DaFF
12-01-2002, 04:06 AM
RRCA might experience a huge drop of sales after this one LoL
Seriously, I would like to thanks Steve for this awesome forum.
Steve, you are my master :D
http://www.hpiracing.com/graphics/logos-kits/savagespl.jpg
SAVAGE STATIC REVIEW:
Let me preface this by saying that the truck I own is the Savage Euro version.
My review does not include eletronics provided in the US RTR Savage.
Anyway, let's start this by the first impressions:
HUGE, is the first word that comes in mind, you notice it
right When it's sitting on a shelf at LHS.
HEAVY is the second noticeable thing when you put your hand on it.
I will now do a thorough review of each main components.
1- The backbone: Twin side plate design.
This is the third thing I noticed: when trying to flex the chassis,
it was not going anywhere. It is bomb-proff, chassis deflection is a thing of the past.
Being an aeronautical engineer specialized in lightweight yet rigid steel structure,
I can definively say that no pan design will ever come close
to a structural box design like the Savage.
Think at it this way: a piece of square tube with closed ends, the
square tube being the chassis and the shocks towers beings the extremities.
No matter how thick a pan chassis is, it will never be as rigid as this one.
2- Suspension and shocks:
Definitively another thing you notice right from the bat.
The articulation is huge (7 inch of shock travel) and it will
take an insane jump before it will bottom out, even so
the Savage suspension is on the very soft side (I added one full preload
spacer at the back to remove the excess of sagging).
Doing the drop test, all you hear is a big THUMBS! being the
tires slamming on the ground. No rebound, no annoying pieces moving around, nothing.
I am sure this beast will recover from the worst landing jump with ease,
and will soak-up bumps like dinner. And yes, the shocks are thin, long and plastic
but only the dynamic review will tell how it does.
3- Truck layout and steering:
It's pretty evident that the ppl that designed this truck did puts out a lot
of thinking and spent endless hours behind their CAD computers.
It's like when you open the hood of a real 1:1 modern car:
It looks tidy and neat, yet very space optimised.
The mass placement seems perfect, everything is centered (except maybe the
gas tank). It should lead to good handling since all mass are as close
as possible to the main axis and regrouped on a narrow chassis (less side body roll)
There is heavy duty plastic skid plates at the bottom of the car, but the center part is not
covered and the brake disk seems exposed to me.
There is a radio box but it's not a sealed one. Altough most ppl
found it very cramped (RTR version) since I got a micro receiver and tiny 6 volts battery,
I had ample space. Mind you, it was still hard to close the lead because of the wires LoL...
The steering is given by a servo mounted upside down. It is a good setup,
there is minimal slop in this system, but it might have been reduced even more.
The way the servo is set, it is a bit difficult to work on it. You sure need a
real good servo to move those big wheels, but it seems the whole system is relatively
easy on servo power power.
4- Transmission:
2 speed and slipper clutch is mandatory now on most MT (no reverse on Savage)
Smooth and metal (except some plastic spur gears) is what I can say.
It rolls freely as well (a sign of a good quality tranny).
The dobgones and cups are oversized. From the look of it,
it should be able to handle the strain of many high power big block engine.
There is not too much play on it and ,for example the dogbones doesn't
floats side / side like on previous HPI truck.
5- Arms and Hinge pins:
This is an area of particular attention to me, since those
are the weakest link on most R/C cars, especially with long
arms like on the Savage.
It's not unusual to see bent hinge pins after crashes or jumps and it
usually tend to lead to weird and sub-par suspension action.
Again, the engineers have oversized the pins, they are of 4mm (0.157")
diameter and should withstand the worst abuse. When you look carefully
at the truck, you see big heavy thick aluminum purple braces that hold both extremities of each hinge pins.
That's another safety factor to me. The arms are bigs, in fact bigger than most typical 1/8 scale cars.
6- Engine, pipe, brake, fuel tank
The engine is nice, the head is massive (but cast instead of machined), the pipe
is plastic, it seems OK, the outlet is of big dimension and point toward the ground (looks
a tad weird to me...). The engine outlet is a looker it's all polished aluminum with a spring design.
Fuel tank is bigger than most (160 cc), have a pressurisation pick-up on the lead and an anti-spill system.
Fuel filter is a miss. The air filter is OK but could have been of bigger dimension.
TRS (Throttle Retrun SPring) is from factory, and that's a nice addition
(although it doesn't seems to overcome the mighty S3003 servo I throwed at it...)
