Steering Servos

[Nickwillyhams]

Hi all, I've been reading around and come to the conclusion the Savox SC-1258tg is the steering servo to have for 1/10 buggies? Is there anything else on a similar par ie quality/speed? I wanted to spend around £40 on the steering servo so buying new it's a little over my budget. I'm looking around for a decent used one but if I don't find anything what else is there to consider? Or should I just bit the bullet and buy one new?

Thanks
Nick

[bigt]

Have a look at hitec 8330sh great servo for the price savox suck

[Nickwillyhams]

Haha cheers bigt, I used hitec's in my helicopters and I agree, they are great servos! I'll have a look at the 8330sh but price wise there isn't much difference? And it runs at a higher voltage? (Correct me if I'm wrong)

Cheers

[beale]

Alturn hi speed or hi torque £19 got 1 of each in a tourer and a SC, had one in an F1 and have the mini in my 12th can't fault them, real value for money and so far never heard a bad word about them

[bigt]

Works fine at 6v but is 7.4 ready got one in my zx6 it feels no different to the 7940 in my rb6 well impressed

[sosidge]

Futaba all the way for me. Bls451 standard size, bls551 low profile.

Savox are power hungry, hitec had a poor reputation in the past.

[RogerM]

Whilst I agree that Futaba servos are the dogs danglies, they are what I personally use, I have to say that I've had great success in the past with HiTech and would use them again. I can personally vouch for BigT's recommendation having driven his RB6.

[mattr]

What car is it for? Might have a bearing on what servo to get.

[Nickwillyhams]

What car is it for? Might have a bearing on what servo to get.

Dex410 Matt

[mattr]

So something pretty substantial then!
My 410 eats servos. Or used to.
Got a bit silly with the specs. :o

[Nickwillyhams]

So something pretty substantial then!
My 410 eats servos. Or used to.
Got a bit silly with the specs. :o

So what do you run in it now Matt?

[hotrodchris]

Savox 1251 or 1258

[Col]

I run a Futaba BLS 451 in my 410. Came secondhand at £25 and been in for well over 1 year now.
Savox - people either love them or hate them. I hate them.
They are (as mentioned) very power hungry. This can be resolved with a powercap on the receiver, or a proper servo can be bought from the outset. With space being as tight as it is in the 410 I'd go straight for a high quality unit.

[steveproracing]

The 410 is a very direct steering system and when used with alloy servo saver tight (as is necessary) there is no give in this system. The servo had to take massive punishment. I found that using Savox servos were great and up to the job for a month or two then you suddenly notice you are always faffing with your trim to keep the car straight. (Once or twice a meeting). This is the start of the servo failing. Certainly you are loosing feel and accuracy. After this issue I, being old school, I went back to what I trust. I've used ko and futaba high end servos and the diff is amazing. They feel so much better, even from the off and 2 years down the line my bls551's are still as good as the day they were installed. I'd have to be really persuaded hard to move away from any of the big three. Futaba. Ko propo. Sanwa.
Any one of these servos second hand are better than brand new anything else IMO

[WHITTLER555]

Never had a problem with Savox servos, I have used them in all my Durango's including the Short Course 4wd, and they are in my current Team C cars, for the money I can't see anything better.

[Nickwillyhams]

Just to add a little more info, il be using the car indoor on a carpet track, is this still going to put massive strain on the servo? The futaba stuff does look nice but at nearly twice the price of a savox? I don't know if I could justify that!?

[mattr]

What steveproracing said is my experience with savöx in a 410 too.
I think the Savöx servos are cheaper for a reason. I went through two or three on my 410 in less than a year, had issues with stripping gears, once I'd got that sorted I then had brown out issues with my radio (probably as I needed a monster servo!) when that broke I bought a second hand bls451. Which did sterling service for a year until the motor burnt out (it'd already done a very full season in someone's 8th nitro road car before I got it, so not surprising, and it was cheap, £30 ish)
Now have a highest servo in there, that's not missed a beat since it went in. Bought two more when MB had their sale running.
Also worth bearing in mind that it's a half hour job to change a servo in a 410 (I got good at it!) so a failure might take you nearly an hour to sort at a race, with marshalling duties and so on.

To be fair, I have got a BIG savöx in my 8th, but that's running 4s (so no brown outs) and would have cost me the thick end of £120.........

And carpet is really grippy, so more servo loads, tighter servo saver and more risk of hitting really solid stuff (as you are indoors)

[jrenton]

I use Savox and Sanwa servos which are both very good. Would steer clear of low profile servos though as they are not as strong and in the 410 will not give you any more usable space.

[beale]

I know I'm on my own here with the Alturn option but if my 4 year old can't break the high torque in a 4000kv 4wd SC then budget wise you can carry a spare plus the servo is plenty fast

[SlowOne]

Like steveproracing and mattr, I have tried many servos and find that I always come back to Futaba. The demands in 12th scale are not about power, but speed, accuracy and life.

I am not alone. There has never been anything to challenge the widespread use of Futaba and Sanwa servos in 12th. Yes, there is the odd Savox around, but if they were that good there would be more than the odd one or two.

When you see posts here asking for help trouble-shooting interference and brown-outs, 90% of them contain the words "...and Savox servo."

Like a lot of things, you get what you pay for. There will be lots of happy Savox customers, and lots of unhappy ones. As opposed to almost totally happy Futaba customers...

Just my thoughts... :)

[dpackster1980]

I have a Sanwa ERG-WRX in my 4wd and it's over 4 years old. Imported it from Hong Kong and it cost £60, should have been £90. I have a Savox 1258 in my 2wd and it's not a patch on the Sanwa for accuracy.

Like everything in life you get what you pay for. Let's say you buy a £40 servo and it lasts just over a season and it dies you would be miffed. Spend a little more and you'll save in the long run.

[Nickwillyhams]

I've looked at Futaba bls451, is it discontinued? Replaced by the 452?

I've also found a Sanwa sdx 901, used, £46? Seems reasonable, I'm just trying to find how old it is but it looks mega strong!

[sosidge]

452 is different, it is a slower servo with higher torque, not the best choice for 1/10th steering. 451 isn't discontinued as far as I know but you do have to shop around to find them, there are a coupe of UK shops that do them at a good price.

[SlowOne]

If you want to compare servos, this is a great site...

http://www.servodatabase.com/servo/futaba/bls451

HTH :)