An Honest Review of a Traxxas TRX4! 

If a traxxas hater thinks it’s epic, then it must be the worlds best crawler!

_"That did escalate quickly, didn't it"_ Coffee... everywhere... Thanks for the chuckle my guy!

The big allure for the traxxas stuff is breaking something and then being able to pop down to your local hobby shop for a replacement the same day. Really kills the experience having to wait for something to come in the mail 5-7 days later just so you can enjoy your toy and often forces you to buy multiples of a spare. The hobby shop is a really important part of the RC experience imo.

I slept on the TRX4 for a LONG time but goddamn these things are so good!!! I got a black/black Defender and with just a Fusion Pro, 45KG Amazon servo and a Spektrum receiver. This is my go to rig anytime I hit the trails or the beach and don't feel like lugging around my SCX6 Honcho

The white/gray stuff in the creek is raw sewage. Just had a large creek by my contaminated by it, freaking gross! Stay out, no ticks for poo crawling lol

In my older age im understanding why traxxas is the way it is. They may not be the best vehicles for racing but if you want to go outside and have some fun without worrying about brraking parts and having to spend a lot to fix it. My x-maxx takes and absolute beating and keeps in coming and the parts are easy to grt and aftermarket is so much better now than when the 6s version was avaialble.

I bought my TRX4 Defender on release day, so sometime in 2017... And until this day, I still have the original micro servos for the gear and diff. They still work without any kind of issue....

I believe the TRX4 is the best out of the box crawler. Now there is that new one you just reviewed with the portals and such just a few weeks ago and it may be as good but I believe the TRX4 has the crown. Much like Porsche, the TRX4, if it ain't broke, don't change it.

I just got my '21 Bronco a month ago and love it. Such a cool rig. It's seen nothing but snow too and been completely fine.

I guess I got the only reliable micro servos traxxas made. On my Summit working for 10+ years now.

yeah the trx4 is a great chassis . and lovely body shells to . the two speed snd locking diffs add to the drive fun .

I liked hearing about when you started your channel! I have a few cheap action cams and finally upgraded to a GoPro! I don't think there were too many back in 2017 with locking diffs. Great video!! Cheers!

Thanks for addressing that mate. Thought that was a mogwai on the floor at first

Crawlers are one type of vehicle where I don't mind bushings. I'm more likely to seize a bearing before a bushing wears out. Also, it's not exactly a high speed application so bearings aren't really necessary anyway.

I know people are divided over Traxxas and it sounds like they do some punitive things to smaller brands, some which seem rather mean. But I have had my TRX4 since 2017 and apart from a motor change and a servo change, nothing has gone wrong with it at all. Just works.

It performed extremely well under tough conditions. You can imagined what people do to these rigs. This was great test and review.

I have this very trx4 in red. I just got finished driving it around at a classic car show. Everyone loved it, and I got some killer photos of it with some legit full size classic American muscle.

I bought the first one Traxxas sent my hobby shop and its still works on original motor esc and servos all work. Its never broken and its been driven and used and crashed many many many times its the best and likes a challenge off road

I find that on tricky down hills it's best to unlock all diffs and put it in high speed. It can roll faster so the gears don't slow it and cause a roll over. Also allows you to throttle out easier. Open diffs prevent one wheel getting stuck and locking up all 4.

Iv ran a trx4 for a good few years and it's been given hell and gone through a hell of a lot of water, opened the receiver box for the first time since building it as my savox servo had finally lost a tooth and the box was as clean as when I put it in the day I built it, not a speck of dust or water mark

Nice one, I bought the TR4M and the price was very good for what you get and I liked so much that I have bought the light kit and the quality is very good, nice fitting. I don´t see why some one could hate traxxas, but I´m new in this world, I only own a Kyosho mini Z and a Maverick ion XT for 15 years but now I have added this TRX4M and a Kyosho Fcer Subaru and the small Hoonitron from Team associated. Too may RC in 2 months ...

I saw this body in person last Spring and the body and overall truck LOOKS AWESOME!!!!

I love them. I have 3 of them. Two 1/10's and the TRX4M high-trail .

The trx4 sport is definitely my favorite crawler, I took my trx4 79 bronco, put the sport diffs and gearbox, removing all that high end technical stuff (less stuff to break, less stuff to worry about). Best beater rc crawler out there in my own opinion. Big upgrade over my rgt jeep (american ftx).

I have had 2 TRX-4s and a TRX-6 since 2020 and I picked up the Ford pick up High Trail a few months back. They are absolutely amazing RCs and they are very customizable. The new Clipless bodies are so convenient. Regarding the stock servo, sadly one of the bad things about these TRX-4s are the weak servos so they should be among the very first items to upgrade.

