REVIEW – Miniature vehicles, including trains, have always been a favorite of mine since childhood. Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars especially. As I aged, my interest in all things remote control (RC) has developed. I recently reviewed an RC boat and loved it. Now I’m reviewing an RC car from the same company. The DEERC 1:14 All Terrain Fast RC Car (9005E) is a great entry-level offering for this RC newbie. It’s virtually indestructible, insanely fast, and very easy to run. I had a blast with it.

What is it?

The DEERC 1:14 All Terrain Fast RC Car (9005E) is a complete RC car kit that comes ready to go after charging the two included batteries. It has a very capable controller with steering and top speed adjustments. It has a claimed top speed of 40 kph (25 mph) and a 300-foot range. With 40 minutes total runtime between the two batteries, it should provide tons of fun and excitement.

What’s included?

• 9005E RC Car
• Controller
• (2) 7.4v/1500 mAh batteries
• Charging cable
• Extra screws and clips
• Tools for repairs
• Instruction book

Tech specs

Design and features

The DEERC 9005E is the first true hobbyist RC car I’ve ever owned. I was not ready for the sheer lightning speed of this thing right out of the box. Mash the trigger/accelerator and ZOOM, this thing takes off like a rocket.

After a little while of getting used to the steering, which is accomplished via a large wheel on the controller, I was able to mostly control this thing as it flew away from me, or toward me. Just like a real, full-sized car, going slowly allows you to turn a tighter radius. Trying to turn the 9005E around going even moderately fast would result in the car flipping over, or running into a neighbor’s yard and hitting something.

The controller does have two adjustment knobs. One for setting the maximum speed, and one for adjusting the “trim” of the steering. Setting the max speed to a lower setting allowed me to practice in a more controlled way. For me, learning the nuances of steering at a slower speed made the learning time much more enjoyable. Just remember, a little turn of the steering goes a long way.

The steering trim adjusts the steering to try to achieve accurate steering. I never could get the car to go perfectly straight. It would always drift a little to the left or to the right. That was frustrating to me. It seemed the car would steer fine in one direction, and when you let go of the steering knob, the wheels were supposed to snap back to center. However, they never did perfectly. They would always snap back to near-center. I looked up on YouTube for videos on adjusting the steering, but I could not get it working to my liking.

Taking the 9005E to a grassy field, sand, or dirt is where this thing shines. The large knobby tires really take to rough terrain and rip it up like a Baha racer. I found myself giggling with excitement as it jumped, slid around, kicked up dirt, and flipped over. See the video below and you’ll see what I mean.

The DEERC 9005E’s Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) and motor are IPX4 rated for splashes and dust, but not water submersible. So keeping it out of puddles is a must, but grass covered with dew is fine.

The 9005E has a range of over 300 feet (meters). Sometimes I would lose sight of it if I had run it behind some bushes down the street. Since it has forward and reverse gearing, I was able to just throw it into reverse and there it was again. I also mastered the ability to use forward and reverse to perform a sliding turn with the car. With the all-metal gearing and drive shafts, I wasn’t at all worried about switching from forward to reverse even at full speed. The car took so much mechanical abuse, and it worked perfectly.

The listing on Amazon says the car can reach 40 kilometers-per-hour, (almost 25 mph). I attached a speedometer to the 9005E and ran it at top speed back and forth on the street in front of my house with a fresh battery. The fastest recorded speed it ran was about 30 kph (18.4 mph). It may not have lived up to the advertised speed, but it was still extremely fast.

Assembly, Setup, Maintenance

Assembly and setup of the DEERC 9005E is simply charging the batteries, and plugging one of them into the car. The charging took quite a while. From empty to full took about 2 hours for each battery. I had purchased extra batteries for the DEERC boat review I did previously, and those batteries worked perfectly in the 9005E.

To install or swap a battery requires that you remove the car’s body which is held on with clips that work with four small posts in the frame of the car.

There is a velcro strap integrated with the frame of the 9005E that holds the battery in place very securely while running it around. I managed to crash the car into walls, trees, etc., and the battery never came loose.

As you can imagine, the 9005E gets rather filthy after a long session in the sand or dirt. A quick dowsing of compressed air or brushing with the included brush is all it really needs. I did remove the tires after one long run in a very messy grassy area with a lot of Spanish moss on the ground. The moss got tangled around the axles and drive shafts and needed a little more cleanup than usual.

One of the times running the car, I ran into a landscape timber, and I noticed that one of the front headlights wasn’t working anymore. I removed the car’s body and one of the wires going to the unlit headlight had come free of the bulb. After about an hour of removing hot glue from the bulb, and soldering on a new wire, it was functioning again.

What I like about The DEERC 1:14 All Terrain Fast RC Car (9005E)

• Very quick acceleration
• Very rugged
• Strong al-metal mechanicals
• Long battery life
• Good suspension

What needs to be improved?

• It would be even better with a brushless motor
• The wiring for lights is very thin and weak
• Steering never self-centers as it should have

Final thoughts

The DEERC 1:14 All Terrain Fast RC Car (9005E) was great fun and a surprise with its durability and speed. It was faster than I expected, but the adjustable controls made it easy to learn and master. I look forward to my grandkids playing with this when they come over to visit. This is the second DEERC RC product I’ve tested, so I have to hand it to them for making very good products.

Price: $89.99, but it’s currently $61.99 with discounts and coupons offered
Where to buy: Amazon (save 10% with code: TGTT9005)
Source: Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by DEERC. DEERC did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.