There are always new companies coming into the rc scene, but we don’t think there is a more exciting new company for bashers than Rlaarlo. They’ve proven they can put out a great rock crawler, they’ve proven they can put out a great rally car, and now we’ve finally gotten a chance to see just how one of their true bashers stacks up. We’ve been sending the Rlaarlo Storm Breaker SBK10 Metal Brushless 4WD RTR for several weeks to see how it performs, as well as how it holds up to a bunch of bashing maniacs. The Storm Breaker comes with an exceptionally low price point, but does it have enough power to be fun? How does it handle? Perhaps more importantly to our readers, can it take a beating? Scroll on down to find out…
From: Rlaarlo
Direct Link: Storm Breaker SBK10 Metal Brushless RTR Buggy
Review By: Cubby
Pictures By: T-Money
Specs-
RTR or Kit: RTR
Age: 14+
2wd or 4wd: 4wd
Shaft or Belt: Shaft
Electric or Gas: Electric
Scale: 1/10
Width (measured by BSRC): 9.9″
Wheelbase (measured by BSRC): 10.7″
Motor: 3100kV 2852 brushless
Speed Controller: 45 amp
Low Voltage Cut-off: Yes
Radio: 2.4GHz
Differential: 3 gear diffs
Driveshafts: Metal bones and CVD
Shocks: Oil filled, aluminum bodies and caps
Screws: Hex
Battery: 3S 2200mAh
Top Speed (measured by BSRC on 3S stock LiPo): 28 MPH
Test Drivers: Your oh-so lovable Cub Reporter, Iron Mikeee, the RC Kid, and T-$$$.
Test Venues: We went to a couple of our local parks plus our local outdoor 8th scale off-road track. Both parks offered everything from gravel, to sand, to grass, to dirt areas, while the track was pretty much a muddy mess. Our weather definitely wasn’t the best during the test period, with a high temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit, and the coldest test day being 30 degrees.
Set-up Notes: We grabbed some MaxAmps AAs out of our stash for the transmitter, then used a Hitec RDX1 200 to handle charging the included 3S LiPo for the buggy. The buggy does come with a slow charger, but we used the Hitec to ensure a great charge.
Turning: The Rlaarlo is a bit different than most buggies because it comes with wider tires in the rear, than in the front. This didn’t seem to hamper cornering for us. However, the stock ride height was a bit high, thus causing it to skate around a bit while cornering. We ended up setting the ride height to bones level front and rear, which really helped bring up the corner speeds. With the pre-load adjusted, we found the Storm Breaker easy to corner with. With a bones level ride height, we found the Storm Breaker had a touch of oversteer. In most corners, the front end stuck well at corner entry, with the rear a bit on the loose side. This made it easy to make sharp corners, but the rear wasn’t quite as planted as we would have liked. Of course this could easily be dealt with via more tuning, something we’ll be working on as we bash it in the future.
Jumping: We felt like the Rlaarlo crew had the suspension set up for jumping right out of the box. With a relatively tall ride height and fairly firm springs & damping, we could send some pretty large jumps with confidence. Its 3 diff driveline was a dream to jump with, making it really easy to flatten out when it would get kicked into nose up, or nose down, situations. The buggy was really good at take-off, even off bumpy jump faces, and tended to land well too. Really big jumps would bottom it out of course, but for normal jumping, it would just land and accelerate away.
Bumps/Whoops: The Storm Breaker isn’t small, but it’s not huge for form factor either. We say this because we could hit some fairly gnarly sections pinned wide open and it would generally maintain its composure. Of course every bash spot should have some ultra-gnarly bumps, and we found plenty of those too, and that’s when the 1/10th form factor would run out of stability. We would say that for normal sized bumps that you’ll find at your park, you can mostly slam them hard and the buggy would keep straight and true.
On-Road: If mostly on-road bashing is your thing, you’ll have a blast with the Storm Breaker. We didn’t experience any traction rolling, and the stock suspension seemed set-up fairly well for pavement. The buggy comes with sway bars front and rear, which did a good job of keep the chassis level when cornering on pavement. Our test unit didn’t have a load of top speed, but had plenty of power from a dead stop, which generally made it plenty of fun when racing around the cul-de-sac.
