In this episode, we unbox, check out, and test drive the Carrera RC Super Mario Kart 2.4GHz RC Car
When I was a freshman in high school in 1992, a friend of mine brought a copy of RC Car Action magazine to study hall. Once I flipped through the pages and saw all the cool models that were available, I was hooked. Over the years, I've been involved in different classes, different events, and competed all across the country. I even worked in the RC industry, including RC Car Action, for nearly 20 years! As such, I still enjoy the hobby to this day, but at a different level. On a recent trip to Target, I spotted the Carrera RC Super Mario Kart 2.4GHz RC Cart and thought it would be neat to check out.
This is what is classified as a toy-grade RC car. None of the parts or components are user-replaceable. Basically, if the car breaks you end up throwing out the car. For $25, I was willing to take the chance. It comes out of the box as an RTR, or Ready-To-Run. That means everything you need to drive it and enjoy it is included in the box. That includes AAA batteries for the controller, a charger for the car itself, and a full set of instructions.
One of the things I have to say is they have nailed the scale model aesthetics of this beautifully. It comes with a really neat-looking display stand that the model is attached to. A couple of Phillips head screws keep everything together, and it also houses the instructions, the charging cable, and the controller.
To make things easier on themselves, Carrera omitted a traditional battery charger and instead included a battery charge lead. The reason for this from a manufacturing standpoint is simple. By omitting a power supply they don't need to send this through for CE compliance, which makes it cheaper for them to produce. I used a spare cell phone charger to charge Mario up, in about half an hour we are ready for some RC fun.
On smooth surfaces, tile, hardwood floors, and concrete, this little thing zips around pretty well. It's not going to blow your socks off in terms of overall speed performance, but for what it is it's pretty zippy. Mine did pull to one side quite a bit out of the box, so I just did the trim on the bottom of the chassis. Oftentimes with models like this when you do that it also reduces the steering travel in one direction or the other, and that was exactly the case with this as well. it turned a lot better to One direction than the other once I had it tracking straight which was kind of disappointing.
Run time on concrete and smooth surfaces was about 8 or 9 minutes, a little bit longer than the 7 minutes that they promise. Once discharged, I connected it back to the USB charger and got more running in shortly thereafter. I'm not a huge fan of twin-stick radios for surface vehicles like this, they're much better suited for airplanes, helis, and drones, but it was suitable for what it was.
Why it RoX:
- Terrific scale detail
- Only 25 bucks
- A Variety of Characters Available
- Everything is included to run
- USB charger included
What could be improved:
- Magnet style steering setup
- Does not run well on carpet
- Location of the charger was hard to find for me
Should you buy one?
If you're like me and you love radio control vehicles you may find this to be a bit childish or kitty. Some days however that's exactly what you need! I have to admit, I had a stupid smile on my face every time that I drove this, and its performance actually did impress me more than I expected. I do wish that it had a more traditional micro servo for steering, but I understand at this price point it's kind of hard to add those sorts of features. They nailed the scale details on this, this thing looks terrific. While mine will probably not get a ton of running, it will look great on my display stand, and I've spent $25 on a lot more dumb things than this.
The footage used in this review are used under the Fair Use laws, referenced below:
www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/te...