Hi I have an hip e savage and I want to convert it to brush less and I was wondering if the radient reaktor 3500 kV combo would work?

Ryan G.

Cubby- Yo to the yo Ryan G, thanks for the email and shoot Brian your snail mail so we can hook ya up with a BigSquidRC sticker pack.

So you have a Savage that’s so cool it’s hip? I kid, I kid, you have an electric HPI Savage and you want to know if the Radient Reaktor brushless system we reviewed a few weeks ago will power the beast.

The answer is Yes, but… not for very long. No, I have not tried the Radient in a Savage first hand, but I’m fairly confident from years of experience that it just won’t work. The Radient Reaktor system was not designed to power a vehicle as heavy, or with as much rotating mass, as an HPI Savage. To reliably power the Savage day in and day out it will take a larger motor and a speedo capable of handling such high power demands.

So… I won’t leave ya hang’n bro, I’ll give ya an affordable alternative that should work. We reviewed an 8th scale Kershaw system a long time ago, it was one of their “Gen 2″ 8th scale power systems and it worked well for us. Kershaw doesn’t sell the “Gen 2″ system anymore, however they have “Gen 3″ 8th scale systems starting around $150. You might want to hit’em up with an email and say you are looking for crazy power for your Savage on the cheap. Oh ya, tell’em Cubby said “What’s up”.

Here are a few links you may want to check out:
Our Radient Reaktor 3500 Review

Our Kershaw Designs Review

A link to Kershaw’s Gen2 System

What do you think about those car action reader choice awards? Are they fake or what? It seems like every year they end up with some bullsh&* winners that nobody would ever vote for.

Benji K.
Utica New York

Cubby- What’s up Benji? Do you always ask such loaded questions? Haha, good for you for not holding anything back.

I won’t hold back either. I have zero, absolutely no “first hand” information that there is anything bogus about the RCCA awards. I don’t know how the voting works, or what categories there are, I basically know nothing about them, let alone about anything fishy going on.. About the only thing I know about them is they named a motorcycle as “car of the year” a few years ago. We still laugh about that one around the office.

However… there have been rumors floating around for years within the industry. Maybe they were started after a touch of jealously by a company that lost, or maybe they were just started by someone look’n to stir the pot, I have no idea.

I will say two things here-

1. I have no idea why you even care about who-wins-what in the dinosaur media. You really should move into the internet age. If you took the time to write me an email then obviously you know where the internet is, use it.

2. We do see surprise winners every year during our March Bashness tournament. For example, some very heavy hitter Traxxas vehicles have bit the dust early when every single person in the office expected them to make the final 4. Upsets do happen, and products that you or I think are extremely popular might not actually be.

With all that said, our own March Bashness tournament is now underway, and I can give you 100000% certainty that it’s legit in every way. Click the vote buttons and show the world which vehicles you think are the best.

Click HERE to go VOTE NOW!

YOUR Cub Reporter

Every day more and more people make the jump into the wonderful world of hobby grade rc’s. Most of these people end up walking out the hobby shop door with a RTR and low-end Ni-MH battery. New people to the hobby don’t really need some high-zoot uber charger, they need a charger that is easy to use with enough power to get the job done. Today we are taking a closer look at such a charger, the Radient Origin. Is the Origin easy for a noob to use? Can it stand up to the day-to-day beating of a basher? Most importantly, is it worth the cash? Read on and find out…

From: Radient
Direct Link: Origin Battery Charger

Review By: Cubby
Pics By: Cubby

Specs-

AC Input: 100-240v
DC Input: 12-15v
Battery Type: Ni-MH and NiCd
Max charge rate: 4 amps
Charge rates: 1, 2, 3, or 4 amps
Maximum cell count: 8 cells
Interal Power Supply: 35 watts
Connectors: Tamiya, mini/micro adapter
Dimensions: 150x70x40mm
Weight: 300 grams
Street Price: $35

Primary Competition: Duratrax Onyx 100 and Dynamite Prophet Plus II

What’s In The Box: The Charger, mini-micro adapter, and instruction manual.

Build Quality: The case is constructed entirely out of plastic but had a decent feel to it.

