Hi, currently running a Futaba 3pv, I've been back racing for about a year. After settling in, I think I'm ready to upgrade my radio, so what are the best options at the moment?

I'm thinking about the Noble NB4+, so I'm looking around that price range. Being in the UK, most of my fellow racers are driving sticks, so there's not many I can ask to try. I have held an NB4, and it felt very good quality in the hand, at least.

If it makes a difference, we're racing 1/12th scale minis, (think fairly basic, short wheelbase pan cars, springs but no damping) so a small receiver would be an advantage.

A lot of people run the Futaba 4grs, which is an option, but I think I'd prefer to stay with a wheel. I think the 4pm is the wheel equivalent?

Anyway, thanks for reading, and thank you in advance for any and all advice offered.

Also, apologies to those who replied previously! I posted in the wrong area...

The 4GRS is internal the same as the 4PL. The 4PM is the follow up of the 4PM supporting the faster T-FHSS-SR mode and is now followed up by the 6PM which also had the new F-4G transmission mode. If you look around you probably can find a new or hardly used 7PX(R) for a midrange price which is the bigger brother of the 4PM.

Popular is the Sanwa MT44 which is now I believe followed up by the MT5.

And yes, getting more popular is the NB4 although I have seen some racers changing again after a year.

Flysky don't have proper distributor support in the UK so I would avoid for that reason. You see a few people racing with them but 95% are running Sanwa or Futaba.

Worth mentioning that a 3PV won't hold you back but the next level up feel a bit better in the hand and have a couple of extra features you might find useful.

Futaba 4PM Plus is current mid-range Futaba and would be a good upgrade from 3PV, you retain receiver compatibility as well. I run a 4PM Plus.

6PV is the new upper mid-range radio but isn't out yet, I would probably wait until it gets released to see what you think of the price, there's a good chance it will render the 10PX irrelevant.

Don't know much about the Sanwa range but they are popular and have proper UK support.

Crawler and basher will recommend the various cheap Chinese brands but don't listen to them.

Don't worry about the UK obsession with sticks. I find it very strange that new drivers get pushed onto sticks because the old guys use them. There is no genetic difference between British hands and the hands of the rest of the world. Sticks tie you down to a limited range of mostly-outdated radios. I used to race with sticks but switched to wheel recently and it is much more comfortable for me now that I have got used to it (and I'm nearly 50 years old so change doesn't come easy).

For a part you are right that many older guys still use sticks but it does not say a thing that it is outdated. Try to control an airplane, heli or a drone with a wheel transmitter....
There are plenty of younger guys to find who are using sticks. And I do not think the new Sanwa Excess based on the M17 as also the Futaba 7XC as the stick version of the 7PX not really outdated. Me as a stick user find it wrong people are forced to use wheel transmitters, for sure today there are no RTR cars to find with sticks.

At the end it is just what you are used to or what you do like the best.

Thanks both.

Sosidge, "nearly fifty" isn't just turned 54 like me!
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I wanted to try something different with my next mid-tier radio, so I went with a WFLY X9S. Not much support stateside, however I have found it to be quite the transmitter for less than 200 bucks.

Highly customizable, options for 9channel and 4 channel receivers, light in the hand. I've found it to be just as capable as the Nobles everyone is running around me.

Check to see if AliExpress has a warehouse in the UK, I use them to get all my FlySky parts, I think the NB4 is the best bang for the buck on the market today. I got mine for around $200:

One thing that you should not neglect is how the radio feels in your hand. Sanwa, Futaba and, from what I heard Flysky, all have good midrange radios, but the ergonomics and weight balance is different between each. Some radio will feel better in your hand and you should consider that.

Martin Paradis

Thanks all.

I still haven't plucked up courage to take the leap, but another option has presented itself after some reading...

What about if I change my 203 rx for one of the 304s? That should allow me to use T-FHSS from my 3pv?

Has anyone switched from S-FHSS to T-FHSS and noticed a difference with the same tx and car etc?

As before, grateful for all replies!

What are you expecting to gain from running a T-FHSS receiver?

The S-FHSS mode with "digital servo" setting is pretty fast, it is almost as fast as the HRS mode Futaba had decades ago.
With the T-FHSS you have a 3msec faster frame, if you run indoor 1/12 modified then yes, it can be noticeable, if you run offroad on a large outdoor track I do not think you will notice a lot.

We run 1/12th minis, 25.5t brushless, 2s lipo.

A couple of guys have upgraded radio gear recently and it appears they've made reasonable improvements? Could be Jedi mind tricks or coincidence...

I've tried both receiver types on a 3PV. I couldn't notice any difference other than having a model bound to a specific receiver which prevented car runaway when selecting the wrong model on the radio.

The radio will not make you faster. The pursuit of faster frame rates is an academic exercise, the modern Futaba equipment is very fast already and in a blind test you will not notice a difference.

Now a mid-range radio can feel nicer in the hand and give more tuning options. Often a change like that is enough to make someone go better, especially if they are not particularly experienced.

As I may have mentioned before I have 3PVs in my fleet and on the occasions I race with one I don't feel any less in control or have any loss of laptime.

Got a good deal on a Sanwa MT-5, used it for the first time last night. I need to go back through the results from last time we used this layout, but I was a good few places higher up the order. I went from my usual mid to front of the "c" final to second in the "b".

This was despite practice and first quali being rather "meh", and I was actually thinking, "what a waste of money!"

So thank you, anyone that read my ramblings, and especially those who replied.