Vanquish H10 Brushless Optic: Bigger Is Better?

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]This is the first Vanquish RTR to come brushless from the factory.

[00:00:13]What's going on everyone? Today I'm here with the new H10 Optic RTR, specifically a brushless optic RTR. This is the newest release from Vanquish products and it is the first Vanquish RTR to come brushless. This is running the Hobbywing Fusion SE. The Hobbywing Fusion is a twoin-one system where the motor and the ESC have been combined into one unit and they've been around in the industry for a little while now and become very popular during that five plus year time span. And they've also been used a number of RTR crawlers in the past as well. And now the H10 Optic joins its ranks. Adding brushless isn't the only change that was made to this optic RTR.

[00:00:56]You can also see, of course, the styling change with the new livery on these kind of chalk grayish Sparkco panels with a new Sparkco livery around it. Now, this RTR is only coming in one livery.

[00:01:10]Previously, the Optic RTR, the brushed versions, had two liveries. One was a blue Sparkco, the other was a black Yokohama. This one, you're only going to see the one option in. On top of the panel and livery change, you'll also find that it's got some new wheels and tires on it. This is now running 2.2 wheels. And these wheels now have a new licensed Toyo tire on there that measures 4.9 in tall. So, a little bit taller than the previous 4.75s that came on here. This is just giving you a nice little bit of an overall boost in size.

[00:01:45]These new Toyo Open Country RT Pros are coming in the red compound as well, so super soft and sticky. The shocks are the updated version of the Vanquish S80mm shock. So, you'll find the gray plastics on there, which includes the updated lower shock seal using a dual O-ring and a tighter tolerance on the crush of the cartridge down there.

[00:02:07]Another very small update to it, but it is noticeable from the front is you now see a licensed PSC Ram sticker here on the H10 axle. PSC is a company in the full-size world that makes steering components for race cars of all different kinds. And this is just a small licensing thing, but a noticeable little sticker that you'll see as a new difference on the axles going forward.

[00:02:32]As far as the things that you can't see on this inside, we've got the VFD transmission, which is the same spec.

[00:02:38]Didn't really need upgrading. Super versatile, super bulletproof. It's got all kinds of things that you can modify, change if you want to adjust amount of overdrive, lighten the gear train up, add dig, make different concessions for different motor sizes. All kinds of different options with that transmission.

[00:02:56]The axles also unchanged from the most recent versions of the H10. It does have machined ring and pinion gears inside as well as a chromali spool. Universal axle shafts out to the outside. The rear straight axle there also just like you have seen it in the past. The H10 axles little bit wider than the F10 axles you would find on like the VRD or the VS410 variants typically. So just giving you a little bit wider stance. Also the molded battleorn wheels 2.2 two tiers also give you a little bit more offset than the 1.9's, giving you a little bit wider overall track width on this vehicle versus some of the previous H10s. Of course, the brushless is the biggest difference with this update. That Fusion SE, if you're not familiar with it, you've never run one before, the big selling point to it, beyond the fact that it is a twoin-one brushless system, is the fact that it has FOC, which stands for field oriented control. And what that does is that kind of changes how the throttle on your vehicle works.

[00:03:59]So as you kind of relate it to a full-size vehicle, as you apply the throttle, it applies more power. This works a little bit differently. As you apply the throttle, it tries to match the wheel speed to that percentage. So if you go to 50%, it wants to apply enough power to make the wheels go 50% of its speed. That means as you pull up to an obstacle, it will start to feed in power to try and keep those wheels moving at that same rate, that fluctuation of power is just automatic, and it happens quickly so that it doesn't seem like it is varying power.

[00:04:38]It tries to keep it just creeping along at whatever speed you tell it to, which makes it very smooth to operate, especially when you're in the low throttle percentages. It wants to just creep and creep and creep consistently rather than going up and kind of loading up and then deciding to either go free or requiring you to put more power. It will do that itself to try and keep this thing just moving as easily and as smoothly as possible. Now, this is the 1,800 KV version of the Fusion SE. The speed of that versus the brushed version that you saw on the other H10s is marginally faster. Not a ton, just a little bit. Again, the biggest benefit is going to be the smoothness of the system over the top speed gain. Also, running a 4.9 in tall tire will give you a little bit more roll out and which will also increase the speed a little bit as well. The rest of the drivetrain electronics in this truck are pretty much unchanged. The radio that it comes with is the Vanquish VT1. This is a 4 channel digital transmitter. So when you turn it on, you do have a digital display. You can go on there and easily adjust your end points, change models if you like. It does have a 10 model memory. So if you want to purchase more receivers, you can add more to this same, you know, remote here. Having digitally controlled endpoints is one of the nicest things about this radio, though, just because you can really tune things in with a screen and percentages rather than trying to do it with, you know, a radio that has no display whatsoever. Also on there, you can add expo to further smooth out the throttle feel on your radio itself. As far as an RTR radio goes, it's very nice. It's compact, it's small, it's easy to drive one-handed if that's something that you're after. One thing to note on this for people who have never used one before, the batteries don't go in the bottom like most people have experienced in the past, there's a little button on the back there, and you push and you slide that off and the radio actually separates if storage is a thing for you.

[00:06:41]It does allow it to store away, but the batteries go in the handle side itself.

