Best esc for medusa 3680-1600?

[pinkpanda3310]

My medusa arrived in the mail today
So I fitted it but when I tested it the esc didn't spin the motor as it should. I opened up the esc and tried to test it again and it blew up in my face
It WAS a quark airmaster and I understand it probably blew due to no mechanical brake.
What I really want to know is does the decision between mmm/quark/mgm come down to personal prefference of is there more of a science to it?
The set up is on an e-maxx 3905 on 6s.
I also have a novak motor I was curious to know if I could run that with the speed passion silver arrow esc as a sensored system. Has anyone tried that? The esc is meant to be good for 250A continuous so should easily handle a high revving novak motor... right?