I could be wrong about this but the latest versions of ESC are pretty much the same between the standard R and R black edition. Anyone else feel free to chime in here. I've always only owned the orange ESC's and have been very happy with them. They are tough, as smooth as anyone out there, and more adjustable than any ESC I have worked with. The support is awesome here as well with nikos and the Viper sponsored drivers normally chiming in here. When I have had problems (if you race enough you will have problems with ANY electronics) the customer support has been AWESOME!!

from the website it sounds like a stronger BEC, new capacitor, and focus more on 2S applications. Not sure what that last part means relative to the ESC being improved itself. Nikos can comment more on that.

Also, I seem to recall a discussion on if the BE was not waterproof but the originals were? don't recall what the final info on that was.

Nikos you have a pm.

The non black edition units can run 2 or 3s whilst the BE's are 2s only. I believe that the non BE units are filled with an epoxy type resin inside the speedo which meant that the units were waterproof but the BE units are not filled but with the casing being sealed (I think) the units are considered splash proof.

I have Viper VTX10R BE's in my Cougar KF and Cat K1 Aero ruining 8.5 and 6.5 Thunder Power motors on astro, and find they are very good. I have recently swapped from an Orion R10 Pro in my K1 which I found was too aggressive, even with the punch level set to 1 out of 10. Speaking to other guys at my track who run Orions all said that they have the punch levels set to 1 or 2 which to me says that they're punch settings aren't really working or worth tuning. I found in my Cat K1 that with a punch setting of 65% the car was still aggressive but by dropping this to 60% the car was easy to drive but still more than fast enough.

I have found the Viper units to be very good in off road and 1S on road, very smooth and tuneable with no issues as seen with plenty of others at my track. I'm still surprised that even in 4wd mod off road the speedo doesn't get hot without a fan. Very impressed.

The non black edition units can run 2 or 3s whilst the BE's are 2s only. I believe that the non BE units are filled with an epoxy type resin inside the speedo which meant that the units were waterproof but the BE units are not filled but with the casing being sealed (I think) the units are considered splash proof.

I have Viper VTX10R BE's in my Cougar KF and Cat K1 Aero ruining 8.5 and 6.5 Thunder Power motors on astro, and find they are very good. I have recently swapped from an Orion R10 Pro in my K1 which I found was too aggressive, even with the punch level set to 1 out of 10. Speaking to other guys at my track who run Orions all said that they have the punch levels set to 1 or 2 which to me says that they're punch settings aren't really working or worth tuning. I found in my Cat K1 with the Viper that with a punch setting of 65% the car was still aggressive but by dropping this to 60% the car was easy to drive but still more than fast enough.

I have found the Viper units to be very good in off road and 1S on road, very smooth and tuneable with no issues as seen with plenty of others at my track. I'm still surprised that even in 4wd mod off road the speedo doesn't get hot without a fan.

I'm very impressed and I think Timrod you will be too.

I run the BE in my 44.2 and it gets pretty hot. On that note, I've asked before but never got a response so I'll try again, but I see there there is a fan specific for the regular VTX10 and one for the VTX10R, but non listed for the BE. Which of the two is supposed to be used on the BE version?

i believe the fan kit can be used on any of the vtx10 line.

I think I'm going to get it but should I get the fan? I'll have it in a b44.3 with a 5.5 motor and I drive hard on the throttle.

The original fan unit we designed went with the original VTX10 and 10R orange units with the capacitor bank on top of the unit. With the current models using the capacitor mounted "pig tail" style, those don't fit exactly over the whole unit but they are close. All the new unit actually have a plug for the have on top of the capacitor mount, this will run the fan right off the battery voltage for maximum cooling.

We also sell a new line of 25mm, 30mm and 40mm high voltage fans.

You can run the VTX series 130*F, little more if needed -- without using a fan. It never hurts to have one but not required.

Last year at IFMAR Worlds, we were the only esc company not running a fan on the speed controls and we had 2 cars in the 4wd A Main.

Shouldn't be an issue - I would say to be mindful of a 5.5 in the 4wd buggy. Even the top pros normally stop at 6.5. Unless your track is really big and flowing.

Company puts out a press release - big news, we cut the price of our motors. They are still almost $20 more than our motors. That's a pair of tires, an extra day of practice at the track (maybe 2 - depending on track), a race entry, dinner, a movie - with popcorn..... maybe I am just overthinking this a bit....

Get a fan ! These things get hot in 4WD !

And the new viper fans are amazing, they move some serious air. Dropped 50 degrees on motor using 40mm...that's pretty extreme.

Somebody that is driving a VIPER in an Xray XB4 4WD? I would like to see how you guys set this esc up in an xb4 like Punc, Deadband,...

I run a vtx10be with viper 6.5 in my xb4. Deadband is a personal preference. I like mine to move as soon as i touch the trigger so i run it narrow. As for punch i run it at 50-60% depends how much traction there is.