I guess this goes with the rc wish list and I'm going to give you the final sentence first --BUY THE BEST RADIO YOU CAN AFFORD !!!
I'm not going to get into which brand or model to buy , but I still don't understand why many RC racers spend hundreds of dollars on there vehicle and then try to control it with a 79.00 AM radio.
What spurred me to write this is that we've been rc racing for almost 20 years and back then got pretty sick of radio problems . We stepped up and bought a FM /PCM sytem and got over 12 years of use out of it ."we still have it".
Last night at our track another racer asked me to take some practice laps with his vehicle to check some handling and I had forgotten how bad the signal / reaction time of some AM radios was.
They just don't give you the feedback to feel comfortable behind the wheel.

Maybe add this to your Christmas list

I still don't understand why many RC racers spend hundreds of dollars on there vehicle and then try to control it with a 79.00 AM radio.

Funny, ain't it. My nephew just recently got for his birthday a gas powered touring car by CEN. It was a RTR, I don't know exactly what model, but the ad that I saw in a magazine advertised it as the fastest RTR sold, boasting speeds of up to 75 mph. Well I'll tell you, the radio in it isn't worth $20.00 dollars. Almost no adjustments at all. I took the car out for a rip, and true to the ads it's scary fast. Well built and all, but the worst radio system I have ever seen. What a difference a good radio setup makes. I agree 100%. Nowadays you can pick up used Futaba Magnum 3PJ's (just an example) with a PCM reciever for less than a hundred dollars. You have to wonder why more guys don't tap into last year's top radios that are no longer wanted by guys who are out buying up the latest and greatest and selling off their old stuff. I would love a 3PK but I can buy three 3PJ's for the price of a new 3PK. I'm not really familiar with Airtronics and JR etc. That's why I cited the Futaba example.
Rick<><

yea i bought a tamiya tt-01 rtr kit last year as my first hobby car. it was a good chassis and i still drive it from time to time but with an old airtronics kit thit i picked up for five bucks and its about 100% better. the old kit had about 10 feet of range and would just turn for no reason. now i moved up to a tamiya ta04ss im still building it but i bought a JR python fo 55 and it rocks.

Futaba Fm/pcm , A Great Investment And Excellent Performer

Whats the general sensus on top level radios ?
Was the M-8 popular because the manufacturer handed out
alot of them to racers ?

FUTABA , JR , AIRTRONICS, ECT ???

Lets hear some feedback on one of the most important parts of RC Racing.

i like the futaba 3pk. i wish i knew what everything did but the stuff i do use is useful

joe ivo

Futaba 3pk!! Just got mine yesterday and i love it and also got the spectrum!!

I'm old school as well. I still use a 14 year old Futaba 3PB Magnum PCM 1024 (box radio). Original rechargeable battery still in use! Should probably get a new NIMH for it?

chad :cool:

Chad ,

I still have an old futaba "box " pcm-1024 radio and it works fine , just a little heavy , bulky for my son thats why we bought a new 3pk. LOVE IT !

The Futaba radios are the most reliable radios on the market today..
The M8 is the most popular racing radio around with the spectrum in close secound... :)

Chad ,

I still have an old futaba "box " pcm-1024 radio and it works fine , just a little heavy , bulky for my son thats why we bought a new 3pk. LOVE IT !

Yeah, a new radio would be so light that I wouldn't know how to drive with it! :thumbsup:

chad :cool:

Any body with the 3PK should have the HRS reciever and a digital servo,as for the Spektrum-WAIT! The HRS is baisicaly Spektrum-Digital performance with christals. HRS Rocks!! PCM sucks!!

Futaba 3pk!! Just got mine yesterday and i love it and also got the spectrum!!If you race indoors with it you will probably be sorry!,mine went back to them for the third time.

I've run my spektum with my KO Helios without one problem and there's at least 5 more guys with them in the Futaba radios and we've run them together indoors and on the asphalt with no trouble, all at bsracing8's home track. I've even run mine in mod without a reciever pack in 12th scale.If you race indoors with it you will probably be sorry!,mine went back to them for the third time.

Your one of the lucky ones, I am one of the unfortunate ones that had to replace a truck broken in half. That cost me $140 in parts. I know others that totaly destroyed cars.$300-$400 in broken parts.There is 4 people at my local track having problems,2 people it is working fine for now.You must be one of the lucky ones.

I guess we got the good ones set to the east coast. Everybody thats bought one around here loves them. I can run mine all the way down to the fail safe cut off and have done so in practice often when playing with setups. Even the guys at K/N use them and that track makes PCM's glitch.

I guess we got the good ones set to the east coast. Everybody thats bought one around here loves them.

They did not send all the good ones to the east coast. I've got one in a T3 I race indoors and that one works fine. Another one in a pan car shuts off every time I get hit - it is barely worth practicing with.

Is the difference 6-cell (T3) vs 4-Cell (pan car)?

If you race indoors with it you will probably be sorry!,mine went back to them for the third time.

I have not had a prob yet but i heard Eric Hutkay had some probs with his? I have the hitec 255 mg servo and gm v12 xc champions speedo i just hope my luck hold's out i dont need any problems!!

Brandon