In my ongoing quest to get back into the swing of things with product reviews, I've posted a new review of the Venom Aircorps Night Ranger 3D micro electric heli. And yes, I know it's not an RC car and it's not ROAR-legal for racing, but hey, if you have never tried to fly an RC heli before you owe it to yourself to give it a whirl (no pun intended).

There will actually be some more reviews to come in the next few weeks, including a slick Robitronics speed control and the new Trinity CO27 stock motor. Announcements will be posted here as soon as they are up, so stay tuned!

I didn't make an announcement last week since I was so busy, but we just passed the four year anniversary of the launch of R/C Tech. As always, I want to thank everybody for frequenting the site and making its continued success possible! I have recently decided to take some time off from my day job to work more on developing additional content and features on the site, so hopefully you'll all be benefiting from that in the near future.

In other news, the folks at Racers Edge have been kind enough to offer a limited-time discount to their web store for R/C Tech members! For all the details, check out the Racers Edge R/C Tech Discount thread in the forums. Enjoy!

We have (finally) announced the winner of our April member raffle, and we happily congratule c1 racin who will receive a $50 Gift Certificate to the Racers Edge E-Store. You can read more about the recently-ended contest here.

If you didn't win, all is not lost, as there is a new raffle underway for June! That's right, the folks at All Star Hobbies have donated a $50 Gift Certificate to their store, to be given away at the end of June. The best part is, entering is extremely easy! As long as you are a member of the R/C Tech forums, visit this thread, make a post, and you're in the drawing.

This weekend, we are live from the 2005 Reedy Race of Champions at the Tamiya USA track in Aliso Viejo, CA. The Reedy Race is one of the premiere on-road races in the world, featuring a who's who of drivers and some of most intense competition anywhere. For race updates and discussion, check out the 2005 Reedy Race thread in our forums.

Also, we recently (finally!) upgraded our forum software to vBulletin 3. If you haven't been to the forums for awhile, be sure to check out some of the new features, including in-thread searching, a WYSIWYG message editor, and multiple attachments in each post. Enjoy!

With the forum upgrade still in progress, we have a couple of new reviews for you to take a look at in the interim. First up is the Nimble Motorsports TwoLane Procharger, the first product from a brand-new company that can charge two battery packs simultaneously while running on its own internal power supply.

Also on the block is the new APS 3-in-1 Dyno Charge, a new charger that doubles as a full-featured electric motor break-in station, selling for a lot less than you might expect.

Stay tuned for the upcoming debut of a new feature here at R/C Tech, the bi-weekly Product Watch, in which we will put the spotlight on some of the best new gear on the market. Oh, and the forums will be done soon... I swear!

As the year winds down, I'd like to take a moment to extend warm holiday wishes to everybody who visits R/C Tech. 'Tis the season, as they say, and I hope you all get the chance to enjoy time with your friends and family.

And if you believe in miracles, I have one for you: I've once again begun work on the site! Imagine that! Squeezing time in to update things has been nearly impossible as of late, but I am trying to force myself to make it happen (hence the 1AM update, I suppose).

I'm happy to report that the first few updates have already happened, the most notable of which is a review of the DuraTrax ICE, which also sees an update to our review format here on R/C Tech. The "new" look is actually old, though, since I did the design on it about a year ago and then never had a chance to actually post a review! I will probably change a few more aspects soon, but I hope to have more product reviews and spotlights in the coming months.

I know that race coverage has been lacking as well, and you can expect that to change very soon. I'll be attending the 2005 Novak US Touring Car Championships at Trackside Hobbies in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in just over two weeks, so be sure to check back then.

Happy Holidays!