oeoeo327

iTrader: (75)

Big difference here is servo speed - the more expensive servo is almost twice as fast. You might not realize that there's a difference, until you start using servos with faster transit times.

My experience with electronics mimics those that have offered their opinions on this topic. Buy the proven name-brand equipment once, or buy the cheaper alternative over and over. Case in point - I have an old Futaba servo that lasted for 8 years prior to being used in 2 24 hour endurance events. The servo still works.

fredswain

iTrader: (1)

As far as transmitters/receivers go I've got 2 systems. One is the Airtronics MX-Sport and the other is the Flysky GT3B. The Airtronics is around $100 and new receivers are around $50. The GT3B is about $35 and new receivers are $7. What's the practical difference aside from money?

That's a good question. I personally like the feel of the Airtronics a bit better but that is subjective and I've driven the GT3B so much that I'm used to it too. The trim settings on the Airtronics are much finer than the GT3B so each click on the trim moves things a smaller amount. This may or may not be a problem. Some people hack and modify their GT3B's to alter this but I don't see the point and have never needed it. Mine works just fine the way it is.

I have 6 buggies right now. All off road 2wd 1/10 scale. I have 1 Airtronics receiver and 5 Flysky. The preference in feel between the 2 just isn't enough for me to justify spending $40+ more each for a receiver to use it. I love my Airtronics but quite frankly if I could go back in time and do it all again I'd only have the Flysky. Both are made in China btw.

In regards to servos I'm using 2 kinds. I have a Savox 1251mg that I bought due to it's low profile size. It is around $60 or so. I also have 5 Tower hobbies servos which are larger but cost $15 each. I have swapped back and forth between them and honestly I can't feel any difference in performance in my application. Neither has any noticeable advantage to the other in terms of speed or centering ability. Even if the Tower servo were to somehow go out, they are 1/4 the price. I've got servos from the 80's that still work. Keep a good Kimbrough servo saver on them and don't worry abut them. Servos are quite reliable.

I am running a Hobbywing XE-Run 60a ESC. For $60 it has been great. Fully tunable. My only problem with it is the lousy fan it comes with. Fortunately a quick trip to the local electronics supply store for a new fan and a couple of dollars later and the problem is gone. I have had no issues with it at all. It's a bit large compared to some of the others but the fan takes up much of that space. I'd buy one again. My friend Chad has had 2 Novak's go out in the time I've had mine. I'm not saying that Novaks are all bad but be careful of the you get what you pay for mantra. Sometimes it's true. Other times it isn't.

I have a Hobbyking brand 8.5T motor that I am currently running. It is sensored and is only $35. Is it as fast as a Trinity or a Novak or a Revtech? I don't know. What I do know is that it was a third the price and can already flip the car over backwards due to the power so that comparison is meaningless to me. I will admit that my next motor will probably be a Revtech though.

I bought the Airtronics before I bought anything else since I knew the name from way back and I knew it would be a good piece. I bought the rest since I figured it was cheap and I may as well learn firsthand if it is good or not. So far I have been pleasantly surprised and happy. I've seen people spend lots more on big name brands and ended up having all sorts of issues. Keep in mind that most of my buggies are vintage so the point wasn't race quality but rather cheaply getting them up to date. I've found that I can't tell a difference between my better parts and my cheaper ones though.

Reading reviews really helps. Understand that every product has someone that doesn't like it who has had bad luck. It's the products that have these comments that never have anything good to say about them that you need to stay away from.

HarryLeach

You get what you pay for.

The FlySky transmitter is not FCC approved, and many tracks are banning them because they knock FCC approved transmitters out. Not hear to debate, there's plenty of accounts, tests and proof out there for anyone willing to look for it.

If you're bashing, it's a feature rich, cheap radio. If you're racing, you may not be the most popular guy on the stand if your competitors start having issues and they figure out that it's only happening when your radio is turned on.

ESCs: Go name brand, if for no other reason than proven customer support. Electronics fail for a variety of reasons, might as well make that eventuality as painless on yourself as you can manage.

Servos: I purchase by specs and reputation, not price. Again, I'd rather have a chance that my servo will be replaced than to have to take the attitude of "it was only $40", and try my luck with another.

Batteries: I purchase by reputation and price. I haven't seen definitive proof that a $160 battery outperforms an $80 battery, so I don't buy them. There might be a difference on the track, but it's also likely I'm not good enough to notice.

fredswain

iTrader: (1)

It's not Flysky's fault that Spektrum sucks so bad since it seems it's always they are the ones that have the problems! I know far too many people that have range/glitch issues with them. I haven't had any with Flysky or my Airtronics. Even though the Airtronics MX-Sport is a lower line piece (that works awesome) yet is 3X the price of the Flysky, it's still cheaper than the DX2S Spektrum. No thanks. You guys can keep that expensive crap. I'm not will to pay MORE for problems! Fortunately none of the tracks here care about what the FCC thinks which is about how much I care too.

DesertRat

iTrader: (2)

Here's my philosophy: If you are just starting out or have a for-fun vehicle you want to get going again, go for the cheap stuff. If gets people into the hobby and hooked. That being said, cheap stuff is cheap for a reason, and I've never regretted buying good electronics.

