Robitronic Mantis Review

Sean — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 17:27:14 -0600

Robitronic is an up and coming company trying to make a big impression on the market with well built cars that feature parts from several great compaines, such as Axial. Their first attempt at a truggy, the Robitronic Mantis, is no exception to these guidlines and is sure to be a big hit on the market.

Product Specifications

Features

3mm Aluminum Chassis
Aluminum Upper Deck
4WD Shaft-Drive
Powerful Axial .28 Spec 1s Pull Start Engine
Adjustable Suspension
Fully Sealed Bearings
Aluminum Shocks with 3mm shock shaft and 14mm piston
Aluminum Shock Towers
Composite Suspension Arms
Polished Tuned Exhaust Pipe
Sealed Receiver Box
Sealed Center Gear Box
Two Stage Air Filter
Exclusive Ultra Low Diff design for lower center of gravity
4 Bevel Gear Differentials
Unique Braking System with Dual Brake Disk
Rubber dampened hinge pin pivot points for better bump absorbsion and increased durability
Thick composite chassis braces front & rear
High-tech Radio System with hi-torque steering servo
Laydown Steering Servo
Axial Terra-izer Tires
Lightweight Axial Dish Wheels
Low profile Axial Mantis body
Fully printed, decaled and trimmed body
Floating front and rear differentials
Universal Joints all around
Axial Fuel filter with fuel tube holder
5 cell 1100mAh receiver battery pack with trickle charger
150cc fuel tank with built in splash guard and drain
Fuel Bottle
Glow Plug Igniter
Cross Wrench
Convenient carry handled box

Suspension features

36 possible shock positions available to fine tune your suspension.
Spring-clips for adjustment of ride height.
Adjustable front and rear camber
Adjustable steering geometry
Front inboard toe angle adjustments: 0º to -2 º
Rear inboard toe angle adjustments: 0º to -2 º
Front kick up angle adjustments: 0º to 2 º
Rear anti dive angle adjustments: 0º to 2 º

Deminensions/Specs

Wheelbase: 368mm
Track: 380mm
Total length: 550mm
Total Width: 415mm
Total Height: 190mm
Fuel tank: 150cc

Not only does the Mantis come with all these features, it is a real eye popper out of the box, and I was extremely pleased with how well mine looked and was packaged. Here are some photos of the truck.

Robitronic Mantis

As you can see, the mantis looks absoulutely awesome with the great combination of red aluminum with the dark black plastic.

Break In: When I first got my Mantis, I could not wait to break it in. I used 20% sidewinder race blend to break in my Mantis. After filling the tank and popping on my glo-ignitor, the Axial .28 Spec 1s that is included with the Mantis fired right up on only the second pull. You know its going to be a good day when your engine starts that easily! Note, keep with you a tempurature gauge at all times during the break in process to monitor your engines tempurature. You should not be exceeding 200 degrees during the first few tanks of break in.

Tank 1: For the first tank of gas, I let the Mantis sit on a stool where its tires could rotate freely, and let it idle without touching the throttle. Note, you may need to lean out your idle a tad, my Mantis came with the idle set too rich which caused it to die after about 30 seconds. Be careful with this though, if you do it too much, you can make your RPM's rev too high which could harm your engine. ALWAYS let the engine cool COMPLETELY at BDC (Bottom Dead Center, where the piston is at the bottom of the crankcase), before starting the engine.

Tank 2: For the second tank, I still left it on the stool, but gave it 1/10 throttle for two seconds about every thirty seconds.

Tank 3: During the third tank, I once again left it on the stool, and gave it 1/8 throttle for about three seconds every thirty seconds.

Tank 4: This tank, I went out back behind our hobbyshop, where there was a nice long flat strip of road that would be great to run the truck on. For this tank, I leaned out the low end of the carburator 1/12 of a turn, and the same with the high speed. I ran it at about 1/4 throttle for about two seconds, every thirty seconds.

Tank 5: This tank, I turned the high end in 1/10 of a turn, and the low end needle about 1/12 of a turn. Run it at 1/4 throttle for about 4 seconds, then release to about 1/10th throttle for about another 4 seconds, then go back to 1/4. About every thirty seconds of this, allow the engine to idle for about 10 seconds.

Tank 6: With this tank, your engine is almost completely broken in. For this tank, I leaned the high end out 1/8th of a turn, and same with the low end. Run it at about 1/2 throttle for approximately 5 seconds, and letting it cool for 5 seconds after each one.

Final Tank: Lean out only the high end needle 1/8th of a turn, and give the engine short bursts of full throttle for about 5 seconds, releasing for a second or two between bursts.

Tuning your engine: For the most part, the axial .28 Spec 1s is a breeze to tune, and it loves running around 220-230 degrees hot. If you have never tuned a car before, seek help at a local hobby shop, or ask a expeirenced friend for help.

Vehicle Performance: The Mantis is a very race worthy truck, and I have won several races at my track, as well as placed several second and third positions. Keep in mind, this is racing against 8ight-t's, Jammins, and Kyosho's. I would suggest a few things with this truck if you are planning to race. If you are running on a extremely bumpy track, take out the front sway bar, you will roll over MUCH less. Before you starting to do anything severe with this truck, take out ALL metal to metal screws and apply blue lock-tite to them. I learned this the hard way, because my two front bulkhead screws came out during a race, and I bent the front end of my chassis. The axial .28 puts out a lot a vibration, as well as racing does. When there is vibration, you lose screws. If you are going to race, another thing I would suggest is offset wheels. You will notice a drastic increase in turn in, and you will also notice you will roll much less.

WARNING: Since the engine produces so much power and vibration, it is a common thing for the midrange needle to fall out. To keep this from happening, remove the midrange needle. Apply blue locktite to the threads on the end, and put the needle back into the engine. MAKE SURE THE NEEDLE IS FLUSH WITH THE CARBURATOR WHEN YOU PUT IT BACK IN!! Let the vehicle sit overnight.

Durability: Durability is definately not an issue with the Mantis. No matter how hard I've hit things, such as smacking a telephone pole at full throttle, or landing nose first off our massive triple, the mantis seemingly shakes it off and keeps on going. I am extremely content with how tough this truck is, and after several months of owning it have not broken one part.

Overall: In conclusion, I can pretty much say that the mantis is the best bang for the buck RTR truck on the market. It's fast, loaded with great equipment, tough as nails, and all around a great truck. For the price, it cannot be beat!

Here are some pictures of what my mantis currently looks like (Note, this is not stock):

Robitronic Mantis

Here is also a video of me driving my truck on our track. This was my first time on the new layout, so please excuse the throttle blipping. Also, sorry about the quality. We are currently working on getting a better camera for our site, untill then, This will have to do.