# Xmod Q's--- Crystals included? Battery runtime?



## gamebro (Apr 27, 2006)

Hello everyone, I have spent hours doing a lot of research on the Xmods (evo) today, and am quite surprised to see how awesome they are (especially for the price!)

I wish to buy a few of these---

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?summary=summary&techSpecs=techSpecs&currentTab=accessories&custRatings=custRatings&features=features&accessories=accessories&productId=2131080&Source=XMODS%3Asite_cars%3Abuynow%3A060215061231%3A608018%3AA&support=support&tab=summary



However, I have a few questions before I purchase...


1: It says "Removable crystals allow you to race up to 12 cars at once"
Are those crystals included? I can not find an answer to that anywhere  I can't even find those crystals for sale anywhere, so I assume they must be included these days with the EVO series?

2: I can't find (dispite much searching) what the run time would be using the very cheep 600 Mah (AAA) rechargable NiHMs..... I see that the average run time is 40 minutes on alkalines (1000 Mah) so is it safe to assume 600 NiHM would last 20+ minutes?

I hear Lipolys will last 1 hour, and double the cars top speed, but personally I think 30MPH is just too fast for the smaller courses I'd like to build (Lipoly packs are also very expensive).

3: I seen a lot of vids on these things today, and they appear to be quite durable even with the stock parts. Is there some DO's and Don'ts that I should be aware of before I start jumping these things off ramps and drive em in homemade loops\corkscrews?


3.5: Also, if anyone has some track making tips, (like what to use for a cheap good surface?) feel free to post em here  

4: I really want to add on the XMODS® Evolution Command Logic Light Kit (you can find it at the bottom of that radio shack page). Will those significantly reduce my battery run time, or reduce my max speed at all? They sound friggen sweet!


I have an evader ST (and love it) but nobody in my fam wants to chuck out $160+ to get one (so I have nobody to race against... lame) .... These $50 XMods are an extremely attractive option and cheap enough to get a half dozen of em no problem! :thumbsup:


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## 420 Tech R/C (Sep 15, 2006)

Hey, good to see someone interested in the evo cars!Sounds like you have done your research.I have been running mine since the day the evo series was released.The run time for an evo car with 700 AAA's is around 40 mins with the 4wd installed.The 4 wd upgrade is a must if you want to control them at all.also the suspension tuning kit is a must, the stock springs are way too soft that they come with.Run the blue in the front and the yellow in the rear.The crystals are changeable, but radio shack no longer sells the crystal sets, but you can buy them on e-bay for around 15-20 $ for channels 6-12.Channels 1-6 come in the car kits only, but you can get them individually on e-bay. As for the jumping and what not,I dont really advise it. these things are tough but I have broken a few steering knuckles and rear cariers just running them around my track. the weak link in the evo cars are not the cars ,but the controlers. after a while the contacts in the steering on the controllers get dirty and the steering will get "twitchy", so you have to take them apart and clean the contacts with either electronic cleaner or motor cleaner and that will fix the "twitch" problem for a good while. As for a trck surface my son and I found that a sheet of rubber you can buy at any home improvement store made for rubber roofing works awesome.it costs about 60.00 for a 10ftx20ft sheet. For a border we used 3/4 garden hose and attached it with duct tape. I had a foam track like radioshack sells on the xmods website but I sold it because the rubber track is actually way more hooked up.Also you can get a li-ion battery setup for around 30$ for an evo car.Really check out ebay. because radio shack is so proprietary over their products they don let the public know about all the awesome aftermarket stuff that is actually out for these cars.Since radio shack doesnt sell repair parts for these cars really check out e-bay you can get any peice you need from a screw set to a front a-arm set or even a relacement electronics board all individually at a pretty resonable price. The first time I broke my evo car and found out I couldnt even order parts I just bought a second starter set so I would have spare parts.Oh yeah as for the command logic stuff, it Does effect top speed and runtime really bad.If you want to gain some handling and off the line performance ditch the stock body that comes with it. They are so heavy because of all the screws that hold them together.I sell aftermarket bodies at my e-bay store, 420 Tech R/C , And I know for a fact that the bodies I sell weigh almost 2.5 ozs less than a stock xmods body.Doesnt sound like much but when you are dealing with a car that fits in the palm of your hand every gram makes a difference.


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## okracer (Mar 11, 2002)

wowo i have pvc to set up a 30x50 so would you tape this rubber track together and make it work for a 30 by 50


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## gamebro (Apr 27, 2006)

Thanks for all the awesome info 420 Tech :thumbsup: 


We got a mustang and pontiac EVO's on order, and if we like em, we'll be ordering at least 2 more other EVO cars. If we have a hard time running them on the stock parts, we'll certainly look into EBAY like you suggest for all our upgrades and parts. If they really do break easy, then I definately won't want the lipoly batteries which double the speed lol :drunk: 

Should have them in 1-2 days, and I'll post here again to let ya'll know how it goes :wave:


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## gamebro (Apr 27, 2006)

Got the 2 Xmod cars in, but mailed back the Mustang.... I think radio shack sent me a used mustang, as it was mostly assembled already (unlike the pontiac) and had serious communication problems. It would try to accelerate on it's own, and had steering problems.... Here's the really bizarro thing--- The steering worked fine for the first few seconds the remote is turned on..... Then the car starts to hum loudly and loose the ability to turn to the right...... When I reversed the steering it would have the same problem still, but not turn to the left instead (wierd!) So I highly doubt it was a bad steering servo, or not centered. Perhaps burned out or bad crystals? Thankfully it has a 90 day warrenty so I should get a new mustang in return in a week or so  


The pontiac works great! Fun little cars these are indeed, and I am quite happy with what they can do for only 40-50 bucks each. 
I personallly think these zippy cars have great steering without any upgrades, and we've had no trouble putting them through turns ect. Having said that, I probably will do some upgrades in the future, as I sure we will break various parts from time to time :drunk: 


Xmods are cool I give em a :thumbsup:


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## MACE (Sep 26, 2001)

Try Atomicmods.com they have tons of Alum upgrade parts on there.


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## speedlover2006 (Nov 10, 2006)

atomicmods.com is a great site, they have parts, videos, faq's and i'd suggest joining the forum, here's a link:
http://www.atomicmods.com/
u can join the forum from there
i would suggest li-po if your gunna get into modding them (which is unavoidable) awd is nessecary, and i wouldn't recomend jumping them stock, but get some alluminum and your good to go.
it comes w/ one crystal, but you should be able to buy the set at am (atomicmods)
the CLL (command logic lights) should drastically decrease performance and are very cool, and there's a great mod with some re-wiring from the lights to the motor to gain some speed
that should answer all of your questions, and if u have any more just ask, i'm pretty learned in the ways of xmods, lol
-speedlover


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## scootr117 (Dec 7, 2005)

I bought a pair of xmods today for my son and me to play with while the hobby shop is moving.. I noticed a good amount of play in the rims. They seem tight, but not correct. Do you guys know of a fix or is this normal?


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## Spazbite (Feb 27, 2007)

that is normal, if you add bearings and upgrade the knuckles and steering plate to billett, it takes the majority of the slop out of the wheels. awesome cars, I've been racing them since gen1's. Probably have about 20+ now working and not.


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