Futaba steering servo upgrade?

[ADRay1000]

After having destroyed a couple of the standard Futaba steering servos that were in service for 3 years or so, I’m considering an upgrade to a metal geared unit. I try to keep my rc hobby on a “beer money” budget, and wondering if 3 times the price is worth it. Curious about peoples experience with both. To be used in ORVs for yard driving. 
 

and, if I can shake my cane and rant a little, I never had a steering servo die on me in all the years I beat my lunchbox around the yard, or raced my M03. Did the old units I had in the 80s and 90s that were considered standard have metal gears?

[Rinskie]

The Hitec 625's are worth twice the price. I use them in all of my cars now. 

https://www.amainhobbies.com/hitec-d625mw-high-speed-metal-gear-servo-high-voltage-hrc36625/p469126

 

[Twinfan]

I use a variety of cheaper servos, and it's the more expensive ones that I've had die on me - digital and/or metal geared. The cheap as chips Carson in my heavily used and bashed Lunch Box has been great! 

My guess is that consistency isn't that good these days, so while the units themselves are "better" in some ways, they're more variable in quality. 

My current go-to are JX low profile servos that I get from eBay for around £15 each for the fancier cars I have, or basic Etronix standard plastic gear servos for basic Tamiya kits.

[Frog Jumper]

I bought a few Power Hobby servos from my LHS.  Inexpensive clones of some chinese brand.  But they’ve worked well and have held up over the last couple of years.

[Pylon80]

2 hours ago, Rinskie said:

The Hitec 625's are worth twice the price. I use them in all of my cars now. 

https://www.amainhobbies.com/hitec-d625mw-high-speed-metal-gear-servo-high-voltage-hrc36625/p469126

 

Good servo and near indestructible. A nice go to choice for those of us who still value branded equipment (due to ethical reasons or other).

However for the same price (45 bucks) you can now get a Power HD R12S which is in another league altogether (low profile and twice as fast, for real).

Anyways these threads inevitably result in a barrage of recommendations for alphabet soup junk servos from Bangood 🙄 The cheap stuff always boasts imaginary specs of speed and torque but won't even center.

[Guest]

I have ebay specials on my Tamiya's, they cost me around £10. I haven't broken one yet they are strong to enough to withstand the punishment my Gorgon takes on a daily basis. 

[No Slack]

At the moment I replace all my servos in on-road cars for Power HD servos (metal gears) bought from my local hobby shop. No complaints.

[Wooders28]

Servos have become more a decision in themsleves these days, with Amazon & eBay specials offering speeds of light and enough torque to lift a politicians wallet, for the cost of a chippy tea, neglecting the fact that an ESC needs the BEC Amps to drive the things!!! 

These are my goto for anything other than race cars (where I go Savox, but coupled with an esc to drive them), think I've a dozen in various cars and they've not only been faultless, but not massively slower than the Savox (a problem I have is getting used to the steering speed, then crashing my race car on every corner, as I turn in too early..) 

 

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/core-rc-9016mg-servo-9kg-16-sec-388927 

 

[MadAnt]

10 hours ago, ADRay1000 said:

if 3 times the price is worth it. Curious about peoples experience with both. To be used in ORVs for yard driving. 

Standard Futaba servo is around 13 or so bucks now. For an ORV chassis buggy or truck you can get something good in the $20 usd range. I've bought a few of the Rage high torque metal gear servos, they work pretty good for the light trucks. Even the Hexfly metal gear servos from Redcat seem to be good value. If all you need is metal gears and maybe 110 oz-in of torque spending 45-50-60 dollars on a servo is a waste for the casual runner.

[Big Jon]

I’m a bit of a servo snob, mainly because all of the cheap servos I’ve tried (with one exception) have not been acceptable. The Protek 100T and the standard metal gear Savox are both solid servos at a fairly reasonable price.

[kevinb120]

I actually find the Injora 22KG low profile good for general 'Tamiya servo-saver first 100 use'.  They're like $17.  Heck even put them in WO/shot series/SRB's, even the XR311.  Better than all the 'red' 20-35 KG DS-type servos IMHO, pretty much my go-to non programmable general use servo, and gives you a little more room in there on an ORV chassis.  Average but decent speed and accuracy. Otherwise I use a variety of AFGRC programable servos for whatever their intended specific use will be(they make most of the other brand's stuff) for eyeblink speed or basher strength or crawler torque.    

[ADRay1000]

thanks for the input. Looks like my best course of action is to stick with plastic, and keep a spare in the drawer. 

[Juggular]

I just compiled this, so I feel dejavu. But maybe there would be people who could benefit from this. 

I just get whatever is cheap.  (I'm cheap; I try to get most with the least.)

For buggies, I try to aim for 10/10.  About 0.10 second/10kg.  A bit slow like 0.13 second and less torque like 7kg is perfectly fine too. 

[Strong one]

A few months ago, I got an injora servo that said it's 0.17sec/25kg. Stronger but a bit slower. It seemed precise.

https://www.amazon.com/INJORA-Servo-Digital-Torque-Parts/dp/B08CSJKSM4/ref=sr_1_19?crid=PF9R9XJ1IUV2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.PELwEx54-d6KZ2Ge536CnrktyYubh7VoreDF2xn0P_-2jN4Nrpqb1xX2Aj5g5JzBtaS3y2pDSKlLl_JwzlT_4CzHpguj5Tirt32CnVXdyeOzqLenpgif6Zt4O-8DdSIcUkeq-MGCCgwrLZVGq70DuCG34Acs9WuPWrfVly5zQ3lw-z1W2VmKaWl6HNG1fKAV-ZCe0oiU78T2ASaKhU5yKE6IA9snle0LbJ_Exg0CM5zbsvl0P7RC2Xrcl5iOUZ4YzMKzPU0RDoQMQADA2DMcUoTZx3FXCJN6skYoQJzuzho.2bMoHmS8Lcj2S5RGi2LCbDqhsKJqu1J-SopkcOOQXR4&dib_tag=se&keywords=25kg%2Bservo&qid=1748968353&sprefix=25kg%2Bservo%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-19&th=1

I said slower, but it's no slower than the old standard of Futaba S3003 (0.19 second / 4kg).  

