flightmaxx's are back! FYI....

[BrianG]

I think the biggest sore spot concerning MA is the cost for what you get. If they were as cheap (or close) as similar performing packs, then people wouldn't have a problem because they would meet expectations. But when a premium price is paid, people expect a premium product. Yeah, a warranty is nice, but when a single pack and a warranty is more expensive than getting two equal performing packs... well, you can do the math.

I too haven't had problems with my MA packs, but they do tend to run warmer than other brands, and I have had issues with assembly (not so much that, but the thickness of the tabs when I tried to reassemble them).

GD, you are a racer (and a decent one too from what I've seen), and hence have more throttle control. This leads to much gentler discharge curves. So it makes sense that a lesser battery works just as good as a higher-end one for you. Bashers tend to hammer the throttle more aggressively and therefore need batteries that can handle those bursts.

[TexasSP]

My issue with Maxamps is that every maxamps pack I have ever owned has puffed. I have never puffed any other brand of lipo, ever. When they were small in the beginning and I could deal with Austin directly, it was a much better outfit.

With the inclusion of Jason things just seem to me to keep going down hill.

I am sorry GD, but I really don't think my experience is giving them an unfair rap. Also keep in mind that the lipo's I run now are stressed much harder than what the ones I owned from MA were.

I also don't see why anyone would pay maxamps prices now with so many other top brands at the same price and sometimes lower. Especially with zippy's, there is no better bang for the buck.

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by glassdoctor

I know this is an anti-maxamps community... but I have a pile of MA packs that rip just fine.

I've been running my 4200s since last summer, mostly in 1/10 buggy and some runs in my 1/8. They run great... IR is still very low... 3 or 4 on the Duo charger. Not sure how anyone can bash on them. All my packs have been good... the only puffed packs I've had we my fault. I discharged them down to 0 by accident, and then kept using them until they died.

If you want to beat up MA on their prices, fine. But the performance/quality of their packs have always been unfairly bashed on RCM in my opinion. I went down that road a long time ago and listed my own data graphs that were MUCH better than what some others here were stating. I've never claimed them to be the best, or anything they are not.

Anyway, I'll gladly run my MA 4200 powered buggy against anything out there


Glad to see you guys still have a sense of humor here... tenergy rocks

I was anti maxamps due to lies that Jason was spreading around, and his general arrogant attitude.

I have rebuilt countless maxamps packs, mostly the 2p 3000-4000 cell based packs that were very popular about 2-3 years ago. Build quality of those packs was very poor, and the tab thickness and attachment methods were very questionable. Plus a large portion of those 2p packs had a puffed cell, and it was not due to the packs being abused (unless you consider trying to run a pack at its rated spec abuse). Maxamps cell matching back then was nonexistent in my mind.

Plus they are too expensive for what you get, bottom line is they are a bad value. You pay for maxamps advertising, not a quality product.

I am glad to hear that you are having good success with your packs, from what i can tell maxamps have increased the quality of their cells and are having fewer issues. Maybe their ratings are more true now, I have no idea.

I would never buy from nor suggest to anyone to buy a maxamps product due to the fact that they based their company on alot of false advertising and have got to where they are by continuing this. I generally like to buy products from a reputable seller, as I value honesty and integrity. I can safely say that we as a group here are generally like minded in that matter. If RCM Mike had based his business on pirating other peoples designs and attempting to pass them off as his own I would not support him either, it is just that simple to me.

I support honest hard working companies, and prefer to buy from smaller companies as well. Maxamps do not have any respect from me, and their products are all over priced (not just the lipos).

Rant over...

