I dont know, those sweet esc lights sure are pretty but like they say, chrome dont get you home so looks dont matter when it comes to performance.

Going back 25+ years, every damn Novak product I've ever purchased has fried on me. Most recently a brand new 13.5 motor that just randomly burnt up by the 5th or 6th run. And as has always been my experience with them, they offered to help… FOR A FEE!!!

No way in hell will I EVER buy another product from them. I have a bunch of other motors and ESC's that have all run beautifully without issues and I still have my original 411P Tekin on my old RC10 that still works just as perfect as the day I bought it.

I currently run Tekin RS Pro's and a Reventon R in my T4.1 and I couldn't be happier. My next ESC will likely be the Reventon Pro 1.1.

I have never had any issues with anything novak personally. But I have heard stories from others.

I have a good friend that runs a Speed Passion Reventon Pro, and swears by it, he used to be a Tekin guy.

I understand where you are coming from, I know they are renowned for that and ill felt the pain of that too. But I had my original GTB 2 burn up when it first came out and the one that replaced it is the ESC I still use to this day. not a single issue with it in over a year and a half. same thing will the motor, granted I got it in march but It runs exactly the same as the day i got it, no drop in performance and I run it almost everyday. and the thing is, even if my esc and motor combo were to fry up tomorrow, i would still replace it with another novak combo cause thats how great they are. lets pray that doesnt happen now

also, NEVER replace a motor wire on a Novak ESC unless you work for Novak lol everytime and i mean EVERYTIME, ive seen or heard of someone at the local track change the motor wires on the ESC, they burnt up within 10 minutes of running them with the new wires. common mistake people do with Novak esc's.

That should probably read something to the effect of 'never replace a wire on a novak esc unless you actually know how to solder, and have a quality iron.' I changed my wires out numerous times with multiple esc's and have not had any issues.

I tried the novak SC combo and after about 5-6 packs a I had to kick start the truck and it cost me being able run in the biggest SCT race of the year. They had very good support who said it was a common problem (bad timing board) and they would fix for free, however amain let me return it for store credit so i swapped for a MMP. I've run Tekin RX8 & RS Gen2 since then and have been happy with both, but can't compare to the other brands mentioned as I've not tried them. However I will say that you don't have to use a laptop to access most of the programming options as they are available via the two button blinky LED type interface as well.

Bravo to you sir! just wanted people to be aware that replacing them can raise your chances of frying them

That is correct, if you don't know what you are doing then don't do it. I have always replaced my wires on my esc's (LRP & Novak) and never had a problem...but i am very careful to not get anything to hot when doing so.

what gauge wires do you use when you replace them on a Novak? 12g?

I have been using 14g, i have my esc mounted on the avid tray and it gets tight with body fitment. 14g wire fits alot better than the large 12g that novak supplies.

well my GTB 2 has 14g wire stock I believe, could be wrong, i dont have it right now, and I like the size but I wanna cut them down to fit the esc shelf better but Im afraid to do that cause I dont wanna replace the wires. It looks goofy cause I have all the extra wire length tucked up above the trans. its not very clean. but practical lol also, not that anyone cares, but I make anodized 1/8" aluminum esc shelves that I sell if anyone is interested at all. I have them in all my cars, they dont flex like the carbon ones, easy to apply esc to them and look awesome. well enough of my own advertisement lol if you have a picture matt of your esc set up in your b4.2, I would be interested to see it.

I am cutting down my wires when I shelf my esc, the next car i am going to run comes with a shelf (serpent not tlr) so the length will remain the same, I wont cut them snug though I will leave a little slack.

Novak Pulse in B4.2. I used the Avid tray but did not use the avid standoffs as the esc heatsink is taller than others and hits the body.

Well that's a load of horse manure if ever I've read some. I burnt up a new 13.5 motor with my LRP Sphere ESC that was not modded in any way and was set only for Brake and Throttle. Nothing special. If their ESC's are that fragile and their Motors burn up for no apparent reason, it leads me to believe their quality is not very good across the board.

I've been soldering all sorts of things with my dad since I was 8 or 9 years old and I'm quite skilled at it. I use to do the modchips for the original Playstations and the PS2's and I've done Mod controllers for PS3 and Xbox as well as change controller boards on high-end hard drives when they've crapped out , I've replaced chips on motherboards and logic boards and I'd venture to say those are all much more sophisticated electronics that are considerably more sensitive to improper soldering methods and extreme temperatures.

I've soldered many ESC's and Motors over the years and I have yet to have anything outside of Novak fry up. On top of that Novak's customer service policies are among the worst in the industry which is perplexing because they claim to be one of the best and as such they should stand by their products. Instead, they offer to "try" and help so long as you throw money at the problem.

Thanks, but I'll stick with brands that my experience tells me are not only more durable, but also offer excellent customer support and stand by their customers.


As you can see, my work is meticulous and clean and the amount of solder is minimal, as it should be. No rookie hack jobs for me. In my experience, Novak just isn't as high quality as they claim and that's that.