Testers: Cubby, Brian, Iron Mike

Set-up Notes: As we didn’t have any packs laying around with Tamiya connectors still on them, we ended up using a Tamiya to Traxxas adapter. While the Origin can be run off AC power we elected to power it DC style off a TrakPower DPS 25 amp power supply.

Ease of Use: Exceptionally easy. None of our testers had to refer to the manual to perform a successful charge, however, if you are truly a noob I would highly recommend reading the instructions from front to back. The Origin has one light on the front and just one button. The instructions in brief are printed right by the button. Press once for a 1 amp charge, again for a 2 amp, etc. To start the charge simply hold the button down. The light is red while charging, green when finished, thus making it very easy to use.

Power: 4 amps is the maximum charge rate of the Origin. That might not sound like much at all, but when used in context that is a decent charge rate. For example, the only Ni-MH batteries we had laying around the office were some RTR batteries from ECX. These were 1800 mah 6 cell Ni-MH packs. A 2 amp charge rate was just above a 1C rate, giving us slightly under 1 hour charge times. Had we elected to turn up the charge rate to 4 amps that would have resulted in charge times of less than 30 minutes (just above 2C). I would not recommend you charging RTR Ni-MH packs faster than 1C, but the moral of the story is that Origin has more than enough power for most low-end RTR batteries.

Broken Parts/Issues: We put Iron Mike in charge of beating on the Origin and he did a great job. He dropped it from the drivers stand, stood on top of it (Mike weighs around 180 lbs) and would throw it at us when we least expected it, giving us no chance to actually catch it before it crashed to the ground. The Origin still lives today, working just fine. It looks much rougher around the edges, but proved quite durable for us.

Perhaps the biggest thing that kills chargers is time/heat. We have used the Origin for roughly 50 charges thus far with no issues.

Misc Notes:

The instruction manual was easy to understand and well written with the noob in mind.

The Origin has two foam strips on its top. The manual states this area can be used as a “storage tray” when the charger is not in use. We used it as rather handy parts tray all the time.

The Origin is quite small, which we REALLY like. It fits easy in a toolbox and takes up very little space on your table or tailgate.

Downsides:

We would like to have seen more options for connectors included in the box. Yes, the stock Tamiya connector is the best choice for this particular application, but having more choices in the box would be even better.

SUMMARY

Time To Bash: C If you are using Tamiya connectors you are dialed, if not get ready to do some soldering or to buy an adapter.

Car Show Rating: C Clean but very basic look.

Bash-A-Bility: A We went above and beyond to destroy the Origin and it still works fine today.

Power: C More than enough power to quickly charge low-end Ni-MH batteries, but the exact same power as its direct competition.

Value: B The Origin is a few bucks more than the Duratrax, a few bucks less than the Dynamite, and all have similar specs. It earns a B here because of its form factor and storage tray, offering a little bit more for the money.

Big Squid Rating: B- If you are looking for a reliable and simple to use Ni-MH charger the Radient Origin is a solid choice.

On to rc…

First up a couple of reminders. This coming Saturday, February 9th, the BigSquidRC Bash Crew will be doing special coverage of the world’s largest indoor flying event, eFest, from Champaign Illinois. Expect news posts and a live video feed (as much as the net will allow) from the event floor. If you can’t join us in person keep an eye on our front page to see exactly what we come up with.

Last week we posted three reviews- the Axial Jeep Wrangler, iMaxRC X200 charger, and Radiant Reaktor brushless system. This week we’ll be posting reviews on Pro-Line Pro-2 performance upgrades, TrakPower DPS power supply and VR-1 dual charger, Atomik 8th scale Deegan SCT, and the electric Thunder Tiger Mini Cooper. Yes, another huge week for reviews here on BigSquidRC. Btw, shoot us an email on how you are liking our new A/B/C/D grading system, we’d like to know if you like it better than our old 1-10 system.

Also… try and catch our Wednesday night Google+ LIVE show. This week we just might be breaking more big news (like we did last week, more on that later), and we will once again be inviting you, yes you, to join us live in the Google+ Hangout live video feed. To be able to join in with us, you’ll need to have a G+ account plus a webcam and mic already set-up. More details on Wednesday…

Also in rc news…

The Nuremberg Toy Fair was huge last week, so huge it put a serious hurt’n on us media outlets. It’s pretty rare when we simply can’t keep up with all the new products being introduced. In fact, I think last week was the first time ever. Congrats to the big German show, and congrats to the industry for its continued growth.

