Which is Fastest? NiMH vs LiPo Batteries! (Speed Test Car: Tamiya Super Avante)

How fast is an old-school 6S NiMH compared to a modern 2S LiPo Battery? Which is the fastest? And how fast is a brushless Tamiya Super Avante RC Car? ... plus test fitting some Hard Case LiPo batteries on the TD4 Chassis.
This kit was a gift from the generous RC Elf. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you! Sometimes words aren't enough. This video is dedicated to you, my friend!
Check out the channel for a full build series of the Tamiya Super Avante 4WD 1/10 Buggy from 2021 (Tamiya 58696).
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Tamiya Super Avante TD4 Specifications:
- Item no. 58696 Assembly Kit
- Released in 2021
- Chassis: TD4 Plastic Bathtub Frame
- Body/Wing: Polycarbonate
- Drive-line: 4WD Shaft-driven
- Scale: 1/10
- Length: 387 mm
- Width: 246 mm
- Height: 117 mm
- Wheelbase: 283 mm
- Tread: 214mm (front), 205mm (rear)
- Front & rear ball differentials
- 3-piece steering tie-rod
- 4-wheel double wishbone suspension
- Tire width/diameter: 32/82mm (front), 41/82mm (rear)
- Spiked 1/10 Buggy Tires
- Star Dish 1/10 Wheels w/ 12 mm hex
- CVA Oil Filled Shocks
- Full Ball Bearings
- Aluminium Metal Motor Mount
- Aluminium Metal Propeller Shaft
- Metal Drive Axles & Wheel Axles
- Adjustable Wing Height & Size
- 17T steel pinion gear & 70T plastic spur gear included.
- Gear Ratio = 10.71:1
- No electronics included
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#NordicRCVisions Statement:
This video features homemade footage of my own #RcCar #tamiya #tamiyatd4 #tamiyasuperavante #tamiyarccar from my personal #RC collection. All rights reserved.
All #RcCars and RC parts in this video are hobby-grade and intended for adults and ages +14 years.

[@JF-RC]

Hi there Mikael, a very well explained speed comparison on a like for like basis. Just goes to show that NiMh packs still have a place in our power requirements, being only marginally different in top speed, but easier to handle for the beginner and professionals alike. Best wishes to you and the family 😊

[@NordicRC]

Hi JF! Yeah, I always have a couple of charges NiMH’s ready for tests and the spontaneous run. Easier without storage charge and everything. But the NiMH drops quickly in voltage so it’s only a match for the LiPo the first couple of minutes. Best to you and yours too my friend

[@Droidy77]

Nice one, you always find such epic bangin' tunes to go with the action!

[@NordicRC]

Cool feedback, Andrew! So hard to find good free stuff though 😊

[@merijn1975]

Thanks for sharing! I do not understand why the difference is so small. Normally the speed difference between NiMh and Lipo should be at least 10%. A 7,4 Volt Lipo charges up to 8,4 Volt. That alone should give you more than 10% increase in speed. This colorscheme looks great!!

[@NordicRC]

Thanks for watching. Well, a healthy 7.2v NiMH actually charges above 9v. It drops if it sits idle but if used directly after charge and cool down or within some hours after charge, it definitely still sits above 8v. But yeah, then it drops much faster than the LiPo. So a few minutes into the run, you will start to see more dramatically differences. But not with a freshly charged NiMH. Sometimes it can beat the LiPo 😀

[@PeteWylieRC]

Hiya Mikael. You know I saw this video last week and I could have sworn that I wrote a comment but I guess not. Probably had it on the TV app. Anyway, not a bad speed for this one and not too much difference between the batts. Quick enough off road I expect. Such a lovely smooth running buggy this. Bit of a faff getting the batts in though isn't it? Nice vid mate. Hope you are having a smashing weekend 😁

[@NordicRC]

Hejsa Pete! Thank you for commenting! Yeah, but could need a tiny bit more. Maybe just a couple of teeth on the pinion. But yeah, very smooth and stable. And yea, would call it a ‘pain’ that battery system 😅 Having a wonderful time. Peace and quiet in the vacation house only with my eldest son. He doesn’t want to go RC’ing with me though. He wants to play football. Hmm. I better play some football 😊

[@PeteWylieRC]

@@NordicRC Oh god that sounds far too energetic!

