Depending on what you are trying to do, there are a variety of motors that are sensorless that work well in a given application, probably more basher grade.

Its why when I had my savage 1/5 Flux I had to keep using a MMM esc instead of the vtx8 as the motor was as castle 1520. If the Viper VTX8 could have done it, it would have been in that vehicle too.

Outside of that, maybe a sensor wire failure during a run is what people are concerned with, or something sensor based that you can still finish the race with.

Reminds me kind of the argument of using steel versus graphite shock towers, on a hard hit, one will bend supposedly so you can keep running till the end, the other will just break.

nikos, can you elaborate as to why the VTX8 can't do sensorless? Is it something specific to a hardware feature that is preventing it from happening, or, is it something you can do via a firmware to turn it off?

Seems you can expand the VTX8 group by having that as an option. For 1/10 stuff I can see not needing it, but 1/8 sized and bigger group the sensorless setups are still popular.

Nikos2002- On average what is the normal power consumption rates when using the vf4 4500kv motor? I am expanding into 4wd sct and am trying to figure the lowest possible MAH batteries that I need in order to complete a 10 min run.

VTX8 is designed only to work in sensored mode. Its due to both hardware and software. Its why everyone who tries it compared to our main competition says our system is so much smoother - it works in sensored mode all the time. Other systems switch into sensorless mode and operate that why, even though they are "dual" mode.

A sensored system has a lot more positive reasons to run than negatives. Yes sensorless systems are popular in some areas, but mostly because people see others using it -- its a herd mentality. I see people using this, so I must use this. Sensored systems will cost more - so that also holds back some people back because after sending $500 on a chassis, they want to spend less somewhere.

There are a lot of variables into that question. Driving style, track, gearing, etc. It also is going to depend on the batteries. I could say 6000mah, but some packs may not have the quality of others. I have used 5200 packs and run for 10 minutes, but it may be the track or set up being used. I would look for the best pack in the price range you have to spend.

I know alot of variables fall into question. I am just looking for a general average 300-500 mah per min or something. I will be racing my sct410 this weekend for the 1st time and only have 5500MAH packs currently until i can order some new ones for the sct.

I ran a Tekno SCT410 in 2013 (albeit with a different ESC & motor) and was able to BARELY make a 7 minute main + warmup lap with a 4600mah pack after resetting the low voltage cutoff (upgraded to 7000mah after getting caught short a couple of times). A 5500mah should be a little bit better, but I would recommend a 6000mah to be safe.

I take about 3300 out of mine for a 7 minute race with a Hobbywing 4000kV motor and SMC 6500 packs. That amounts to about 471maH/race minute or 4710 mAh. That's on an outside medium grip medium sized track. On the indoor track I run on currently (high bite, small/medium size) I'm probably taking out a bit under 3000 over 5 minutes which will bump it up to 5800 mAh for your 10 minute race. These things really don't like running that long. Have you thought about asking your race direct to shorten it to 7 minutes?

wouldn't be a bad idea, heck even 6 might better in the long run.

You can do 10 minutes - but you have to be set up for it. On the same layout you would get faster lap times if you only had to run for 6 minutes or so.

micrors4guy -- like I said - I could recommend over 6000mah for a pack, but there isn't a set number, depends how hard you drive the throttle on your truck, per track layout. If you get a 7200mah pack will that be a safer choice - yes. It really is going to come down to what you can find in your price range that your comfortable with purchasing.

Thank you Nick, I guess I will keep an eye on what I am pulling from the packs this weekend and go from there.

I tend to like going as low as possible to keep weight down.

Sweet thanks! As for the why... Because the motor was super cheap on amain and i have a MMM2 sitting around. Not looking to shell out another $200+ for a new esc at the moment.

Also sorry one last question, can the VTX10R run sensorless? OR is it sensored only as well?

sensored only.

Ok cool, and I read somewhere that it doesnt do will with 4-pole motors, may have been 4 pole 550 motors. Has that been fixed? OR maybe never a problem?

Correct. No 4 pole motors.