Really Expensive Servos
 

I was curious why people spend $100+ for steering servos. I bought a $35 Futaba servo several years ago and it is still kicking.

Because Their Nice. Idk Why do people by 700$ cars?

But what is there to gain with a servo, they seem so basic, it either works or it doesn't

try puting your 35$$ servo in a truggy. it wont turn the tires. plus my 130$$ servo is fast and strong and it will last alot longer than a 35$$ servo

No, there's alot going on inside the servo, that you don't see...
Speed, torque, holding power, battery consumption, voltage capability... these are all factors that people look for.

Oh, and I wish I only paid $100 for the servo's I run.

oh sorry my servo is a 150 not 130. speed and strength is everything in a servo esp if your a racer... if you bash buy all the 35 $$ servos you want

here is what I have in my scrt10 its over kill in a 1/10 truck but I bought it for my truggy http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...-Digital-Servo

well il tell you the truth you dont, really need to spend over $100 for a good servo.

i mean im running a futaba coreless servo.. a diginal one on my throttle and a hitec 7054 sh diginal, servo for my steering on my truggy .

and they havent burned out on me or anything, and ive had them for a long time so to me you dont really time titanuim gears in the servo .


i forgot add the steering servo has 300 oz of torque at 6v.
and the speed is good.

for the faster transit times (speed) and more power (torque)

i personally can tell a HUGE difference in servo it will really change the enitre feel of a car if the servo is too slow. I run .10 or faster servos in all my cars.

I run a Spektrum S6040 servo which has 170oz and .08 speed which is plenty for my 8th buggy. They run about $75.

+1

6040 is a great speed servo and the 6030 is great torque servo

LOL if you hold onto the front tires and turn the wheel on the remote does the back of the truck swing around?

ae 1015 or 1313 is plenty for tenth and eigth scale, had mine for about 2 years now, u get what u pay for....btw theyre both under $100

:nod: For me perhaps the single best performance upgrade I've ever experienced. I wouldn't even consider anything less, much rather cut corners somewhere else.

Plus servos last a long time. I was using a 20 year old KO FET (in the external box) servo until recently in one of our cars, still worked great with no slop.

A picture of one, put back in an even older Losi.

I beg to differ. I bought a $12 servo and it turns my truggy tires just fine. And thats when its sitting on the ground not moving.

what do u run in ur 1/8 steering? I have a hitec 7955 and its .15 steering. Its pretty quick but I can def tell the difference from other guys's 1/10 buggies with .06 steering. Whats good torque for 1/8, I have heard 180oz and then 250 oz lol

If it works for you thats great, its cool there are a lot of affordable components that work quite well these days.

But in my experience steering while sitting is not the issue, but rather while hard in the corner under a lot of side load is one area where I have noticed the difference. That and just raw speed, the ability to react to slides and such.

May I ask which servo it is?

truggy i would say around, 200 oz to 300 oz of torque and the speed around at least .15

for a buggy 130 oz to 180 oz, for the steering and the speed around less than .15.

i would get the hitec 7954 sh, they do have a titatuim gear one also its around $97 to $105

i use the steel gear one on my , truggy for my steering and its good its coreless and its diginal.

Ive got alot of servos. for 1/8 steering i have used or am currently using the following ace 1015, jr9100s, Airtronics 94360 or 94361, Futaba BLS451, orion VDS1409.

i like the 9100s, and the airtronics the best.:nod: 0.06-0.07 is where its at.:nod:

as for power in a truggy 175-200 is plenty and in a buggy 125+... you really shouldnt need more power than that if your steering is nice and free with your endpoints set properly you will have no trouble from good quality servos.

Would it be worth it to sell my hitec and buy the 9100s? I know somebody who will give me $75 for my hitec... just dont know if its worth spending another $70 for the 9100. I like how fast it is on the ground, just dont know if its going to make a real difference?

the 7955 is a good servo i have one in my girlfriends truggy. i wouldnt spend the extra just to swap but if it dies or something id give the 9100s a try.

A 30 dollar servo lasted 15 minutes in my Hyper 10SC. Bought a high end Hitec and now never have to worry and it's already been to hell and back without breaking a sweat.

It always goes back to the old motto. You get what you pay for.

it seems that cheap servos fail pretty quick... just look at how fast people swap them out of RTR truggys.

7955, is what i use.. local racers told me to use them and i have never looked back

once you use a considerable fast and high torque servo, you will then wonder how you did without one for so long and why you didnt upgrade sooner.

Personally I use the older airtronics servos that are 0.07-0.08 in speed, if you can find them, as the latest ones dont seem to be as quick.

they newer ones also break easy.

