1st time buying a new (lipo,nimh, etc) charger, opinion/ideas

[Kaare-65]

The last time I bought a charger was when people were using Nicd batteries..,,,,Now everything has changed and I am looking for a new charger.

I bought an SMC motor and ESC, and when I was checking out their site I found this charger.
https://www.smc-racing.net/index.php?route=product/product&path=141&product_id=447

I was wondering if this would be a decent charger? I am not doing any racing and just trying to get back into the hobby so I am not looking to charge multiple batteries or anything, just want a decent charger.

The trouble starts when I start reading peoples opinions where someone says this one is great and another telling someone to get nothing lower than 200 watts.

Will the charger that I linked to be a decent charger or do you have any other ideas.

[jwscab]

Smc is a decent brand and the price at $45 is not bad. You could buy a Chinese branded unit probably for less but what you are looking at will work fine.

[LowClassCC]

I want to start off by saying yes that would be a decent charger. Now I will simply tell you why I would not personally buy it. Touchscreen. I have low blood pressure and my fingers get chilled/cold very easily. This may not be an issue for many people but for me when my fingers get cold they do not work on touchscreens. Atm's, cell phone's, and even chargers can be a pin for me to work due to this. I will take old school buttons over a modern touchscreen when I can.

[R Cane]

I want to start off by saying yes that would be a decent charger. Now I will simply tell you why I would not personally buy it. Touchscreen. I have low blood pressure and my fingers get chilled/cold very easily. This may not be an issue for many people but for me when my fingers get cold they do not work on touchscreens. Atm's, cell phone's, and even chargers can be a pin for me to work due to this. I will take old school buttons over a modern touchscreen when I can.

Interesting point, I've not heard of that issue before.

[Lonestar]

15 years ago, SMC would not have put their name on a product they didn't believe it.

Today, I am not so sure - not saying they would, but as margins have gone down, everyone's good intentions sometimes wane down... Possibly even Danny's.

Having said that - agree with the above, touch screens are finicky given the conditions. Specs do look decent though, and $45 is not unreasonable, so why not.

Be aware that there's a lot more chargers available on the market than bitd when there really was a handful of solutions. So if you don't go for this one, another one will pop-up

[duckhead]

I can't personally vouch for this charger, but $45 for an AC/DC 10A multi-chemistry balance charger is one heck of a deal. I'd say it was a heck of a deal when they were selling for $60 in December. I've seen some review videos and such online and folks seem to like it. Touch screen might have some long term durability issues, time will tell on that.

I have an older Hitec X1 AC charger I can vouch for, but I believe I paid ~$80 for it from my local hobby shop a few years back and it only does 6A. However, it has been really reliable and it is easy to use, my kids use it mostly now.

I've since moved on to iChargers which are awesome, but come at a premium. You mentioned you weren't racing, so unless you need to charge larger batteries (4S, etc.) or more than one battery at a time, or need features like hi-amp charge/discharge, they aren't worth dropping the $$$.

->Mark

[Lonestar]

I've since moved on to iChargers which are awesome, but come at a premium. You mentioned you weren't racing, so unless you need to charge larger batteries (4S, etc.) or more than one battery at a time, or need features like hi-amp charge/discharge, they aren't worth dropping the $$$.

Same analysis here... And ichargers too

[Timmahhh]

I don't have personal experience with this charger, but I will say that if this deal had been available when I was shopping for a different charger recently, I would have bought this instead.

[Kaare-65]

Thanks for the replies. I would really love an icharger..........just am not sure where this is going and if I would make use of it.

If anyone has any ideas of what to look for I would appreciated it.

I think I have it narrowed down between the one in the first post and this one.

https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXGWYX

they also have a version of this that comes with a soldering iron for a bit more.