There you go!

^this works for me... Do you offer Shortys in "Race Formula"?

This should work fine! The bottom line is that most of us are looking for a company like yours. When we find it, we stay and spread the word. It was the same way years ago when I was heavy into on-road, your packs and your company had a reputation of providing the best matched NiMh's on the market. And you had to because it was A LOT more noticeable back then. The differences in batteries back then was the REAL deal! Not to mention what some of us were doing with our CE chargers. We would spend hours testing packs and taking notes.

Once I got back into the hobby a month or so ago and saw Danny and SMC was still in the business, I was elated! I knew where I would be buying batteries from then on out, just like 11 years ago when I bought my first matched NiMh's.

Reading your posts that show you care and getting QUICK email responses says so much about SMC and you. Keep doing what you are. Being up front and showing you care will garner more business than just trying to make a few bucks like most of these companies out there.

On a side note, can't wait for my pack to get here. Should get to give them a good test this weekend.

Yes we offer a 4600-70C but the factory is having the same issue with all high end packs at this time so we need to see when the IR can get back to what we expect. Not an easy thing to make the very best cells.

I will post info here as it becomes available.

3Captain: Yes the good old sub-c days. I had perfected the art of matching but with Lipos it's so different as packs are matched and assembled by the factories. Also there is a big misconception that a Lipo is a Lipo. Seems that some just want to buy the cheapest possible packs which is fine but hope they don't expect these cheaper packs to be the same as more expensive ones. I do my best to purchase what I feel to be good lower end packs but maybe I expect to much from these packs that cost less. So this is why I ask if I should try and sort them but so far there seems to be no one on the same page so I will wait for more feedback.

I enjoy sharing info with customers and helping out I also want to offer what customers want to buy so this is why I ask for feedback.

I would pay more for a "hot pack". You already have a great price so what's another $10 or so.

Yes we will continue making sure the Race Formula packs are at the proper specs.

I guess for the regular packs at lower prices we may as well just not worry about all the details as in the end the packs are priced very low and offer a great bang for the buck.

Heck, the race packs are pretty fairly priced as well!

My next order will be with these guys! GREAT products and awesome customer service!

Yeah,I ran smc exclusively about a decade ago. Great company then and now.

+1, I remember back when the C Max packs came out, I think they were 50C? I was clearing the big triple that only a couple others could clear in stock class... I could do it almost every lap, was making some folks upset!

Why did I ever switch batteries????

I've seen the "cheaper" SMC packs in action first hand. I must say they work just fine and have plenty of punch. At this point I can't afford an expensive pack nor do I get to race frequently so I'm kind've forced to buy low end i.e. Hobbyking and Gens Ace, which are fine.

That being said my next battery purchase will be w/ SMC I've heard nary a negative word about them and at that price with some support, and plus being able to support an American-base company. I don't see how anyone could go wrong.

danny,

my take on this is for the factory spec batteries (your top of the line), i'm not going to cheap out for $5 and buy a pack that you say is inferior (lower IR). for $5 it's not worth it to me. if it were more like $10, i would be more apt to try a lesser pack. again, your full priced, top of the line batteries are still very reasonably priced. if you can't sell the lower IR ones for at least $10 less, i don't think they'll sell very well.

I won't speak for others, but here's what *I* want.

1. An honest company with a knowledgeable guy who gives a crap running the show. Seems like you got that handled.

2. Good performance for the dollar.

3. A durable product in which strange defects are not going to surface (realizing of course that a LOT of LiPO longevity depends on care and feeding).

4. Consistency over time. I want to know that if I like a particular battery that I can buy another one and legitimately expect similar performance to the trial unit. This is IMO hard for most companies, as they're not buying cells, doing QC, and assembling packs with the same attention to detail that you're bringing to bear.

5. Real data to support my decision making. Saying that race packs are 'punchier' than sport packs is ok so far as it goes, but graphs showing a battery's slew rate into a load/demand spike would go a long way towards explaining that. IMO there's far too little hard data in this hobby, which I find remarkable given its highly technical nature.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Really appreciated.

My goal is to offer a pack for every ones needs as not every one needs the pack that can win the Worlds finals. Henry is a perfect example as why we have decided to add cheaper packs to our line up as we want to tray and make an impact in that range of packs as well. We offer true connectors which is a great added value on cheaper packs. The red cheap bullet swivel type connector just adds resistance and limits the packs performance.

Porterdog: I think your post is amazing as this is what I have always tried to do. SMC became the worlds largest sub-c cell matcher and this was done by caring and doing a good job at cell matching. With Lipos this has been a challenge as we don't control the matching but I have spent allot of money educating myself about Lipos and feel I can be different than others.

Seems like we're able to do everything in your post and I have proven this by letting everyone know that we currently have higher IR Race Formula packs.

Your 5th point in your post is something of a work in progress for me. I can only do so much in a day but I do plan on posting allot of info on our different models just takes time to get it done. I can guarantee that the way we have our packs rated now that when you buy a 30C it will have a higher IR than a 40C then the 60C will have lower IR with 70C having the best IR. One big misconception I see is that many don't understand the impact of mAh verus the voltage curve. So a 70C-5600 will not be better than our 6500-60C. In fact the 6500 should have a better curve due to higher mAh.

So if I gather this correctly, this is the affect of using larger capacity lipos?

"The higher the voltage at the end of the run, the better... as that dictates the relationship between the top speed of the car at the end of the run, to be closer to that of the speed of the car at the beginning of the run."

(or) For all intensive purposes, the lipo cutoff voltage remains the same. The longer a lipo can sustain higher voltage provided through higher capacity, the more remaining voltage it will have at the end of the same timed run.

(or) As capacity decreases, so does the voltage. Starting with a higher capacity, will leave you with higher voltage at the end of the same timed run.

This would be most easily observed in 4x4 sct where the most strain is put on the least number of cells. Which is even more profound at tracks where they are running longer heats and mains than the typical 6 minute runs.

blah blah blah, Danny, am I correct here?

Yes you are correct assuming that the higher mAh pack is made with lower IR cells.

Lower IR means better voltage under load.

A low IR 5500 will have a better curve than a higher IR 6500 for the first part of the curve eventually the higher mAh will catch up and beat the 5600. One thing we worked closely with the factory is to try and focus on upfront voltage as most types of racing use a low amount of mAh.