[@madsrcbuggy]

Ha ha, definitely not breaking any speed limits here, Mikael! Well, with a gear ratio over 10, of course it won't be fast. It seemed quite peppy, so you could easily gear it up quite a lot without problems... Lovely video to watch as always, my friend!

[@NordicRC]

Hejsa Mads! Yeah, could definitely need a bigger pinion! ☺️ And maybe even some more rpm. I think it would feel really good with just 5-10 kph more in top speed. Like this it’s actually not much faster than my DT-03 with a 19T pinion and a stock torque tuned motor. Funny, cause that actually feels alright. Maybe it’s the expectations, when going for a 10.5T brushless motor, that makes it feel slow. If it was doing the same speed with a torque tuned motor I would probably feel it was fast. And thanks for watching. Remember to get a larger pinion when building yours some day 😀

[@ITman3Dmain]

Interesting video🔥🔥🔥

[@NordicRC]

Thank you ☺️

[@robbrennanrc]

Hi Mikael. Well that gives me more of a reason not to change to LiPo. Great stuff and hope all is well with you and the family?

[@NordicRC]

Hi Rob. Ahh, I can still think of a few good reasons. But top speed the first couple of minutes at least isn’t any of them. And I still use both NiMH and LiPo. NiMH is so much easier.

[@NordicRC]

All is well. Man flu at the moment though. Not much time for RC’ing in the holidays with the kids too. But all good. Hope all is well with you and yours my good mate?

[@RCBirds]

This is quiet astonishing. I had expacted more for the LiPo.

[@NordicRC]

Yeah, a good NiMH is as fast, at least for the first couple of minutes 😀

[@Mini-z1994]

The tamiya esc & motor have very mild timings for lower power & torque (i'd guess we are only seeing maybe 50% of max power here. So there isn't a huge difference seen here between the battery types. Change the esc out though for a third party race esc & clock the motor towards the last bit of the positive timings and you'll see this really move. Change the battery connector for one that can supply more power on top of that & you'll have wheelies if chassis & grip allows it.

[@yodadarksideGreenHawksRC]

Interesting video fella! That TD4 is extremely smooth, but boy is that chassis short of space.... and what a mission to change the battery! I use a mixture of both NIMH and LIPPO in my vintage Tamiyas. Certainly a little more punch with the lippo's..... but the main advantage being longer run times. Downsides being the extra care you need to take with them( avoiding running them out totally, balance charging them correctly, storing them at the right charge/in a protective lippo bag etc.) Personally, I was very underwhelmed with the TBLM series of motors, and went back to the faithful Superstock RZ, BZ, & TZ brushed motors..... much faster! 👍 👍 👍 👍

[@NordicRC]

Agree with all, Yoda! I too use a mixture of NiMH and LiPo when running 6S/2S. LiPo got a lot of advantages but like you say, the NiMH got ‘em too.

[@guymarotta2596]

I like Tamiya and their products, but what the hell were they thinking when they designed that new Avante chassis? They must've lost their minds. Tamiya would be smart to design their cars to accept a standard LIPO battery pack, and do it without needing tools and disassembly.

[@guymarotta2596]

I thought by now everyone knew, Lipo is WAY better than NIMH!!

[@moejr1974]

My DT-02 with 19T and that same motor did 36 mph. That was with a very expensive Tekin ESC that puts out a lot more current than the Tamiya unit. The TBLE-02 Tamiya cost me 3 mph

[@NordicRC]

Nice. Sounds fast. Yeah, the Tamiya ones aren’t that good with fast motors that demands a lot of power

[@paulblack3608]

You should try lithium ion 18650 packs. I run a 2s2p configuration (4 cells total wired in parallel). This is the equivalent of a 2s lipo but has a capacity of 6000mah and a charged voltage of 8.4 volts. They run my tt02 cars for over an hour on a charge and run great. You can also discharge them down below 3v so they are nearly impossible to damage due to discharge. I charge them on my hobby charger and treat them mostly just like a lipo but much safer and more forgiving, for example, you can leave them charged without worrying about them puffing or burning your house down. I use the Sony VTC6 type cells which are rated for 30 amps. (by running them in 2p configuration you cut the amp load on each cell in half). You can get the high quality cells in vaping shops as they are used for E-cigarettes. I wouldn't run them in a hot, high amp setup, but for a stock or nearly stock tamiya drivetrains they are amazing and are also physically very small. cheers.

