RC Car/Truck

[AdaraMarie]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a relatively inexpensive monster truck or car for a 10 year old? Roughly $50 or less. Online reviews are all over the place and this is what my dd wants for her birthday in 10 days.

[m15]

It will be more than $50, but I would suggest Traxxis brand. If you have a local hobby shop open, go in and they will fix you up. Anything you buy at a regular walmart/Target type of store is going to break and then she'll be done. If it's a Traxxis or other hobby shop type brand, you can buy replacement pieces relatively cheap. Both of my boys have "higher end" R/C cars for this reason. They're always crashing them, so easy to fix is key.

[m15]

Oh, I just remembered that my kids do have a smaller truck that you plug the remote into for charging. I wish I knew the brand (or even where they were so I could check for you), but I would say they were around $60 each. We got them at the local hobby shop.

[mrspez07]

I’d agree with @m15.
i don’t know what our brands are, but hobby-ship quality. We went through multiple cheap versions that would break quickly and not be fixable. We do however have one that has a broken frame that will need a total overhaul, so they aren’t invincible but we got a lot of hours out of it before it crashed too hard. It can be a hobby where $ adds up.

[AdaraMarie]

Hmmm, that is about what I expected the answer to be, but not doable. I am not going to go to a store in person right now and I can't incresase the budget very much, especially since I don't know if she will be interested for more than 3 weeks.

[jinkies]

Yeah, we also have Traxxas, and would recommend, but that is out of your price range. You can maybe look on facebook marketplace or craigslist to find one used?

We have had a variety of cheaper brands, and they do not hold up or compare to Traxxas.

[rihanaray]

If your kids were 3-5 years older it'd be easier to recommend, but, I would start them off with "junk". There is no near indestructible vehicles, even $1000+ units get destroyed in experienced hands. Read the rc rock crawlers reviews on gagadget.com - they offer really good stuff for the money

[AdaraMarie]

My dd ended up telling her dad when he called her that she wanted "a remote control car like the one we got (cousin) for his birthday". He did end up getting her exactly that, and it is for sure very cheap/plastic, but 2 weeks in she is still happy with it and when it breaks it wasn't my money so win/win.
Actually when she got it out, the boy next door said he had almost the same one, so they both drove them around for a bit and that was kind of nice too.