New Spartan, 2nd Gen?

[the5]

Is there going to be a 2nd gen spartan?

[Rumdog]

Hopefully they just discontinue it

[Alexgar]

I agree rummy tired of hearing about it it was over hyped to begin with and anybody running decent speed isn't doing it for long typical traxxas style

[Brushless55]

no second gen, just none to be shipped as I think they are pulling the motors and esc's out of the ones on the shelves for warranty issues with current customers

[Make-a-Wake]

If they threw this in it at the minimal wholesale cost they could get it for, the problem would be solved. 4 pole and 1300kv.............efficient, powerful, and much cooler running, perfect for 6s. Larger prop selection as well.

http://www.nitrorcx.com/96m811-3674--1300kv.html

[dana]

epic failure

[kookie_guy]

lol, and it's still a plastic boat at the end of the day

[forescott]

Where is g-freak when you need em? Slap in one of those stage three combo's and you'd be good to go!

[LiPo Power]

Where is g-freak when you need em? Slap in one of those stage three combo's and you'd be good to go!

[properchopper]

Just for the record, I drove a Spartan the other day. At a friendly gathering at Questtek's a very nice gentleman, a friend of Joes, showed up with a NIB Spartan, and asked me to get it running for him. Opening the box I was extremely impressed with the very crisp fit, finish, and looks in general. I helped him charge up the 2 7-cell NIMH's on his also brand new and quite nice TP charger. Whether the packs got topped off, I'm not sure, but we put them in, burped the TX
( couldn't find the dual-rate control, not obvious), but we were in a hurry to put her in, so off we went. The boat looked great on the water, handled nicely, and was rather slow. I couldn't tell the speed since my GPS didn't have a calendar , but in all it was a very nice boat. The owner tooled it around the lake and was very HAPPY with his very first electric boat and was ALL SMILES - after all, isn't this what it's all about ?

[T.S.Davis]

I drove one too. With a Leopard/Turnigy/6s LiPo setup. It's a turd. My opinion. For what ever that's worth.

In the boats defense..... it's plastic. Plus, the guy that built it had little time invested in sorting it out. So maybe it will get better. I just don't think it can go that fast. You can almost feel it flexing as you put the coals to it. If you've spent much time pushing a plastic hull to it's limits you'll know what I mean.

It's kind of a bummer. Traxxas had (still has for that matter) all the tools and resources to have made a really great offering. I can only guess they hired someone to develop it that didn't quite have their finger on the pulse of the boat market. Now their likely burnt on the possibility.

[properchopper]

I think the basis of the whole Spartan "controversy", as witnessed here, can simply be boiled down to one's point of view. Most of us here have lots of (varying) levels of experience with FE, and find it very easy to point out the boat's weaknesses from our vantage point. Is this really fair ? I personally don't think it's a big stretch of the imagination to understand that Traxxas is targeting the very new, relatively unsophisticated first-time buyer who'se never been exposed to the more solid choices we all have come to know about. If we could see, in an imaginary world, the comments ONLY from those who'se very first exposure to r/c boating was the Spartan, without prior knowledge of what else is out there,
there might just be some quite happy folks, just like Joe's friend was the other day.

OTOH, claims Traxxas makes about the boat's ultimate potential does smack of unfair/untrue hyperbole and the knowing mind gets pretty offended for sure, I'll give you that.

[T.S.Davis]

I don't know. There's some truth to that I suppose. The claims of "race ready" etc doesn't set well with organized racers.

AQ and Proboat have made offerings for the green guy too. Their formula works.

[properchopper]

I don't know. There's some truth to that I suppose. The claims of "race ready" etc doesn't set well with organized racers.

AQ and Proboat have made offerings for the green guy too. Their formula works.

