Most people seem to think that running LIFE will give them a full 10% advantage in speed and torque. This is not true. A good NiMH pack when fully charged will be ~6,5 volts under load and will slowly go back to 6 volts. When it gets lower then 6 volts its as good as empty and will drop to 5 volts pretty quick and then collapse. A LIFE battery starts at 6.6 volts under load and will slowly go back to 6 volts aswell, under 6 volts its pretty much empty and will loose power quickly aswell. Only difference i can see with LIFE is that it will stay at round about 6.6 volts for longer so the average voltage will be higher over its discharge (but not very much).
Ofcourse its much lighter which is the biggest advantage of LIFE imo.

.13 or faster for throttle... IMO i would get the savox 1256TG for steering and 1258TG for throttle servos with LiFe pack is the best cheapest combo out... personally i wasnt a big fan of Savox but they are good for the price, thats for sure

not true... first off my LiFe starts at 6.8V or 6.9V (so my charger says) and then after a few tanks of practice, three 5 min quals with 2-3min warmups and a 30 min main, my LiFe pack still has 6.45V in it (checked with voltage meter).... the servos stay stronger and faster longer instead of a constant drop off like with NiMh... i believe life drops the speed by .01 and probably adds about 15oz/in of torque or more. LiPo does put out more, but ive seen to many of them swell up and burn and seen a few cars whole electronic system burn up due to LiPo...

On the flip side, futaba servos are good, just not good for the price. A servo doesn't have to cost over $100 to be good. :)

True, LIFE will stay at ~6.5-6.6 v longer but thats not my point. Im saying it doesn't boost performance by 10% compared to NIHM as NIMH will start at 6.5v and stays above 6v aswell untill empty... (measured under load)

Btw, the LIFE packs i have here start off at 6.6 volt - measured under load

For me LIFE in the first place is weight saving and secondly more consistent servo operation, not so much about extra performance.

Servos
 

The 7955 is the best steering servo even though it's a bit slower, it won't get messed up nearly as easily as other brands....

For the throttle I like the Futaba bls451 because it's really smooth and fast, and won't get damaged from vibration....

I'm thinking about the Hitec 7950 for ST and the 7954 for TH in a truggy. Has anyone used a 7954?

That is 100% exactly the setup I run and will continue to run...that BLS 451 is such a sweet servo for throttle !

The 7954 is basically the official "high voltage" version of the 7955. .15 transit/333oz torque at 6v, but at 7.4 the speed and torque go up about 20%.

Yup 7955 steering BLS throttle awesome setup many years never had one issue. Last month took some hard front hits on the steering bent two ALU horns one broke in half. Same servo running perfectly, center every time without issue. That's crazy will always run the 7955 period they are ROCK SOLID NO QUESTION.

Cool
 

Yeah, the 7955 is the monster give me all you got steering servo, and the bls451 is the smooth fast and precise throttle servo....

OK, well I bit the bullit and went with a Hitec 7940 HV servo for the throttle (.07 transit time with 180oz torque at 6volt/.06 and 220 at 7.4volt)and a Hitec 7950 HV for the steering (.15 transit time and 403oz torque at 6 volt/ .13 and 486 at 7.4)along with the Hitec programmer. Got 2 pairs of each, sure wasnt cheap. :lol:

Considering how strong these servos are and the assumption that they draw ALOT of current, I hope a 1300mah LiFe pack gives me decent run time. Im eventually going to grab a few 1700mah Reedy Life packs when they become available.

i personally use Savox SC-1258TG -throttle, very quick, very-good torq.
Savox SC-1256TG - steering, just a tad slower but a fair bit more torq.

i currently run a Savox SC-1256TG for steering and an ace ds1313 for throttle in my buggy. i used to use ds1313 for both steering and throttle(.13 @ 173oz). after using one for steering after 2 years, .13 started to seem to slow so i bought the Savox SC-1256TG and i love it.