Digi Propo Special controller is a riot!

Hi everyone, this is my first message on the board.
Thanks to all of you for the great information you post about
the DigiQ, I got my first car, an NSX-R, and the Propo Special
controller.

Out of the box, I played with the car for a few minutes on the
vinyl floor and I'm hooked. Then I dig out the controller codes
for the Propo that I got from this forum.

I only tried the Tank Mode (code 9325) and it's hilarious!
The car can be zipping across the table, then when you turn,
the car stops in its tracks and rotates like a tank turret. I'm
still laughing! I can only imagine how fun it's going to be playing
these cars on a track using rules like 'Tank Mode'.

I'm also running the controller on Rayovac Ultra Rechargable NiMHs. Since the Propo Special has a fuse in it, I figure it'll be safe enough to try. I'll run it solely on these batteries and let you guys know the results.

As for the NSX-R, it came out of the box fully charged. The headlights are extremely bright. You don't have to be in a darkened room to use the car. It's especially helpful when the car goes a long distance. You can navigate much easier by using the headlights and brake lights as guides.

I haven't used the standard controller that came with the car yet.
But I'm having absolutely no problems controlling the car. I might have to call in sick tomorrow ::cough cough:: :)

There's another code for 'Toy Car' that's supposed to mimic the non-proportional control of cars like the Bit Char-G, so I'll have a go with that next.

Using a Cox Beetle, the NSX-R, the Propo Special, and the regular controller all evening, here's my observations about the Special controller. Hopefully it'll be useful info for those who are thinking about buying it.

- The Propo Special controller is a must! Once you use it you get so used to changing the speed and steering on a whim that it gets frustrating to use the plain controller.

- The special codes are very useful! Some things, like the spinning mode (0818) puts the car in an extremely fast spin, and it looks like a spinning top. Forward or reverse, it's fun to watch. Not useful in any way, but it's a trick that only the DigiQ can do, and it's guaranteed to drive any housepet up the walls. Using the NSX-R with the headlights, the spin looks great!

- The codes for running on carpet (0322,0281,and 0443) is amazing! I have thin and thick carpet around the house. The car with the standard Propo makes the car slow and hard to steer straight on the carpet. With the Propo Special and the carpet codes, it's just like playing on a desktop or vinyl floor. There wasn't a carpet area in the house that the car got stuck on, or I couldn't steer straight across.

- Setting everything to the highest setting (speed, steering, etc) I could drive pretty well going slow. I'd see a turn coming, and whup! The car would spin a few times or it would launch in the air off some piece of rubbish. Not the car's fault, it's the driver! And talk about doing a wheelie. Give the car a long enough drag strip and... well actually the car moves so fast that you don't see much. The Beetle launched straight across my living room, hit the other end of the kitchen and somehow flipped around and headed right back at me like a boomerang!

- Two really fun codes that turned out to be really useful is the vibration codes (9147 and 9214). When you're driving, the codes don't seem to do anything. When you're idling, the car does a little dance. Either front to back, or left to right. It's like the car is saying 'Hey! Look at me, drive me around!" While it's amusing, the car actually handles very well with these codes! Great for technical courses, and I managed to do a few laps around the track on my desktop without hitting any barriers. It's great for racing with friends. You stop and let the car do the little dance and make everyone envious :)

- I heard about delays in the signal response, but everything seemed fine to me. Maybe as I play with the cars more, I'll start to notice the delay, but for my first day with DigiQ, it was flawless.

- For me, the Propo Special is a must. When I ordered the controller, I thought the price of it wouldn't be justified until I became a pro at playing with DigiQ cars, but not so! After 15 minutes of playing with the Special, I pulled out the standard controller and tried it out. A few minutes later I was packing it back in the box and loading up the Special controller. It's like night and day. No way will I ever, ever touch the standard Propo again! It's literally frustrating because you feel so limited. Being able to adjust the speed and steering make a huge difference in how well I can play from the track to the carpet floors.

Anyway, I hope some of this info will help some of you with your decision to get the Special controller before you buy another car :)

Yesterday I took my NSX-R to work with the Propo Special controller. We have really bumpy tile floors, and rooms with thin carpet, but very uneven, and lumpy in many areas due to dragging heavy furniture around, pulling the carpet.

I used the carpet code (0321) and it works great on the bumpy tile, too. On the tile and the really lumpy carpet, the car was very easy to maneuver, and very accurate at low and medium speeds. At full throttle, the car did spin out on the tile surface. But control was still good on the carpet. The carpet code would make for great rally races, and I can see people building great rally tracks using old, busted up carpet

I just learned how to drift, using the Sigma Automotive setting 3431, and altering the setting to 3451 and 3471 changed the sharpness of my turns, and I can now faithfully drift around the coffee mug on my desk (with 3451) and do hairpin turns on my small desktop track (with 3471). I need more practice with the hairpin turns, though.

Going outside in direct sunlight, the controller had a range of only 5 or 6 feet. I would guess this is how the normal Propo controller is, also. So I went back indoors and created a new setting, Drag Racing (8811) and the car flies! I'm going to drag race some of my friends who have modified Bit Char-Gs. With the Drag Race code I should be able to whip it past all of them. I'll let you guys know how it goes

[Adam]

I agree with Keal, the Propo SPECIAL is a MUST HAVE if you want to get the full power out of your cars. I have noticed that due to driving styles and car differences alot of people have had to edit the driffting settings. I have found that what works for my NSX, wont work for my Fairlady Z. I have owned 7 cars (six I still have and the Trueno will arrive today!) All the cars have subtle differences. I am guessing that the different body styles change the balance of the cars, not to mention ground clearance. Also the age and amount of use adds to the different "personallities my cars have, such as My yellow Beetle wont "Dance" as well as the blue Lancer, But it still has the speed it had when it was new!. All my cars have strong and weak point which can be used to my advantage with the Special controller. The bad thing is if friends come over to race and dont own DigiQs, they have to use one of my five controllers and acuse me of "cheating" because I use the special. So I have learned to "know each car" this way even if I dont get the controller I still have an understanding of what my car can do. I know it may sound crazy, But if you really take the time to get to know these cars They become more like a friend than a toy .(Keal, Im sure you know what I mean.)

Adam, I agree about the cars having different personalities!
Even using the Propo Special, the cars still seem to have their own little style of zipping around. I would guess it's the little differences in the weight of the inner components and their placement that makes the cars move differently (Just a guess!)