This is a great RTR. I gravitate towards 2wd 1/10th scale electric buggies/trucks for their simplicity and ease of maintenance. It has decent components for the price such as rubber sealed bearings, metal gear servo, robust transmission, steel dogbones, brushless motor/esc, etc. The car has good range with the transmitter/receiver and rarely if ever glitches.
Running on a 2s lipo its fast enough to be fun, with a 3s its fast enough to satisfy most speed heads. Wheelies all day long so a restrained throttle finger is key. The stock tires perform decently well on asphalt/cement, with a good balance of grip and slip. Enough traction to maintain control without rolling. The body has the cool factor and compared to traditional short course truck designs, has less parachuting off jumps and at speed.
I haven't broke anything, keep in mind I dont do much jumping. Just the occasional 5 foot launch here and there with some curb drops from the sidewalk. Most of my bashing consists spirited driving, drifts, and speed runs.
There is no doubt the truck is good for bashing but if you really must send it, you are better off with a model from the Arrma line up since they are 4wd, have beefier components, and are designed to not just bash, but blast.
Think of the Trophy Rat as more of a race machine. If your a fan of 2wd machines, this one should satisfy. Not to mentioned parts availability/support along with dependability.
This was our first foray into a hobby grade car and it's been great. Drivable right out of the box, but I did buy some shock caps with bleed screws and re-oiled and bled the shocks, significant improvement. The gear mesh is also set too tight. That is a very easy fix. The brake lights pop out sometimes but are easy to pop back in. Note that this is the same vehicle as the ProSC10 and the DB10 desert buggy. The box comes with a bumper that will only fit if you're using the DB10 or ProSC10 body. With the trophy rat body, you can't use the bumper and that means it's a little more vulnerable than most other cars. IF you are primarily going to be driving on a typical grass lawn, you should look elsewhere. Too low of ground clearance and the 2WD struggles. It's a ton of fun on poor-grass fields, pavement, dirt, etc. It's been very rugged but I did break a suspension arm at 30mph into a curb, but that's not the car's fault. Buy this for the awesome body alone!
This is my current favorite 2wd truck by a big margin. It handles great, it’s fast right out of the box, and it’s a beast on 3S. It’s nice to have something a little different than the standard SC truck clones for a change. That super cool rat rod body comes at a price though, and that is zero front impact protection. On my first hard hit (ok, it was a REALLY hard hit) I shattered the front shock tower, top plate, and ripped the hinge pins right out the sides of the bulkhead. Ouch. And that’s when I found out how few upgrade parts exist for this ProSC10/DB10/Rat platform. I was able to find an aluminum bulkhead, but not a front shock tower or top plate. I can’t even find aluminum lower arms. I’ve been told that many B5/B5M parts fit but I can’t confirm this. Associated has apparently even discontinued most of their Factory Team “hard” parts. Why?!? While you can build an entire Slash out of a hundred billet choices from myriad companies in your particular color preference, it’s difficult to even get stock replacement parts for this. Amain hobbies again came to the rescue and were a great help obtaining the parts I needed to get it back on the bash even though I didn’t purchase the truck from them. Thanks as always!
As another pointed out, the front bumper that comes in the box only fits the ProSC10 and DB10, not the Rat. I ended up trimming a 1/2” notch in the bottom of the grill and installed just the lower part of that bumper and not the top brace. I now have a “springy” front bumper that didn’t wreck the looks of that cool grill and that will hopefully provide at least a little protection.
I would give this truck 5 stars all day long if parts availability was a little better. Also, if you don’t have a decent LiPo charger don’t bother to order this with the LiPo combo as you will immediately need to upgrade the charger that comes with it as there is no storage charge function or any way to check your cell balance.
As an RTR, it’s a great truck and I’ve been having a blast with it. That said, it’s not a great candidate for hardcore bashing, but if you don’t lawn-dart it off a jump or hit any hard immovable objects at full boil it’s a ton of fun.
