How to differentiate TK versions without opening the tank

[Kaiser]

Hey guys,

First of all I wanted to say HI! to all of you. I've been reading the forums for a while now and I finally made a decision to purchase a Heng Long made RC tank.
Problem is... none of the sellers in my area (Poland) that actually have ANYTHING in stock seem to know which version they have. My question to you - people with experience and knowledge of the industry :) is how can I differentiate between major releases (TK4 let's say vs TK5+)? All I can base on is packaging (I seen M26 with a white package with a picture of a tank, as well as black box with an outline), pictures of the pilot/controller and pictures of the tanks themselves. Would you be able to list me some basic knowledge on difference between editions? Thing is I don't wanna buy a tank with old tech - I would want at least proportional controls for the drive mechanism and turret, gun can be cycling between up and down with 1 button for now. I would love to get my hands on one of these TK6, however I would like to buy an M26 Pershing for start (for conversion to korean war era tank ;) ).
Just please don't tell me to look on aliexpress or banggood - everything from there comes via usual post once it reaches the border and lottery starts, it will arrive or it will not arrive at all...

Kind regards,
Kaiser

[Rubicon99]

Hey guys,

First of all I wanted to say HI! to all of you. I've been reading the forums for a while now and I finally made a decision to purchase a Heng Long made RC tank.
Problem is... none of the sellers in my area (Poland) that actually have ANYTHING in stock seem to know which version they have. My question to you - people with experience and knowledge of the industry :) is how can I differentiate between major releases (TK4 let's say vs TK5+)? All I can base on is packaging (I seen M26 with a white package with a picture of a tank, as well as black box with an outline), pictures of the pilot/controller and pictures of the tanks themselves. Would you be able to list me some basic knowledge on difference between editions? Thing is I don't wanna buy a tank with old tech - I would want at least proportional controls for the drive mechanism and turret, gun can be cycling between up and down with 1 button for now. I would love to get my hands on one of these TK6, however I would like to buy an M26 Pershing for start (for conversion to korean war era tank ;) ).
Just please don't tell me to look on aliexpress or banggood - everything from there comes via usual post once it reaches the border and lottery starts, it will arrive or it will not arrive at all...

Kind regards,
Kaiser

You want to look for tanks that specifically say 6.0 or higher. Depending on where you live take a look at Toucan hobby on EBay. If you are in the US make sure your buying your tank from their US warehouse, stated as “US Stock”. Typical shipping time is 5-10 days to US addresses.

They also have fairly good CS if you should have an issue.

[Kaiser]

You want to look for tanks that specifically say 6.0 or higher. Depending on where you live take a look at Toucan hobby on EBay. If you are in the US make sure your buying your tank from their US warehouse, stated as “US Stock”. Typical shipping time is 5-10 days to US addresses.

They also have fairly good CS if you should have an issue.

Hey!

Thanks for response! Like I mentioned, I'm based in Poland (eastern Europe). I can't really order anything from outside of EU as chances of it not getting delivered due to polish post being totally disfunctional is pretty high. This means i have to base on local providers...
Question is if you could tell me when did Heng Long switch to these black package boxes with outline of a tank (like which TK version it started with)?
Or with which version did HL start providing LiPo batteries instead of NiMH?
I know that's kind of weird question, but I gotta base on on what's available in my area ;) I've checked some German stores, however ones I seen seem to have no M26 available at the time and these Taigen kits are a bit out of my budget.

[Rubicon99]

Hey!

Thanks for response! Like I mentioned, I'm based in Poland (eastern Europe). I can't really order anything from outside of EU as chances of it not getting delivered due to polish post being totally disfunctional is pretty high. This means i have to base on local providers...
Question is if you could tell me when did Heng Long switch to these black package boxes with outline of a tank (like which TK version it started with)?
Or with which version did HL start providing LiPo batteries instead of NiMH?
I know that's kind of weird question, but I gotta base on on what's available in my area ;) I've checked some German stores, however ones I seen seem to have no M26 available at the time and these Taigen kits are a bit out of my budget.

The HL boxes have not really changed in more than five years. New stickers here and there but no real changes. There are no 6.0 and up M26 Pershings yet. You would have to buy an older 5.2/3 and the upgrade the electronics to the 6.0 or higher. Which is relatively easy.

The Lipo batteries started showing up about 18 months ago with the new 6.0 tanks. Good chances that if it come with a Lipo battery it is a 6.0 or higher model.

[Kaiser]

Got it, thanks for response! I finally went for a full option T-72 with TK6.0. Plan is to use it for now, maybe convert it to PT-91 and in the future obtain TK6.1 board + pilot for T-72 and M26 ;)