[@NordicRC]

Thanks for the tips, Paul! I haven’t actually been too happy about my Li-ion batteries. Got several RTR cars for reviews, with them. They seem quite fragile and not very durable in my opinion. Even had a couple of new ones that was malfunctioning, the charger wouldn’t accept them. Probably because they dropped below 3v. Some say they can be “kick-started” again, charging them due a few minutes on NiMH mode - but I’m really not into those experiments. But maybe my experiences are due to bad quality and cheap batteries 🙃

[@bradkalman2353]

What you needed to do is to get a Gartpot 4000 50c lipo pack it would have fit.

[@NordicRC]

Why? Got several that fits and this is one of them.

[@bradkalman2353]

@@NordicRC because it seems like it fits pretty much every Tamiya made.

[@NordicRC]

@@bradkalman2353 Yeah, I got lots of batteries that fit Tamiya. They just have to be small enough. Some needs to have found edges. I think most Non-hard case 2S LiPos (1-5000 mah) would fit the Super Avante. I can even squeeze in soft pack 3S LiPos.

[@NordicRC]

If you are confused about the LiPo examples in the video it was just to show that some large standard hard case batteries won’t fit, so you need to find something smaller.

[@bradkalman2353]

@@NordicRC and the batteries I told you about our smaller.

[@trere362]

Huh hello! ,well i got few cars and my main is Df models 3078 it comes with 540 motor i think 25-27T and with 7.2v nimh it can do or nearly do stated 40km/h there is few upgrades i can do and main upgrade is 7.4V lipo 30C, because on nimh the servo while adding gas live it own life and cant realy drive car because stock charger is crapppy and it charge it to 7.4v than 9V i will se if lipo will add some more km/h and solve problem😊

[@NordicRC]

Sounds like a super car. Nice. Uhh, charging a NiMH to 7.4v? Yeah, that’s no good.

[@JustinnRC]

Neither will be faster then each other but lipo can be quicker as nimh batteries have a smaller output rate so will be less wuick

[@rcinhand9671]

I can swear my Super Avante is faster on 2S. I should do a speed run, myself.

[@NordicRC]

Cars are of course quite different in top speed, depending on gear ratio or motor choice 😂

[@rcinhand9671]

@@NordicRC That's true! I have the slipper clutch, and a larger pinion (I don't remember what size at the moment).

[@user-pj8hu4op6z]

Set gear ratio to below 8:1, 10.7:1 is too slow

[@BasBoyRC]

Still seems slow for brushless and so little difference in the speed of the batteries.

[@NordicRC]

Yeah, pretty low geared. And 4WD. I remember the DT-02 with the same motor and stock pinion doing at least 5-10 kph more.

[@BasBoyRC]

@@NordicRC It's strange how Tamiya has dropped it's gearing on new cars.

[@marresjepie1887]

It should have been geared way more aggressive for the LiPo. The BL motor can be seriously powerful, scary even, when geared properly, but it will pull só much amps, that it’ll overwhelm a NiMh easily. Nimh throw in the towel at about 15 amps, máybe 25 with a good quality pack, max, while a proper LiPo won’t even budge if a motor momentarily pulls 50 to 60 amps when accellerating. Different technologies and all that.

[@marresjepie1887]

That Avante only makes me think “ What saké-drunk blithering idiot gave the ‘go’ for this design with that completely idiotic, moronoc battery changing system…”? Added to that, it doesn’t even remotely look like being in the Avante Family. Imho the first àctual blunder by Tamiya. And I’m a life-long fan, owning about every buggy and re re Tamiya released.

[@NordicRC]

Ahh, I know what you mean, but me, I actually like all these weird Tamiyas with a lot of character. But agree, definitely not the prettiest one around - and I’m not too fond about the battery system too. ☺️

[@TheHappyDIYGuy-ri8nb]

Still slow, that is a bummer you have to do all that to get battery in and out of car!

[@NordicRC]

Slow is relative :-) And oh yeah, I'm not too happy about the battery mount either.

[@shelly6482]

So not worth risking a house fire and getting cancer for! Thanks i will stick to my NiMh packss with my Hobbywing 1060 and Tamiya super stock motors.

[@NordicRC]

NiMH’s still got some advantages, I agree! But after 5-10 min of run time the top speed difference will increase.

[@rubenraj3387]

Tamiya car are beautiful but no speed

[@guymarotta2596]

Get a life, you guys! Dump your NIMH packs and get yourself some LIPO batteries! Don't even think of buying any RC vehicle that can't fit a standard 2-Cell LIPO battery!