What was the biggest news from the Toy Fair? You’d have to have been living on Mars to have not heard about Vaterra yet. Horizon has been teasing about an all new brand for months now and they did the official unveiling at Nuremberg. It was a nicely done introduction- a big reveal at the Toy Fair, the Vaterra dot com and FB page went live with perfect timing, and they even sent out some pretty sweet press kits to the media.

It’s quite obvious someone over at Horizon has been eating/breathing/shit’n Vaterra for the last 6 months. For example- the unveil was amazing, all the pics of the new vehicles were incredibly well done, all the videos were amazing, and all the products look to be solid inside and out. I have the feeling a bunch of midnight oil got burnt by the Horizon crew the last few months, but it turned out awesome and hopefully those guys are finally able to get some much needed sleep.

The actual Vaterra product looks incredible, to the point of being legit shelf queens that you can actually drive. As a hobby grade rc’er it was burnt in my brain from the start that you can either have a high performance hobby grade rc, or you can have an incredibly detailed scale looking body, but you can’t have both. Vaterra is the first entire line (off and on-road) in our industry that shows that yes you can, you can have your performance cake and incredible scale looking icing too.

Horizon already had two solid line-ups, the legendary Losi line, and the upstart ECX line of surface vehicles. Was there a need for a third? Some industry types will say definitely, the third brand name helps put even more Horizon product on LHS shelves to help push other brands off. Then other industry types know how long (and how much money) it takes to get a new brand off the ground. Certainly it takes years for a new brand to earn its keep on LHS shelves, and certainly it takes millions of marketing dollars to firmly plant the name into consumers heads.

Vaterra is certainly off to a stellar start. Everything they’ve done thus far has been top notch, certainly a testament to the rc passion of the staff over at Horizon. 2012 was very quiet for them, but thus far Horizon owns 2013. Now it’s a matter of waiting to test the actual product. Does the performance and reliability of the new Vaterra gear stack up to all the marketing hype and incredible scale looks? We’ll find out soon enough, and should the actual platforms be rock solid, Vaterra has a long prosperous future in rc. In fact, the Vaterra line might go down as a real game changer, the line that proved that us rc’ers can finally have machines that look as good as they perform.

On a different note…

We broke some pretty big news on our Wednesday night Google+ LIVE show last week. We broke the news that HPI will soon be exclusively distributed by Hobbico/Great Planes. In the past HPI was distributed by Great Planes, HRP and Horizon, starting later this year they will only be available from GP. No doubt Great Planes is the premier distributor of rc products in the entire world, they’ve got their act together, and they should be able to take HPI to new heights. Rumors have been floating around for years about the financial status of HPI, hopefully exclusive distribution by GP will fix any ills that might be going on over there. Look for the official announcement to be made March 1st.

Speaking of HPI, they once again had their Octane gas engines on display at Nuremberg. If there is one thing that can put HPI on top of the heap it would be their Octane powered vehicles taking over the market. If the Octane works as advertised, HPI is staring directly at a sales floor success like they’ve never seen before. Unfortunately, and I know first hand, that there is at least one other “big” name that is getting close to announcing their own gas power-plant for smaller scales. I hope HPI’s decision to announce their gas platform well over a year before it could hit shelves does not come back to haunt them.

That’s it for this week ya bunch of rc fanatics. Thanks for reading, and support your local hobby shops and bash spots when ya can.

