Servo decisions

[austin-92]

Scx10ii toasted the stock servo, toasted first ds3218, second one is like 3 weeks late in the mail and I assume it’s lost. Just got some cash for for Christmas and thinking about getting a “buy once cry once” servo. According to rc review, the ds3218 pulls like 185oz/in and I’m content there but I’ve never ran something more powerful to compare it to.

Running a hw1080 at 7.4v bec but I’m not against a direct power servo. Stats provided from rc review at 7.4v bec or 3s. IMO an esc powered looks cleaner and is my preference.

Servos I’m considering in order of price low to high
1: 3brothers g11: bang for buck, 290oz on 3s for 49$, direct battery powered.
2: savox 1210: 386oz/in for 84$ but top of case is plastic which I despise at this price. Old thread on here savox refused to replace cracked plastic case top section.
3owerhobby 729: honestly leaning towards this one heavily and will need talked out of. 370oz for 90$ with an all metal case.
4: Holmes hobby shv500 v3: seams like way more servo than I’d ever need but considered top of the line. Extra wiring is con in my opinion. Did over 600oz/in for 119$.
5: Reefs 555: most expensive, also over 600oz for 125$, seams quieter but slower than shv500 v3. Esc powered, is slightly weaker than Holmes but cleaner look.

Do I need multiple rigs with each servo to decide what my personal preference is or is there one way of thinking that’s better for a slow crawler on a budget? I’d spend 300$ on a servo if I was rich but I’m not so the 90$ servo looks way more appealing than the 120$ servos.

 

[mikemcE]

ProModeler DS555

You might notice this American servo, first design was the 420, then a 470, now the 555.

Smooth fast and reliable, purchase but once, for each rig.
My first 420(shown) is in my current SCX10iii , my 555 is in my new Sherpa chassis.

All run at 8.4 perfectly. I did drop the voltage on my SCX10iii to 7.4 to slow it down a tad!
All run off castle bec.
I will add I use the Holmes RX bypass on all rigs with Futaba rx

Hang up and Drive

 

[twade984]

Keep in mind, if you’re planning to up the 1080 bec to 7.4v, not all receivers can handle that much juice.

Personally I haven’t owned a savox servo, but every one I’ve heard in person has been loud af. Also the few I’ve looked into buying, advertised power/speed seems on the low side for the price.

I have an shv500v3, and it is sweet. Not the quietest servo, but fast and powerful. And at these power ratings a bec or direct power makes more sense.

I will throw a quick shout out for the ecopower 120t, fast, quiet and plenty of power for me. However an external bec is necessary IMO, bumping the cost of this up to $95. Not much cheaper than some of the direct power servos available.

Good luck with your choice, this is one of my favorite parts of the hobby. Researching, comparing and trying different parts.

 

[svt923]

The Holmes servo is pretty much the only servo I’ll spend good money on these days. Beefy gears, super strong, and direct power eliminates a lot of electronics hassles. The BEC on the 1080 may be better than the average RTR ESC but it is far from great and it becomes a complete non-issue with the SHV500.

Reefs and 3 Bros get run from their “team drivers” (ie buddies willing to hype them on Facebook), nothing I have seen from their products convinces me they are legitimately good. The Power Hobby servo is a straight rebrand of a JX servo, you very likely could go on Banggood and buy the servo directly from the manufacturer for much less. Savox is savox, you know what you are getting with a 1210: strong gears, good torque, lots of noise, and a high amp draw.

 

[Ghonda99]

Servo choice is always a tough one. As svt has said it’s hard to beat Holmes hobby for servo choice. I have a v3 Holmes in my 10.2 and it does great. I can tell you that the 1080 bec is some kind of witch craft. I’m running the 1080 in my Capra with a savox 2290 at 7.4v and I don’t run an external bec. On your list that your considering Holmes is the easy winner. If you order from rpp and use their monthly discount code it brings it down to $107 and it will ship free.

 

[austin-92]

ProModeler DS555

You might notice this American servo, first design was the 420, then a 470, now the 555.

Smooth fast and reliable, purchase but once, for each rig.
My first 420(shown) is in my current SCX10iii , my 555 is in my new Sherpa chassis.

All run at 8.4 perfectly. I did drop the voltage on my SCX10iii to 7.4 to slow it down a tad!
All run off castle bec.
I will add I use the Holmes RX bypass on all rigs with Futaba rx

Hang up and Drive

Did a lot of reading on these, strong contender. You made my decision more difficult lol


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[austin-92]

Keep in mind, if you’re planning to up the 1080 bec to 7.4v, not all receivers can handle that much juice.

Personally I haven’t owned a savox servo, but every one I’ve heard in person has been loud af. Also the few I’ve looked into buying, advertised power/speed seems on the low side for the price.

I have an shv500v3, and it is sweet. Not the quietest servo, but fast and powerful. And at these power ratings a bec or direct power makes more sense.

I will throw a quick shout out for the ecopower 120t, fast, quiet and plenty of power for me. However an external bec is necessary IMO, bumping the cost of this up to $95. Not much cheaper than some of the direct power servos available.

Good luck with your choice, this is one of my favorite parts of the hobby. Researching, comparing and trying different parts.

Receiver is from fly sky, gt3b, been ok so far. Should I have any reason to worry running it at 7.4v?


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[austin-92]

The Holmes servo is pretty much the only servo I’ll spend good money on these days. Beefy gears, super strong, and direct power eliminates a lot of electronics hassles. The BEC on the 1080 may be better than the average RTR ESC but it is far from great and it becomes a complete non-issue with the SHV500.