The single brake rotor is fiber type and ventilated (small slots on it).
7- Tires, bumpers, alum handle, adjusting post and body:
Tires are big, made of a very grippy and soft rubber. My only grippe would be the foam,
it just seems way too soft to me and doesn't fill entirely the tire.
There is front / rear bumpers and an aluminum handle: nice addition again, and it looks killer...
Bumper flexes a lot and should absord most crashes. They add a little rugged look to it.
Alum handle is more of a rolling cage to me than anything else since when the lid is in,
you can't access the handle. In fact to carry the beast around, I found that the bumpers are the best way.
The body posts can be easily adjusted, another nice feature.
A small hint, the body clips are very small and will lead to bleeding fingers... I throwed them all away
right from scratch and buyed $4 bigger purple units, 5 minutes later it was fixed...
The body is typical of 1/10 unit and it is compatible with T-maxx. Some ppl liked it, some found
it way too small. Your call... (I did remove the ugly side pipe stickers, that's in fact the first
thing I did on my way home LoL)
8- The RTR effect, manual and spare pieces:
Although I was really skeptical about RTR, I did find it very good, since you can be up and running
very quickly.
Friendly warning for new Savage owners, there is a few screws that needs loctite.
It could lead for premature end of the day and breakage. HPI should have paid a little more
attention to "details" like that. Shame to them LoL
There is two manuals: one for the Savage itself and the other for the engine.
They are really nice (if not color) and typical high quality-easy to understand HPI documentation.
Little details that I would have add to it: recommended type of plug to buy, what
weight of silicone oil is provided with the kit and more important, there should be some tips
for the break-in process like craking-open the plug or using air dryer if necessary (the engine
has loads of compression and is hard to break).
There is spare pieces provided like spare air filter foam, spare body post, body pins (!) and such
(I would have add shocks spacers, but that's only me...)
CONCLUSION:
All in all, a very high quality, very well designed truck.
The price to feature and quality is hard to beat.
I mean, when my major complaints are about tires foam, fuel filter, body clips,
loctite, stickers and small details on the manual
it should say a lot !!
I hate to say it after HPI closed their Forum :rolleyes: , but Very good job here HPI.
BTW, dynamic review will be added l8ter on.
DFF
Seriously, I would like to thanks Steve for this awesome forum.
Steve, you are my master :D
http://www.hpiracing.com/graphics/logos-kits/savagespl.jpg
SAVAGE STATIC REVIEW:
Let me preface this by saying that the truck I own is the Savage Euro version.
My review does not include eletronics provided in the US RTR Savage.
Anyway, let's start this by the first impressions:
HUGE, is the first word that comes in mind, you notice it
right When it's sitting on a shelf at LHS.
HEAVY is the second noticeable thing when you put your hand on it.
I will now do a thorough review of each main components.
1- The backbone: Twin side plate design.
This is the third thing I noticed: when trying to flex the chassis,
it was not going anywhere. It is bomb-proff, chassis deflection is a thing of the past.
Being an aeronautical engineer specialized in lightweight yet rigid steel structure,
I can definively say that no pan design will ever come close
to a structural box design like the Savage.
Think at it this way: a piece of square tube with closed ends, the
square tube being the chassis and the shocks towers beings the extremities.
No matter how thick a pan chassis is, it will never be as rigid as this one.
2- Suspension and shocks:
Definitively another thing you notice right from the bat.
The articulation is huge (7 inch of shock travel) and it will
take an insane jump before it will bottom out, even so
the Savage suspension is on the very soft side (I added one full preload
spacer at the back to remove the excess of sagging).
Doing the drop test, all you hear is a big THUMBS! being the
tires slamming on the ground. No rebound, no annoying pieces moving around, nothing.
I am sure this beast will recover from the worst landing jump with ease,
and will soak-up bumps like dinner. And yes, the shocks are thin, long and plastic
but only the dynamic review will tell how it does.
3- Truck layout and steering:
It's pretty evident that the ppl that designed this truck did puts out a lot
of thinking and spent endless hours behind their CAD computers.
It's like when you open the hood of a real 1:1 modern car:
It looks tidy and neat, yet very space optimised.
The mass placement seems perfect, everything is centered (except maybe the
gas tank). It should lead to good handling since all mass are as close
as possible to the main axis and regrouped on a narrow chassis (less side body roll)
There is heavy duty plastic skid plates at the bottom of the car, but the center part is not
covered and the brake disk seems exposed to me.
