JJRC Q46 Speed Runner RC Car Review
The JJRC Q46 Speed Runner is a very fun 1:12 scale remote control buggy, great for crawling but also quite fast! Read on for more!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the JJRC Q46 Speed Runner RC product page.
Versions
There’s one version of this car, but it’s available in two colors:Â red (seen here), and blue.
Price
Currently this car is going for $84.32 on GearBest!
Short Review
This car is so fun. I love it, and it’s held up well to my unskilled maneuvering. It’s worked well. It’s fast. It turns
Long Review
What’s Included
- JJRC Q46 Speed Runner Remote Control Car
- 3000mAh 7.4V battery
- Handheld controller
- European Wall wart with US adapter
- Screwdriver and hex tool
- Manual
Package and Manual
The box is simple cardboard but highly printed. There’s a photo of the red colorway on one side, and the blue colorway on the other. One short end has the undercarriage, and on the other end, the controller.
The manual is a small pamphlet, with a bunch of info about using the machine. Most of it is fairly obvious though, and the “troubleshooting” section is fairly useless. If you buy this car you likely already know how to use it. If you don’t, the manual will help. If you have trouble, you’ll probably turn to online sources anyway, and the manual wouldn’t be of help.
Build Quality and Durability
Very much unlike the other JJRC I reviewed, this car is built extremely well. It has extra weight to go along with that build quality, but it feels extremely sturdy.
It’s also a great-looking car, too. The red paint is a very deep red – very much like an actual car painting. It’s not “plastic red” “paint.”
The front has a nice mean look and quite a stance. The rear is fun and business, with the spare bolted on.
The undercarriage is legitimately well built, with a proper metal skid plate. Most of the other parts are plastic, though. A few high stress contact points are metal – much of the drivetrain is metal, for example.
The rack and pinion is held together by Philips screws. Not unusual. Note the different sizes used.
The photo below is looking into the back of the car. Note the T-Connector. The axle and drivetrain are covered in plastic.
There’s a light bar up top, and the lights actually work and work well.
Here’s a shot with the lights on. Since it’s hard to see what lights are on in broad daylight, I included a shot unfocused, which makes it much easier to see the LEDs.
And some gratuitous interior shots. The detail is fine, but not extreme. There are two seats, and no doors.
The back of the car holds a spare, which is exactly like the other 4 tires. It’s held in place with a nut, and a driver is included with the package. Also, note in the photo below the two cotter pins that hold the “trunk” closed. The battery is contained very snugly herein.
Size
This RC car is a 1:12 scale vehicle. The official dimensions are: 18cm tall, 23cm wide, and 38.5cm long. The car weighs 1609g. While the car might be small enough for playing in small yards, it’s quite fast, too! So bear that in mind.
Power
JJRC includes one battery for powering the Q46. It’s a 3000mAh 7.4V 20C LiPo, and claims to allow 9 minutes of runtime, and requires a 2.5-hour chargetime. Nine minutes isn’t a long runtime, that’s for certain, so it’ll be worthwhile to grab a few spares, and keep them charging while playing with the Q46!
As it’s a 2s cell, it has the proper balance charger and a T-connecter for actual charging. I find T-connectors to be very hard to use, but it’d be fairly simple to swap this out for a different type.
The package includes a charger as well. In all honesty, I did not use this charger, though I’ve used chargers like it in the past. I used the awesome SkyRC Imax B6 Mini. I recommend you grabbing one of those, too. Great charger.
Here’s a shot of the trunk open. The battery holder is very specifically sized, and I don’t think you’ll fit much more than this 2S LiPo in there.
The connector comes from the motor under the battery holder and connects around the back. Though it’s a bit exposed, I don’t think it’ll get worn unnecessarily. It could likely be routed differently, but then it’ll be hard to connect to the battery.
Traction
The big tires are knobby and quite squishy. They provide good traction on flat, and often so much grip that the car will topple over. This is not to say that the car is top-heavy – its weight rides nice and low.
There’s a good bit of travel in the suspension.
Though this isn’t a rock climber, I still tried it out a little. Never got this board climbed, though.
If I’d been climbing something like rock, I think the car would have done it with little issues.
The Flats
Here are a few videos of just driving the car around (and crashing it into stuff). This is a fun, fun car. It’s very fast, and gets up to speed almost immediately.
Sorry for my lack of focus here – video isn’t my primary expertise….
Sweet Jumps
I only took the car off one sweet jump!
It performed admirably.
User Interface and Operation
A controller is included. It’s a 2.4GHz system, with a trigger for speed and a wheel for direction. It’s possible to adjust the trim of the wheels, but mine was already perfect.
I found the trigger to just be too sensitive. I’d go from crawling to flat out much quicker than I intended. I want a longer travel, smoother ramp controller. I think the controller though, is quite cheap – if you can source another, better one, this car will be even more fun. It’s powered by 3xAA cells.
The car has an on/off switch, too. It’s on the bottom, toward the front right. Very easy to access (unlike the JJRC Q39).
Conclusion
What I like
- Speed
- Build quality and color are great
- Heavy, feels very sturdy
- Rugged
What I don’t like
- 9 minute battery life is expected, but too short. Offer seconds inexpensively!
- Controller triggers is much too sensitive
Notes
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