful - I have dozens of non-fiction technical (programming, electronics, maths, physics, you name it) books for this very reason.

Where'd you get the impression that this was a judgement after only a single issue also? Perhaps the average issue isn't as bad as the one I listed the covers contents for, but it was the latest one so that's what I used as a reference; and the average isn't that much better anyway (it definitely is better though, don't take that the wrong way).

Like I said originally, I usually buy a couple of R/C mags per month, if they sound interesting. If they sound interesting. That's my point; fewer and fewer are these days, and my buying habbits have definitely showed that (I used to be subscribed to 3, XRC included - now I'm subscribed to none).

No offense taken... my point was to even try giving the ones your not interested a shot. You might find yourself getting interested in something new (I know I did when we started doing boats). I also like to read things just to learn about them and that's my point. I've found that sometimes there were things that I discredited as nothing worth reading and when I ended up reading it (honestly, out of boredom) I actually found something of interest. I'm glad you get the mags sometimes and thats all I (we) can ask.

ekid138: Hey, don't take that the wrong way - I know there's much for me yet to learn, and a lot I never truely will. But that doesn't change the fact that articles like those will not teach me anything; like you say, they'll be good for brushing up, but that isn't really learning now is it? I just feel really disappointed in the current offerings from mags since I know that there is a ton of stuff that I could learn if only the article was there to read. I'm the type of person who loves to learn, and hate to waste my time that could otherwise be spent learning something useful - I have dozens of non-fiction technical (programming, electronics, maths, physics, you name it) books for this very reason.

Where'd you get the impression that this was a judgement after only a single issue also? Perhaps the average issue isn't as bad as the one I listed the covers contents for, but it was the latest one so that's what I used as a reference; and the average isn't that much better anyway (it definitely is better though, don't take that the wrong way).

Like I said originally, I usually buy a couple of R/C mags per month, if they sound interesting. If they sound interesting. That's my point; fewer and fewer are these days, and my buying habbits have definitely showed that (I used to be subscribed to 3, XRC included - now I'm subscribed to none).

Technical books and magazines are two different categories. Magazines are about different things and have to appeal to a broad audience or they fail. If it gets too technical people lose interest. I've only gotten to page 2 of a dictionary (which is why I can only spell words that begin with A to Ab). Truth is that people cycle through RC all the time. If you're into reading "text books" you'll probably be out of RC very shortly.

I voted for RC Driver,but I subscribe to RCCA,RC Car,XRC,RC Nitro and RC Driver,they all have there own special little segments that I like about each and everyone of them. I would rate them in this order 1RC Driver,2 RC Car,3 RC Nitro,4 RCCA and last but not least XRC. XRC has the problem of about half of each issue seems like I just read it in RCCA the month before, but dont worry Derek ill keep on subscribing to your mag just so I can read your *&^(%$#^^%%$#@@&%^^&**((+&^$$%%##*@**#@%**#@ editorials.

Hang Tough & Keep On Crushin
mr-e-maxx
Tony

If you're into reading "text books" you'll probably be out of RC very shortly.It's been 14 years so far.. :)

I think that we can at least agree that I'm never going to agree with you on this subject. ;) I firmly believe that mags could try a lot harder to have more technical articles and still enough "other" content to appeal to the mass-market - but I'm just a guy with no power beyond my wallet on this one; you're the one behind the reigns.

I voted for RC Driver,but I subscribe to RCCA,RC Car,XRC,RC Nitro and RC Driver,they all have there own special little segments that I like about each and everyone of them. I would rate them in this order 1RC Driver,2 RC Car,3 RC Nitro,4 RCCA and last but not least XRC. XRC has the problem of about half of each issue seems like I just read it in RCCA the month before, but dont worry Derek ill keep on subscribing to your mag just so I can read your *&^(%$#^^%%$#@@&%^^&**((+&^$$%%##*@**#@%**#@ editorials.

Hang Tough & Keep On Crushin
mr-e-maxx
Tony


You must be a few months behind because funny enough most of the articles and such we've done shows up in others after we do it. Of course we're all working on fixed subject matter, but unless other magazines make some deal with manufacturers they can't beat our production schedule. But I can list the areas that we started doing and others had to follow...but I'll let you think they are ahead of us...lol.

Nothing was as good as RCMC back in the day. Rc car is nice but a little thin on content. I do enjoy the reto collum about the old r/c vehicals.

You must be a few months behind because funny enough most of the articles and such we've done shows up in others after we do it. Of course we're all working on fixed subject matter, but unless other magazines make some deal with manufacturers they can't beat our production schedule. But I can list the areas that we started doing and others had to follow...but I'll let you think they are ahead of us...lol.

Aaaannnnnd Head blowing up in 5,4,3,2,1. LOL. I don't know about that one Derek, your mag is the first one out on stands because of your shipping schedule but there are just as many times that we (and other mags) cover things that you don't get to until the next issue, but I'm sure that's because you don't think their worth doing as soon right? LOL. I'm f#@*ing with you! But I do have a point, XRC is a well done mag but it's not the pioneer of a lot of what you claim it to be (neither is ours in some cases).

Aaaannnnnd Head blowing up in 5,4,3,2,1. LOL. I don't know about that one Derek, your mag is the first one out on stands because of your shipping schedule but there are just as many times that we (and other mags) cover things that you don't get to until the next issue, but I'm sure that's because you don't think their worth doing as soon right? LOL. I'm f#@*ing with you! But I do have a point, XRC is a well done mag but it's not the pioneer of a lot of what you claim it to be (neither is ours in some cases).


LOL, okay. I'll make that list for you if you really want. :wave:

I'm not looking for a list, I'm just making a point that alot of what you and we all do isn't reinventing the wheel. Not meant to offend, just pointing out that we all get our jobs done the same way.

I'm not looking for a list, I'm just making a point that alot of what you and we all do isn't reinventing the wheel. Not meant to offend, just pointing out that we all get our jobs done the same way.

Who's claiming to re-invent the wheel. Bring new things to an industry doesn't mean "inventing something". There a lots of things we've done that the industry is followed. I didn't invent a magazine or an RC car. Some things we've done has been copied. I'm not saying you don't do your job, or get things done.

its not even really worth discussing... especially on a "reader opinion" thread. My point was that sometimes you guys do things first, sometimes we (or others) cover them first too. That's all.