Heng Long MERKAVA review, build out and field testing.

[Woohoo\o/]

Guy I REALLY appreciate this info. I’m going to send it to him.

[tank_me]

And not to mention, the LegoDEI is easily moved from tank to tank so if you have a lot of tanks like me you don't need one for each tank. I can only battle so many of my tanks at a time... :)

[Rubicon99]

So a buddy sent me this picture and he’s wondering if this printed gadget would work just as well as the legoDEI. I highly doubt it. He wants to try it out. Any thoughts so that I can relay the info to him?

I worked closely on those with JVM3Dconcepts. In fact that is my photo taken during testing.

It does not work anywhere close to a LegoDEI. It did improve the stock HL receiver performance by about 30% but it could not overcome the other problems of the stock receiver.

To put that 30% in perspective. If the stock IR receiver could register a hit at 10ft without the sunshade, with it it could register a hit at 13ft.

The sunshade was just that a shade. It does not fix the inherent issues of "dead zones" aka angles at which when outdoors in sunlight that the stock receiver can't register hits even at close ranges when it should. These "dead zones" are random and very from receiver to receiver. Because of this "from the factory problem" with the IR receiver and people's unrealistic expectations that the shade would somehow magically fix all the problems it was decided not to make them available for sale. JVM just felt they did not want the hassles of explaining this endlessly and being blamed for the poor performance of the receiver that was not theirs. YES this happened when a dozen were given out to various people for preproduction evaluation.

The LegoDEI does not have any of the issues the stock receiver has and is a night and day difference in performance. It takes a toy like IR battle system to something more along the lines of a fun hobby/club grade battle system.

Given the relatively low cost of the LegoDEI it is money well spent when considering the huge improvement it makes. And compared to IR receivers by Tamiya that cost upwards of $100 and can't be used with the stock HL systems, the LegoDEI is a steal.

[Woohoo\o/]

So a buddy sent me this picture and he’s wondering if this printed gadget would work just as well as the legoDEI. I highly doubt it. He wants to try it out. Any thoughts so that I can relay the info to him?

[Evan D]

The stock non flashing gun just covers it.

[Woohoo\o/]

Awesome thanks. I really don’t care for a flashing machine gun. Can I remove this? Will it have an adverse effect?

[cmdrcody]

That plug is for an auxiliary machine gun for its flashing bulb. Check your instruction sheet to set it up.

[Woohoo\o/]

What’s this plug for? I searched the manual but no info. I may have missed it.

[Woohoo\o/]

I really appreciate this info. I gotta get one. And so does my buddy

[Rubicon99]

How inferior is the included infrared sensor compared to the upgraded one sold on motion?

The stock HL IR receiver is intended for indoor use only but works well indoors. Why only indoors? HL thinking is it is not safe to fire BBs indoor do to ricochets. So their IR is a substitute for using BBs when indoors.

As stated in a prior post their IR receiver is easily blinded by sun light. Even over cast cloud sunlight blinds them. This causes it to not register hit's with any reliability beyond 5ft (1.5m).

Compared to a Lego DEI receiver which even in the brightest sunlight can register hits from 120ft (~40m) away when shot at by a stock HL IR bulb. Further if an aftermarket upgrade IR bulb is used.

For the cost the Lego DEI receiver is a steal as it turns a toy battle tank into something far closer to a professional hobby grade battle tank.

[tank_me]

How inferior is the included infrared sensor compared to the upgraded one sold on motion?

The LegoDEI and Tamiya sensors have 4 IR receiving ports on the inside. Each one is pointed horizontal to the ground (one at 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees). Each LED has a shade over it which helps keep the sun from "blinding" the receivers. Each receiver can receive hits at approximately 120 degrees. Since that is more than 360 degrees, they overlap each other's receiving arc ensuring there are no blind spots.

The Heng Long and Torro/Taigen units have a single IR receiving port that point straight up in the air. Shooting IR signal to something pointed at a 90 degree away from you just doesn't work as well as when you are pointing the IR signal right at the unit on the same plane. Being that the IR receiver is pointed straight up, it tends to be "blinded" by the sun which inhibits the ability to register a hit.

[Woohoo\o/]

How inferior is the included infrared sensor compared to the upgraded one sold on motion?

[keilau]

You should go protest in LA. Even your "full metal" doesn't say it is. From your link.

IDF Merkava MK IV FPV 3958 for Heng Long 1/16 RC Battle Tank Full Metal Chassis lnfrared Combating BB shooting

HL-70-3958-HalfMetal-360-SS-FPV-BBSmoking-DZN1

Material: Metal, Plastic
ID: HL-70-3958-HalfMetal-360-SS-FPV-BBSmoking

Historically HL have had all plastic versions and then versions with various metal up grades. I got the one I linked.

Case closed. You call your tank whatever you want. For commercial transaction, I do believe that we should stick with manufacturer's version names to avoid confusion and potential fault.

[Evan D]

You should go protest in LA. Even your "full metal" doesn't say it is. From your link.


IDF Merkava MK IV FPV 3958 for Heng Long 1/16 RC Battle Tank Full Metal Chassis lnfrared Combating BB shooting

HL-70-3958-HalfMetal-360-SS-FPV-BBSmoking-DZN1

Material: Metal, Plastic
ID: HL-70-3958-HalfMetal-360-SS-FPV-BBSmoking


Historically HL have had all plastic versions and then versions with various metal up grades. I got the one I linked.

[keilau]

I told you all metal but not the chassis. I gave you a link. I have the freedom to call it all metal. The one with a metal chassis is not all metal either.

It is your RC tank. If you are happy with it, it is all it counts. Happy tanking!

However, I do believe that we should stick with manufacturer's version names to avoid confusion and potential fault.

[Evan D]

I told you all metal but not the chassis. I gave you a link. I have the freedom to call it all metal. The one with a metal chassis is not all metal either.

[keilau]

Good for you. I am still calling it the all metal version and I’m very happy with the stock metal tracks that you are so against.

Calling a Toyota Corolla a BMW does not make the Corolla a BMW.

[Evan D]

Good for you. I am still calling it the all metal version and I’m very happy with the stock metal tracks that you are so against.

[keilau]

The chassis is not metal.

Henglong 1:16 7.0 3958-1 Merkava RC Tank Metal Tracks Wheels RTR Barrel Recoil | eBay

This is the HL metal track version, not the all metal version. Its listing reads:
"Henglong 1:16 7.0 3958-1 Merkava RC Tank Metal Tracks Wheels RTR Barrel Recoil"
For an all metal tank, the listing reads:
"IDF Merkava MK IV FPV 3958 for Heng Long 1/16 RC Battle Tank Full Metal Chassis lnfrared Combating BB shooting"

I am not a fan of the Heng Long metal track. The HL metal track has single pin, open pin and hollow back side which runs and looks unrealistically. I have hybrid or metal tracks on all my other Heng Long tanks. The metal track are either Tamiya, Mato or Torro. More expensive but well worthy the extra cost.

[Evan D]

The chassis is not metal.

Henglong 1:16 7.0 3958-1 Merkava RC Tank Metal Tracks Wheels RTR Barrel Recoil | eBay

I cannot understand your sentence. From all the reference I can find, the Heng Long all metal Merkava has a metal chassis and is very expensive.

https://www.toucanhobby.com/products/hl-70-3958-halfmetal-360-ss-fpv-bbsmoking-dzn1?_pos=4&_sid=d93f5460b&_ss=r

Can you provide a link for you Heng Long all metal Merkava?