Originally Posted by
dvaid852456
The brake gen problem was not fixed 8 months ago. The firmware update simply set the default to 80% rather than 100%. It may have altered other factors as well but the fact remains mine only refrained from bursting into flames because I never ran more than 60% brakes. The moment I set it back to 80 - boom, melted cap.
None of my melted caps were to do with the incorrect installation fault I checked them all before fitting.
Novak sent me a total of 2 new brain boards and as long as you don't try to update any settings via novalink they are better. However in Charlie's own words the brain board is in a "confused" state after it would not accept the timing RPM change. Now Turbo kicks in the moment full throttle is reached with no delay no matter what it is set to. In my mind that's not a fixed brainboard.
I have been in direct 1-1 contact with Charlie and he has been really helpful through out. Even now he is swapping my kinetic and Novalink for a Havoc and a motor. HOWEVER I want a flagship ESC to be just that, top of the line, as near to flawless as possible and worth every penny of the £250 price tag. I do not want a product that is and has been fundamentaly flawed since day 1.
I will hold judgement until the Havoc arrives but it simply does not have the amount of tuning as say the Speed Passion I have recently purchased has. When you say it has more tuning options than most products out there that simply isn't true. Tekin RS Pro, Speed Passion GT, Castle, Hobby Wing all have infinitely tunable settings via the PC. The Havoc, before the Kinetic disaster was not in the same league. Why now is it being pitched as the best thing since sliced bread? Oh yeah because Novaks Flag ship ESC is a lemon. Sorry it is just not on.
It may be the muts nuts but it is not what I want. If I bought a Porcshe GT3and it constantly kept braking down but the dealership were great and kept repairing it and replacing parts for over a year. I wouldn't be happy if they turned round and said you know what that car was always terrible and were are writing it off but here have this Porsche Boxter and a free metalic paint job to make up for it. I would want the car I paid for.
You only got 2 brain boards..... I was on number 5 before the ESC went back for an exchange to the Havoc. It is clear that there was something really wrong with their error checking in the Novalink software/Usb link. I know other manufacturers that have had similar issues but seem to have better computer engineers that were able to fix the problems rather rapidly. What really put me off is that Novak was the only ESC that could be damaged when updating with the battery plugged in. Every other ESC I own didn't matter, these include, KO, Tekin, Castle, and HW. I was so mad at the first event I took the ESC to, change the drive frequency and drag brake settings to get a better feel..... forgot to unplug battery, brain board corrupted so the brakes stopped working. It also affected the punch of the ESC. I would love to see them get it right. Maybe partner with say castle to get the computer link thing right. Anyway, I have a Cyclone TC from 1997, works great, has a program box, I am curious what happened to the Novak from back then. Although it should be pointed out too that, when others closed / went bankrupt "tekin", Novak was able to fill the gap.
As for the Havoc, it is quite nice. couple of things that are a pain, calibrating it to your radio resets it to the default settings. Counting the lights while easy is a little tedious when you are pressed for time.