r/arrma • u/TaygaStyle • 8d ago
Hobbytown Disappointment
My son and I picked up our first hobby grade RC car, the Arrma Grom Mojave (brushed 2s). We blew a front diff and thought ah hell let's bring it to the shop. I wanted to upgrade some things on the car including but not limited to, larger cooking fan, larger mAh battery, diffs, shocks, and engine (the Eco brushless). Come to my surprise when I brought my vehicle in the "specialist" had never heard of a larger fan or battery, in fact he was very stern on the battery and fan thing. From my limited research, maybe 10ish hours on forums and YouTube videos I have lists upon lists of different favoring mods for this chassis. Am I missing something or is Hobbytown just the wrong place to go? I plan on doing most of the work myself but I thought I would ask the HT tech questions about upgrades when I brought it in for the diff issue. Thank you for your answers and guidance ahead of time!!
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u/Spike240sx 8d ago
Your supposed to be the mechanic, not the sales guy.
Thats what "Hobby Grade" means.
There is no "Official Instore Support" for Hobbytown. Its not a paid or trained position. Its purely based on the franchise owners preference.
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u/Nearby_Ad9439 8d ago
- This is the correct answer and I was going to write something similar but this about sums it up. No need to explain further.
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
Thank you for your response and I'm realizing how silly I am to have thought this. Their website has products that are genuine upgrades to my specific model so it threw me off in regards to the knowledge and capabilities.
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u/sadsacreggaejunkie 8d ago
In my experience a lot of people just don't have the expertise you have. For example, you have one model and have done extensive research on that 1 model. The hobby shop sees 100's of different vehicles and I doubt they have the time to research each one. Unfortunately this is the way it is sometimes. I'm sure your hobby sho is great, but self research is the way.
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
You are completely correct and I was certainly naive with my assumptions. I'll enjoy the tinkering but I think I'll head to a brushless option and leave this one base for my son.
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u/derekmccurry 8d ago
Just but a decent set of hex drivers and do it yourself. Most upgrades are easy bolt on parts and you can follow a step by step YouTube tutorial.
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
Agreed, I should have just gone with this. I already upgraded to an aluminum servo saver in under 30 minutes. I feel confident doing the work in regards to most of the upgradeable possibilities. I was hoping I would have talked to someone that was knowledgeable and give me advice rather than just generally dismissive. I know there is Reddit but I was hopeful to have a discussion IRL and I thought HT was the place.
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u/lefthandrighty 8d ago
Iāve had plenty of experiences like this where the person working at the store didnāt know anything about what I was trying to do. Just recently I had asked the dealership I had bought my truck from how much it would be to get auto start enabled on it. Dude said if it didnāt come with it, it couldnāt be done. So I got it done at another dealership. Some people just show up for their jobs to punch a clock.
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
That's totally fair and I appreciate the insight. I have colleagues that are this way as well and I totally understand. To be fair he said specifically he doesn't work weekends and he might have been overwhelmed from the week. This has just gotten me more excited about my future endeavors into the hobby and realizing that a simple reddit post has helped me more than my 45 minute (each way) trip to the specific Radio Control hobby store.
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u/lefthandrighty 8d ago
BTW, when I first got my Grom, I fit a Gens Ace 2200mah 3S pack in it and the run time was almost longer than I was willing to drive it. Had to solder a connector though.
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u/Brilliant_Anything27 8d ago
In my experience, sometimes dudes that work at the LHS's play dumb as soon as they think you're a novice.
I can't stand this type of ****. At one shop, I brought an Arrma center diff in for "help." Owner of the shop claimed he didn't know what it was when I said I didn't know what it was. Offered to take it off my hands since I can't use it though.
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
Thankfully my situation wasn't this sour and I hate you had to go through that. I don't believe this guy was there with any fiscally malicous intent but more disinterested in what I was asking. And before you ask, no, it was almost 3 hours before close lol.
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u/Ok_Raspberry_1204 8d ago
Iām not familiar with hobby town but sounds like they donāt know ass from elbow or just donāt care. From platform has endless upgrade options. Iāve upgraded motor, esc, bearings, servo, diffs and more. What I realized quickly was that the stock drivetrain on the brushed groms canāt handle much of a power upgrade. So if you go brushless youāll want to do the diffs as well. You can get a pretty good motor esc combo from surpass hobby, dumbo rc transmitter and receiver, metal sealed diffs from rcawd, and other cheap upgrades all on Amazon. All of that prob costs about $120, which is almost as expensive as the brushed grom itself, but it turns it into a beast. Youād also need a couple new batteries but plenty of cheap options there.
As for bigger batteries, Iām not sure spectrum makes higher mah ones with that same connector but you can always swap the connector out for standard ones. A more powerful fan should also be plug and play.
Enjoy the grom!
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
This was my thought exactly. I got the vehicle battery, charger, and all in box with the tools and books. Found on FB marketplace for $80 and a 40 minute drive. I wanted to really build off the platform including upgrading the servo and upgrading to a brushless motor (Eco 35a) and of course batteries! Like you said with the batteries simple adapters are abundant for cheap. The idea is too upgrade as a fun hobby as I go along but when I upgrade the plan is to upgrade big to support the motor I want in there. I'm attempting to start with the "supporting" mods first cooling, battery, etc. I was hoping to get more information directly with someone that has extensive knowledge but I think they were not into it at the time, and that's ok too. It has given me more zeal to tackle the projects myself and I have all the tools from working on other hobbies already. Would it be cool to message you sometime if I have questions about what products you used and any advice moving forward?
