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You are here: Home / Cars / Left Handed RC Transmitters

Left Handed RC Transmitters

September 24, 2018 by justin 11 Comments

My daughter is left handed and she also loves to drive R/C cars with dad and her brother. To make sure she has a good experience, she needs the appropriate tool – a proper left handed RC transmitter. I’ve seen several lefties use standard right-handed transmitters. They hold the grip in their right hand to work the trigger, and the steering wheel faces away, so they reach around the front to work the steering with their left hand.

My left-handed daughter instinctively did just this with a normal transmitter (Tx). Even at only 5 years old, her brain told her to steer with her dominant hand. While it works for many, it’s unfortunate. Left-handed transmitters are not widely available for people entering the hobby, so they try to make it work with a right-handed Tx. By the time they can afford a model that can be converted to left-handed, they’ve already gotten used to contorting themselves, so what should seem natural feels strange.

There are a few convertible left/right transmitters out there – some more affordable than others. Hopefully this list is a good place to start looking. If I’m missing anything that is widely available (even through eBay or other used markets), comment below. Let’s give lefties the experience they should have right from the start!

Available New

Recommending a $500 transmitter to someone starting in RC would be bonkers. However, if you are left handed and know you love RC – check out the Hitec Lynx 4S. It is an oft-overlooked transmitter that looks great and has great features including flexible wheel position and ultra-low latency (for almost half the cost of its competitors).

  • Ikonnik Et4Ds – $40
  • Radiopost TS401 – $100
  • Flysky FS-NB4 – $180
  • Hitec Lynx 4S – $250
  • Graupner 8-XN – $290
  • Spektrum DX6R – $400
  • Graupner 8-XE – $420
  • Sanwa/Airtronics M12 and M12S – $530

Available Used

Many of these radios were at the time “high-end” but are currently discontinued so they’re only available used, but for mid-range prices.

  • Arrma ATX-300
  • Graupner X-4S
  • Spektrum DX3R Pro
  • Spektrum DX4R Pro
  • Futaba 4PK
  • Futaba 4PX
  • (Older) Sanwa/Airtronics M11

The Ugly Truth

For my daughter I bought an Arrma ATX-300 off of eBay. They frequently show up there and you can usually get one with a receiver (Rx) for around $50. You will likely need to reserve judgement about it’s looks – it is quite possibly the ugliest radio ever made:

For $50 I can put it in my kids hands and not worry about it. Since it’s so ugly, I worry even less 🙂 The killer feature is you just hold a button on top to release the wheel angle, and you can flip the wheel all the way around to the other side.

So it doesn’t look great, but it works fantastic and it’s not huge and heavy. My 5 year-old can work it perfectly.

I myself have a Spektrum DX3R Pro – I made sure when I bought it second hand that it included all the parts to switch to left-handed mode. If my daughter ever gets serious, I’m ready and willing to pass the DX3R Pro down to her.

Update

Literally the day after I posted this RC Sparks Studio released a video of the new (set to release in October 2018) Flysky FS-NB4 “ambidextrous” surface radio. Looks interesting for sure!

Update 2: I got an NB-4 and it’s great – highly recommended.

Related

Filed Under: Cars, Electric Off-Road, Electric On-Road Tagged With: budget racing, Flysky, kids, left handed

Comments

  1. David Rector says

    July 9, 2021 at 11:28 PM

    Here’s the weird thing… in a manual transmission car in the USA, people tend to steer with their left hand and shift with their right. They also control the throttle with their right foot. In fact, most small airplanes have a panel-mounted throttle control knob that is on the right of the yoke and all pilots learn to fly with their left hand while controlling the throttle with their right hand. The typical RC transmitter is just all wrong in my opinion and my first instinct as a right-handed person who has driven manual transmission cars and also flown airplanes was to control the throttle with my right hand and steer with my left.

    Even when I’m in a car and holding a drink, the drink is in my right hand while I steer with the left.

    I too want to get one of these left-hander transmitters just to be a proper right-handed user wh steers a real car and a toy car with my left hand 🙂

    Reply
    • justin says

      July 10, 2021 at 10:08 PM

      Interesting idea! I’ve been steering RC cars with my right so long that it’s a brain-bender when I use my daughter’s truck in left hand mode. I like the challenge it presents

      Reply
    • Shawn says

      October 31, 2021 at 4:27 PM

      Do you guys remember X-Mods? The transmitters had the option to mount the steering wheel on either side. As David said, it felt much more natural for me to have the steering on the left. It wasn’t until I recently got a Traxxas that I realized how awkward it feels on the right.

      Reply
      • justin says

        November 1, 2021 at 8:59 AM

        XMODS! I had a friend who worked at Radio Shack and was into these. I don’t remember how the controller swapped over to the left, but I wish it was an option on today’s remotes.

        Reply
    • Michael says

      March 12, 2022 at 1:14 PM

      Well said. Meanwhile, it’s easy to mouse with your left hand: don’t change the buttons, as that just puts the most-used button back under the weakest finger.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Best First R/C Car for Kids - Meatball Racing says:
    October 8, 2018 at 10:05 AM

    […] Day respectively. Since my daughter is left-handed, I would occasionally swap out the radio for the left-handed Arrma ATX-300, put the ESC in “Training Mode” (50% speed) and let ‘er […]

    Reply
  2. R/C and VRC transmitter speed with VRC USB Giveaway! - Meatball Racing says:
    November 2, 2018 at 2:48 PM

    […] I wound up getting a used Spektrum DX3R Pro for a little more than $100 so I could have multiple model memory & settings plus 5.5ms response time. As a bonus it can switch to lefty mode if it gets bequeathed to my left-handed daughter. […]

    Reply
  3. LaTrax Wasteland Mashup - Meatball Racing says:
    May 20, 2019 at 10:10 AM

    […] After researching them, I found out they have a combined ESC & receiver which would not easily allow me to replace the transmitter & receiver for a left handed version. […]

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  4. How to Drive and RC Car? Driving tips and tricks for beginners and pros says:
    June 14, 2020 at 8:00 AM

    […] throttles are designed for right-handed drivers, but don't worry if you are left-handed – here are some options for you. So, the rule of thumb is to use all your right fingers to control the […]

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  5. Flysky Noble NB4 - A great left handed transmitter - Meatball Racing says:
    July 27, 2020 at 10:45 AM

    […] my left handed daughter wants to play VRC or drive my Slash, I just flip the wheel around and turn down the throttle. I can switch it back in an instant for […]

    Reply
  6. RCX Expo 2022 - Meatball Racing says:
    April 4, 2022 at 10:40 AM

    […] and consists of the screen and wheel, un-clips from the handle so it can be instantly reversed for left handed […]

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