[scarletboa]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

Compared to tenergy nimhs they were great packs...

hey, i have some tenergy ni-mh packs. i used to run them in my rustler vxl. i have the 8-cell packs. i had a 4200 pack that i took apart and soldered together (spot welding from the factory) and that pack is still running strong. i got a pair of 3800s for $17 each and just about a month ago, i got one up to 260F and i could just peal the shrinkwrap off like it was nothing. that pack is toast. 2 weeks ago, i got the other 3800 pack up to 200F and that pack isn't toast, but is now weaker.

i popped in a zippy 5000mah 3s 25c lipo and....HOLY $H!T that truck moved! i had it geared for about 50mph and it was just flying. wheelies at 50mph were easy. i did have to dremel the back and sides of the chassis down to be able to squeeeze the pack in there. the worst part is though, while testing my charger's accuracy with a nice voltmeter, i accidentally shorted it at the balance plug and the metal piece in the connector is now broken.

link, how much would you charge to put a new connector on my battery?

[Wild YFZ 450]

Please it would be alot cheaper for you to learn how to solder yourself, Sorry linc for taking business away but soldering on a deans...

[PBO]

I suspect scarletboa ment to say balance tab??

[Wild YFZ 450]

Nevermind, My bad was reading clearly enough, lol

[glassdoctor]

In the past I have always bought bare cells from Austin and built my own packs, so I can't comment on the built quality, etc. I can say the cells were good to me though.

I do know there are some personality issues, etc... but that's personal and has nothing to do with the actual product.

Now, I have several packs built by MA, all 2s.

4200 and 5250 hardcase
4200 and 6000/6500 shrink wrap

I'm also now using a balance charger and trying to keep all my packs free from user error.

I don't expect to NEVER have an issue with them. There was one MA pack I had puff that MIGHT have been just bad cells, but I recall feeling guilty about how I was using it and never even called MA to ask for anything. Every brand can have bad cells though and I've cells puff on a couple other brand packs before... and those I can also say were mishandled at some point too, such as over discharging or not checking balance.

[glassdoctor]

BG,

I totally get what you say, and I can agree for the most part. But the main argument I recall against MA, is based on a comparison to TRC packs, which are a considered a great value. But we could use the same argument against many brands, not just MA. Same thing with the FP outperforms MA argument.... could also be said of many other brands.

Also, I'm not so sure that the current MA stuff can't stack up against the best out there. Maybe the Enerland cells could run circles around them 2-3 years ago when 20c was generally the best and 30c was simply amazing... but I would be very surprised if the same were true today. Maybe the 40c packs will outperform my 20-35c MA packs, but with that rating, they are supposed to. And none of the 40c packs are cheap either... in the same ballpark as MA for sure.

I haven't played with my turbo35 or eagletree for a long time... and I don't have all the other brands to compare. But, I think my 4200s are really good and I just noticed recently that the IR is really low... which does tend to indicate how good the pack is.

Maybe the only reason I replied is that MA recently picked me up as a driver, so I wanted to at least give one voice of support here... especially considering all the discussions we had here long before I had them as a sponsor. Before anyone bashes on me... I do pay for my packs (not 100% never have been) and I can actually get a couple other brands cheaper through other contacts... but I choose to run MA. That's why I got some prebuilt packs... needed ROAR legal packs and wanted to run the same thing their customers get.

[glassdoctor]

Thanks for not flaming me guys.

back on topic

Zippys.. yeah... that's a whole other deal. Stuff direct from Hong Kong can be a bargain... or a ripoff. Kinda like buying used or ebay. I never compare Zippy stuff to the regular brands, sold and serviced by U.S. companies. But some of them do like like a steal, if you can use non-standard size packs....

[scarletboa]

Originally Posted by PBO

I suspect scarletboa ment to say balance tab??

yea, i was referring to the balance tab. those little metal pieces in the balance tab or so small and close together that it is hard not to accidentally short them.

don't get me wrong though, my soldering skills suck. there are huge blobs of solder on the wire ends of my deans plugs. i think i need a little more practice with my 40w cheapo iron. that's what shrink wrap is for though. i got 2 meters of 6mm wrap for like 70 cents on hobbycity.