Great review Phil! Thank you! The high Trail is a very nice crawler, however, because of the lift kit it’s very top heavy and tends to roll over a lot. It’s better for trail crawling than rock crawling. What battery do you run to take it through the water? LiPos will catch fire in fresh water.

Pretty awesome truck indeed, Phil! 😃 Fantastic crawling there! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

You can make pontoons for the truck. I made some from a cheap toy i found at a dollar store it was a pontoon boat i just cut them off and put epoxy on the end i had too cut and then figured out a way to mount them i ended up using screws but there's numerous ways of doing it. You could always just use those long skinny balloons and tie them off at the right length and then tie them on i doesn't take much to keep the truck afloat and going forward and its pretty fun too. 😊😁

Hi tomley I started looking into this hobbie I baught my first banzi rc car cos of u and I got my ftx apache looking at ur station mine broke after 5 days but put a new rear diff in my apache and now works great love ur channel mate

TRX-4 is a good truck.. Thinner oil in the dampers and it livens up! Way too thick oil in stock configuration. More expensive than some, but not necessarily that much more, none of mine (3) has broken anything. A bit old now, and some of the electronics are overdue an update. Especially the transmitter! I’ve changed electronics on mine, original steering servo on one is still going, other exchanged for more power versions, but the stock only stalls when pushed too hard, so if you don’t mind, don’t rush the exchange - it’s not meant to lift or flip the whole car anyway😉😄

Awesome 👌 thank you. Have you ever had the absima landi ? I wonder how good that if compared to trx ?

i`ve bought like 10 of them, all types, kit etc, pretty pricey but i just always sold the wheels, electronics even the gear box all new just out of the box and get gt5 radio, all metal gearbox and fusion motor for that money, quite a difference ;)

11:31 That's a wild haggis that was on holiday. It's just playing dead 😁

I have tried RC-cars and it wasn't my thing, but watching your videos is very entertaining and this one with a feel of a happy Chevy out on adventure is among your best. Great work!

I have a TRX4 79 Bronco from when they just came out, the brown outside are probably the C rating on the packs. I have had the same issue with 25C batteries, and once I swapped to 50C batteries, all my brown out issues disappeared.

You should have gotten the K10 Chevy Cheyenne pickup Hightrail. It has a lower center of gravity and a longer wheelbase to help it climb. The K10 Blazer topples over too much IMO. I have both the K10 Hightrail Chevy Cheyenne pickup with the longer wheelbase crawls and trails much better. They both look cool on the trails. Makes me feel like I'm back in high school picking up my friends to get to school in our family's K10 Farm Truck. lol

My only issue with the TRX-4 is the top-heavy bodies. But they look great, its a give and take. Easily the best Traxxas line. The Sport with a Fusion Pro and a good servo has served me really well. The stock radio is pretty good in terms of feel and latency, not a crucial upgrade in my mind.

Looks pretty epic to me! Sometimes it nice be proud of a truck you paid for even if it costs more than others. And in opinion it looks better than any other crawler.

I've not got into the Trailing/Crawling side of this hobby yet. I do keep looking at the TRX4 though. looks great and seems to perform well too.

That k5 blazer body looks so good

When are you going to finish the big crossrc train thingy? I'd like to see you finish building it

Dude, those hills look steep even on camera that’s crazy😅

Special edition, the black body is the special. That white stuff in the stream is probably a bacteria or algae bloom after the temperature got higher.

I need to get into the crawler world soon. Seriously debating one of these as my first one 😁. Excellent video 😊

Your camera angles are so epic

Slowly saving up for this gem, it'll be my first big crawler! Can't wait to get it.

My brand new High Trail arrived with discoloration from the “protective film” that was stuck to the body, flat spots on the tires and a clicking gearbox.

I like my TRX Sport. It's been working well. Watching you sink a new rc is always painful, but I appreciate you doing it for us.

Definitely the best RC RU-vid channel out there

A very nice car, the problem in my opinion is that the center of gravity is too high. The only advantage of the new Chevy / Bronco model is the fastening clips, so that the body is attached without any defects. But because of the high chassis, the car is very unstable. And probably shell out around €600 for that, plus around €100 for the lighting kid... 🙈

Excellent crawler only I settled for the red cat gen 8 scout and a axiel scx10 blazer I like traxxas but this one doesn’t come cheaply 😂 I like the two speed and complete water proofing

I have the high trail sport in grey and green love it

Would be intetesting to see how the updated HB Toys R1011, with the lockable diffs now compares to this TRX!

That light kit. Is eye watering lol

2.2 ? Lucky Phil, his alltime fav. Traxxas the Bandit tires will shoe right in .

