50$ range servo category

[gkatz]

hi all

it seems to me like within the servo price ranges there are the cheap ones like spt, jx, other non branded which are in the 20+- USD range.

above that, for the most part thee is the middle range with a 90+- USD where you can get very reputable servos like some entry level savox

and above that for the premium I dont really know whats going on there.

TBH, I can afford the low range only but I have recently found a low-mid category to exist where you can find servos like the powerHD r12. compared to the SPT everyone loves you can see a big difference in speed with a naked eye.

are there other great servos in the 50USD range I should be aware of? any thoughts?

thanks

[BuggyDad]

The Savox 1252 was well recommended and I think is in that price bracket. I think mine is faster than my SPT ones (same claimed speed I think) and it certainly doesn't have a problem centreing. To be honest I'm not sure my sheap ones do either though, because there are other parts in the system could cause that. 

[gkatz]

20 minutes ago, BuggyDad said:

The Savox 1252 was well recommended and I think is in that price bracket. I think mine is faster than my SPT ones (same claimed speed I think) and it certainly doesn't have a problem centreing. To be honest I'm not sure my sheap ones do either though, because there are other parts in the system could cause that. 

i think its more in the 70USD which I dont want to spend... I need to put a limit somewhere...

also I have noticed the powerHD come with HV support (not sure I care about) but is powerHD legit? i dont have experience with it or know too much. I see it has a wide range and the r12 is a somewhat relatively cheap servo in their range

[Willy iine]

1251MG / 1252MG's are about $70-$75 these days.  I run them on my faster cars.

If your car can use standard size servo, I highly recommend @OoALEJOoO's recommended JX servo.  These are superb for the price at $14 range on Amazon.  I run these on cars that don't run the 1251/1252.   They have good torque, digital (accurate), and quite fast.

JX Servo PDI-5508MG 6kg Coreless Metal Gear Digital Servo.   I have like 8 of them in my various cars, all work great.

[Pylon80]

I have shopped a lot for servos and came to the same conclusions as you @gkatz. There are really cheap stuff and then it goes sky high.

My recommendations would depend on whether you need a low profile servo or not:

- Standard size: Hitec D645HW is a phenomenal value at 40$.

- Low profile: Power HD R12 is a good servo. It's not a big name brand but it's a low profile and for around 50$ something's got to give.

I have gotten rid of all the Savox in my fleet as I now believe there are much better options for the money without the noisy/crunchy gears and without the harsh and jittery operation and power demand. Glitch busters help some but it's still way behind what other brands can do. I truly don't understand their popularity.

[BuggyDad]

21 minutes ago, Pylon80 said:

I have shopped a lot for servos and came to the same conclusions as you @gkatz. There are really cheap stuff and then it goes sky high.

My recommendations would depend on whether you need a low profile servo or not:

- Standard size: Hitec D645HW is a phenomenal value at 40$.

- Low profile: Power HD R12 is a good servo. It's not a big name brand but it's a low profile and for around 50$ something's got to give.

I have gotten rid of all the Savox in my fleet as I now believe there are much better options for the money without the noisy/crunchy gears and without the harsh and jittery operation and power demand. Glitch busters help some but it's still way behind what other brands can do. I truly don't understand their popularity.

I'll bear the Power HD in mind next time then. Here in the UK looks like it is about the same or more money than Savox 1252 but I too get that constant buzz/jiggle on centre. D645 quite slow though at 0.2ish or do I have that wrong?

[alvinlwh]

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[alvinlwh]

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[Pylon80]

1 hour ago, BuggyDad said:

I'll bear the Power HD in mind next time then. Here in the UK looks like it is about the same or more money than Savox 1252 but I too get that constant buzz/jiggle on centre. D645 quite slow though at 0.2ish or do I have that wrong?

It is "slow" when you read the specs but I think that only really matter if a gyro needs to make large and fast and accurate steering inputs, like in modern drifting; or if you are at the absolute pinnacle of racing, maybe? In practice response time/smoothness/minimal play matter more than 'speed' as you shouldn't be going lock to lock during regular driving. But specs, real or inflated is how companies sell their products! All the cheap SPT stuff boast incredible speed specs 🙄

The 625 is supposed to be .15sec/60deg at the traditional 6v and faster the higher you go in voltage. I don't see a difference when driving compared to my expensive brushless servo specced at 0.10s/60deg although if I wiggle the sticks from lock to lock on the bench it is apparent that it is slower.