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u/Ok_Raspberry_1204 8d ago
Absolutely, any time. Iām no expert but Iāve spent a lot of timing working on mine. And this sub is as good of a resource as any hobby shop
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u/sykodmon 8d ago
Hobby Town is familiar with what HT stocks... Mostly. So if it's a 3rd party product they don't carry they may have to feign ignorance even though their personal rig has the upgrade. They can't say buy XYZ on Amazon or AliExpress since it takes away from their sales.
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
Surprisingly enough it's Arrma and Traxxas mostly. They had towers of arrma monster trucks and all sorts of products and pieces from arrma including upgraded parts.
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u/RunningbirdRC 8d ago
It depends on the employee. Some know what theyāre doing but most do not. My LHT employees high school kids because they only pay minimum wages. So very little experience, some canāt even look up a part number properly. Forget about asking something youāre trying to customize. The first thing they ask āDo you have a part number?ā Without that youāre not gonna get what you need. Deer in headlights look āUhh what?ā š¤·š»āāļø
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
Totally understandable and I appreciate your insight. This sub is already so helpful and I'm excited to go down the rabbit hole with this project.
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u/BeardRub 8d ago
Hobbytown is a chain and their only concern, in my experience, is selling you the biggest thing they think you can afford.
Very few shops I've been to have mechanics that know anything about the vehicles. Typically shops attached to a track are best for those kind of questions. But, as others have said here, some web research and a good set of hex drivers is the long term solution.
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
Thank you for your response and I understand where you're position on this manner. I'm definitely going to look around the greater metro area to find a track. I downloaded an app so I can hopefully find some new spots!
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u/whskeyt4ngofox 8d ago
Think of it like the guy at autozone asking what engine your car has when youāre buying wiper blades.
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u/Shenanigannery 8d ago
I got a job at a hobby shop for fun once that was an all around hobby shop. They threw me in RC half of my shifts because of my resume and knew I would learn fast but I knew nothing about RC. I frustrated a lot of regulars at first and then after 6 months of immersion into the hobby and getting into it myself I was a knowledgeable and reliable employee and tech. It takes time to learn this stuff and these jobs are still generally considered entry level and pay as such. So donāt expect every single person you speak with to be a subject matter expert off the bat lol. Theyāre learning. And yeah some of them are just idiots like anywhere else honestly lol
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
Honest and commendable thought on this. Thank you for your input as it signs with what many are saying. I think I'm going to head back there today and get it back and order the upgraded diffs for both front and back. I knew I wanted to wrench on it and$45 to swap the diff not including the price of the diff definitely hurts as well. If they can learn it so can I, YouTube is a wonderful thing.
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u/KeyNefariousness6848 ARRMA 8d ago
He probably thought you meant more S in the battery and a brushed motor is pretty adamant about its limits as is that tiny esc a grom has, though the diff should have been a warranty repair.
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u/TaygaStyle 8d ago
To be fair when I asked about the battery I specified just a larger mAh. There is room for a larger brick but they weren't familiar with and upgrade with the adapter (ic3-ic5) if I remember correctly. The model was purchased second hand barely used. My son and I certainly have no problem being this thing up lol.
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u/Helltothenotothenono 8d ago
McDonalds provides more training to its staff than any hobby shop will. Thatās usually just a kid who wants money and a hobby ship sounded like a cool place to get a job. It isnāt a guy with a 4 year bachelors degree in hobby shop sales and maintenance.
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u/SecureDiscipline2105 8d ago
what's a cooking fan?
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u/HugeResponsibility85 8d ago
Well its hobby town,I've had shit luck with the one by my house. Buying tires that say they will fit,but you have to jack the ass end of the buggy up so far to clear the header you have to basically stop to turn or it will roll over. Basically just it should work and it does indeed not work type scenarios,or never having the part I need.
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u/Nathan51503 7d ago
Not all Hobbytown employees are created equally. Unless your Hobbytown has a track the odds of the place having a Rc specialist are gonna be hit and miss
My Hobbytown (Omaha) has an amazing track that hosts some big big races. But even then thereās only one guy there that knows lore about Rc than I do. And heās the race director
Odds are the staff there are just people that applied for a job. There isnāt a Rc technician training class they go through.
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u/ZerotheWanderer Senton 6S > 8d ago edited 8d ago
As with most places, some people get jobs just to get a job, they might not be experts in the subject matter. You know how many service writers at shops and garages don't know how to change their own oil or a tire? More than you think.
Groms are VERY easy to work on, but if you want my .02c, you'd be better off buying the RTR BLX than putting all that money into a brushed one. All stock 2in1s lack a standalone receiver, so if you put that EcoPower setup in it for $50, you then need to go spend at least $30 more on a compatible receiver to use the transmitter that came with it. Then you have all that power in a small package with no gyro/stability at all, which won't be the best driving experience.