YOUR Cub Reporter

Intro- There are a whole lot of noobs out there that have been driving their brushed powered RTR’s and have mastered the stock power system. When that happens, boredom sets in, and a new brushless system goes on the wish list. The crew over at Firelands Group has a new entry level brushless system called the Radient Reaktor. This 540 system should be an easy swap for RTR gear, and should instantly transform boring RTR power up to “Holy Cow this thing rips!”. How does the Radient Reaktor truly hold up? Lets find out…

From: Fireland Group/HobbyTown USA, Radient RC

Reviewed by: Cubby
Pics by: Cubby

Part #: RDNA0023
Street Price: $99

Speedo Specs:

Waterproof: Yes
Amp rating: 35 amps
Low Voltage Cut-off: Yes
BEC: 5 volt, 3 amps
Motor Connectors: 3.5mm bullet
Battery Connector: Tamiya
Reverse: Yes
Cell count- 8 cell NiMH or 3S Lipo
Sensored- No
Fan- Yes, 25mm

Motor Specs:

Size- 540
Sensored- No
Kv- 3500, 2 pole
Stator- Slotless
Top Speed (measured by BSRC)- 32 mph

What’s In The Box: Speedo, motor, double sided tape, zip ties, instructions, and a few stickers.

Build Quality: The speedo and motor both looked well assembled, but we were not fans of the small bullet connectors on the motor, nor the ultra-stretchy insulation on the power wires.

Test Drivers: Cubby, Brian, and Iron Mike

Test Venues: RC Outlaws in Collinsville Illinois, local city park, streets of a local sub-division, baseball diamond, and a grassy backyard

Set-up Notes: We reviewed the Radient brushless system in an Associated T4 2wd stadium truck. The truck was equipped with a Hitec steering servo, Futaba transmitter, and was powered with a MaxAmps 2S 6500 mah Lipo battery. We used a RRP 24 tooth pinion on the stock spur gear.

Ease of Use: The manual was clearly written, calibrating and changing of the minimal settings turned out to be quite easy.

Drivability/Feel/Powerband: From a dead stop, to lets say 2 mph, the Radient took off like an older Castle system. Which is to say, it wasn’t buttery smooth like a typical sensored system would be, it was slightly rough, yet got going just fine. As far as the powerband goes, the low end was exceptionally soft, especially for a non-sensored system. There simply was no low end slap in the face, it was subtle and smooth. The Reaktor was so soft in the low end that it took a bit of getting used to for long time brushless drivers. The upside is the super soft low end makes the Radient exceptionally drive-able for noobs. Where as a typical non-sensored system punches you in the face off the bottom, the Radient was quite tame.

The mid-range was where the Radient really started picking up the pace offering loads of usable power, and the top end just kept on pulling with robust power till the gearing topped out.

One last note on drivability here, the Reaktor comes with a small amount of drag-brake programmed in. If you are used to driving brushed motors it will feel about right. If you are used to nitro or you are a long term brushless driver, you are used to “free wheeling” in neutral, therefore the built in drag brake will take some getting used to.

Thermalling: We didn’t have any problems with heat, but, the highest ambient temp we drove the Radient in was 50 F. The highest temp I measured was 110 F, that was after 15 minutes of running in grass, which is pretty much a torture test for any power system.

Cogging: We did not experience any cogging with the Radient system.

Power: The Radient has plenty of pure power on tap, but to access it you’ll need to keep the revs up. For example, because of the soft low-end, making short run doubles out of a corner can be harder than with other systems. But, in mid to high speed sections there is more than enough power on tap to make all the crazy obstacles without issue. The Radient has more than enough power to easily break the tires loose on demand, and more than enough to make monster sized jumps and pull decent wheelies.

Overall power- compared to a typical RTR stock brushed motor, the Radient has insane levels of power, but if you were to compare it to some of the other 540 non-sensored systems (on higher cells counts) it is not in the same league. Yes, the Radient has a lot of power on 2S, perhaps even more than you could ever use on a track, but no, its max power isn’t in the same league as some of the other more costly systems on 4-6S. But rest assured, if you are used to stock brushed power, the Radient Reaktor will easily make your RTR feel much faster, in both acceleration and in top speed (with proper gearing). Driving our Radient powered Associated in the yard was quite the thrill, it always kept pulling, the front tires were nearly always in the air, and that big tree that was “far away” just a second ago is suddenly right in front of you.

Brakes: When used in our 2wd stadium truck the Reaktor brakes felt awesome. They weren’t too strong, yet brought our truck to a halt in a hurry. In fact, out of the box, the brakes were set nearly perfect for 2wd on a loose dirt surface. However, the relatively soft brakes just weren’t quite enough on high grip surfaces like pavement, and I will speculate that if you were to use the Radient system in a 4wd, they would come across as too soft.

