by
Spoon
on Fri 07 Jul 2006 09:04 AM PDT |
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I purchased the Futaba 2PL after getting extremely frustrated with having to set the steering trim on my mini-z's all of the time. I did a little bit of research on the
mini-zracer.com forums and decided to pick up a 2PL from my LHS.
The 2PL is a 2-Channel digital radio with a 10 model memory. The fact that it's digital allows you to save settings for each car that you program. It only takes a couple of minutes to get going with the radio after reading the instructions. All of the functions are accessed by scrolling through a single main menu with the big silver button.
Initial Impressions:
The first thing I noticed was the feel of the radio. The wheel and trigger give just a little more feedback than the stock mini-z controller. This makes it a lot easier to implement the fine throttle control needed for racing. It is also not much heavier than the stock KT-5 which is quite nice.
Programming:
The 2PL allows you to set Reverse, End Point Adjustment, Trim, ABS and Steering Dual Rate. All of the settings are configured using the same controls so it is very easy to make adjustments on the 2PL once you know how it works.
Side note: I had heard that the iwaver digital controller was very similar to the 2PL. I tried setting up the Iwaver controller a couple of weeks ago and it's really not that similar. I am sure it's not rocket science, and maybe I was used to the 2PL, but it definitely seemed more complicated.
Overall I think the 2PL is a worthwhile investment. If you are planning on seriously competing in other scales, it may be worth looking into a higher end radio (like the Helios EX-10) but if you are only running Mini-Z's and are looking for an inexpensive controller to store all of your cars, the 2PL will not let you down.