I love that style body it just looks so good & honestly it’s a great RC with a solid chassis & parts well except the servos but the fact that they have not changed that platform for years instead just make lifted or different body styles is going to hurt them because other companies are doing the same thing plus more for cheaper now they are going to be forced to change something I think they would do better if they had kits because there electronics are crap. I have the new Bronco & the Chevy truck lifted version it was pretty much $500 if not more & it’s my least favorite to take out & just sits I’m going to buy the Ford body to replace the Chevy it looks like it will fit but the bodies are all on sale right now then it’ll get out more but its 100% trail truck it flips over easy trying force it up tuff lines even if it does make it it’s just not made for heavy Crawling at that height.

Special addition black - not sure if this has been answered. I watched RCGirls review and she mentioned the special addition black was a limited release only available from certain Hobby shops, something like that anyway. Man I've had my eye on one of these high trails for a while now, they look so good!

The FCX10 is where its really at. Would be nice to see traxxas update the Trx4, its just not worth 550 bucks with the brushed system.

Nice thorough test Phil👍

I have a two speed TRX4. After seeing this one tipping around, I’ll KEEP my NON LongTrail 😊

I just want to see some side by side comparisons of the trx4 and the new fms 1:10 k10! They new one appears to have crushed the trx4, but can it deliver in person???!!!

I have the trx4 and trx4 sport…. Remember folks, as long as it’s a grown adult playing with a little car, we’re on the same team 🤝

Don't need to pick it all up at once. But just spend 10-15mins each visit to fill up a single bag. Do that a whole bunch of times and you'll make a huge difference. :)

Im far from being a Traxxas fanboy, but i love my TRX4 Sport. Like this one, its not perfect, but ive had r years to tune it now. That does suffer because of the higher body and raised COG, but it looks awesome. Some weight low down at the front would make a big difference. That first waterway was disgusting!! And all the litter!! This country really is literally going down the toilet!! Nice run video. 😀👍🏻

Beauty, all I see is hundreds of dollars of upgrades. Just looks so nice

The "Special Edition" is supposed to be a Traxxas exclusive retailer item. Usually the special editions from Traxxas are black, save for the High Trail Sport which is grey and green.

Tomley - got any 'budget' friendly crawler lists for this year?

Replace all servos and add brass upfront same problems as 7 yrs ago... too bad those diff covers are still big AF...

AH just what I needed to get me through school 😂😂

Grey in that water was sewerage either a burst sewer pipe or it has overflown either way it could do with reporting

Will you be reviewing the new FTX Centaur crawler, be great to see how this compares to the new FMS FCX10?

Nice job, Tomley! ABSOLUTELY EPIC!!!!

Can you do this same test for the RGT rescuer or FTX tracker? Please?

Just picked one up. Worked great for the 1st hour of rock crawling, then.....snapped the rear axle housing in half. Totally disappointed. Seeing if I can send it back rather than try to replace the axle. Literally only an old.

As i see si a great vid with loads of angles and suprises you know how to capture a good shot well done

Honestly. As much as I disagree with you on SOME things. I do agree that you're THE best RC youtuber.

7 years for Traxxas is basically a new release. It's not old if it was designed this century in Traxxas book.

It's like taking a 4 wheeled dog for a walk.

How about a shootout between the TRX4 and the FCX10?

But is high trail really new? I have a '79 Bronco Snap-On Edition high trail that I bought bout 2 years ago?

Wow! You really got me at the end. Ford, yes please!💪🏽😎🤙🏽

Reminds me of top gear when Clarkson drives the syclone.

With wat battery was you driving and how long was de run time?

Fms Fcx10 k5 or Trx4 defender? Which are you buying?

Is this better than the defender ?

How are you wading in the swamps yourself, moving around and taking those top notch video shots? :O

Are you steering towards more high end rigs now.....

Fun video. BTW, isn't that technically a trail truck and not a crawler? Also, could you compare that one w/ another brand that's less expensive but provides better performance? Whatever it is, I want one! One of the funniest moments @18:49. "Cleaned, dried and lubed...I've also cleaned, dried and lubed the truck..." TMI, :)

Hi Phil, not sure whether you see or not, there is a new version of Beluga with Jeep Wrangler (HB R1011) body, diff control. Can you please order and review?

For the price of Traxxas products, can we get a FS-GT5 style transmitter? The same price as Traxxas transmitters, maybe cheaper. But way better functions

Special edition is about the color :)

How about the FMS?

Compare to the new FMS K10. Should be very interesting.

Tomley finds a million year old rock fossil..proceeds to crumble it up so his crawler can get thru. 😂😂

I’m rebuilding my trx-4m. Ik no one care’s 🙃

I don't know why everyone hates on Traxxas is it not what we all want as an RC enthusiast good cars and also parts to fix it Traxxas is the best in my opinion for that reason if something brakes I can usually get a replacement part or an upgrade I can't do that with most RC vehicles

The Trouble with Tribbles. 😂😂

I really want this!

Great video as always 👍thanks for putting in the effort

Great video again mate!! Thank you 😊