Fit: The motor is a standard 540 unit, which should easily bolt into pretty much any 10th scale platform, and the speedo fit neatly into our stadium truck without issue. The Radient is a bit tall with its fan attached, and its footprint isn’t all that small either, so in certain buggy or TC applications it may be a tight fit. If you are putting it in a stadium truck or SCT there will be plenty of space.

Summary:

A = Outstanding/Best in Class, B = Above Average, C = Average, D = Below Average, F = Horrific

Time To Bash: B The Reaktor comes with all connectors attached. If you are running Tamiya connectors no soldering will be needed, simply bolt in the gear, calibrate and set the speedo, and you are on the track.

Car Show Rating: C Decent looking system, especially if you are into the “murdered out” look, but not blingy enough for the old school crowd.

Bash-A-Bility: A No thermalling, no wires came off, and nothing burnt up. We experienced no issues at all with the Reaktor brushless system.

Fun Factor: C Whether you be driving on a ball diamond or the backyard, the Reaktor has enough yank to keep things interesting.

Drivability: B The Radient Reaktor was very easy to drive. Where some non-sensored systems might have their power “kick in” at exactly the wrong time, the Reaktor system was extra smooth, especially in the low end.

Power: C Compared to other 2S non-sensored systems, the Reaktor held its own. You won’t find “instantly destroy your tranny power” here, but you will have more than enough for making huge jumps and digging massive trenches in the dirt.

Value: B The Reaktor has a street price of $99, which puts it towards the low end of the price spectrum for brushless systems. The Reaktor performed better than most of the systems we’ve driven in its price range.

BigSquid Rating: B- The Radient Reaktor is a solid motor/speedo combo that we highly recommend for moderate bashing. The price point is right, the Reaktor was easy to set-up, it proved quite reliable, and it put out plenty of usable power. Take the Radient Reaktor for a spin, you’ll find it’s worth the cash.

* Charges up to 4 amps on AC or DC
* Charges 1-8 cell Ni-MH
* Charges Ni-MH and NiCd type of cells
* Single button interface
* Uses LED to show charge status
* Slim design to save space
* Part #RDNA0014

The Radient Origin has a street price of $35 and they are available right now at your local HobbyTown USA dealer.

Want to read one of our previous Radient battery charger reviews? HERE is the link you want.

New from Radient RC is this brushless motor and ESC combo. The 3500kv system is built to be ideal for your 2WD 1/10th scale vehicles and can even handle running in your 4WD Helion Dominus SC and TR. It can handle 2S or 3S lipo setups, and the waterproof esc is ready for your bashing.

The Radient product line can be found at the Hobby Town Website.

Looking for more Radient RC news on Big Squid RC?

Looking for more Hobbytown USA news? HERE is the link you want.

Hello, I was wondering if the Radient Ascend charger will somehow charge AA size NIMH batteries. I have 8 AA nimh batteries { single, not a battery pack } and would like to know if the ascend can handle this { maybe with an adapter of some sort? } Thanks!!

Jim P.

Cubby- Ahoy thar Jimmy P, what ye be doin? Be sure ‘n send Brian ye snail mail so we can flood ye mailbox wit’ sweet BigSquid stickers.

Let me guess, ye use 8 AA NiMH batteries in ye transmitter? ‘n ye’d like to charge them wit’ ye Helion Ascend?

Can th’ Radient Ascend charge 8 AA NiMH cells at one the hour? Yarr, absolutely no problem. In fact it can charge just one, or just a pair, ect, all th’ way up to 8 like ye be tryin’ to do. ye could charge each sin’le AA separately, but that would take a dozen sails around the globe. What I would recommend be ’tis- use a battery tray out ‘o an barnacle-covered transmitter. Remove th’ tray from th’ barnacle-covered transmitter, throw a connector ‘o some type on th’ wires (if needed, it might already have a plug ye can adapt to), ‘n charge th’ 8 AA NiMH batteries all at once wit’ ye Ascend. Use a 1C charge rate (2 amps if they be 2000 mah cells) ‘n ye be dialed.

