Review & Discussion: JLB Cheetah Rc Car
-An instruction manual
-A charger
-Rechargeable battery
-Radio
-Car itself
To start off, there are a few different instruction manuals included. The first is for the transmitter, and it includes information on how to set fail safes manually on the receiver. It also has a bunch of basic information regarding how to set trims and dual rates, as well as reversing options on the radio.
Additionally, there is a lot of information on the esc, which has its own dedicated instructions. It talks about programming via a card, although I haven’t found what programming card is necessary.
Next, the actual user’s manual is very comprehensive. Although it is not in color, it has a lot of blown-up parts views, as well as information on setting hardware adjustments. Every part is listed and identified via a code, so you can easily find it online.
The charger consists of two pieces, the power cord and the power brick. Also, as I live in North America, I requested an adapter to utilize the charger, which they provided free of cost. After plugging the pieces together, all of the lights will turn red to signify that the battery is charging. Once the lights turn green, the battery is full. This takes a little over three hours, which is a significant amount of time. The charger has both a 3 cell balance connector as well as a 2 cell port.
The battery has a capacity of 4000 mAh, which is quite a decent size. The best part about it is that it is a 3s lipo, which is really rare to find in an rtr package. It is hard cased, and comes pre installed with a deans style T-plug. There is also a 3 cell balance lead pre soldered into the pack. When you put the pack into the battery tray, there is still a reasonable amount of space left over for bigger packs.
There are even some foam inserts to protect the pack if it gets bumped around in the tray. You can remove these inserts to run a larger pack. The run time varies quite a bit. When I was just doing speed runs or hard core bashing with the JLB Cheetah, a full charge lasted about 15 minutes. However, puttering around on the grass, the pack lasted about 25 minutes. On average, you can expect 20 minutes of driving time.
The next item included is the radio. It uses 2.4 Ghz, and requires four AA batteries. The range was the only deficiency on this model. I found that it maxed out at about 170 feet. For a big car like this, I think 250 feet is a decent controlling range.
The remote feels very nice in the hand, and has a fake rubber tire around the steering wheel. The throw for both the throttle and steering is quite good, and both are obviously proportional. There is even a low remote battery light on the controller, which blinks when it is time to replace the AA batteries.
There are a lot of tuning options on the radio. There is analog control for both steering and throttle trim. There are also reversing switches for both channels, although I have no need for them.
Aside from the on/off switch, there is also a ‘3rd channel’ switch, which I have found no function for yet.
Not only is there an option for steering dual rates, but throttle adjustment knobs are also included. This means that you can turn down the throttle received by the car via a switch on the radio, so a young child can drive it without speeding off and crashing somewhere. The steering adjustment was very useful at high speeds, as you want to have limited wheel turn to avoid spinning out.
Finally, on to the vehicle itself. It is touted as 1/10 scale, although I would call it a 1/8 scale myself. The overall length is 50 cm, and it weighs about four kilograms. It comes with a very nice wheelie bar preinstalled. The said wheelie bar runs on ball bearings, so it is very smooth. It comes installed at the topmost position, and I immediately adjusted it too much lower. There are four adjustment points, so you can tune it however you like.
There are also two bright LED headlights in the front bumper, which look great and work well. I would’ve liked to see an option to turn them off, but it is not a big deal. The entire car uses hex hardware, which is a good sign. The front bumper is very stiff down the middle, but has some flex on the sides. The rear bumper is very small, but anyways, the wheelie bar shields the back from bumps and hard landings.
There are a plethora of aluminum parts preinstalled on the monster truck. First of all, the motor mount and many of the front and rear gearbox parts are aluminum, as well as the hinge pins. The front and rear differentials, as well as the pinion and spur, are all solid metal. This is a really good sign for the durability of the cheetah.
There is an upper flat chassis brace, as well as a bottom chassis, made of solid aluminum. Even the shock towers are fully metal. The JLB cheetah comes equipped with large 1/8 scale shocks, with shock oil pre filled. They feature aluminum shock caps, with full aluminum threaded bodies. These allow adjustment without the use of pre load clips.
The front and rear dogbones are cvd’s, and they are made of thick metal, as are the stub axles and differential outputs. There is also a very thick steel driveshaft that goes down the car to power the 4wd. The entire car runs on ball bearings. The body is very nicely decorated, and adds a low-slung look to the entire rig. It is quite durable, and is made of relatively thick lexan, held on by four body pins, which are included.
The electronic speed controller can handle 80 amps, and it has a built in fan. The motor is brush less, 3670 sized and with a KV rating of 2500. The steering servo is a little slow, but has plenty of torque, and is stated as a metal geared turning piece. The receiver is mounted above the servo, and is a 4 channel system with manually programmable fail safes.
Overall, the performance, looks, and value of this car, the jlb cheetah, is nothing short of ridiculous. I simply do not understand how this car is not a best seller yet- it’s cheap and comes with everything you could ask for. With a top speed of 80 km/h, it is very fast, and has the ability to off-road effortlessly as well. I definitely do recommend it, and here is where I got it from:
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