Zoom zoom zoom!

Not that I need another hobby…

I’ve recently had the chance to mess around with some radio controlled cars. I have always enjoyed the aspect of these and have wanted to own one.

Truthfully, wanted to get something I could fly – such as a plane or a helicopter. But, here’s my issue there – if I don’t understand how things work well enough, I could crash one of these marvelous machines. If that happened and it was a bad crash, I could be out the money I invested just like that.

I feel a little more secure with a radio controlled car.

The research aspect here is quite important as I want to make sure the one I get is one with low maintenance. I’m not one of those people who can tweak and play with things to get more performance out of something. Therefore, I need something that does what I need it to do, without much tinkering. I also opted for battery power (despite knowing I won’t get as much time out of it without extra batteries), because I think there’s less of a chance something crazy could happen. I’ve seen some of the gas-powered ones and there’s so much tinkering. I know the performance seems to be better, but I can dig the battery work.

The real issue here is I am not sure what is good and what is bad. I have some ideas as I have a friend who is an RC nut (he does airplanes/cars etc.) and he gave me a good idea. The one I am looking at is in the price range I want to spend, though I’d have to but an extra battery or two and likely a rapid charger. It seems you get anywhere from 15-30 minutes out of a battery and without the rapid recharger, it could take upward of six hours for a new charge. That’s why having that and an extra battery or two would be handy.

But why, right? I already have enough hobbies, between geocaching, the blog, softball, photography and, when time allows, disc golf.

This, though, is basic.

It will get me to go outside when other things aren’t going on, be moving around and trying different things. I’ll have to find some good places to take the car, but it could be some fun. And that’s the big thing here – being out and moving. I know some fun little spots I could take this car and from the videos I’ve been looking at, it appears like it can take a good little beating, too.

I also think it would be fun to have when out geocaching. Many geocaching places take you to nice trails or rugged terrain. This truck could come along and mix the two hobbies together. Plus, I could put a trackable on the RC car and people could discover it.
Not only that, but it should give me more chances for photography or making videos. I’d really like to find out how to mount a small camera on top of the car…
Though I have a lot of things on my plate, I also think this could be a relaxing way to spend 30-60 minutes every couple of days. The aspects of being outside and moving around and having some fun doing it makes it even more appealing.

Now I just have to pick the car I’d like to have … and the accessories.

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