First off – just want to say I really enjoy your site. As someone getting back into RC after about 15 yrs it’s been helpful and informative, not to mention entertaining. After picking up a 2WD Slash last winter and an SC10 this summer for racing the local tracks here the northern burbs of Chicago when I can get the time – my daughter is starting to show an interest (she’s almost 5 yrs old).

So what better excuse to pick up another vehicle – enter the Ruckus. Picked it up from the local HobbyTown USA and it fits the bill perfectly. It has that big truck look that she enjoys and out of the box it isn’t quite fast enough for her to cause any real damage. I found that the large bumper from the ECX Torment is a direct bolt-on by the way.

To my question – I read in your initial review that you had trouble fitting a Lipo battery in there yet during the RTR Monster truck shoot-out a Lipo was used in all three trucks. I’m curious if you did any specific mod to get it to fit? Or if you just used a velcro strap around the chassis or something?

Just for the longer run times and continual even power I may eventually swap out the esc to the XL5 from my Slash (for the low voltage protection) and run it with a lipo. Another thing I found out is that the 7-cell nimh flat packs DO fit – which works out since I had a couple of these before making the lipo switch on my Slash. I couldn’t confirm the 7-cell fitment anywhere online before purchasing the vehicle.

Thanks…….

Matt F.

P.S. Thanks for the posting about the price decreases of ECX vehicles – HobbyTown gladly price matched it since their supplier is Horizon Hobbies.

Cubby- Greetin’s dearest Matt, ‘n hearty thanks fer writin’ in ‘n fer th’ lust.

No, we didn’t mod th’ battery tray in any way on th’ ECX Ruckus durin’ our shootout. We used standard ROAR hardcase 2S SpeedPack Lipo’s from Dynamite fer th’ shootout. No, they weren’t an easy fit, we had to push below on th’ battery bar pretty harrrd fer th’ fastener to properly latch, but it did set the sails. Btw, I totally dig th’ fact that ECX does not use body clips on their battery bars, ‘n their set-up never comes loose or causes any issues, salutes to them on that.

But yarr, many common battery packs be slightly taller than what ECX intended thus makin’ it harrrd to get th’ battery strap on. I drive an ECX Torment nearly every day ‘n here’s th’ scoop on what I did to make it a wee bit easier to install slightly taller packs-

1. Get out a Phillips head screwdriver.
2. Slightly loosen th’ a pair bolts that thread up into th’ battery strap latches, ’tis be typically only a couple ‘o turns.
3. Slightly loosen th’ four screws at th’ back ‘o th’ battery box to gift th’ rear area a wee bit more height as well.
4. All done ‘n dialed.

To boil it below, a standard sized Lipo be slightly a pain to put in th’ Ruckus but it can set the sails, ‘n, ’tis super easy to loosen a few screws to gain a wee bit ‘o height if needed.

YE Cub Reporter

New from the Radient RC folks is a entry level charger called the Origin. It’s a one button, NiMH/NiCd charger that is meant to keep it as easy as possible. It can handle 1-8 cells and charge from 1 to 4 amps.

Radient chargers can be found on the Hobby Town Website.

We have reviewed several Radient chargers in the past, click HERE to check them out.

Tired of using that 8 hour wall charger that came with your new RTR? Looking for a quality “do-it-all” charger at a decent price? Have ya seen one of the new Radient chargers at your friendly/local HobbyTown USA and are wondering if it’s any good? Well… welcome to Cubby’s Radient Ascend review where I’ll give ya all the answers.

From: Radient RC
Direct Link: Ascend Surface Charger

Review by: Cubby
Pics by: Cubby

Specs-
Heat Sensor: No
Connector: Tamiya, Mini/Micro plug
Weight: 350 grams
Max Charge Rate: 6 amps on 2S Lipo (DC) or 4 amps on 2S Lipo (AC), 4 amps on 3S (DC) or 3 amps on 3S (AC)
Max Cell Count: 3S Lipo, 8 Cell Ni-Mh
Cell Chemistries Supported: NiCd, NiMH, LiPo, LiFe
Model Memory: No
Discharge Mode: No
Balance Charger: Yes
Balance Plug: JST-XH (2 and 3S)
AC/DC: AC and DC
Warranty: 90 Days Limited
Street Price: $60

Primary Competition: Duratrax Onyx Series, Dynamite RC, multiple others

What’s In The Box: Radient Ascend battery charger, instruction booklet, Tamiya to mini/micro plug adapter

Build Quality: The Ascend case is constructed entirely out of plastic and build quality looked fine.