[Fast one]

But I wanted speed more than torque.  

For my DT-4, I ordered this Miuzei that claims 0.07 sec/14kg. (I've never heard of this brand, we'll see if it sticks around.) 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DMVPVKT9?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_0_2&th=1

It's fast and precise enough.  I'll use the 2 month old injora 0.17sec/25kg servo for something heavier and slower like the Konghead or CC-02.  

I don't know how long it will last.  But servos get stronger and faster every year. 

[Mid range]

I just ordered a 0.12 sec/12kg servo for $8 (90 degree one, not the 360 degree one).  

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807738151389.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.65.255b1802qsQhU9&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

Amazon sells the same thing for $19 (if you want to pay the middleman and Amazon).  

https://www.amazon.com/Wishiot-TD-9512MG-Waterproof-1000-2000ues-Helicopter/dp/B0D5Q4GDH7/ref=sr_1_6?crid=4GQ5C4XAX8EL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.LKPGcFVN5i0MWAHMpvA-iXd105tvok7O2DcFnUKkMLn1JNe4Vs7yL-C9_GFa9790y_YLWVOc0RE2d34RC9XkQyH2CZ-ai9o9UG76D4wYGb7P8RMO2ubEGJoriGYy7YsYIEiqTYikDY2zBTj_lx5qjCyahtUdeHtil3j7GGAzOKlceZKLVW143N56ijMuNT9ASghipGCq46wEaKJiuDD9_h_C_W3SZ9KLdErrnHd0cx1iYHdmbimZOxiIk4b4NBP48aA_2EGzq4XmF-0CQOcXyKHQ8R1IU5OmBtJf9B2Noco.HsIp_SHPOmSZnyZLHGtu6HBViEwZYY84dzM9JEpz5ug&dib_tag=se&keywords=12kg%2Bservo&qid=1748967890&sprefix=12kgservo%2Caps%2C92&sr=8-6&th=1

I'm hoping it works well. It's mid range for a dang good price.  12kg is three times stronger than 4kg of S3003.  0.12 second is faster than 0.19 sec of S3003.  For $8 it'd be perfect for a lot of bashers.  

 

[Wooders28]

6 hours ago, Juggular said:

times stronger than 4kg of S3003.  0.12 second is faster than 0.19 sec of S3003.  For $8 it'd be perfect for a lot of bashers.

Not sure how much I trust the specs of the cheaper servos (or cheaper anything tbh)

I purchased an Alturn Race Servo, cheap enough and the specs suggested it was similar, if not faster than my futaba brushless servo....🤔

 

 

13 hours ago, ADRay1000 said:

best course of action is to stick with plastic

Never saw that coming! 😳

If you where a little closer, I've a handful of those things you could have!! 

[Juggular]

Woah, I haven't thought about posting stuff using videos. That's brilliant.  Yes, bluffing is such a problem.  Instead of competing by making a better servo, some companies compete by lying. That's sad.  

If you have a few different servos, you can see how fast they are. 

This is subjective, of course. Some tires are heavier, radio gears would have different latency, etc. Still, we can get some sense of how it works. 

Below is $18 Miuzei that claims to be 0.07 second. It's definitely faster than 0.17 second injora servo it replaced. (Comparing them are also problematic, because they both could be bluffing. For now, my impression of both Miuzei and injora aren't bad. JX either.) 

I don't know how strong it is, nor do I know how long it will last. I could lose a servo while driving.  If you are racing, or going at a high speed (using 11v LiPo, etc), you'd definitely want a reliable servo, even at higher costs. 

But I only run bashers. For now, it seems to be good enough for my use.  I'm hoping $8 servo could be decent, but I'm not holding my breath.  

 

[Wooders28]

3 hours ago, Juggular said:

bluffing is such a problem.  Instead of competing by making a better servo, some companies compete by lying.

It's normally the cheap end, they can slap on any old specs, and they'll know 99.9% of the buyers won't know, just as long as its quicker than the plastic they've replaced.

The Core RC 9016MG I posted the link for, fits my requirements for a cheap basher servo, they've all been fast , strong and importantly, reliable enough, not sure how cheap they are around other parts of the globe though (Corerc is distributed by Schumacher in the UK), but I still refuse to purchase any electrical bits off eBay / Amazon...

I have just purchased a Corerc 1012TG servo off marketplace (a known racer around these parts, so know its used but not really abused), for the same price as a new 9016MG, so I'll see how that fares.

[BigJag]

Stripped the teeth on my Futaba servo. I guess that's why modern servos have metal gears. Managed to scavenge a spare servo from a parts car. 

Fitted it to the MB along with a Kimborough servo horn. It should now be ready to go for this weekends East Anglia Scale Trail event in Leicestershire.

Can you get rebuild kits for Futaba servos?

[Wooders28]

9 hours ago, BigJag said:

guess that's why modern servos have metal gear

Found when I opened the case of a Futaba Brushless servo (after a hard impact, ) that not all the gears where metal, but wasn't the plastic gear that broke teeth!

(Also, that low profile servos, have quite thin teeth..)

 

9 hours ago, BigJag said:

Can you get rebuild kits for Futaba servos?

Not sure about the plastic, but for the brushless you can, but not cheap, so I cross referenced the gears, and found they where used in a cheaper version, and managed to bag a 2nd hand one.😁 (on the left)