I have used a variety of ESCs from Tekin, Viper, Hobbywing, Castle, Speed Passion, Novak, etc. same with the motors in both 1/8 and 1/10 classes.

For the topic being discussed, my opinion is based on my experiences just like others, so bear that in mind.

I have had a Tekin ESC fail on me, an RX8 Gen 1 that after a jump just died. Tekin replaced it no prob. Few other Tekins I used I had no issues but know people who did, pretty much like other brands. But customer service was always good.

For Hobbywing, I have had one esc pop on me. the V3.1 SS died 3 laps in on its maiden voyage. Bought it new so no worries, I do the RMA stuff and send it in.

Well, I find out after that HW has a policy that you pay to ship it to them, and then to ship it back to yourself. It wasn't something I could easily find on there usa sight, it was on the chinese one and the hobbywing support person was not helpful in finding it either.

Next, they tell you in the RMA two different types of instructions on how to do your return, one says send just the esc, other says send the esc and connectors (this section is "sectioned" off as the "official instructions") so I send the esc like that.

They later tell me that they won't send out the connectors, and come across as saying basically I don't know how to read even though the instructions say two different things. They also made it sound like the damage was my fault, or at least, they prepped themselves for any other issues like that by replacing the unit but not being willing to cover another faulty one for that reason. Now, mind you, I spoke with someone in the industry on general ESC failure issues and what I experienced is exactly what he would have expected to occur if there was a problem with the ESC, 3 laps, and bam, dead. On top of that, talking to another driver at the track he had been hearing that a variety of people he knows had the same issue with the particular model of esc, like a bad batch or something.

So after all that, to be honest I was looking strongly into changing over all my gear to hobbywing as to be fair the performance of the gear is great, and in general has been quite reliable. But to me to buy something new, I expect your customer service to be there, as if its not, why would I buy new in the first place?

So for the treatment I got and the cost of a $6 connector set, they lost out on about $500 or so of ESC and motor purchases.

Does this mean their gear is not good, nope. I have 2 of the 1/10 escs powering vehicles right now, and there HW 3656SD "545" sized motor is probably one of the best out there for 1/10 4wd SCT racing. However, I can't really honestly say buy the gear new if customer service matters to you based on my experiences. Just the nature of things. used however, yeah, i'd be open to it for sure.

Right now, I am waiting to see what maclan does here going forward. My past experiences with them as "Viper" were really good, so curious what they have coming next.

Lastly, one thing to also consider is if a company feels they are the best, they really should back their product with the best warranty. I would think that a company who feels there stuff is that good should be more confident in their stuff than say 90 or 120 days, but thats just my hang up.