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Anyone test the ebay fake s3003 servos here yet?

no idea but why take the risk of saving $5 on the most critical part of the control chain in our $100+ rc cars???



Paul

Lonestar wrote:no idea but why take the risk of saving $5 on the most critical part of the control chain in our $100+ rc cars???



Paul

I was thinking the same, and why would anyone want to fake Futaba's cheapest servo

The genuine Futaba 3003 servos are awful. I can only imagine the fakes being worse, not worth it to save a few dollars. Just my two cents...

they are terrible, i got 4 of them a while back. jittery, weak, slower then the real deal.

they made a bad servo worse. stay away.

Well, to be fair, Futaba's old S28/S128 servos are probably worse.

So, what's a decently-priced servo that performs well?

Coelacanth wrote:Well, to be fair, Futaba's old S28/S128 servos are probably worse.

So, what's a decently-priced servo that performs well?

depends how you define "decent".

the trick usually is to purchase prev-gen top-of-the-line servos from the big 3 manufacturers (sanwa/futaba/ko) when they get discontinued to be superseeded by sthing better... but still these babies run in the $80 range in most cases.

Otherwise Savox has a full range, more reasonably priced, but we're lacking some time distance to assess how reliable they are. Some people have had very bad experiences with them, either under the Orion, Savox, or Align brand (same products). I have used their 1251 in my b4.1 for a few races (only run it in winter) and so far it's performed flawlessly. you can pick them up for about $60.

The entry-level KO Fet servos are great too - about $40 a pop, KO quality, but all plastic and analog. Still work fine though


hope this helps
Paul

How about Hitec servos? They are pretty popular with the Clod and rock crawling crowd.

Lowgear wrote:How about Hitec servos? They are pretty popular with the Clod and rock crawling crowd.

I've never had any good luck with them in the past, but then again some people swear by them. A lot of those who swear by them do so because of that fantastic exchange policy for US-purchased servos, where they exchange busted servos pretty much no-questions-asked (that's a strong signal to me). I'm not sure what to think any more about hitec.

I tend to trust the brands that racers trust... and again I HATE to be betrayed by my competition gear just to save $10... KO and Aitronics both have fabulous ranges that fully fit my needs anyway, Futaba has great stuff but their prices are inflated plus all my cars have 23-splines arms after all these years, so I stick to what I know and trust 100% But that's just me... and then again that $60 savox 1251 has treated me well so far

Paul

-Wait a minute, you are forgetting that the s3003 was once a s148 which is still 20 year old technology. It was on par with the equipment in its day. These were intended to be entry level stuff and in my humble opinion were great for the time period. However, I would not in a heartbeat use something of this caliber in my mighty deuce-deuce since my driving level has come up to a struggling B driver. My buggy needs that high speed/torque servo so my only excuse for a poor showing is "the loose nut behind the wheel".
Entry level servos have their market niche. It takes a while for a novice to be able to see and feel the advantages a higher end servo. Once you get it, you wil always use the better equipment.

It's funy you should talk about servo speed/torque. I was talking about this with a few club members and they all use the latest fast/high torque servos, while i use a more modest speed and torque servo. Why? I don't like the really fast servos that seem the norm nowadays, i just can't get on with them and i'm much smoother with a medium speed servo.

I have always used Futabas as they've always been super reliable for me and i trust them. Nowdays i use the S3050 metal geared coreless digital servo, medium speed and torque and about £40 new ($60 ish)

Paul.

I like to use servos that are in the .08 to .10 sec range with relatively high torque. They get the job done. I can drive so much harder into the corners and the vehicle goes where it is pointed. The one problem that I have found is that the new higher end servos are power hogs. If your esc does not put out 3 amps to the servo, you will need at least a power cap to keep your receiver from browning out after a few quick left right turns. My receiver used to shut down for a few seconds. This is really bad during a race. My problem was solved with a new esc that puts out 3 amps to the servo.

Lowgear wrote:How about Hitec servos? They are pretty popular with the Clod and rock crawling crowd.

I've had a Hitec HS645MG in my Tamiya CR-01 crawler for about two years with absolutely no problems. It has no problem turning weighted 2.2's and 1.9's.

i've used hitec 645mg's and 625mg's with good results for years. not the strongest or the fastest but decent servos for the price.

kaiser wrote:i've used hitec 645mg's and 625mg's with good results for years. not the strongest or the fastest but decent servos for the price.

mine wouldn't center properly... same for my 525's... the neutral would drift with the minutes as if a cap was charging somewhere...

Paul