Jono the 9550 servos are a great little servo I've been useing one for over 12 months now with no probs. Most hobby shops will retail these for about the $200 and over. You can buy these over seas for about $160 to your door. I've found you can use these servos in the steering as well as the thottle up to about a 1/10 235mm car anything bigger I would suggest useing something with a bit more torque.

I've noticed no one has suggested the JR fet servos like the 8143-44 This servo I find is much better than the KO 2143fet. It is a Quicker servo and has the same torque as the 2143 and feels alot smoother to operate than the KO variety.

I ended up getting the KO PDS 2143 FET servo from HK... it cost me 148AUD delivered to my door gotta love EMS got here in 3 days! this servo rocks i cant believe how fast it is!

Love EMS .. I have a PS-2173 FET, its analog (0.09 S), where the PS-2143 FET is digital (0.08 S) but same torque.

Yeah they are fast hey, I had (HAD - It died) a Hitec ultra torque 645MG and it was very slow (0.24 S) . The Ko server is HEAPS faster and torque is rated only 1.41oz less

To be fair though, I paid $85 for the hitec (hmm though some aussie shops have them at like $120 +/- ), The Ko cost me around $155 I think.

I expect the KO to last longer then 30 hours of use though unlike the hitec.

stoked i didnt get a hitec servo... they seem to fail alot! KO kick arse... my Ex-1 mars radio is so sick and this servo is awesome... i havent had a chance to drive my car with it in it. my 1/10 tc should steer like a champion now

I'll second that. The last servo I bought was an Airtronics 94157 - 5 years ago. It's been used and abused in on and off road cars without a problem ever since.

I know most guys crap on hi-tec, i agree totally BUT iv'e been running the HS925bb metal gear, and "touch wood" i've never had a problem with, it it's cheap @ $100 (In comparison to other high end servos) and also is very reliable as it was originally designed to be used with gyros on rc choppers which are quite fast (0.09sec @ 4.8v if my memory serves me correct)

FET field effect transistor.
more efficiant, faster switching speed.

i had a go of my car yesterday with the new servo and holy shit it kicks arse... steering is so much more precise... beats the shit out of the futaba s3003 i was using before hahaha

Yup, sad thing is the S3003, a $24 servo felt more responsive then the $85 hitec in my buggy

I have a Ko server ATM, might get another for throttle when I save some more $$..

usually servos conk it (generally the throttle servo ) due to the user setting it up incorrectly.


any servo will eventually bust if loaded up enough. i can vouch for it, unfortunatly i've ruined a very good ko propo metal gear servo by setting it up incorectly on the throttle. luckily i bought it second hand and i didn't cost me a arm and a leg.

the 3003 futubas work well for a throttle servo.

Yeah, I am in two minds ATM...
Run cheap s3003's on throttle and let vibration kill them, or.. buy a KO and hope it lasts longer. I'll see how long the KO one in steering goes for, might end up cheaper to get a KO servo.

BTW - did you have the servo trying to hard to return engine to idle position?

i have an s3003 on the throttle.... if you adjust your end points wrong that will load up the servo and end up making it shit itself. i dunno if i do it right but i put the steering on full lock and turn the end point up until it doesnt move the steering any more and then back it off so its not trying to move something that cant be moved any further..... i hope my throttle servo doesnt shit itself cause then my car might go out of control :O

Belive or not, I was racing up and down a dirt driveway when I went to get off the throttle and no response, was locked on full throttle. Just at that moment (ie 1 second later, about the same time i realised the servo was not responding) my buggy did some massive cartwheels (road was rough and bumpy) and knocked the throttle back to idle Glad cause it landed on its wheels and wound of shot off for some serious damage.

Unlucky but lucky enough

that is so true... make sure you limit the throttle travel to around 60 or 70... if you set it to 100 but your carburator is fully opened at 70, then the difference of 30 is what your servos are coping and enduring everytime you go full throttle... this goes the same for brakes...

if it had of landed up side down it could have revved itself to death if it didnt get knocked back to idle.... runaways suck... i hate seeing peoples cars runaway!