Just be warned that the cheap brushless ESC may not prove to be durable.

To keep within your budget, you could try a brushed set-up? Controlling a brushless motor is actually quite complicated, which is why good ESCs are expensive. You can get a Tekin brushed motor + ESC for around your budget, and it'll run great and be much more reliable than a cheap brushless, in my opinion.



I just picked up a lightly used stadium truck with trackstar ESC and servo--the servo works fine, although it is a little weak, but the ESC died almost immediately.

So far I'm 100% for cheap brushless ESCs failing. You'll probably get a season's use out of it, maybe more? Just keep in mind that the cheap one is far more likely to fail than a higher quality one.

I replaced my junk trackstar with a lightly used tekin RSX, because I know it will last. It will last in this truck, the next truck, and the truck after that. And as a bonus, I get all kinds of great tuning options!