Reefs and 3 Bros get run from their “team drivers” (ie buddies willing to hype them on Facebook), nothing I have seen from their products convinces me they are legitimately good. The Power Hobby servo is a straight rebrand of a JX servo, you very likely could go on Banggood and buy the servo directly from the manufacturer for much less. Savox is savox, you know what you are getting with a 1210: strong gears, good torque, lots of noise, and a high amp draw.

The 3 bros was chosen based on price, reefs was chosen because its close in price to Holmes but quieter and powered from the receiver. I honestly have never read anything from the team driver/buddies. All of my choices were based off rc review’s testing and reading off manufacturers websites.


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[austin-92]

Servo choice is always a tough one. As svt has said it’s hard to beat Holmes hobby for servo choice. I have a v3 Holmes in my 10.2 and it does great. I can tell you that the 1080 bec is some kind of witch craft. I’m running the 1080 in my Capra with a savox 2290 at 7.4v and I don’t run an external bec. On your list that your considering Holmes is the easy winner. If you order from rpp and use their monthly discount code it brings it down to $107 and it will ship free.

Holmes servo for 107$ shipped changes things... lol Where do I get the discount code?


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[ScaleLifeNewbie]

I second the Ecopower servos. I have the 120T and it’s been great. Your getting right at 400oz for $70. The 110T is a little bit lower and cheaper. I had a Savox and it was loud, like really loud. And it burnt up within a few weeks, granted it was a cheap $30 servo.

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[ScaleLifeNewbie]

However an external bec is necessary IMO.

How come? What is the purpose of a BEC? I am clueless on them lol. I have a 120T and if I can get better performance with a BEC I’d love to.


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[austin-92]

Bec can deliver more amps and cleaner power to the servo. Never need a glitch buster or expensive esc. Also more volts than some esc’s put out. Reefs 555 likes 8.4v, I run 3s and my esc puts out 7.4, only options would be fry servo, buy bec, or lose torque.


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[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Bec can deliver more amps and cleaner power to the servo. Never need a glitch buster or expensive esc. Also more volts than some esc’s put out. Reefs 555 likes 8.4v, I run 3s and my esc puts out 7.4, only options would be fry servo, buy bec, or lose torque.


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Oh wow, I didn’t think they were that important with certain servos. I should be paying a lot more attention to voltage on electronics lol. Thanks for that! [emoji1688]


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[garyk]

Holmes servo for 107$ shipped changes things... lol Where do I get the discount code?


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There's a button at the top of their page that takes you to the coupon page. Typically a code that changes monthly. I think the current code is 'DEC10'.

And I agree that 107 shipped for the HH servo is a good deal, got one myself from RPP a while back.

 

[themountain]

For 100 bucks a holmes is hard to beat ....only one comes to my mind is a AGFrc A81 "thumbsup"
https://www.agf-rc.com/695-oz-in-super-torque-programmable-coreless-rc-servoa81chl-p3007823.html

 

[garyk]

I just got an AGFrc servo, model A73CHLW, to try out. It's not rated as high as the HH and similar but I saw a test where it greatly exceeded the specified torque values. I'm gonna beat on this one and if it goes well I'll probably try some of their more expensive servos.

 

[high plains drifter]

The Holmes servo is pretty much the only servo I’ll spend good money on these days. Beefy gears, super strong, and direct power eliminates a lot of electronics hassles. The BEC on the 1080 may be better than the average RTR ESC but it is far from great and it becomes a complete non-issue with the SHV500.

Reefs and 3 Bros get run from their “team drivers” (ie buddies willing to hype them on Facebook), nothing I have seen from their products convinces me they are legitimately good.

I'm running the HH shv500v2 in three rigs and they've been absolutely perfect performance-wise. They're completely quiet too.

But when I needed a forth heavy hitting servo, Homes had already discontinued the V2 and the V3 didn't have a solid availability date. So I apprehensively grabbed a 3Bros G13. I have to say that it's absolutely on par with the shv500v2. They do get some hate for supposedly being a HH knockoff and some of the hype may be unwarranted but all I care about is performance and the G13 delivers. I can't imagine that anyone would be disappointed with the 3bros G13.

 

[themountain]

I just got an AGFrc servo, model A73CHLW, to try out. It's not rated as high as the HH and similar but I saw a test where it greatly exceeded the specified torque values. I'm gonna beat on this one and if it goes well I'll probably try some of their more expensive servos.

They are awesome ...I have one in my Rock bouncer "thumbsup"

 

[themountain]

I just got an AGFrc servo, model A73CHLW, to try out. It's not rated as high as the HH and similar but I saw a test where it greatly exceeded the specified torque values. I'm gonna beat on this one and if it goes well I'll probably try some of their more expensive servos.

They are awesome ...I have one in my Rock bouncer "thumbsup"

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[AC49]

ok, this is probably a crazy question because it should make total sense, but has anyone tried the Amazon red servos? They seem to be all over Amazon under different brands and they are dirt cheap but have pretty good specs. They are called DS3218 20kg servos

I only ask because I use one of them and have been for almost a year with 0 issues. I was wondering how much better a HH servo can really be? I'm wondering if anyone has tried one of the cheap ones off amazon and then switched to a "name brand" and noticed a big difference?

I notices a massive difference in my SCX10ii from stock to the DS3218