Toro 1/8 Combo

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 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.