Xpress

iTrader: (3)

Seems like kind of an odd statement considering your signature?

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten."

RCTWENTY8

+ 1

huskerwr38

Thanks for the input everyone. I know not to skimp on the motors and ESC, so I've decided to go with a $89 Reedy Sonic 21.5, $99 Novak GTB 2 Racing ESC, the cheaper Turnigy 6000mah 2s 7.4V battery $40, FlySky TX/RX $40, and the $60 Savox SC-1251MG servo.

I realized after reading some of your guys' post that cheaper servo that I spec'd earlier wasn't really similar in terms of speed. So I decided to go with the speedier one as I can't find a low profile servo similar to the Savox one.

So I'm saving about $200 bucks by getting a cheaper TX/RX and battery.

Thanks again.

DesertRat

iTrader: (2)

Oh God, somebody get me a bumper sticker writing machine!!! *APPLAUSE*

1101

you cant compare 'race spec' car parts with generic budget plane parts

compare budget car electronics with budget plane electronics & prices arnt too far apart, however hardcase lipos will cost a bit more
Lost of guys using Turnigy hardcase nano's in their cars

But you get what youpay for arguement just doesnt stack up. The fact is we are being raped pricewise for the big brands
- Hobbywing systems: rubbished as cheap crap when they came out, have proven to be very reliable at 1/2 the price
- xerun: rubbished when they came out. Have proven to be a WINNING esc, at up to 1/3 the price.
- Flysky: rubbished when they came out. Have proven to be a excellent BUDGET(not race) system, very good for those on a tight budget

these 'cheap & nasty' electronics are somehow 'good' when well known brands put their sticker on em & sell em rebranded for 50% more.
Theres alot of RC snobbery by those buying the big buck gear
Cheap does not allways mean nasty

1101

+1
I had issue with flysky gitching my Spektrum. ONLY spektrum seems to be affected.
I sold my Spektrum & got a Airtronic(Sanwa), now zero issues
More local guys ditch Spektrum than all other TX brands combined, soley because of radio issues. Lets not even mention ongoing issues with plastic switches/roller wheels breaking

**Spektrum for cars is 1st/2nd Generation RC 2.4.
Spektrum abandoned this old DSM(v1) in the plane stuff,& have phased out air DSM2 TX's so why flog it off to RC car racers

Where is DSMx for RC cars ?? why must car spectrum buyers be fobbed off with old tech. Even the cheap buget FRSky is a better system.

M3Armand

Husker, you've encountered the "law of diminishing returns"...

Last year, I got back into this hobby "for real" after being on hiatus for a long time. I bought the Hot Bodies TCX for $450 vs the Associated TC6 for $350ish at that time. Granted, I love the purple color of the TCX. But when I ran my TCX vs my 15 year old HPI RS4 Pro, guess what? I get the same exact lap times. They do drive differently and I had to set them up differently. But I was very surprised to have the same exact lap times. Although I "rarely hit any walls" (maybe 2 hits per 8 minutes), I would like to believe that professional drivers can extract a lot more performance from the TCX than my RS4 Pro. But at my skill level, I can't take advantage of it.

Since I used to race, I insisted on buying the best batteries money could buy at the time. From my research, I bought the Thunderpower 45C for $100-ish and loved it... It was the first time I ran Lipos and couldn't believe how much better they were than...NiMH and yikes...NiCd's!!! I bought and happily ran Thunderpowers from that point. But then I wanted to buy more batteries. I went and tried the Turnigy for kicks and not even the $40 you mentioned. I tried the $20 30C 4000 mah and 40C 5000 mah models. Guess what? Running them back to back to back to back with Thunderpower packs, my lap times were exactly the same. So guess what batteries I buy now?

My friends laugh at me since I am still running my old 75 Mhz radios. But since everyone seems to be running 2.4 Ghz nowadays, I've had ZERO issues with interference! So why would I want to get a new radio?

But then my old servos finally broke. I ended up buying the most expensive Savox for my TCX. Would the other and cheaper servos worked fine? What do you think?

I'm thankful and lucky that at this point in my hobby (30 years) money is not an issue and I can afford to buy the most expensive of everything. But I think I've finally learned (after being told by the likes of Cliff Lett for those who can remember) that it's practice practice practice is what will make you go faster and, at my level, not the equipment. I would like to believe that if I were as good as Hara, Marc Rheinhard, etc. that I would be able to "wring out" more performance from better and more expensive equipment. But I'm just not there. And I don't think I'm ever or do I want to be there. Those folks show a LOT of dedication to their job. I'm doing this for fun. I have more fun now running in "practice sessions" with my friends more than ever.

So those are some thoughts from an old timer. Hope it helps. But more importantly, hope you keep having fun in your hobby.

trerc

iTrader: (89)

Lol, Thanks

btsai

Yup -- that'd be a major problem. And to be honest, one of the benefits (to me) of racing is the camaraderie. Having fun with your 'buds is where it's at.

HarryLeach

If ANY Brand 2.4GHz radio causes issues on ANY OTHER Brand 2.4GHz radio, it's not using the technology in the manner laid out by the FCC, or by industry standards.

End of story.