GTB good and bad experances
 

Hey All, Just seeing how evey one how owns a GTB has been doing with.

Let start by sayiing I really prefure Novak, I have always used them and don't see that changing. Their support is great Top notch.

I got my 1st one just before Xmas. Had to return it to the tecks at Novak. 10 days later got the 2nd one installed it and wanted to test it out, I turned it on and went to set it down then I smelt a burning smell and felt the heat sinks on the GTB and they where really really hot. To the point to where you could not touch it for long. Now I was not even able to run it at all.

Sent that one back and now I got my 3rd one and have not yet had a chance to test it, but if I dont have to work this sat I will running it.

man I hope 3 is the magic number. But I know if I have a issue with it I know that Novak will take care of it with no questoin asked.

clayton, is that you...... ;)

Guy at my track is on his third too, total of about 3 packs through all 3, the first one maybe 3 laps.

I had one, never had an issue, others have bad luck....

I, and several others have the 5.5 system(damn near built a whole race class with'em ;) ) So far so good, nothing but impressed with them. They for sure eat a charge quicker than the 19Ts we had been using, but they're much faster. My motor never got over 120 degrees, and the speedo was right around 100. That's after really beating on it for around 5 minutes. We just rebuilt the track, and the first official race is next Sunday. I'll be sure to report what we find.

There are 3 at my track, all going strong still after 3 months.

i run one in my T2.....tight fit though......no problems...... :cool:

I had for a few months and had to send it back due to a sensor problem. will have a new one by this weekend. It's a great system and I haven't yet had a brushed motor beat me.
whitelazer1 how hard is it to balance the GTB in the T2?, also what running weight is your car?

the balance is pretty good cause of the 3800 and battery strap that iam running.....iam not sure about weight of the car yet i will find that out this weekend at regionals..... :nod:

I'm running 3700's, the transponder and 10g's of weight on the battery side and the car still isn't right on the balancing tool. The car is almost 1600g.

The first time turning my GTB on the transistor failed inside. It never hit a track before frying. This was in December. They sent a new unit and so far no problems.

on my MI2 I shifted the battery about 3mm to the outside with a battery tray and now my car is perfectly balanced

I played a around a bit with weight and it is probably about 35 to 40 grams lighter on the battery side which I don't think will matter too much. What running weight is your car?
Thanks Drew.

Owned a ss5800... ran flawlessly...

Sold it to a friend and bought a GTB 5.5R...

That has been a dream straight out of the box. It did thermal on me a few times (on a 43degree Celcius day) and another couple of times on a humid 37deg C Day), but that was due to my incorrect and somewhat overzealous gearing.


Novak have also answered all of my e-mails promptly. Their CS is the best of any company i've ever dealt with.

Keep in mind that very few ppl actually take the time to write something good about their system. It's always when something stuffs up that we want to have a whine about it..

I've heard of various problems.. but my experience has been 100% so far!

I just want to make sure that every body knows that I not here to bad mouth Novak. I think they are the best. Just wanted to see what you have experanced with the new GTB. I know when this issue with the GTB is resolved it will be a bad ass ESC motor combo.

The best customer service is the one you never have to use.

I blew up 2 GTB's in 2 weekends, both before the car hit the track for that run. The first one lasted 2 minutes, the second lasted 3 heats and a few practice packs. Novak's Customer service was VERY good, they rushed me a new unit both times. But the frustration of not finishing a race day for shoddy equipment won out and I gave up on Novak again, and this time for good. I've had issues with the last 4 Novak products I've owned including one Cyclone TC that was sent in for service and the returned ESC had the EXACT same problem. I'll say again, the best customer service is the kind you don't have to use.

I now have a LRP Sphere (I prefer LRP because I have never had to use their customer service) and it is on it's 3rd race weekend and running strong. The 1* motor I got (the slowest Reedy Makes) is noticably slower than the 6.5 I had in the Novak. Another guy at the track has the 3* and it's a rocket. I'll probably grab the 3* or the new 4* here in a few weeks.

I was determined to get the brushless to work as it is VERY nice not to have to take the motor out of the car for any reason.

I hope you never have to use the LRP customer service...

The current LRP speedo probably won't suppurt the 4 star motor because it has a little more resistance than the GTB or the LRP competition that is coming out.

Switching between brushless and brushed is easier on the LRP though. The GTB setup for changing between the two can be a little confusing the first time. With the LRP you just wire up the brushed motor and go.

I've run the GTB in both brushed and brushless modes with no problems. The weight isn't turning out to be as much of a problem as I thaught it would be. Even in 12th scale.

All of the brushless drag brakes feel funny so I started programming in the drag brake on my radio. Just set a little drag brake with the trim and then adjust the amount of brake you want with the brake punch function.