Cheapest Brushless ESC Test and Review

[Coelacanth]

No shipping to Canada, either...

[GoMachV]

They probably got tired of people complaining about the costs to ship to Canada

[Coelacanth]

That would be ironic, as the items almost certainly originated from China, and shipping from China to Canada is miniscule--often free.

[Basher67]

That would be ironic, as the items almost certainly originated from China, and shipping from China to Canada is miniscule--often free.

Yes, while the U.S. based shippers are great for U.S. residents, they definitely don't help Canada. I'm pretty sure you could buy them directly from china as well. There are tons of sellers for these listed on ebay.

[GoMachV]

That would be ironic, as the items almost certainly originated from China, and shipping from China to Canada is miniscule--often free.

Yes, while the U.S. based shippers are great for U.S. residents, they definitely don't help Canada. I'm pretty sure you could buy them directly from china as well. There are tons of sellers for these listed on ebay.

Basher nailed what I was trying to convey. Using a US seller to buy a Chinese part and then have them ship to Canada is wasteful and ends in the buyer coming on here and complaining about the cost of shipping. There should be other more direct ways to order those

[BooGTS]

I picked up one of these based on this review, I'll see how it compares to the equally Chinese Turnigy ESC in my other car when it comes in.

[Basher67]

First day on the track with the XX4 yesterday. Esc performed perfect until I clipped a pipe and striped out a servo horn. Got about 15 min run time on it before I broke it. Didn't bother hitting the esc with a temp gun---it was still cool to the touch. I pretty sure my xx4 is going to fail before this esc will. I'm going to transplant it into my 10T runner that's setup for turf track. It's currently running a Hobbywing V3.1 and a Trinity D4 8.5t motor. I drive this truck aggressively and it takes a good beating, so it might be a better test machine than the xx4.

[XLR8]

Thanks for this review Basher.
I think sometimes I'm too quick to pass judgement, some stuff coming from China is actually pretty good.
At least these days it seems that way.

[Lonestar]

I think sometimes I'm too quick to pass judgement, some stuff coming from China is actually pretty good.

what people don't realize is MOST stuff comes from China. Pretty much anything that relies on electricity these days comes from China, be it your entry-level product or your super-premium one... so=, yes, stuff coming from China is pretty good indeed...

[Lonestar]

pretty sure my xx4 is going to fail before this esc will

[BooGTS]

So I got this in my Worlds Car with a 13.5T brushless and its legit. Even has soldered leads and a deans-type connector already soldered on. The 3 motor leads are pre-tinned. I didn't have any setup issues, and the throttle settings as it comes seem OK. Not sure if its my controller (also brand new to me, I haven't been in this hobby in 20 years...) but the reverse does so in "pulse widths" of over a second. Its fine for getting out of a bad spot, but odd.

No instructions, no packaging (literally shipped in a static bag inside a bubble wrap bag) and I have no idea if I can change any settings, but for a basher whatever. Works as good - except for the weird reverse which may or may not be the ESC - as my Turnigy cheapo that was still over twice as much.

[Dadio]

There's a massive thread on the " Chinese blue ESC" on RC groups and extensive testing as well as stripping down and comparing to a genuine hobbywing ESC , as I recall is boils down to
1 it may say 2-3s on the sales page but it's not 3s really and will die fast on 3s
2 much below 10t motors is risky
3 internally there are fewer fet's than the hobbywing
4 the colour of the wires A,B and C is wrong so be careful to match A to A ,B to B , C to C and not just match the colours of the wires
5 some last a good long time and others are DOA or die prematurely , treat them as disposable .

[matt1ptkn]

There's a massive thread on the " Chinese blue ESC" on RC groups and extensive testing as well as stripping down and comparing to a genuine hobbywing ESC , as I recall is boils down to
1 it may say 2-3s on the sales page but it's not 3s really and will die fast on 3s
2 much below 10t motors is risky
3 internally there are fewer fet's than the hobbywing
4 the colour of the wires A,B and C is wrong so be careful to match A to A ,B to B , C to C and not just match the colours of the wires
5 some last a good long time and others are DOA or die prematurely , treat them as disposable .

That's some good information. Regarding #5, I wonder what the chances are of getting a good ESC vs. a bad one. It would be interesting to know the statistics so I know how many I should plan to buy.

[Basher67]

So I got this in my Worlds Car with a 13.5T brushless and its legit. Even has soldered leads and a deans-type connector already soldered on. The 3 motor leads are pre-tinned. I didn't have any setup issues, and the throttle settings as it comes seem OK. Not sure if its my controller (also brand new to me, I haven't been in this hobby in 20 years...) but the reverse does so in "pulse widths" of over a second. Its fine for getting out of a bad spot, but odd.

No instructions, no packaging (literally shipped in a static bag inside a bubble wrap bag) and I have no idea if I can change any settings, but for a basher whatever. Works as good - except for the weird reverse which may or may not be the ESC - as my Turnigy cheapo that was still over twice as much.

You need to have the hobbywing programmer to get full use and adjustability of the esc, just like if it was a real hobbywing. IIRC the reverse comes set at 50% power like most. This is usually inadequate and causes little hesitations like you describe. With the programmer, you can set to 75% or higher and it will smooth out the reverse.

[Basher67]

As far as 2s or 3s, I only use 2s batteries, so I won't be able to test that, but I will say that when you start pushing the limits of any electronics, gearing, type of surface your driving on, and even ambient temperature all comes into play when it comes to survival of the components. I've seen a few velineon esc's go belly up in the summer heat running 3s. The next step for my testing will be to tear out the velineon system in my slash and install the blue cheapo with a new 6.5t motor that I'm dying to play with. The stress of pushing a heavy 4x4 along with the current draw of the 6.5t motor should warm that esc right up. I really want to see if the overheat protection works and how long it takes for it to come on.