I'll report back when my 13$ SPT arrives although I have very low expectations 😅

[alvinlwh]

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[Pylon80]

28 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

SPT's 0.1s specs defiantly is faster than the Surpass 0.2s ones. As for is it really twice as fast, I have no way of measuring.

I'll be perfectly happy if it does even .15s/60deg, I just don't want it to fail, have to request a refund etc etc

[BuggyDad]

3 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

I'll be perfectly happy if it does even .15s/60deg, I just don't want it to fail, have to request a refund etc etc

I'm kind of the same. I want half decent reliability on anything but at that price it's not so much about the last bit of speed as just a confirmation that it's reasonably fast. 

[gkatz]

I am not a racer and probably will not feel the difference between fast and no so fast servos. But from an objective perspective, this the vid is mind-blowing. Seems like 2 different servo classes... A Bugatti vs Mazda

and both aren't even high priced servos

https://youtu.be/HJU25JaM8Sk?si=X1JwgXOnSOx6FXFc

[Jonathon Gillham]

I've tried loads of servos and generally stuff like the SPT4412LV is fantastic.

There is one outlier which performs so well it should be twice the price, the Savox 1258TG. It is properly fast, strong and also bulletproof. I've had loads which lasted years of abuse until a flood took them out. I suspect they are USD70 so outside of the OG posters range, but they are genuinely good. They are the one servo which I have gone out of my way to buy new

The one limitation is 6V, so if you have new esc with 7.4V BEC it could be a problem. Otherwise they are amazing

[Pylon80]

On 12/29/2023 at 11:53 AM, alvinlwh said:

SPT's 0.1s specs defiantly is faster than the Surpass 0.2s ones. As for is it really twice as fast, I have no way of measuring.

I received my SPT... And realized that I had actually ordered a 4412LV servo, not their 4418HV servo. Where I shop, the HV would have been over 40$ anyway so there's no regrets to be had (at that price I would have absolutely gone for a Power HD).

Just trying it on the bench, it's very smooth and much more quiet than a Savox, which is a relief. The speed is nowhere near the claimed 0.09. Hard to tell but it's about the same as my "slow" Hitec that's probably at 0.13 🤣 It's a bit sad to know that people trust these numbers and would not even consider branded servos that are almost certainly far superior products but have honest specs playing against them.

I will see how durable it is but I think it will be a great carefree servo for playing in the sand and grit. The blue color is quite nice too I must say!

[Sogogi]

Lots of people mentioned above.. but here are my go tos for under $40 category.

 

- jx 4409mg : low profile, metal gear, good speed around $15 on amazon. 
- hitec d625(for faster speed) or d645(higher torque). Both are $39.99 on many websites.

 

 

[BuggyDad]

Needing a other servo, it sounds from this thread like the PowerHD R12 is much better than the SPT4412 and at £35ish on AliExpress is 30% cheaper than the good but noisy Savox 1252. Although bought from UK shops the Power HD is more expensive than the Savox. My Savox drives really nicely but that constant jiggling is a bit irritating, so I'm tempted to try PowerHD next. I intend to add very few new cars per year so although I'm not going for premium gear I'm also not so driven to keep servos right down at SPT money. 

Do we think Power HD from AliExpress runs the significant risk of being a knock-off product, or should be the same as a UK bought one? I mean, there's always some risk of that with eg AliExpress, but is it that that would be bad luck (happy to gamble) or "stupid idea: don't touch with a barge pole" (wouldn't)? I'm generally cool with buying stuff from AliExpress and haven't had any issues but it's been £10-15 receivers and servos. 

[alvinlwh]

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[Kowalski86]

For name brand servos, I'm a fan of cheap Futabas (ideal for vintage Tamiyas), or if I want to be serious I run HiTec metal gear servos. Many of my vintage RCs have come with basic Futaba servos that still work.

Off-brand, I've had hood luck with a well used (pulled from s car that raced competitively) JX4409mg servo, they're a good pick for on-road cars.

The various "20kg" or "25kg" servos are fine and well water proofed, ideal for "bashers" that are going to go through puddles or off-road a lot. I shot one with a hose point blank and it still worked.

I'm not a fan of Savox myself, their "budget" servos, while providing better specs than Futabas, have poor centering and use an absurd amount of power.

Avoid buying used servos, especially used servos pulled from RTRs.