[00:06:46]Underneath of there, you flip this little thing up and inside are the batteries. A little bit atypical if you've been around RC for a while, but it is nice. Batteries are included in the package, so you don't have to hunt for extra ones of those anywhere. As far as other things included in the package, there is a small sheet that has a couple of other extra pieces left in case you wanted to apply more of the livery to the hood. They're in there just in case.

[00:07:13]It's got the same ghosted Sparkco effect in there as what you see here on this side. You can kind of see that Sparkco S's just pattern through there. This is actually reminiscent of one of Sparkco's rally cars. That same type of patterning is also in the gray, but it's very faint and kind of ghosted in there. Also, with the design of the livery, if you do want to add your own kind of, you know, stickers or branding on the side, it'll actually flow pretty well. You don't have to remove it completely. If you just want to add your own flare on your own, you'll also find this decal sheet here, which will allow you to add your own numbers to the rear wing panels there. You'll also find an additional PSC logo in case you're have another one of the H10s that you want to add that little bit of branding to. Two manuals are included, one for the truck itself. This is mainly exploded views, so nothing crazy there.

[00:08:07]Just gives you the ability to find parts or part numbers in case you're trying to narrow something down that you either need or want to replace. And then the other one is a manual to the radio. It's kind of a flowchart style manual. It's not super detailed and it may be hard for some people to understand, but there are some tech tip videos on the Vanquish YouTube channel if you need help, you know, being able to program a, you know, one of the third or fourth channels or understanding how to adjust the end points on the radio. Beyond that, the H10 hasn't changed much. So, there's not a lot to go over other than talking about the available upgrade paths for this. Since haven't done a H10 upgrade video in some time, there's no shortage of things to do. You can basically change or modify every single aspect of this truck and platform. The aftermarket has absolutely grabbed onto it. And whatever your favorite aftermarket brand may be, they likely have options for it.

[00:09:06]You can build complete axles in aluminum. You can convert this to rear steer. The H10 just over my shoulder there is one of mine that I converted to rear steer. To do that conversion, I used a front axle kit which are available complete and put that in the rear and I swapped out the upper links to 124 mm links. That was really all that was needed. I made some clearancing in the back as far as room goes to make sure that the servo that goes on there didn't crash into anything, but I didn't need to purchase anything. I just needed to make sure that I removed anything that it was going to touch. The truck already comes with stainless steel links, so there's not really much of a reason to change those out. But some of my favorite modifications are, of course, changing wheels. These are a 2.2 wheel now. So, if you want to reuse the factory tires, make sure you pick up a 2.2. I am going to change out the wheels before I go run this. I have built myself up some Battlebor kilos. Now, I went with Battleborne because this is running Battleborne, and there is a Battlebor logo right here on the side.

[00:10:06]And so I figured we might as well stay with the theme there. I've got the Battlebborne Kilos here. I've also added some stainless steel brake discs to the back. This is going to add a little bit of frontend weight and the scale style of having a brake rotor behind it. These actually have a drilled and slotted pattern machined into that stainless rotor. I'm going to take these stock tires off of these wheels, mount them onto these, kind of change up the look a little bit because it's one of my favorite things. A little bit of front weight is also nice while you're at it.

[00:10:41]Some of the other things that I love to do on the H10, you can easily add the VFD dig to it. It'll bolt up. There's servo mounts in the rear of the chassis already. There's a tray back there where the power button for the Fusion SE is mounted. It's accessible right through this back area. You can see it right there. But that tray area can actually be clipped out and it becomes a servo mounting area. Then you relocate your power button to where you would like.

[00:11:09]But adding a dig in here, you can use the factory transmitter to do that because it's got the ability for a third and fourth channel. So that's always nice to do. And beyond that, you start getting into all of the other possibilities as far as customizing goes. Whether that is adding brass knuckles or aluminum axles, aluminum third members, different gear sets to adjust the amount of overdrive. This truck comes with 6 12% overdrive, which isn't a noticeable amount while you're driving around. It's just going to give you a little bit of a performance boost as far as climbing and turning goes, but it doesn't have like a dragging effect or anything like that. So, if you don't love to drive with a bunch of overdrive, you're not even going to notice it as far as this goes. But if you did want to add more overdrive, you could change the rear ring and pinion or the front or a transmission gear set. There's gear sets available to get 21% overdrive in the transmission, or you can change the front or rear gear set and give yourself about another 10% per axle. So, whatever combination you want to do, if you wanted to change axle gears, I would suggest putting an underdrive set in the rear to give you about 10% more, taking this truck to about 16% overdrive in total, which is a fantastic number and really gives you some great performance on the rocks. But since there's not a ton else to cover on this as far as new things go, I'm going to get the wheels swapped out and then we're going to go hit the rocks, have a little bit of fun up in some of my favorite rock trails up off the 88 highway in Northern California here. So, if you enjoy some running, stick around for that. If running videos aren't your thing, hit the like button, subscribe now because it helps the channel out a whole bunch.

[00:12:47]But, let's get this swapped over and hit the trails.

[00:13:12]Yeah.

[00:13:20]Second out.

[00:13:51]All right.

[00:14:01]All right.

[00:14:17]Oh, wait. Ultra fast motion.

[00:14:54]Yeah.

[00:15:12]You know what?