Looking to buy my wife's grandson an RC car. He is like 4ish. Looking for something as simple as can be, simple controls and as HD as possible. Even no suspension would be OK. Not too fast would probably be good.
They have a bunch of ones from CARS which are good. The controls are either 4 buttons, or you just turn the wheel, or pul a shift knob forward or backwards...
get a cheap walmart car, cause you know it will get trashed. Little kidos don't care enough about the "toy" or for a real RC. Start small and work him up to the real RC cars so he can race "Grampa Rodney" !!
get a cheap walmart car, cause you know it will get trashed. Little kidos don't care enough about the "toy" or for a real RC. Start small and work him up to the real RC cars so he can race "Grampa Rodney" !!
Also, make sure it's meant to be for 4 year olds - no small parts which can break off and suddenly look yummy...
I find that most stuff made for young kids unusable is junk, they are to large and have awful turning radius for indoor use. The smallest car you think he can't choke on will be your best bet..
[This message has been edited by jmbishop (edited 04-20-2015).]
The company "new bright" makes decent and relatively inexpensive RC stuff. I believe they were the ones that made the remote controlled Fiero back in the day...
[This message has been edited by TheDigitalAlchemist (edited 04-20-2015).]
I think 4 years old is too young to have one. It would be broke the first day. 4 Year olds would do dumb things like try to sit on it to ride, or drive it down the stairs. I wouldnt get anything like that till a kid was at least 9 or 10. Get him a hot wheels set with cars and a track. Pretty much indestructible and dont need batteries.
I can say it is my toy and we can go play with it. I would drive it some to show him and then let him try it some. He would slowly get used to using the controller.
If it's going to be 100% supervised and outside you can definitely get something nicer. Just remember, he is 4 and you may be buying yourself a toy more than him. I have a 7 year old brother in law that I wasn't around until he was 4. He love the disney Cars movies, hotwheels and his dad is a car guy. I have not bought him a RC car yet that he enjoyed as much as the ones I had when I was a kid, he's just different. He was very much enjoyed the $25 chinook rc copter I bought(flown only with supervision and with me controlling elevation indoors) and more recently he really likes a FREE app called TinkerPlay. The app gives you a selection of action figure parts that you assemble, color and pose in the app. The figures can be printed out on a 3d printer or would could pay to have them printed.
My dad has a newbright hummer. My 3 year old drives it around and does alright. Its been going for years now. Break all the mirrors off, but it's extra fun because: 1: the doors open and you can stuff people or things inside. possibly the best feature really. 2: It has a low and high range so you can set the speed. 3: it will drive on grass- kids don't steer all that well. it has to drive on grass. 4: it makes sounds and has a horn button so you can beep at grandpa and dad.
I'd stay away from any of the 1 button type kids r/c. they seem to frustrate kiddos even though they are supposed to be simpler.
The 1/24 in the video goes through the grass but it slows it down, I would think that would be good the way to slow it down for a younger child.
The hummer you linked has size going for it and it might do ok in the grass but you getting close in price to the 1/24 scale and the 1/24 would probably be a better experience for both of you. Either one would be fun though.
here is a 1/24 redcat taking more abuse than the new bright stuff could handle.
[This message has been edited by jmbishop (edited 04-21-2015).]
Stopped at Toys R Us and bought a New Bright 1:15 Dodge truck for about $54 with tax. Somewhat large so it should go on the grass OK. Kinda disappointed it has no slower speed choice. I see that when to push the turn button it goes all the way left or right. But this is for outdoor use. Says battery life is 12 minutes so I ordered another battery. He will only use it when we one of us is supervising. Good enough for a starter RC toy.
Well that did not last very long. Going back for a refund. So little power. Would not go in the grass at all. We have a RC place in Milwaukee. I called them. They have (on the low end) a 1/10 scale (pretty large at 18" long) for $179 complete. Says it will go in the mowed grass lawn. Oil filled shocks. I think it is a truck body. Says it can be switched to go slower. Seems like there is no middle ground. The low grade stuff then the high grade stuff. I wanted a simple no suspension RC car that is slower and has plenty of torque/power. I find some on eBay that look good but if I buy it locally that will have parts available. I wanted like a Jeep. Forward and reverse and steering and lots of torque to go in the grass. Low speed. Simple controller. Maybe like 12-15" in length.
slow with lots of torque, if you want a jeep body one can be found and added later.
I do not need a jeep body. Just one that works like a Jeep in low range. I looked at these on eBay. Look very extreme for a little kid. Looking for something very simple and basic but lots of torque to go in the grass. Seems that does not exist.
I got my nephew a truck once, it looked really cool, but was slow. It was a rock climber , and could carry some weight (toys piled on top) it did well on the grass. There are also cool rc critters, a shark, a centipede, etc...
I do not need a jeep body. Just one that works like a Jeep in low range. I looked at these on eBay. Look very extreme for a little kid. Looking for something very simple and basic but lots of torque to go in the grass. Seems that does not exist.
Thanks Rodney
I don't think there is much else other than the smaller scale redcat crawlers that will be low range like what you're looking for and he might be a little young for something that advanced but he will still enjoy it and will get older.
Thanks for posting.
