Top Race Full Metal Adult RC Hydraulic Excavator Truck - 23-Channel Remote Control Excavator Toy with Claw Grabber - ‎Rechargeable 2000mAh Battery, Smoke Simulated, 180 Lbs Capacity - 15"x9"x23.6"

The media could not be loaded. I've been using this to dig up a rather large hole near our pool cage to repair a cracked pvc pipe for our swimming pool that a tree root grew through and cracked. The excavator is amazing! I live in FL and the mosquitoes are terrible.. with this I'm able to sit inside the screen porch and dig up the hole I need to repair the pipe! This thing has a lot of power for its scale, enough that it not only is able to dig through the dirt but is able to rip up small plant roots in some tougher soils, which we have a lot of in our yard. I honestly thought this was going to have some trouble in our yard but it seems to do just fine! Especially once you get past the roots. Once I get down into some softer dirt where it's able to dig a little easier, I'm getting well over an hour run time on the battery! Under heavy load, like pulling roots where I'm operating several arm components and the tracks to pull backward all at the same time the battery lasts about 45min. The only negative thing I can say about this machine is the included battery charger.. If you really want to drive this more, get a better charger. I have an Align charger from my rc helicopters that charges this battery in 1hr, much faster than the included slow usb charger.. The only component that lacks the strength the rest of this machine has is the body rotation. As another reviewer stated, if you try to push anything tough at all sideways using the body rotational motors, you will hear the gear click and skip.. This isn't really much of an issue as I spend much more time digging, pushing, & pulling opposed to trying to move anything with a sideways motion. If you do want to do this to spread around a pile of dirt you dug up, it does work just don't try to push a whole big pile at once, it can move a fair amount of dirt pushing sideways this way, but to avoid straining those gears I simply ordered the wheel loader for all of the pushing and leveling jobs, as the excavator wouldn't be very fast at that anyways.. I'll post a review on that as soon as I receive it and have a chance to check it out! As for the other motors, that operate the arms and the tracks they have a lot of power and if you do manage to push/pull too hard on something the motors simply come to a halt, nothing clicks/grinds like it's going to break. The tracks have an incredible amount of power, I haven't seen anything yet that can stop or slow them down! Another concern I had ordering this machine was that the controls may not have been well designed, that's simply not the case! The controls are really well designed, the machine is quite easy to get the hang of and the 23 channels allow you to operate as many components at the same time as you like, this helps in adding a lot of power for tougher jobs like pulling roots as your able to have the tracks going while operating the arm for a lot of additional pulling/ripping power! great for tougher jobs, and for being able to climb up/down ledges or in/out of just about any hole you can manage to dig with this thing.There was however a small wiring issue that rendered one of the arm motors inoperable in certain positions, it appears to be just a bad wire, if you push on it, it starts working again. I contacted the manufacture and they were very responsive and helpful, providing a return label and are shipping a replacement unit! I'll update this post after I receive the new machine and have some time to confirm it's holding up well. Super excited to get it though, I had a lot of fun digging with this for the time that it worked. Overall construction of the product is as described and as other reviewers stated, very heavy duty and high quality. Hoping this little wiring issue was just result of a bad/defective wire or something. If it wasn't under warranty, it's honestly something that wouldn't be difficult to fix myself though.

I just received the excavator today. The shovel articulation quit working after moving in and out once. The shovel is stuck in the extended out position. I hadn't got to try the smoke feature. The excavator arms work, the excavator platform rotates, drives in both directions and turns and the sound and lights work. Also the instructions that came with it are for the 15 channel plastic model and don't apply to this model. I'd like to be able to fix the shovel articulation problem myself instead of having to return it for a replacement. Just 2 stars for now because of the shovel problem.Update 10/3/18 10:30pm: I now give the excavator 4 stars. I took the servo arm off the shovel to check if the servo arm was still working and just stuck or jammed. There are tiny buttons in the excavator arms that shut off the servos at the end of their travel so they don't burn out. I think the one button got stuck for some reason and wouldn't let the servo run. When I first took the servo arm off it would extend but not retract, in fact the end unscrewed completely off. I kept pressing the tiny buttons and then the servo started to retract. WOOHOO! Now the excavator shovel works right.Still just 4 stars because the instruction manual that came with it doesn't apply to this model at all. And you have figure out how to install the claw attachment. When putting on the claw use the 2 extra chrome bolts/screws because they work better. You can also lock the lower claw to the arm using the extra tiny chrome screw. The 2 small buttons next to the left joystick operates the jackhammer attachment. You plug the jackhammer attachment cable into the back of the outer excavator arm. The included charger doesn't balance the battery. When I used it one cell read 4.18v the other 4.23v. I wonder if the battery is ruined now.What's the 2 buttons below the display on the controller do, if anything? What's the purpose of the display anyway? Do the battery indicators actually work?This mostly hobby grade excavator is nice but for the price could of been presented better with a manual that applies to it, a better battery charger and maybe a better controller. I like that's it's metal and heavy and a whole lot cheaper than the hydraulic ones. I would recommend buying this one only if you really really want one and can afford it as it's still expensive for most people.Update 10/11/18: I received an email from Dollar Deal regarding the wrong instruction manual that came with the excavator. Dollar Deal apologized for that goof up and included the correct instruction manual in an attachment. I raised my rating to 5 stars because of Dollar Deals realization that the wrong instruction manual was inserted and corrected it.

Update: I’ve run this excavator outside in light sand and dirt almost every day for the past few months and it’s been fantastic. I finally wore out the drive screws on the boom. I’ve seen pictures of people digging in hard dirt, which I wouldn’t recommend unless you want to replace parts on a regular basis. I will let you know how Top Race customer service is for ordering new parts.I’ve been in the RC Hobby off and on for 25 years and enjoy seeing the technology progress, and this RC Excavator is by far the most amazing machine ever. It’s heavy, powerful and comes with several accessories and a beautiful carrying case. It’s expensive, but what a great deal compared to the $3K or even $5K hydraulic versions. The plastic version is cheaper, but I can tell you that this one is definitely more fun, and worth every penny. You can read all the other positive reviews if you want more info. Now for the downside, which I hope Top Race can fix.There are no replacement parts on Amazon. I have seen a couple parts on some sketchy websites or EBay shipped directly from China, but no American based companies. I refuse to order from those sites, I have been burned before; Amazon at least protects the consumer from fraud. I would like to see the parts that break on a regular basis, to be offered on Amazon at a very affordable price point.Overall it’s a great buy. I give it 4 stars, but it would recieve a 5 if replacement parts were made available.Update: New parts have been added to Top Race Website, and they are reasonably priced, so I am changing my rating to 5 stars. I haven’t needed to call them for anything, but if I do, I will update my experience here.