<p>Affordable, full-featured dual charging with touchscreen convenience</p>

- Peter Vieira

Duratrax’s line of chargers is 10 strong, so there’s something for everyone— from the super-simple Onyx 110 for basic NiMH charging to the top-of the-line, multi-chemistry Onyx 260 tested here. The 260 shares its case and dual-charging capabilities with the Onyx 255, but instead of using physical buttons to click through menus and set values via a dot display, the 260 gets a 3.2-inch color touch screen. Leads and balancing boards are included to charge two packs simultaneously via Molex (aka Tamiya plugs) or Hobbico Star plugs (which can also be used with Deans and T-style plugs). That covers a lot of batteries, but I do wish Duratrax included a pair of Traxxas leads as well—or included them instead of the Molex leads. After all, anyone in the market for a charger as sophisticated as the Onyx 260 is probably using something other than Molex plugs. Also missing is LiHV charging capability, which is a non issue if you don’t have the new higher-voltage packs. As for all the other batteries used in RC cars, trucks, boats, and transmitters, the Onyx 260 is ready to get them juiced up.

USING THE ONYX 260

I found it easy to jump right into using the charger before cracking open the instructions, although I did read the manual to make sure that I didn’t miss any features. The supplied power cable is a full 6 feet long, so you’ll have no problem putting the 260 wherever you want it, and setting up the charger is a simple matter of plugging in the balance boards and charge leads.

To program the

This story is from the August 2017 edition of Radio Control Car Action.

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