Cheapest Brushless ESC Test and Review

[Basher67]

Once upon a time, upgrading from your mechanical speed control to an esc was a good chunk of a paycheck or a summer of mowing lawns for a kid. Brushless came along and was not the cheapest upgrade to an RC either. When I first started making the change over to lipo battteries and brushless esc's and motors, I noticed a wide range of prices. To buy the latest Tekin setup is a considerable amount of coin. Want a Mamba Monster? Get ready to hand over a stack of folding money. Over the past year or so, I've purchased and ran a fairly good assortment of brushless combos on the track and backyard bashing. I would like to start by saying that I no longer will use any sensorless brushless combos. Sensorless was more economical in the past, but you had to deal with cogging and poor throttle control. In a basher, which is mostly full throttle or nothing, this isn't much of a concern, until you drag race your buddy down the street and your car sits there cogging for a second or two before taking off. I have run some sensorless combos that were very smooth, But it's not worth the gamble at the time of purchase to find out imo. Sensored combo prices have dropped to be just about as inexpensive.

This brings us to the test subject at hand. I wanted to see what the cheapest sensored brushless esc on ebay was and test it to failure and see if its really worth spending a fortune on the "big name brand" products. After a quick check on ebay, I found this no name sensored brushless 120a esc for $16.79 to my door. This is from a chinese seller, but since they have a U.S. distribution center, I received it in 6 days. I will put a link below. It arrived in a bag with no paperwork, stickers or anything. Not exactly an exciting unboxing. There are instructions online and a link for them is provided on the ebay description. If you've never mottled through a poorly translated set of instructions, brace yourself, because they suck. Luckily, the instructions are almost identical for the Hobbywing esc's like the Justock, so I had no problems. In fact, the ebay page for this esc states that you need a hobbywing program card to program or make changes. I was happy to find that it has all the same parameters as my justock esc. I had all the same adjustment capability as my race esc in my B6 buggy.

This will eventually be setup in a Losi XX4 that I'm currently building as a test mule, but I couldn't wait to try it out so I stuffed it in my Stampede with an old race motor (Reedy M3 17.5) and started bashing around under 2s power. The power delivery was as smooth and precise as I've come to expect from any of my Hobbywing esc's. So far so good. I'm going to play with it for a few days until the XX4 is ready. Then we'll go to the track and put this esc through it's paces. I'm going to increase the motor until we get an overheat protection shutoff. I have all the way up to a new 6.5t on hand for testing. I'm going to test it with the included fan and without. The fan, by the way, is very quiet. When I'm done putting this esc through the ringer, we'll see how it stacks up when compared to name brand stuff 5-10 times the price.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/120A-ESC-Sensored-Brushless-Speed-Controller-for-RC-1-8-1-10-Car-Crawler-RC646/123112170316?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

[Basher67]

I just ran my first pack (5000mah 2s lipo) through the esc. The new tires on my stampede are oversized and heavy and I definitely was geared too high, but it was problem free wheelie poppin fun the whole time. Motor was running a little warm at the end for a cool overcast day at 160` but the esc never went over 70`. I also tried the Hobbywing software interface to see if it was compatible. It recognized it with no errors but did not allow changes to be made with the interface, only the programmer. This wasn't a surprise but I had to try anyway. I cant wait to get these electrics into a race car and start pounding out laps to see how this thing holds up.

[NomadRacer]

Ah, so it's holding up fairly well so far. At the price point, seems to be a bargain. Digging the electric blue casing.

[Tamlok]

Nice to know the ESC is enjoying itself.

[Basher67]

It's so funny...they make these things look even cheesier with the blue reflective tape. They should just leave them clear or black. I think the final failure on one of these could be the case materials. They just don't look very durable and definitely not water proof. Then again, mounted with double sided foam tape and protected inside of the body of a car, how much of a beating do they need to take?

[matt1ptkn]

I'm looking forward to your ESC review. I've been thinking about getting that exact ESC for a long while now. The description wording in the Chinese acutions has always prevented the purchase: "High quality PCB plate, good linearity, high current capability, can be No brush and no sense of brushless mode (a sense of need a sense of brushless wire)." I'm still unsure of what that means exactly... Does it work with sensorless and brushed motors also??

[Lonestar]

This is a HW V2 basis for sure... no reason why it wouldn't perform like one!

[Basher67]

I'm looking forward to your ESC review. I've been thinking about getting that exact ESC for a long while now. The description wording in the Chinese acutions has always prevented the purchase: "High quality PCB plate, good linearity, high current capability, can be No brush and no sense of brushless mode (a sense of need a sense of brushless wire)." I'm still unsure of what that means exactly... Does it work with sensorless and brushed motors also??

You would think that as many times as they say "sense" in a sentence, it would make some sense. I can't believe they don't have better translators. These will not power a brushed motor. They will power a sensored or sensorless brushless motor.

[Basher67]

This is a HW V2 basis for sure... no reason why it wouldn't perform like one!

Yes. It is identical to the HW V2.1, both physically and in spec rating. Just different decals.

[GoMachV]

This got me digging and I found one of the USA shippers has these in bulk (2x, 4x, 5x, 10x) at a good discount. I put one of the handy two packs ($28) in my watch list for the next time there is a coupon. That will make them $12 a pop shipped.

[NomadRacer]

This got me digging and I found one of the USA shippers has these in bulk (2x, 4x, 5x, 10x) at a good discount. I put one of the handy two packs ($28) in my watch list for the next time there is a coupon. That will make them $12 a pop shipped.

Jeff, could I get a link to them?

[GoMachV]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F263304541322

And the handy 10 pack for $133

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F263426854701

[Basher67]

If the durability of these things is decent at all, I'm going to buy a few more for sure. This kind of performance for this price is kind of insane.

[Timmahhh]

I got one of these with a car recently, and it actually seemed pretty good when I tested it out. It even looked kind of cool. I would have no problem running one, but I currently have a few more ESCs than cars I run, so I ended up selling that one.

[Lonestar]

I need a couple, too... unfortunately no shipment to WE and i'm too lazy to look for a comparable offer

I'll stick to hobbyking's clones, I guess