I just fitted a couple of these to two of my friends RC. In fact they both went into XTM Rails. As I started reading the instructions before I fitted the first one I almost fell off the chair laughing my ass off. You know what, you can just read the Castle instructions instead as they are pretty much the same thing. Also this ESC can run brushed motors and the two wiring options for that are exactly the same as they are for the MMM.

Anyway me being me and always curious I took the first ESC apart to have a looksy inside. Lucky I did. There was a loose piece of solder in there and if it went anywhere near the board while powered on it could have been disastrous. That pretty much tells you at what kind of quality you are dealing with and total absence of QC. Also some of the tracks on the boards looked a little iffy. To me they looked like they were thinner in some places. Not sure if you guys get what I mean?

Anyway calibrated it as per Castle instructions :lol: and then it was ready to go. Put my friends Rail on the ground and gave it a slight throttle and it rolled away smoothly. It even has the same excellent low throttle speed that you get from the MMM. Also the throttle feels very smooth. Much better than most China made ESCs. Everything about this ESC screams MMM except the build quality. I mean they are still running fine a week later in both cars but it's plain to see that it's only due to them ripping off a good design.

What is worth mentioning is that while MMMs fan is thermostatically controlled the one on this ESC is always on. Just thought I would throw that in there.

What was interesting to note is the BEC. With a powerful servo, two fans on the motor, one fan on the ESC and 8 LEDs it still functioned properly. Pretty good in that regard.

I have to say that while the two knock offs are working fine it's hard to recommend them or even give them a good review. They are based on someone else intellectual property so if anything kudos to Castle for making such a good product that others have tried to copy. If you want to use one then go for it but just remember that it is a throw away if something was to happen to it.

"Japan/Korea/Taiwan copies of everything", that's not true either.. :intello: I would agree with China.
But, as the saying goes, "You get what you pay for".

Just threw one of these in my Summit over the weekend, not the smoothest on low speed (using a Leopard 36-65-2100kv 4 Pole motor), was expecting that though, I figure the motor would struggle pushing a heavy Summit around but it didn't, no temps over 50c anywhere so that was a good thing. Did have some servo glitching but as I changed from the TRX radio to my 4pl at the same time, and it could have been the 2075 Traxxas servos deciding to give out at that time, note to self, don't attempt full speed with locked diffs in 2nd gear! Keeping an eye on it, but ripped the Traxxas servos out in favour of a single MG996 which seems to push it around ok. Will need to do more testing and keep an eye on it, may need an external BEC (unlike Big Block, I found the internal BEC to be weaker than that on the EVX2) , Lipo LVC worked a treat though. So right now, it's still testing, intention is to upgrade the steering, and maybe motor if required, as well as put in an external BEC if it's needed.

at reno911
thats a bull shit statement about hobbywing stuff i have there stuff and never had a problem with any of them i seen friends burn up castle esc's and motors.

:) I have seen numerous hobbywing stuff burns... And no warranty... My friend have sent them his ESC under warranty and then he gets replay that it is not warranty case and he should pay for repair and shipping. So what?

If you love HW, use it. If someone likes CC or Tekin they use them.

Bear in mind - CC or Tekin always will be one or two steps ahead of clones and copies. So if you are in competition with your clone or copy - you are one or two seconds behind :).

If you are basher - that is different story. Use what ever suits you :).

Peace!

Do a quick internet search on Hobbywing ESC Burn and then do one on Castle MMM Burn

Tell me which has more hits.

I run Castle ESC's in my SC8 and RC8 but to say they are less likely to burn isn't entirely true.

That's not really valid IMO. There's a lot more Castle products in circulation being used than HobbyWing, which means there's bound to be more failures and more people making videos about it. You would need the ratio of failures to units in circulation to really make a call either way.

interesting, I saw this on HobbyKing recently and thought the design looked familiar. Mamba Monster dressed to look like an RX8... also interesting was the OEM jumper wires :gasp:

Also, HK claims the weight of their Trackstar to be 88g. Castle says the Mamba Monster weighs 121g. Copper, gold and even aluminum are heavy...their dimensions almost exactly match up, so what exactly is(n't) in the knockoff? :neutral:

Exactly. There must be tens of thousands of MMMs in circulation, vs a few thousand Hobbywing escs- in the USA & Europe that people report back about.

