Traxxas Rustler VS Turnigy Stadium King 2wd Truggy / ZD Racing ZMT-10

Having owned a Rustlers In about every version that Traxxas has  produced I believe I can speak on this .

For my comparison of these 2 cars I'm going to focus on the Rustler XL-5 model #3705 that is currently in production .

To start the average price of the Traxxas Rustler is around $205 + shipping and the Turnigy Stadium king will cost around $148 shipped . Its twin the ZD Racing  ZMT-10 can generally be found for around $120 or less shipped .

References to the ZD Racing ZMT-10 pertain to the Turnigy Stadium King also.

Two important differences is in plastic quality and assembly quality . The ZMT-10 has slightly stiffer plastic and this can make some components  more breakable  ( I found this most noticeable in the front bulk head). As far as assembly quality this mostly relates to the shocks and excess clearances in some components . With the shocks there main flaws are not having there O-rings lubed before assembly or incorrect filling of the shocks . When I mention excess clearances I'm mostly talking about the play in the steering system and the differential . Both of these have been talked about else where this blog .

Ok next thing would be hardware the Traxxas rustler uses good quality screws and instead of using Philips head screw they now use hex style heads .The ZMT-10 has Philips head screw and they are made of a softer material than normal and are easier to strip .

Electronics as far as out of the box the Rustler Win's in almost all categories but most people should bare in mind your probable going to swap most of these items out with better equipment no matter what truck you buy. The rustler comes with all water proof electronics except for the receiver . The ZMT-10  doesn't  .
The Rustler comes with a high current battery connector the ZMT-10 doesn't . The  trucks in my opinion both have comparable  radio systems that function well but the Traxxas system has a more modern look to it .

Motor's are a big difference in these trucks . The Rustler comes with the titan 550 12 turn motor and can propel the rustler to speeds of about 30 mph but has been known to leave a few people wanting longer motor life . The ZMT-10 has a generic 540 that I have no specs on but seems to be around a 20 turn motor and provides  20 mph.

Battery's and chargers for both trucks leave a bit to be desired (but these are targeted for beginners )the ZMT-10 comes with a 2400 mah 6-cell battery pack and a 110 volt wall charger good for around a 1.5 amp charge rate. Traxxas includes a 3000 mah 7-cell battery pack( good for a 4-5 mph boost over a 6-cell ) and a very similar charger.

Tires and wheels are also important . Both trucks have 2.8 inch wheels with 12 mm hexes  but use a different tire beads that seem to make make them in compatible . Even though I don't really like the newer Traxxas rims they are better than the ZMT-10's rims. The ZMT-10 does win in regards to tires . In my opinion they beat the rustlers tires when it comes to traction in the dirt . Given there soft nature they do wear rapidly when run on asphalt or concrete. 

Adjustability can be a important factor and out of the box the ZMT-10 has a few more options than the Traxxas truck due to additional camber links in different lengths and different steering links to change front toe. The rustler does come with adjustable steering links to change front toe.

Drivetrain is also a bit different . The Rustler comes with full ball bearings and Traxxas's 272 magnum transmission with all metal drive gears .The ZMT-10 has 2 ball bearings and 4 bushing with full metal gears of a slightly fine pitch than the Traxxas transmission possibly making it more efficient but also weaker . Traxxas uses plastic slider shafts with plastic yokes for the drive axles . ZD optioned to use metal dog bones and metal drive cups in my testing they have held up great. Traxxas has started using there revo style slipper clutches and to be blunt its tuff . The ZMT-10 is using a more conventional pad based slipper clutch system that should lend to comparability with other brands spur gears and pads.

All that is really left is driving and to be honest there really isn't much difference the 2 are almost Identical with the only difference being that the ZMT-10 has a slightly shorter wheelbase  but in my experience this  is hardly noticeable .

I do recommend doing a little reading about the recommended upgrades for the Traxxas Rustler and remember most of the parts for the rustler are a complete bolt on for the ZD Racing ZMT-10 or Turnigy Stadium King 2wd Truggy .

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