[Jonathon Gillham]

On 1/9/2024 at 1:56 AM, BuggyDad said:

Needing a other servo, it sounds from this thread like the PowerHD R12 is much better than the SPT4412 and at £35ish on AliExpress is 30% cheaper than the good but noisy Savox 1252. Although bought from UK shops the Power HD is more expensive than the Savox. My Savox drives really nicely but that constant jiggling is a bit irritating, so I'm tempted to try PowerHD next. I intend to add very few new cars per year so although I'm not going for premium gear I'm also not so driven to keep servos right down at SPT money. 

Do we think Power HD from AliExpress runs the significant risk of being a knock-off product, or should be the same as a UK bought one? I mean, there's always some risk of that with eg AliExpress, but is it that that would be bad luck (happy to gamble) or "stupid idea: don't touch with a barge pole" (wouldn't)? I'm generally cool with buying stuff from AliExpress and haven't had any issues but it's been £10-15 receivers and servos. 

I think that the PowerHD stuff from Aliexpress should be fine, the ones I would be wary of are when they have brands like Futaba which seems really out of place on that kind of platform.

[BuggyDad]

2 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

I think that the PowerHD stuff from Aliexpress should be fine, the ones I would be wary of are when they have brands like Futaba which seems really out of place on that kind of platform.

Ah thanks Jonathon. Have ordered. Yeah that makes sense. I can see Power HD in some shops but I guess much less of a target for counterfeiters. And also, to be fair, it doesn't feel like AliExpress is massively dodgy as such, just a direct method of buying cheaper and a bit more of a need for checking. 

[burakol]

How about an AGFRC servo? I use two for my drift cars. They are supposed to be the manufacturer for Yokomo, Rev-D and other branded stuff. Some of their servos are programmable as well. They do have a storefront from AliEx but also sells on Amazon. 

[markbt73]

On 1/8/2024 at 1:36 PM, Kowalski86 said:

For name brand servos, I'm a fan of cheap Futabas (ideal for vintage Tamiyas), or if I want to be serious I run HiTec metal gear servos. Many of my vintage RCs have come with basic Futaba servos that still work.

Same here. It's really hard to beat the basic S128/148/3003 Futaba servos for typical Tamiya cars. Ten or twelve bucks, fast enough, strong enough, and tough as nails. Just get real Futaba ones, and not the knockoffs.

[Pylon80]

On 1/7/2024 at 10:32 PM, Pylon80 said:

I received my SPT... And realized that I had actually ordered a 4412LV servo, not their 4418HV servo. Where I shop, the HV would have been over 40$ anyway so there's no regrets to be had (at that price I would have absolutely gone for a Power HD).

Just trying it on the bench, it's very smooth and much more quiet than a Savox, which is a relief. The speed is nowhere near the claimed 0.09. Hard to tell but it's about the same as my "slow" Hitec that's probably at 0.13 🤣 It's a bit sad to know that people trust these numbers and would not even consider branded servos that are almost certainly far superior products but have honest specs playing against them.

I will see how durable it is but I think it will be a great carefree servo for playing in the sand and grit. The blue color is quite nice too I must say!

Well, here's my feedback on the SPT 4412 folks...

Like everything else, especially with electronics, you get what you pay for. The SPT is a great choice for bashing or for kids or just fooling around doing donuts. But the centering, although fine on the bench with zero load is not up to par for me - I'm picky.

For context I did a straight swap from a Hitec 645MW, I'm using a solid horn, and the degradation in performance compared to the Hitec is just not ok.

So I'll donate that servo which will hopefully make someone happy for bashing around!

And I'll a Power HD R12 😐

[JRG00]

1 hour ago, Pylon80 said:

Well, here's my feedback on the SPT 4412 folks...

Like everything else, especially with electronics, you get what you pay for. The SPT is a great choice for bashing or for kids or just fooling around doing donuts. But the centering, although fine on the bench with zero load is not up to par for me - I'm picky.

For context I did a straight swap from a Hitec 645MW, I'm using a solid horn, and the degradation in performance compared to the Hitec is just not ok.

So I'll donate that servo which will hopefully make someone happy for bashing around!

And I'll a Power HD R12 😐

I noticed the same thing with the SPT4412LV, poor centering, even at no load on the bench after I tested it on my BBX.  But, I'm just bashing so hopefully I won't really notice it while driving.