The RC hobby has remained popular for many years, and it is mainly thanks to the brands that have done their best to promote the hobby and provide people with high-quality and feature-packed RC vehicles and aircraft. Some of the RC brands that we know well today have actually survived for years, and one of the reasons for the company’s long-standing success is because they never compromised on quality, which then allowed them to flourish in the hobby scene.
There are already hundreds of different RC brands around the world, although only a few are considered the best among the rest. To know more, here are some details about the top brands within the world of RC.
Traxxas
One of the most recognizable RC brands today is Traxxas, which has been around since 1985. However, the popularity of Traxxas didn’t come quickly, as they had to slowly build it up until they are now one of the top RC brands in the world. The reason for their popularity today is because of their fast RC cars and buggies, and you would often see their models in many lists of the fastest RC cars available today.
Traxxas specializes in designing and producing 1/10 scale (VXL-6S TQi) and 1/16 scale (Slash VXL) RC cars, but they also produce RC boats that are also quite fast and are made from high-quality materials and parts. As of 2022, Traxxas has gotten more than $60 million in sales, which is a testament to its popularity and its growing customer base.
HPI Racing
Another popular RC brand is HPI Racing, a brand that has been making different types of RC cars and scale models for various levels of hobbyists like beginners and veterans in the RC hobby. HPI Racing was founded in 1978 by a Japanese hobbyist named Hirotsugu Kakoi, who began the business by selling scale model cars that he had hand-assembled in his garage. As his number of customers grew, Kakoi decided to move his business to a bigger building in order to start a production line.
HPI is widely known in the past for producing one of the fastest RC cars in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This RC car is a scale model of the Volkswagen Beetle that was first shipped out in 1979 and can reach speeds of up to 30 MPH. Today, HPI Racing still produces incredibly fast RC vehicles that are available for hobbyists that have the need for speed.
ARRMA
If you want high-performance RC cars with high-tier specs and features, then you should look at the catalog of ARRMA. In case you don’t know, ARRMA is one of the younger popular RC brands today, as it was only founded in 2005 in Los Angeles, California, and it quickly became one of the top brands in the world because of the quality of its RC cars, as well as the parts and accessories that they offer on their online shop.
What’s interesting about ARRMA is that their RC kits are highly customizable, so you can change parts on the RC car to improve several aspects of it, including handling, speed, and durability. If you are a hobbyist that loves to customize RC vehicles, then ARRMA is the best brand for you to get RC cars and parts.
Horizon Hobby
Horizon Hobby is another RC brand that has been around for many years, and even though it is a relatively old brand in the RC world, it is still producing some of the most innovative or modern RC vehicles today. Horizon Hobby was founded in 1985 as a producer and seller of radio control products and accessories. Today, the company now has production lines in different countries, including the US, China, and the UK.
Interestingly, the brand has become so big that it was able to acquire numerous RC brands that are popular today, like ARRMA, E-flite, and Spektrum. Within the Horizon Hobby line of RC cars, you will find models that are suitable for both beginners and veterans in the hobby. But, most of the RC models that Horizon Hobby offers are great for people who are just starting to get into the fun hobby of playing with RC cars or planes.
Kyosho
Next on the list is Kyosho, a company that specializes in radio control products and parts similar to Horizon Hobby. Kyosho was founded in 1973 in the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan. The company’s founder, Tadashi Yokouchi, founded the business after making his very first plastic model kit.
By the early 1980s, Kyosho was able to produce model cars with high-level performance, and these vehicles could even be compared to the ones made by the popular brands during that time, which included Bandai and Tamiya. Kyosho continues to produce high-level RC cars today, and some of the ones they offer are mini versions of popular race cars from different car brands.
Axial
Similar to ARRMA, Axial is a relatively new RC brand that has quickly climbed in the rankings of the top RC brands in the world, and this was made possible by the high-quality RC vehicles that they produce and sell to their loyal and new customers. Axial is based in Arizona and is currently owned and operated by Horizon Hobby.
Axial is mostly known for their RTR or Ready to Run RC cars, which are RC vehicles that can already be played with and controlled right out of the box, so you don’t have to buy parts separately for them to work. If you don’t like the customization aspect of the RC hobby, you should check out the RTR RC cars that Axial offers.
The top brands in the RC market today will mostly still be the most popular brands in the future, as their popularity will never really fade since they are always producing some of the best, fastest, and most durable RC cars available. You can check out the websites for these brands so that you will know what you can buy from them and which models and parts are considered the best-sellers.