Futaba 3vcs reliability question

[Ema]

I'm looking to buy a second hand Futaba 3vcs and the one I found got 97 hours of total usage showed on the display at startup, so the unit have been run for at least 97 hours ...

Based on your personal experience (any 3vcs owner is welcome :) ) , is the unit still reliable after such usage or maybe the potentiometers can start having some problems ?

Thanks
Ema

[Big G]

I tend to reset mine when I recharge the lipo in it which is around the 15hrs mark. Had it for years and it's never missed a beat.

[lardy37]

Trust me it has had more than 97 hrs that is just time since it was last reset but they are a brilliant hand set and never seem to go wrong so time used is not an issue atall and unless you buy a new sanwa you won't get anything nearly as good

[SlowOne]

It's not until people ask these questions and you do a calculation that you realise how much time and money this hobby takes!! :wtf:

I bought my 3VCS second-hand from someone with a good reference and in the five years I have had it I reckon its done over 200 hours. I have had one problem with the module not switching on properly (shows 'DISP' in the screen, not 'RF') that turned out to be dirt in the female sockets of the module. Apart from that... nothing... at all... ever.

I have had only five radios sets since I started in 1976. Three of those have been Futaba (3GX, FF3 and 3VCS) and none has missed a beat. The 3GX and FF3 received a clean bill of health at 3 IFMAR WCs (when they were put on a spectrum analyser in those days to make sure they were on the right frequency) and travelled variously all over Europe, to the US and Australia in hand luggage.

In the RC-sensitive world of 12th, the most popular radio sets these days are Futaba and Sanwa. It used to be Futaba and KO, and before that Futaba and JR. But it's always been Futaba and something!

Service from Ripmax is prompt and good value. They repair older sets too. It is one product in RC I would recommend without hesitation, second hand or new. HTH :)

[Ema]

Thank you guys, now I know what I have to do :thumbsup: !

Bye
Ema