Originally Posted by Sammus

1) Probably, haven't tried those exact ones, but have used similar prices chinese cells that perform very well, havent tested the discharge ratings though. The ones mentioned on here are usually all korean cell based, which have a reputation for better quality (ie more accurate C ratings or less voltage drop under load).

2) Yes and no. Yes if all you want to do is do high speed runs. No if you ever want to drift or jump with confidence. The reason for this is they are designed for aero use and have a super low torque soft start (Which cant be disabled, it is very soft even when in 'normal' start mode) to protect fragile aeroplane gearboxes. With aircraft you tend to hold a fairly constant throttle. With land vehicles you tend to be braking and blipping the throttle a lot, and the soft start gives you quite a significant delay in throttle engagement (ie if you go from coasting to throttle to try and balance the car in a drift, or blipping the throttle to balance the car in mid air). This means unless you can compensate for this delay (which you cant really, you dont usually know your going to have to blip the throttle to bring the nose up in mid air before the nose actually starts diving), you will find it very hard to drive and jump consistently with. For racing there is no way you could get away with one. For bashing maybe, depending on your bashing style (if that makes sense..)

3) Put it this way, if I'd have known how bad the delay was in the turnigy HV esc (which I assume your talking about) I would have planned my whole conversion differently - maybe even never have gone electric in the first place! So YES, I would highly recommended spending the extra $$ for the mamba monster. If you still want to go with the Turnigy I have two I want to sell (with programming cards) that I'm more than willing to part with.

4) Can't really help you with this one, apart from say that I've had bad experiences with those cheaper no-name chargers, but cant speak for all of them.

I hope you gleaned something of use from my rants! :)