True That ! The "Race Ready" claim got my shorts pretty wadded up; pure to organized racers - of course the "Lawyers" could spin it to somehow, in some parallel "R/C Universe " (intentional pun/reference) be weirdly defined as having some odd truth to it - As in : I raced a Prius with my Explorer the other day

And yup, AQ & PB do have some tasty stuff - I'm actually looking hard at the MC as we speak

[T.S.Davis]

AQ and PB both looked to the hobbiests for some guidance and found some help. That's the part I find strange. Who convinced Traxxas to that setup to market? Doesn't make sense to me. Plus, why not use the hobbiests to test the thing for you? We're a pretty willing source of information. What do I know? That's why I'm just a hobbiest and they're a great big giant company.

When they said "ready to race" they meant ready to race other Traxxas Spartans. Can you imagine that boat running Q mono? 20mph off the pace. Killed. Call the diver.

[Steven Vaccaro]

They were very tight lipped about the whole thing. Terry or Prop will you be at the nats?

[properchopper]

They were very tight lipped about the whole thing. Terry or Prop will you be at the nats?

Steven, can't afford the trip; got somebig irons in the fire at the moment Hope to meet you in the future, 'tho

[T.S.Davis]

Can't do it this time. Have to make a trip to NY this summer to see a specialist for my youngest. Jay and Tom are supposed to be making the trip though. There are at least 4 of us talking Jersey in 12 but that's forever from now. Sure would like to make that trip again. SO much fun. Be cool to shoot the poo with Doug Sr. again too.

I get the tight lipped thing. That makes plenty of sense but get some expert advice. If I were going to market a gas boat I'd be hunting down someone that new the deal with them. It's just good business. I mean they don't have a carpenter design their RC trucks. The have an RC car guy do that. Although, who knows really, just because we didn't know much about it doesn't mean they had no input from some FE guy. You know what they about "ASSuME".

[dana]

I would like to see the Spartan in fiberglass with some nice running gear and motor esc. I think it's a cool hull design done all wrong

[chummer]

Would be a sweet boat but it would'nt be selling in the $400 range.

[dana]

Yeah well most people spent extra money to use 6s. So really at $400 for boat , then what another 200 for motor/esc? $600 plastic boat. They could make them right and charge more money and get away with it.

[Alexgar]

400 +250 if they were new and bought lipos and a charger at the lhs and another 200 to fix the bum motor and esc now we have an 850 price tag

[Brushless55]

Would be a sweet boat but it would'nt be selling in the $400 range.

yeah and it wouldn't be a Traxxas anymore

[6sHyper]

I just want to know WTF they were thinking when they built it with plastic??

[Brushless55]

I just want to know WTF they were thinking when they built it with plastic??

PROFITS!

[Steven Vaccaro]

I have 8 killer fiberglass monos coming in about 1 week. Price will be $495.00. No radio. Comes with Leopard 4074 motor and Hobbywing 180.

[Brushless55]

I have 8 killer fiberglass monos coming in about 1 week. Price will be $495.00. No radio. Comes with Leopard 4074 motor and Hobbywing 180.

What mono is this Steven?
length?

[T.S.Davis]

I have 8 killer fiberglass monos coming in about 1 week. Price will be $495.00. No radio. Comes with Leopard 4074 motor and Hobbywing 180.

Schwing! Don't be such a tease Steven. We can keep a secret. Spill it. haha

The Spartan is a great looking boat. Great lines. Nice paint scheme. Even the hardware isn't bad. They were SO close to something great. I had high hopes. They've done so many other things well I thought for sure this would be a slam dunk.

Having done the vac forming thing myself I have to wonder just how little they are spending on the hull. I'll bet that finish costs more than the material for the hull.

[properchopper]

I have 8 killer fiberglass monos coming in about 1 week. Price will be $495.00. No radio. Comes with Leopard 4074 motor and Hobbywing 180.

Fantastic !!Sure they'll be 31"-33" with that kind of power. I know you've done your homework & these should open the door to some solid product. Three cheers, Sir

[Jesse J]

I have 8 killer fiberglass monos coming in about 1 week. Price will be $495.00. No radio. Comes with Leopard 4074 motor and Hobbywing 180.