which is better?

[lam]

which is the best mini z xmod (which is not doing well with me for what i hear) or mini x? and where could i get a mini x besides online?

[mde]

The mini x has a clear plastic chassis and according to vendors I delt with in the bicycle industry clear plastic is more brittle than coloured plastics.

You probably know this from personal experience with other products. A mini x is not likely to stand up well to impacts.

th'mudd

[cdog4w]

I've got a mini-x and it's very durable. Haven't broken a thing. Shoot, I've barely scratched the bottom up even though I run on a horribly crappy asphalt playground. I catch more air from running over pebbles etc. I've even gotten hit by pebbles my X has kicked up.

If you read the forums, the part that breaks most often is the pinion gear. I thought I read somewhere here that the body is not just basic plastic, but is polycarbonite - a much stronger form of plastic. I wouldn't worry about the mini-x breaking either way.

Wonder why the coloring of plastic has anything to do with its strength?

Hope this helps (and yes, I'm biased : )

[Itan]

mde do you own a mini-x? i have yet to break anything in the car from hitting anything. and i have nice slanted curbs that makes for a nice ramp to jump my x with and other than a dogbone poping out, thats the only problem with them. Even that can e fixed by puting a spacer in there. As far as the plastic goes ITS NOT BRITTLE! Tiny him self likes the mini-x better than a mini-z, you will find that out if you read some of the other older posts. The plastic flexes more than the stuff the mini-z is made of. The x is alot fater out of the box than the z, i have yet to see a xmod run.

[mde]

Sorry, I should have said clear plastic is often more brittle than opaque colours when comparing the same product. As I said my experience is with bicycle parts where I was a warranty rep.

Our returns for lbroken light brackets, shifters etc was always higher on clear than opaque versions of the same plastic parts. I'm not a chemist so I can't tell you why there is a difference between colours but the vendors who were plastic injection moulding companies advised there were.

The shifters were SRAM X-rays those of you who mountain bike may remember them. Sram could not make its rear derailers out out of the clear material the shifters were made from because it was too brittle.

I know that UV and the amount of exposure to it changes different plastics at different rates and this is another area where opaque is more robust than clear.

Most bike parts of this nature break due to impact so that's why I made the comparison. I don't own a mini X but have seen one and the finish and feel made me suspicious.

I'm glad to hear that I may be wrong I'd much rather here more about how durable the mini x is since I can get a much better price on a mini X than a mini Z

mde

[3series takumi]

you are right about clear being brittle. if you bend the chassis it will snap, but probably wouldnt if it was colored. but the deal is in this case the clear plastic is stronger than the usual clear plastic is. so the chance of it bending is slimmer. this plastic is actually WAY stronger than the plastic used in my miniz overland. i have countless cracks on my OL. i drive my minix more than 5 times i do my OL and have crashed it at higher speeds (since it is significantly faster) and havent broke anything to date. scratch that i did break the tie rod. but that was only cause i wanted to see how much it could take b4 it gave up. i must say for how thin it is it was durable. in all of my testing i broke a (colored) pinion b4 breaking it. i ended up pulling it off and snapping it by hand cause i got mad.

[mde]

I'm glad to here more positive feedback on the durability of the mini x. I like that it's both 4wd and 4 whl independent susp.

Also since you can buy just the chassis for about 30.00 CDN it seems like the perfect start to a rally car, rock crawler or scale truck trials project which is my main interest in it.

Have you guys seen the pictures of the mini x monsters and baja bug in the gallery section? If not check it out they are cool!

[mde]

[QUOTE i drive my minix more than 5 times i do my OL and have crashed it at higher speeds (since it is significantly faster)

I just re-read your post and noticed this, so the mini x is alot faster than your OL?

Are both stock set ups or are you running upgrade batteries and gears in the mini x?

I know they don't have an upgrade motor but I saw in other posts that you can change to a motor case with bearings and put a full bearing kit in the mini x that makes a big difference.

Did you do any of that to your x?

[Cian]

Tak's X aint stock, check out his .sig!

[mde]

Tak's X aint stock, check out his .sig!

Doh!

I guess the best place to hide something really is in front of my face.

[mde]

Now that I have my mini x I agree the chassis seems to be much tougher than I thought it would be.

Today I drove it out side for the first time in our complex. We have those nice rounded curbs painted all yellow and smooth.

Well as a new driver I made a bad turn hit the curb and roled my x end over end about 3 times along the concrete side walk but laned on the wheels, kept going and launched off the curb.

Well since I'm testing the unit any way I played the curb a few more times. Barrel rolled it and landed on its side, did some more launches and banked turns off the curb.

I'd say I was beating on it a bit or at least I knew damage was possible but didn't hurt the chassis. I did crack the nose so its got a little magic tape on the front outside and more inside.

Its getting that nice tough car NASCAR bump and grind look.

I also managed to make a couple of bad turns and drive over some wet patches of pavement, enough to spray inside the car but nothing happened from that either.

Yes I'm damn lucky on that one.

I have stock springs and tires, it skated around a bit but was a lot of fun. I can really see some OL tires and supple longer travel in my future. I'm thinking rally car for sure.

[SupraDJ]

that sounds cool. i hope i can get one soon.

[mde]

I see you're thinking of getting a mini x and a mini z.

Get the mini x first and you may end up not wanting the z. My friend has already mounted a 180 motor in the basic chassis we bought and he's using the esc and receiver from a 1/18 car and hios FM remote.

If you have the other gear you could gat the basic kit for about 40.00 USD I think

We will have all 3 of our cars at the track on Friday to run with the Zs.

His 2wd with 180 and FM electronics. The second car with the stock electronics and the 6 cell using the motor he took out of the chassis with the 180 motor and my car which is a stock rtr kit with the mini x remote.

We may even have some other interesting cars to take and compare if our other order makes it in time.

[SupraDJ]

yeah. going to the track sounds like fun. i'll probably start parting out my second xmods and sell the parts people need for a mini x. since im only 15 and cant get a job until im 16. i dont want to wait 9+ month to get a mini x. plus im also getting a car soon.

[cdog4w]

you make it to the track mde?

[mde]

Not quite,

We had planned to go on Friday but my friend ended up not being able to go. Being a total newbie and not having my new charger set up yet I didn't go.

Craig did race on Sunday and put the hurt on the micro modified field. He also race 1/10 stock. Since we don't have a mini Z class here he could not race the mini z but he did run it and it drew a lot of attention.

Racers up here are surprised to see the car run as well as it does. Most did not realize it is as tuneable as it is.

We have also found another source for mini x replacement motors and other parts. I will post more on that as well when we work out a few details.

Every friday is an open track night so we plan to go this week. I'll let you know how it goes.

[cdog4w]

BTW, how did he mount the 180 motor? A few people have done it, but I haven't yet seen a way I could do it since most fabbed parts.

[mde]

I don't have it in front of me right now but I know he trimmed the chassis around the opening for the motor. It was in the stock position.

He ran it as a 2wd but it had too much power to be controllable. That motor's can is flat on both sides, maybe most are I don't know as I'm a newbie to RC.

We have other motors to try as well, I'll keep you posted on the best solution we find.