Grass: In normal height grass to shorter grass, the Storm Breaker got along just fine. The stock tires got decent traction and its 4wd system just kept on chewing through the green stuff to give you forward momentum. If grass is your only bashing venue, it won’t disappoint.
Tires: Oh yes, what about them tires? Yes, the rears are wider than the fronts, but we felt like this gave the Storm Breaker a cool look, while also giving it more traction when drag racing from a dead stop. The tread design is fairly conservative, but seemed to work well enough across a wide variety of surfaces. Yes, the tires seemed to excel on the harder stuff, but are quite usable until you’ve driven enough to wear them out. Lastly, the stock tires have a very flat profile, which isn’t the best for traction, but sure helps keep it from traction rolling in corners.
Power: Our buggy came with the smaller of the two power systems available on the Storm Breaker. This didn’t mean it was slow by any means. Our test unit wasn’t geared for the moon, it was geared properly, so it accelerated quite quickly to a moderate top speed. If you are a newer driver, or if you don’t do a bunch of speed runs, the stock power system has more than enough yank to keep you interested. For general bashing at the park, we weren’t really looking for more power, but for those of you looking to go a bit more extreme, look at the Carbon version of the Storm Breaker that comes with more wattage on tap.
Radio: For an RTR radio, we didn’t have any major complaints. It worked well, we never experienced any glitching, and the range was more than enough for any of our bashing.
Broken Parts: While doing our review, we generally try not to break the car until we get a half dozen packs in or so. However, Iron Mikeee just doesn’t listen, and he repeatedly bounced off curbs, smacked pipes at the track, and basically drove like a psycho. Yet, the Storm Breaker didn’t break. At the end of testing, when it was time to actually break the buggy, we launched a 2 story roof jump with a grass landing area. We hucked the Storm Breaker off the 2 story house and landed in the grass pretty much perfectly on all four wheels. And it just drove away, like any good bash buggy should. Even with the 2 story roof jump, it wasn’t tweaked, nothing from broken or pointing the wrong direction, it was just fine. Eventually, we just had to get straight up mean, which means driving it full speed into railroad ties. Finally, we were able from break a front hub carrier, but it took repeated attempts. When looking for a bash buggy, durability is perhaps the number one thing on the list, and from our first hand testing, we can say the Storm Breaker is about as tough as they come.
Misc Notes:
The Storm Breaker comes stock with a 3S LiPo and it’s actually geared properly! We love the fact that Rlaarlo is going with a higher 3S voltage, then they gear the buggy properly so there aren’t any overhearing issues. Higher voltage with properly gearing is something the rest of the industry should go to. We loved not having to worry about motor temps on the Storm Breaker, something that is pretty rare now days in the RTR world.
The buggy comes with an optional big basher style front bumper. That’s a very nice touch for the hardcore bashers out there.
We wish the anodized parts matched color with the body. Stock the anodized parts are green, which clashes a bit with the bright orange on the body.
Summary: We were trying to think if we could find an rc vehicle more fun than the Storm Breaker, for only $219. After talking with all the members of our test crew, we think that would be very hard to do. Then, we started thinking about if we could find a more durable brushless buggy for only $219. We also think that would be very hard to do. For a very reasonable price, Rlaarlo gives you a rock solid 10th scaled buggy that simply loves to bash. Rlaarlo is making a big splash in the rc market because their products perform well, plus they hold up well. With that said, the Big Squid RC Bash can definitely recommend the Rlaarlo Storm Breaker brushless buggy to anyone looking for an affordable bash machine. It does exactly what a bash buggy should do- it’s lots of fun, it’s super durable, and it doesnt break the bank. Props to Rlaarlo, the Storm Breaker is arguably the best 10th scaler basher we’ve ever had the chance to test.
Purchase Link: Storm Breaker SBK10 Metal Brushless RTR Buggy
Source of the article bigsquidrc
Direct Link: THE Rlaarlo 1/10 Storm Breaker SBK10 Metal Brushless 4WD RTR Buggy Review
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