I was excited to try a different brand than what I'm used too, I've always heard great things about Team Associated and I was definitely not disappointed! Its a blast driving this truck! Only thing I would change is to shorten the antenna length so it doesn't break from roll overs.
Awesome looks ! Great running and fast . I love that it is 2wd and not a traxxas !
The handling really surprised me. This is my favorite car to run in the dirt of the several RTRs I've tried. This truck is so much fun that I've now purchased a 2WD SCT race kit to build an even better version. From what I can tell the Pro2 SC10 is the same vehicle as the Rat, except for body posts, and is similarly fun to drive.
Pros: Handling is tremendous, it's so fun to slide around, low engine/transmission noise, looks like the real Rat if you squint from a distance, durable enough for a beginner
Cons: Body rattles, stock transmitter is flimsy, shocks seemed to leak slightly out of the box and the aluminum bodies are not threaded so I had to wrap tape around them to get them open.
For me the cons are pretty typical of RTRs, with the exception of the leaking shocks. Shock rebuild parts were cheap and available. I didn't think it should be marked down for the shock as it probably sat on a shelf for a couple years before I grabbed it.
This is my third Trophy Rat and I believe my first purchase from Amain that was of any value. I am extremely happy with service, communications, and pricing. I have since gone onto purchase a Cen F250 and have my eyes on a few other items. Very happy with the web page and what I’m able to find.
Beautiful Trophy truck, looks clean and rune great!
The Team Associated Trophy Rat RTR 1/10 Electric 2WD Brushless Truck is a fun RC Car to use on and off road and handles really well.
I put some slighly bigger off road wheels on it and they worked great for it.
I see that the chassis is exactly the same as the DR10 Drag Car and having most of the same parts for them both.
So I have ordered the wheelie bar for it and make it into a part time Drag Car.
It probably would not be allowed to compete in serious Drag Racing with the body it has but I only use my RC Cars for serious fun anyway.
I have a few Drag wheels and it looks so good with them on it.
That would make it my 5th Drag car with my DR10, Losi 22S Camaro, Traxxas Drag Slash and my 2nd SR10 that I converted into a short wheel base Drag Car. A lot of fun with that one.
Five stars 'cause at the price it's a great value. I drive it primarily on two different 1/10 dirt tracks with lots of air time. For 2wd, this thing stays planted on loose surfaces. This is more race vehicle than basher. The stock suspension works well, you can easily recover from bad jumps. The steering geometry is great but the servo could use more speed and torque. For dirt, you will want to upgrade the rear tires. It has been very reliable, I've put many packs through it and the only things I have broken is a ball stud (when a Typhon 6s slammed down on top of it) and a front arm (when I let a noob friend drive it and he jumped the arm directly into a narrow ridged surface). I own several RC cars and this is one of the few that I will say just go ahead and buy it (if you're looking for a 2wd RTR). My only gripe is that it seems impossible to find a replacement body for it so make sure you drywall tape & shoe goo yours if you want it to last. Also, if noise is a factor for you, this is one of the most silent RC cars I've ever heard, I've had people notice and comment on how quiet it is at the track as well.
Enjoying this RC as it is very manageable even in somewhat lesser area to run. This makes it very user friendly. The vehicle is quick, maneuverable, smooth & quiet. Was not thrilled with the body finish at 1st but it too grew on me although, clear windows would have put it over the top, rather than decals.
I would buy again, after having had the opportunity of putting it through it's places. Found this vehicle to be more nimble & quick than expected.
This is a great ready to run RC. The finish on the body is great, the thing runs and handles all surfaces with ease. I'm very pleased with this product.
I’ve had the trophy rat for less than a week. When I received it the truck had 3 front shocks on it and 1 rear. No big deal I didn’t like the way the shocks adjusted anyway so I ordered some new ones. I received the new shocks in just a day and put them on went outside for a run on the track made it 20 feet and the truck stopped and just whined when I hit throttle I had stripped the spur so now I’m waiting on a new spur. I wouldn’t not recommend this truck unless you just like the way it looks and plan on sitting it on a shelf. Wish I had put the money toward a 2wd Losi team kit short course truck.
