The default out of the box is auto-lipo (3.0v/cell) - all Castle's escs come this way.

The cutoff has 6 options and it wouldn't surprise me if you've got it on one of the others. Unless you got a Sidewinder thats been on the shelf a long time, the firmware on it should be late enough that its past the ver that had some cogging.

There will be no ques with the Link. I was using Quark escs and didn't care for the beep business either. When I got my 1st Castle esc, I ordered it with the link - one of the big reasons I switched!