There is a radio box but it's not a sealed one. Altough most ppl
found it very cramped (RTR version) since I got a micro receiver and tiny 6 volts battery,
I had ample space. Mind you, it was still hard to close the lead because of the wires LoL...
The steering is given by a servo mounted upside down. It is a good setup,
there is minimal slop in this system, but it might have been reduced even more.
The way the servo is set, it is a bit difficult to work on it. You sure need a
real good servo to move those big wheels, but it seems the whole system is relatively
easy on servo power power.
4- Transmission:
2 speed and slipper clutch is mandatory now on most MT (no reverse on Savage)
Smooth and metal (except some plastic spur gears) is what I can say.
It rolls freely as well (a sign of a good quality tranny).
The dobgones and cups are oversized. From the look of it,
it should be able to handle the strain of many high power big block engine.
There is not too much play on it and ,for example the dogbones doesn't
floats side / side like on previous HPI truck.
5- Arms and Hinge pins:
This is an area of particular attention to me, since those
are the weakest link on most R/C cars, especially with long
arms like on the Savage.
It's not unusual to see bent hinge pins after crashes or jumps and it
usually tend to lead to weird and sub-par suspension action.
Again, the engineers have oversized the pins, they are of 4mm (0.157")
diameter and should withstand the worst abuse. When you look carefully
at the truck, you see big heavy thick aluminum purple braces that hold both extremities of each hinge pins.
That's another safety factor to me. The arms are bigs, in fact bigger than most typical 1/8 scale cars.
6- Engine, pipe, brake, fuel tank
The engine is nice, the head is massive (but cast instead of machined), the pipe
is plastic, it seems OK, the outlet is of big dimension and point toward the ground (looks
a tad weird to me...). The engine outlet is a looker it's all polished aluminum with a spring design.
Fuel tank is bigger than most (160 cc), have a pressurisation pick-up on the lead and an anti-spill system.
Fuel filter is a miss. The air filter is OK but could have been of bigger dimension.
TRS (Throttle Retrun SPring) is from factory, and that's a nice addition
(although it doesn't seems to overcome the mighty S3003 servo I throwed at it...)
The single brake rotor is fiber type and ventilated (small slots on it).
7- Tires, bumpers, alum handle, adjusting post and body:
Tires are big, made of a very grippy and soft rubber. My only grippe would be the foam,
it just seems way too soft to me and doesn't fill entirely the tire.
There is front / rear bumpers and an aluminum handle: nice addition again, and it looks killer...
Bumper flexes a lot and should absord most crashes. They add a little rugged look to it.
Alum handle is more of a rolling cage to me than anything else since when the lid is in,
you can't access the handle. In fact to carry the beast around, I found that the bumpers are the best way.
The body posts can be easily adjusted, another nice feature.
A small hint, the body clips are very small and will lead to bleeding fingers... I throwed them all away
right from scratch and buyed $4 bigger purple units, 5 minutes later it was fixed...
The body is typical of 1/10 unit and it is compatible with T-maxx. Some ppl liked it, some found
it way too small. Your call... (I did remove the ugly side pipe stickers, that's in fact the first
thing I did on my way home LoL)
8- The RTR effect, manual and spare pieces:
Although I was really skeptical about RTR, I did find it very good, since you can be up and running
very quickly.
Friendly warning for new Savage owners, there is a few screws that needs loctite.
It could lead for premature end of the day and breakage. HPI should have paid a little more
attention to "details" like that. Shame to them LoL
There is two manuals: one for the Savage itself and the other for the engine.
They are really nice (if not color) and typical high quality-easy to understand HPI documentation.
Little details that I would have add to it: recommended type of plug to buy, what
weight of silicone oil is provided with the kit and more important, there should be some tips
for the break-in process like craking-open the plug or using air dryer if necessary (the engine
has loads of compression and is hard to break).
There is spare pieces provided like spare air filter foam, spare body post, body pins (!) and such
(I would have add shocks spacers, but that's only me...)
CONCLUSION:
All in all, a very high quality, very well designed truck.
The price to feature and quality is hard to beat.
I mean, when my major complaints are about tires foam, fuel filter, body clips,
loctite, stickers and small details on the manual
it should say a lot !!
I hate to say it after HPI closed their Forum :rolleyes: , but Very good job here HPI.
BTW, dynamic review will be added l8ter on.
DFF