I rate Max Amps packs in a Brushless truck below that of a Venom Nimh 1800mah stick pack.

..not even fit to use as a desk weight.

The packs in question where 6000mah 20/40C. I had 4 packs, 2 pairs. The first pair that I bought I ordered with the hard shell shrunk wrap in and no warranty, this pair I never had a problem with. Second set I ordered when they ran a special to get the free warranty, this set went way out of balance! Over 0.5 volts out of balance, it took almost 8 hours to get the pack balanced!

I hear ya on the balancing. I had a 2s 6k and it took 2 hours or so on the balancer before I could even start charging (I balance during the charge as well). My 3s 6k will not stay balanced, and the #2 cell is getting weak because of it and by now has probably dropped below 3v. If I don't get an E-Mail back from Maxamps tomorrow about my warranty I'll try calling them, if they blow me off when I call them I will be very upset.

Time to see how well their cells can stand up to some REAL punishment :diablo:
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...45_mm_NATO.jpg

If I ever get a cell that far out of balance, I would probably rig up something to charge the low cell(s) individually at something like 1.5A. Still slow, but far faster than balancing at ~300mA.

I have done this with a balancer harness pigtail and some alligator clips.

I did buy this charger recently: http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...Charge_Capable

It charges each cell separately. Max output is about 1.8amps (on the 2 amp setting) and it charges to 4.16v. Perfect for getting a mixture of cells balanced out when building an oddball pack, or balancing out a pack with big voltage differences. For the price it is great, highly recommended.

For anyone still doubting the Battery Guru - lincpimp, or any other member who's had issues with MA products or "service"
please know we are only here to further enjoyment of the hobby.

I had my own run in with a pack being held hostage by MA for over 3 weeks as well, and I was dealing with Alex, who is supposedly much fairer about returns and such. I ended up paying more to get that pack replaced. I would never EVER consider buying anything other than adapters from them.

Warranty? How about putting your $ into a product that will likely never need warranty support!

MA covers up their inferiority with an advertising budget that might put P*psi to shame.

Here is my recommendation- it doesn't matter what you buy as long as it's NOT MA.

They will keep churning out garbage and charging YOU for the advertising- I call that predatory and misleading at best.

You've been warned!

Imagine the business they (MA) would have if they had Enerland cells in there packs. With all the marketing they have.

Then they would have to raise their prices even more to cover the increased cost of the cells. Oh wait... maybe they wouldn't because they wouldn't have to spend so much money honoring their "warranty"!

Imagine the inflated ratings and the cost... The only reason they can do all of the advertising is the stupid low prices they pay for the lipos... I would rather not pay for ads and buy something that has the performance i am looking for. I will not buy anything from MA, everything they sell is overpriced.

I totally agree. Why buy basically a generic celled pack when you can get a Enerland based pack for cheaper.

To support the MA marketing budget. :whistle:

Nah, I'll pass. Thanks for the suggestion though. LOL

It seems like it would be smart business for them to have a line of high quality packs to go with their entry level packs with desent prices of course too.

I bought a group of 5-6 MA packs all with waranties. Every single pack had problems before 1 year had passed. What a pain!

If their new line of lipos were better and if they lowered the price a bit, I'd consider going back to them because their lipos are sized very nicely but until they put out a good lipo for an acceptable price I'm done with them.

lincpimp wrote: "I do not think their business model is one to copy, that is for sure"

The Ouroboros is what comes to mind, the snake that eats its own tail.