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Mad Ax

Recommendations for fast servo on a budget

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Short version:

What servos are people using for general race and bash duties?  I like something faster than a basic cheapie.  Just recently my favoured brand has had QC issues so I'm looking for something new.  Around the £20 mark is what I've been spending.

Long version:

For a long time now I've been using Alturn servos.  Modelsport stock the AAS-752MG, a high speed race servo, for just £17.99.  I must have over a dozen of these and they've always been the best possible value for money.  But I bought some new last year, from the usual supplier (Modelsport), and they were hellishly slow.  I disassembled and reassembled my Fox front-end several times thinking I must have attached the servo saver all wrong, because even on the street it wouldn't turn quick enough.  In the end I decided that maybe the Fox just has slow steering thanks to its design, so I adjusted in more speed by changing ackerman settings.  Not ideal but it got me through a race day.

I'd also installed an identical servo in my Top Force.  Come race day, it was impossible to drive.  The wheels wouldn't actually turn fast enough to get around the bends.  I thought there was something wrong with the car until I picked it up and found the servo was worse than sluggish.  I borrowed a Bluebird servo from a pit buddy which solved the problem.

It reminded me that I had a Bluebird lying around somewhere which I was very pleased with, but when I tried to find a new one online they were discontinued.  The nearest matching spec from Bluebird was up around the £45 mark, a bit too spendy for me.

I bought another Alturn later last year, assuming the ones I had were from a bad batch, but that was slow too.  So I can only assume Alturn are getting their internals made elsewhere and can on longer provide the performance they once did (although the model number hasn't changed and the specs don't seem to have been updated on the box).

Last month I bought two new Turnigy race servos from Hobbyking at around the right price.  Just last night I had a spare moment so I pulled the slow old Alturn out of the Fox and put the Turnigy in its place.  Then I noticed that the servo cases are identical.  The Turnigy has a metal body where the Alturn is plastic, but that doesn't mean the internals are different.  I know Turnigy rebadge a lot of other brands and it made me worry I was going to have the same issues.  I don't have any way of accurately measuring the servo speed but on a back-to-back test (servos on the work bench, test one, unplug, test the other) the Turnigy doesn't actually feel that much faster.  Anyway, I've rebuilt the Fox and it looks alright on the workbench but I won't know for sure until it gets a run.

Right now it seems the world is chock full of super-high-torque servos for next to nothing (30Kg MG servo on Amazon for £30), which is great for crawlers and clod busters but it feels like there's a gap for the budget race fraternity.

Anyone got a suggestion that isn't a fly-by-night wonder?

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I feel your pain. My cheap metal gear low profile is the JX PDI 4409MG. They are really cheap, like USD13 from banggood cheap and similar spec to that Alturn, 9kg and .11sec. They work fine, I am using one in a TT02D and the other is in my Top Force, and both seem to work ok. Check out the JX range as they have better quality ones and the prices dont2get that much higher.

My go to for the race cars is the Savox 1258TG but they are obviously more expensive. I just got one basically brand new for NZD60 though off Facebook marketplace which isn't that far off your 20 pound goal. I have another that I've had for a few years and that was old when I got it, still going strong, so secondhand seem to be fine.

There is also a thread you may want to check out on rctech which is something like 'cheap digital servos from China'

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I used to use the Bluebird servos, but hard to find these days it seems.

 

btw, where do you race?

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1 hour ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

I have had good results from a Trackstar ts-d99x in my TA06 race car. 

I concur, I have these in my TRF102 and TA07 and they work well. A guy at my offroad club has run one for a few seasons offroad too and its still going, so they appear to be reliable over the long term too.

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12 hours ago, matisse said:

btw, where do you race?

Locally I race at Melksham (West Wilts Model Car Club) although I don't race regularly.  I was doing the truckman class last year but life keeps getting in the way (or, I'd rather be in the workshop making custom projects than out on track bashing into barriers).

Big event-wise, this year I'll be doing two rounds of the Iconic Cup (Mendip and West London) and the Iconic Revival at BMR :)

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I have 3 Savox 1251. £35 each. I use them in my basher DT02, my race M07 and my race Associated B6. Never had a problem. Fast and strong and you can get all the spares.

I used to use Alturn, but Savox is definitely better, worth the extra money for a race car.

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On 2/3/2020 at 10:42 AM, Mad Ax said:

But I bought some new last year, from the usual supplier (Modelsport), and they were hellishly slow. 

I've bought 3 of the Alturn from Modelsport,  one was jittery (Modelsport replaced without issue), another is in a Novafox. The specs say it's quicker than the futaba brushless servo in my KF2se, it's not.

 

 

On 2/3/2020 at 10:42 AM, Mad Ax said:

a bit too spendy for me.

For the amount of time and money you've spent on cheap servos, you could have a few savox 1258tg servos, fitted and forgot about, running solid servo horns. Second hand ones go between £20-30 

(The futaba brushless, low profile servo didn't last, low profile servos use thinner gears, which strip, even metal geared ones, avoid if you can) 

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