I have a JR Z9100T servo in my truggy. It's rated for 370 in-oz at 6V (though I'm only running it on 5.75V) and wholly crap it's powerful! It feels like it's going to rip the wheels right off the hub. It's only rated at 0.15s, but I swear it's faster than that. In my wife's truggy, I have 200 in-oz at 6V servo rated around 0.17s I got for $25. It's a decent servo and has performed well under harsh conditions, but I think it's over-rated at 200 in-oz and you can definitely tell a HUGE difference in power and speed between that servo and the JR.
I would like to try some of the really high-end Hitec digital, HV coreless ones...those have insane torque ratings and speeds.

Quick question for those with Ace/AE servos...do they use a mix of plastic and metal gears internally (ds1015, 1013, 1313)?

Get the Hitec 7950 servos. They can run on 4.8V, 6.0 V, and 7.4V with monster torque and high speed. The only thing I don't like about these servos is the bolt they use for the servo horns, why don't they use standard 3mm bolts? Arrrggghhh!!! :flaming:

Hitec servos suck IMO. I had nothing but problems with them. I've seen nothing but problems with them. I have an Orion 1409 servo. Love it, there 85.00 also. Pretty cheap

x60Driver: That's sad to hear. I know Hitec servos had a lot of issues with their older models thus they were all phased out quickly and replaced with these new batch of servos. I'm currently using 3-7955TGs, 2-7990TG and 2 - 7950 servos with no issues to date (knock on wood :lol:). I use them for my 1/5 scale and 1/8 scale kits. For 1/10 scale kits, I stick with Futaba brushless servos. I'm a Futaba fanboy since I could remember. :nod:

What servos do the pros use? Is .15 too slow for them?

The answer is No. Most Pro 1/8 drivers do not use a super fast transit.

With KO and I believe HiTec you can program the speed on their digital servos.

I use the KO 2386 is normal as comes from KO (.15). My 2368's are programmed depending on the track conditions if I feel that Expo is not helping one way or another.

Pro's that have a radio sponsor can chose what ever servo they want. They do not chose to run $35, $85 or even $100 servos.

Most are running $150+ servos.

Why?

Speed, Torque, Tuning, and most of all Reliability. Nothing worse than having $5000 on the line and having a $100 servo fail (or other "cheap" part). :nod:

For the 10th scale SCT's we've been using Align DS610's for months with zero issues. They are titanium geared, coreless, digital, .08/166 and have a street price around $60. There's no finer servo in that price range. They're also Futaba splined so they drop into most vehicles without needing to change the servo horn.

:cool:

Tell ya what, I bought the 7950 and I am running it on a 2S Lipo and that servo is one of the better investments I have made. I had never run nitro, or 1/8th offroad, so given the serious amount of abuse I but it thru (I hit most everything twice the first few races out after taking 5 years off) and it just took it. A 486 oz servo w/ .13 sec in a truggy is much "faster" than the 200 oz .08-.1 servo with the load.

I can hold the truck in the air by one front wheel, turn the radio and the truck will go to full lock (till the servo saver gives) lol

Would you recommend this in a 1/8 e buggy or an ACE DS1313?

A high dollar servo wont make you faster. If your not used to a faster
servo dont buy it. I run servo's that have .15-.17 speed. they
work just fine for my needs. If I went to a faster servo Id have to learn
how to drive all over again because it will not drive the same.
I say if you like the $35 servo stick with it. I cant seem to spend
over $100 on a servo. But I know people that run $200 servo's in thier cars.
One thing is as long as the servo is digital your covered on steering in 1/10th.
Brushless servo's are used in high torque applications like truggies
and 1/8th.


Another thing I dont understand is why have a titanium geared servo??
I think it's pointless myself...
That's either for a really bad driver, or someone that has had bad luck
outa a regular metal geared servo. I have never stripped gears in
a metal geared servo and my servo's are a few years old....

I might need to look into one of those. Thanks!

Best brake/throttle servo period is the Hitec 965mg 144oz and .10 speed for 70 or less! Being analog and having the same if not faster response than a digital you don't have to worry about it burning up w/ end point issues... you just can't go wrong w/ it.

Best 1/8 buggy or 1/10 steering servo expecially for the price is the hitec hs-985mg this bad boy is 172oz with a .13 response and also can be had for 70 or less. These last YEARS w/o issues even in race environments.

My favorite Truggy servo is still the JR DS8711, 403oz torque and .15 response, she is a beast for $130 or less. There are some other newer HV servo's etc but for my e-truggy and e-buggy these are outstanding.

I have never stripped a gear with my titanium servo either :D

I wouldn't recommend the DS610 for steering anything so heavy as a 1/8 buggy.
It'd do it but I don't know how long it would hold up to the abuse.

Titanium gears aren't a pre-requisite when servo shopping, merely icing on the performance cake.

So what would yall recommend for a 1/8 e buggy out of these options
Ace R/C DS1313
Hitec HS-985MG
Hitec HS-7965(my LHS has this for about $75)