Starting out
What else do you need with an RC car?
Four things turn a good RC car gift into one that is still being used next year. Everything else on the accessories shelf can wait.
By Ryder M. · Published September 27, 2026 · Last reviewed
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Four things: a second battery, a proper charger, a fire-resistant charging bag, and a set of hex drivers. Together they cost a fraction of the car and roughly double how much it actually gets used. Everything else is optional.
The four that matter
- A second battery. The highest-value addition, full stop. One pack means twenty minutes of driving then a long wait; two packs means an afternoon.
- A proper balance charger. Faster than the charger in the box, and it looks after the batteries you already paid for. See our charger picks.
- A LiPo-safe charging bag. Cheap, and it removes the only genuine hazard in this hobby.
- Hex drivers. The folded keys included with the car round off screw heads within a few uses, turning a simple repair into a difficult one.
The four accessories
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Gens Ace 2S LiPo batteryThe brand most people settle on once they have been burned by a cheap pack that puffed after a month. | The reliable default | 8.7 | |
| 2 |  HOTA D6 Pro chargerTwo channels, plugs straight into the wall, and fast enough that charging stops being the bottleneck. | The one to buy once | 8.8 | |
| 3 | A LiPo-safe charging bagThe cheapest sensible thing you can add to any gift that includes a LiPo battery. | Charging safely | 8.5 | |
| 4 |  An RC hex driver tool setThe L-shaped keys in the box round off after a few uses. A proper driver set is the first upgrade nobody thinks of. | Fixing it yourself | 8.3 |
Illustrative photo — not this exact model.
#1 · The reliable default
Gens Ace 2S LiPo battery
The brand most people settle on once they have been burned by a cheap pack that puffed after a month.
8.7/10our score for this use
LiPo is the standard rechargeable battery chemistry for RC cars: lighter than the older NiMH type and it holds its power right up to the end of the run rather than gradually fading. 2S means two cells — the size most 1/10 cars take.
What it does well
- Consistent pack-to-pack quality, which is the whole argument for paying more for a battery
- Holds voltage under load, so the car feels the same on lap ten as on lap one
- Sold in all the common connector types and sizes
What it does badly
- Costs more than the budget brands for capacity you can measure but may not notice
- Like all LiPo packs it must be stored at partial charge, not full, or it degrades
- Needs a balance charger — it cannot be charged with the wall plug from a toy car
Illustrative photo — not this exact model.
#2 · The one to buy once
HOTA D6 Pro charger
Two channels, plugs straight into the wall, and fast enough that charging stops being the bottleneck.
8.8/10our score for this use
A balance charger looks after each cell inside a LiPo pack individually, which is what keeps the battery healthy and safe. The D6 Pro has a built-in power supply — no separate box to buy — charges two packs at once, and around 1.6A of balance current per cell, which is why it finishes noticeably faster than the pocket chargers.
What it does well
- Built-in AC power supply: it works straight out of the box with no extra purchase
- Two independent channels, so a second pack charges while the first is in the car
- Higher balance current than the small chargers, so charging is genuinely quicker
What it does badly
- Overkill if there is only ever going to be one small battery
- The menu system takes an evening to learn
- It is another box on the bench with its own fan noise
Illustrative photo — not this exact model.
#3 · Charging safely
A LiPo-safe charging bag
The cheapest sensible thing you can add to any gift that includes a LiPo battery.
8.5/10our score for this use
A fire-resistant pouch that the battery sits inside while it charges. LiPo batteries very rarely fail, but when they do they do it energetically, and every experienced owner charges inside a bag or a metal tin.
What it does well
- Costs very little and removes the one genuine hazard in this hobby
- Doubles as somewhere to store packs between uses
- Fits any battery, any brand
What it does badly
- Not a magic shield — a charging battery still needs to be attended
- The cheap ones have flimsy zips
- One more thing to remember to use
Illustrative photo — not this exact model.
#4 · Fixing it yourself
An RC hex driver tool set
The L-shaped keys in the box round off after a few uses. A proper driver set is the first upgrade nobody thinks of.
8.3/10our score for this use
Hobby-grade cars are held together with small hex screws and nuts, and the folded metal keys included in the box are made down to a price. A set of proper hex drivers and nut drivers turns a twenty-minute repair into a five-minute one.
What it does well
- Makes repairs quick enough that they actually get done instead of shelving the car
- Stops screw heads being rounded off by a badly fitting key
- Works on every brand in this hobby
What it does badly
- Not an exciting thing to unwrap on its own
- Cheap sets use soft steel that wears quickly
- You need the right sizes for the specific car, usually metric
The thing everyone forgets
AA batteries for the transmitter. Most hobby-grade cars need four, and they are almost never included. A transmitter with flat batteries looks exactly like a broken car to a child, and it is the most common failure on the morning a gift is opened. Buy rechargeable ones and a charger, once.
Worth buying eventually
- A set of front suspension arms. The part that breaks first, so a spare set means an evening's repair instead of a week's wait.
- A car stand. Holds the car with its wheels off the ground for maintenance. Trivial until the first time you need one.
- A soft brush and compressed air for cleaning grass out of the gear mesh after each session.
- A spare body shell, if the car is going to be crashed a lot. Cosmetic, but it is what makes a car look tired.
What you can skip
- Aluminum upgrade parts, at least at first. They often move the breakage to a more expensive component rather than removing it.
- Higher-C-rating batteries. For bashing, 25C and up from a reputable brand is plenty — see battery types.
- A more powerful motor, until the driver has outgrown the current one. That takes longer than people expect.
- Tire additives and racing accessories, unless the car is actually being raced.
How we assessed this
From what genuinely changes how much a car gets used, rather than from what accessory shelves are full of. We do not test accessories first-hand — see our methodology page.