Just bought one of these for my nephews for xmas and decided to charge it up and test it out. I was not impressed with its performance after reading about it here. The rear axle would stall and the front would spin while trying to climb up a very slight incline with a 1" lip.(Underbed Storage container lid leaned against the container).

Also noticed that the speed controller seemed to stick when going forward and backward, and it would take off on its own.

I'm questioning my purchase and wondering if I should find them something else for xmas.

Is this stuff normal???

The controller has a throttle trim on you have to adjust it

Thought the trim was if the wheels moved when you picked it up??? The tires dont move when its off the ground.

I also would have thought that it could climb. Do I need to get them the NiMh battery for that, or will it climb with the NiCd batt?

Something wrong with this one maybe??

sounds like yours is messed up, i use the stock one(600 ma) and a batt from radio shack that fitts (1500 ma) almost 3 times the power!!! 9.6v
if its not to late, take it back!!! mine will climb over anything!! i used to use the trim to kill the batt. all the way, now i made a light bulb setup on a board to drain the batt. all the way. you get a better time run, full power till its done (not slow 1/2 way thu playing)

I just threw mine back together and I've got the same problem..... It'll drive around for 3 seconds or so... then when im off the throlle it keeps going. Sometimes it'll jump forward on its own too. I'm only like 6 feet away so its not like im out of range............... unless.... I stuck the red antenna wire inside the ESC's plastic housing to get it out of the way... that could be it? If not though.... I really dont see what could've screwed up. It was driving perfectly fine before.

your antenna wire must be as high as possible for max performance.

Yeah I kinda figured that.... just tore the chassis apart and pulled the wire out on top.... works fine now.