10% failure rate of 10,000 escs is 1000 dead esc threads & videos.
25% failure rate of 1,000 escs is 250 dead esc threads & videos.

Which do you think looks worse when viewed out of context huh?

It's so easy to debunk any arguments about the quality or customer support of Castle escs, makes me wonder if the people who claim the clones & knockoffs ( there are tekin copies too now.. ) are better quality have ever had to deal with the customer service departments of a company based in China, or have seen the company reps posting in support sections of popular forums...:whip:

Heck, Patric once even provided exact failure rates & production figures for all the MMM escs ( V1 to V3 at the time ), along with detailed info about components used and changes to the design to make the escs more durable..

me llego el esc toro8 de reposicion que envie a garantia. Me sorprendio la respuesta y fue muy satisfactoria. Creo que las empresas chinas estan aprendiendo a prestar un buen servicio.
El esc nuevo tiene esa desprolija modificacion con los cables, parece una actualizacion de ultimo momento.
Tengo en funcionamiento un xerun, un toro8, un turnigy y un MMM. Pero solamente MMM me da confianza.
I get the esc toro8 for rehearing to send a warranty. Response surprised me and was very successful. I believe that Chinese companies are learning to provide good service.
The esc has that messy new modification to the cables, seems like a last minute update.
I have a functioning xerun a toro8 a Turnigy and MMM. MMM but only gives me confidence.

Since the turnigy trackstar has bacome so popular, they hardly ever have any down in hobby town:lol: Then I could get the slightly more expencive toro variant, but then where I would buy it(here in norway), a MMPro is only 5-10% more cash. So I think I'll get the MMPro that has to be the esc of the year IMO. I love my other two, and the fact that I have the castle link.

The toro motor however, I really want to try. I like the sound of 6 poles:yes:

TG

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=14634

Anyone else think that looks like a knock off Sidewinder?

From what I have read, this 6 pole motor is running hot as well!

Great read
 

It has been a great read all around for me. I love seeing comparisons whether they are direct comptitors or rip off artists or whatever. Doing your reseach properly so you invest wisely is always the way of the true enthusiast. If you are on a very weak budget then purchaing an asian clone is probably your best bet, but these situations always end up costing you more money over the long haul because of more frequent failures and paying for shipping back and forth to the manufacturer. I can see how using the clones might be a better idea if you are somewhere in Asia, but dealing with a warranty issue if you do not speak the language is just not worth the hassle for anyone regardless where you buy from. If they can talk directly to you and have no problem helping you with a problem then it wouldn't really matter how far away they are from your location.

As it has been stated purchasing any product from a company that is working from the copy-cat perspective will always be behind no matter what they do, because they are trying to take an originally designed product and not only trying to copy it, but also trying to do it cheaper using lower grade materials, and substandard labor to compete with a company that can out do you every singe time out of the gate. If the original designer is really serious and competitive with its business they are contantly updating and improving that product, which the copy-cat does not have access to until it arrives on the open market. So it is a matter of simple economics. If you want the latest and greatest product on the market, then you have to pay a little bit more for it. If you do not have any concern about whether the product is the best or a piece of crap, then you will buy the cheapest copy on the market.

A good comparison on a 1:1 scale would be like China or whoever buying a Corvette. Copying every detail as close to the letter that they are capable of, except reducing the material quality and using untrained, unskilled labor to save money, and get it onto the open market at half the price. Sure the poor will buy it every time just to be able to save money and be able to say they are driving a Corvette, but from a safety standpoint you are litterally putting your life into the hands of a company who stole the design in the first place and has no interest in protecting its reputation while you are driving a substandard poor quality automobile that will more than likely kill you.

Yes we are only talking about R/C right? It is no different than anything else in this world that revolves around what your financial capabilities are. We all have to live within our means. If you are in the poverty range for income, then of course go buy the clones. 99% of the time the clones will live a shorter life and end up wasting your money. That is the simple truth when it comes to any kind of copy cating scenario. You will also buy and defend your purcahse of a Rolladex watch for $300 just because it looks like a $50K Rolex. The arguement is solid in your economical logic because that is what you can aford to work with, but the maker is a thief no matter how you slice it.

Oh and making conjecture is kind of silly when you do not have any facts to back it up in relation to saying that one country copies other countries products. Show us one. The VCR's were vertually all made in Asia, no matter what name was put on them. So please prove your point...