Test Drivers: Cubby, Brian, Iron Mike

Set-up Notes: We ran it box stock, sometimes off of AC power, other times off of an external DC power supply. We only charged LiPo and NiMH cells with the Ascend.

Ease of Use: I am not a noob, but I found it very easy to use. I did not have to refer to the manual to use the Ascend, which is always a good sign. I have used chargers in the past that are impossible to use without reading the manual first, the Ascend is certainly not one of those, at least not for the seasoned rc’er.

Power: The maximum charge rate for a 2S Lipo pack is 6 amps, and 4 amps on a 3S pack. These maximum charge rates can only be reached while using an external DC power supply, not while using the Ascend off of AC power. Max AC rates are 4 amps on 2S and 3 amps on 3S, not exceptionally high, but worlds better the 8 hour wall charger you’ve been wanting to smash with a hammer.

Broken Parts/Issues: None, everything worked perfectly. We never experienced any overheating or any other issues with the Ascend. For torture testing I not only stood on top of the Ascend, but also purposely knocked it off my pit table 3 times, seemingly with no ill effects.

Misc Notes:

While I didn’t need to read the manual to initially use the charger, I read it later and I’d recommend you do the same. The manual is well written and quite informative, perfect if you are a noob and aren’t quite sure what’s up.

You can wind up the AC power cord on the bottom of the Ascend charger for storage, but the entire cord and wall connector won’t fit in the space provided. Speaking of cords, both the AC and DC cords are slightly on the short side, 6″ more on each would be nice to see.

The back-lit display on the Ascend is easily seen both indoor and out, Sweet!

I’d really like to have seen multiple model memories on the Ascend at this price point.

As a safety feature the Ascend will ONLY charge a Lipo that is being balance charged. This is a good thing for safety but can present a problem if the balance plug on your LiPo isn’t the same type as the balance port on the Ascend. To reiterate, if the Lipo packs you own do not have JST-XH balance plugs you’ll have to use an adapter board to charge them.

The stock connector is a Tamiya, which is a poor connector, but probably the connector most noobs are using. And yes, I highly recommend switching all your plugs over to Traxxas.

The Ascend is exceptionally small, a very easy fit into any pit box. I like small chargers that don’t waste a bunch of space in my pit box. Kudos to Radient.

The Radient lines of chargers are available only from your local HobbyTown USA’s.

As with all of our stuff, if you see us at a bash, stop by and check out the vehicles we have with us. We may let you take a test drive, and at the very least get you some stickers!

SUMMARY

Time To Bash – 9.5/10 – Virtually no set-up time, just plug it into the wall, plug in a battery and go! It took me less than 5 minutes to go from taking the Ascend out of the box to charging its first battery.

Car Show Rating – 8.0/10 – The Ascend looked smart and has a nice display.

Bash-A-Bility – 10/10 – Even after torture testing I couldn’t foul up the Ascend.

Fun Factor – 7.5/10 – The Ascend has several mid level features that make it more fun than using a simple base charger.

Power- 8.0/10 – 4 amps on a 2S Lipo pack (on AC power) is a LOT more powerful than an RTR wall charger, but not in the same league as more elite chargers. The 6 amp rate on 2S (on DC) is high enough to charge most packs at a 1C rate. So while the Ascend isn’t the most powerful charger on the market, it won’t hurt your wallet nearly as much as higher output units.

Value- 8.5/10 – The Ascend is a mid level charger at a $60 price point that works solidly week in and week out, that represents a good value to me.

Big Squid Rating – 8.6/10 - Tentacles.. I really liked using the Ascend- it didn’t take up any space in my pit bag, it was easy to use, and it gave all my packs a good quality charge. If you are in the market for a good charger, consider the Ascend, ours worked great.