Compared to Bits right out of the box Zips right out of the box are fairly comperable in speed. Bits are slightly faster. Now, Bits can be upgraded with stronger motors and so can Zips, but the Bits will become much faster in the process. Bit clones are much faster than both Bits and Zips right out of the box. Your kids will be very happy with the Bits you bought. And, they would love Zips too. They would probably appreciate the better steering of Zips. For road racing, I would take Zips anyday. A motor upgrade in two Zips and you have a nice, exciting race on your hands. Bits can be speed upgraded to the point of just being useful in drag racing and doing donuts on the kitchen floor. It's all up to what your kids like to do when playing with the cars. But, they are all a blast no matter what you choose.

Thanks Azimov, that's good info. I imagine the big kid (yours truly) of the house is going to have some fun seeing the limits of some of these tiny wonders also. I think either way we are going to have a blast with these. I believe that I am going to have to try a couple of Zip Zaps in the future, but I don't have to worry about that now. My bits arrive today along with a couple of clones. I bought a friends kids a couple also so that we can all get together and have some great competition.

20$----zipzaps come with a 1.6 motor and can be upgraded to a 2.3 motor. more if you rip the board apart.

30$-----bits come with a 2.2 and can be upgraded to a 3.8 without any mods.

15$-----clones tend to come with stronger motors. my best clone motor compared to a tomy orange 2.6 and zcars yellow 2.6 is considerably better than either. so i guess its a 3.0. like bits, they can run a 3.8

MY only complaint is how the rubber tires sit on the rims, everytime I swap tires I check them by spinning them to see if they are perfectly round. most of the times they wobble and I have to reseat them and move them around to get a good FIT. Even then some tires just won't seat properly. Also NOTICE the gap between the rubber tire and the hubcab! Bits have much better tires, you don't get the hubcab feature but the rubber really sits nicelly on the rims.

Don't get me wrong They are what they are and That's fine, I just what to point out that a similar product has a much better design. that's all.

zipzap tires fit well on bit axles. well most.

as far as the tires, well if your competitor cant get their wheels true that will help you in the race, but its work for you too :D

as far as bits/clones/zips...i have the zips, they are teh styliest...if you can drive it well , well tehn you can be profiling too, .
i dont know bits at all but snagged severasl of the shen qi wei clone in a bubble and they are faster. take the motor out and throw it in a ZZ..instantly transforming the ZZ faster than any kid with the oh so special NOS engine.
check out QFM website to get schematics and instructions on swapping the pcb boards on a zipzap so its then...ultimately faster.

remember speed only does ya for teh straightaway...its teh handling in ther curves then the acceleration power that wins.

one more plug for clones...DIFFERENT FREQUNCIES!! any of teh intense rc car heads out there (not me ive just been reading then net last 2-3 days) love the 4 other frequncies out there the FCC doesnt like. (27 and 49 are ok here, 35, 45 and 57 come from japan and a 40 comes from australia if you can find one)

Yup, I've found myself using the spin the tire once seated on the rim to check for wobbling too. It's mandatory on Zips. The two seperate pieces that make up the wheel assembly on Zips is a cool idea, but it leaves more room for error in fitting the parts. Of the three Zips I have, only one had a bad wobble on the driver side front wheel. No matter how I placed the tire it would leave a gap and wobble like crazy. You could even see the car vibrating as it went around the track. I cleaned all the flashing off the pieces, and lightly sanded the high spots. It works nicely now.

I hear you, Same deal here.
I believe the two piece assembly is not as bad as the rubber tires themselves. The bits have a bigger sidewall and must come from a better mold since they don't bother with any thread designs.

its the pit crew that wins races eh (sorry to sound like a canuck there)
but yes some zips the tires go on easy and some are a bitch-ar-g car

Yup, the Zip tires look good with the tread patterns and low profile, but that makes them thinner and more prone to fitting problems. A trade off I suppose.