What the newest cheap servo hotness?

[83trekker83]

Do you know what the in/oz rating on this?

[dweano]

25kg servo supposedly. I think I am going to order one to try out. Maybe more

Update: Cracked down and bought four. There is also some recently released on banggood that are designed for 1/8 and 1/10 scale but I don't know if they had to bronze reinforcements in the case. Which I think are important

[BroncoAZ]

Does anybody have any feedback on the 25Kg DS3225mg servo? There are a couple posts about it, but no follow up. I need to order something for my new TRX-4 Bronco and my Yeti rock racer. The Bronco will be running the HW 1080 with 3a worth of BEC. The Yeti has a 10A castle BEC. I was looking at buying 2 of the DS3218 form Amazon for $18 each, but I saw the DS3225 is available for $25 and also prime. I’m in for the extra $7 if it’s actually better. Thanks.

[Browneye]

Originally Posted by BroncoAZ

Does anybody have any feedback on the 25Kg DS3225mg servo? There are a couple posts about it, but no follow up. I need to order something for my new TRX-4 Bronco and my Yeti rock racer. The Bronco will be running the HW 1080 with 3a worth of BEC. The Yeti has a 10A castle BEC. I was looking at buying 2 of the DS3218 form Amazon for $18 each, but I saw the DS3225 is available for $25 and also prime. I’m in for the extra $7 if it’s actually better. Thanks.

They're $13 from China...
It is a "tall" spec you know - if you have room it will be fine for the TRX.
The ds3218 is std size and about the same spec. I've brought in about 8 of them, they are good and cheap. Good for 1.9 rigs - have them in all of mine now, and my buddies are running them too - vaterra, scx, and trx's.

You might want something a little stronger for the yeti. I wouldn't dream of running these in my bomber.

EDIT: Looks like they are the same standard case size.

[Steve g]

Originally Posted by BroncoAZ

Does anybody have any feedback on the 25Kg DS3225mg servo? There are a couple posts about it, but no follow up. I need to order something for my new TRX-4 Bronco and my Yeti rock racer. The Bronco will be running the HW 1080 with 3a worth of BEC. The Yeti has a 10A castle BEC. I was looking at buying 2 of the DS3218 form Amazon for $18 each, but I saw the DS3225 is available for $25 and also prime. I’m in for the extra $7 if it’s actually better. Thanks.

There is someone in the wraith forum that used it and said it was junk. I forget which build though. Disappointing, was a good deal. I've got 2 ds3218s that take some serious abuse, figured the 3225 would have been the same, but may be he just got a bad one to begin with. It's a gamble at that price, quality control is probably non existent.

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[HugoBiermann]

A friend also had a 3225 in his MST and he had about 10min runtime before it died. Very disappointing. My 3218’s have been running solidly thus far.


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[JDM74]

This is the one I have in my SCX10.2 Bronco. Seems to work great with the HW1080.

https://www.amazon.com/Fan-Model-Wat...rds=25kg+servo

[Browneye]

Originally Posted by JDM74

This is the one I have in my SCX10.2 Bronco. Seems to work great with the HW1080.

https://www.amazon.com/Fan-Model-Wat...rds=25kg+servo

Somebody is making a killing on that one...
It's still a $12 servo.

And domestic retailers wanting $10 to $15 for an alloy servo arm that comes free with the 3218's.

This stuff never ceases to amaze me. Capitalism at it's best.

[BroncoAZ]

Originally Posted by Browneye

They're $13 from China...
It is a "tall" spec you know - if you have room it will be fine for the TRX.
The ds3218 is std size and about the same spec. I've brought in about 8 of them, they are good and cheap. Good for 1.9 rigs - have them in all of mine now, and my buddies are running them too - vaterra, scx, and trx's.

You might want something a little stronger for the yeti. I wouldn't dream of running these in my bomber.

EDIT: Looks like they are the same standard case size.

I’m running a hitek HS-7950TH in my Bomber, I can wag the back end of it with some rock beast tires on there. The Yeti currently has a Towerpro MG968, 25kg and .13 seconds, but after 2 years it seems to be getting weak. Performance on the MG968 has been adequate, but we all know the stock steering on the Yeti is relative crap and I’ve never upgraded beyond stainless links and a solid servo horn. So I probably need something better than the DS3218 for my yeti.

I’m going to order a DS3218 for my Bronco and call it good.

[JDM74]

Originally Posted by Browneye

Somebody is making a killing on that one...
It's still a $12 servo.

And domestic retailers wanting $10 to $15 for an alloy servo arm that comes free with the 3218's.

This stuff never ceases to amaze me. Capitalism at it's best.

I guess I'm missing your point. This is the "cheap servo" thread right? I think this qualifies as a cheap servo and it seems to work just fine for me. A quick google search shows it for up to 68 bucks from some other places (yikes). Have you been able to find it for 12 bucks some where?

[Ditchrat]

35 bucks for that 15 dollar servo, you should have your head examined.

[Browneye]

Originally Posted by JDM74

I guess I'm missing your point. This is the "cheap servo" thread right? I think this qualifies as a cheap servo and it seems to work just fine for me. A quick google search shows it for up to 68 bucks from some other places (yikes). Have you been able to find it for 12 bucks some where?

All of mine have come from AliExpress. Check it out.

[DRTMI]

$17.85 and up from the U.S. on ebay. Most have an aluminum servo horn. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...fLoc=1&_sop=15

[BroncoAZ]

Originally Posted by BroncoAZ

I’m running a hitek HS-7950TH in my Bomber, I can wag the back end of it with some rock beast tires on there. The Yeti currently has a Towerpro MG968, 25kg and .13 seconds, but after 2 years it seems to be getting weak. Performance on the MG968 has been adequate, but we all know the stock steering on the Yeti is relative crap and I’ve never upgraded beyond stainless links and a solid servo horn. So I probably need something better than the DS3218 for my yeti.

I’m going to order a DS3218 for my Bronco and call it good.

I was fixing up the Yeti and decided to check the voltage on the BEC, for some reason I had left it at the default 5.1 volts. The MG968 is rated for 6.6 volts. The Tactic receiver in the RTR Yeti is only good to 6.0 volts so I set it at 6.0. It definitely made the servo more responsive. The servo wasn’t getting weak at all, there was so much slop in the Yeti steering the servo was moving through 1/3 of its travel before the wheels would move. I made a spacer to shim the spring down and tighten the servo saver piece, now all is probably as good as it can be without spending $80 in new bling parts.

I ordered the DS3218 from Amazon for $17.89 shipped prime.

[durok]

The DS3218 in my Ascender still works great after a year or so, but I'm not sure of using one in a 2.2" tire sized rig...(I am using a mix of 1.7" and 1.9" tires)

If anyone is using one in such an application, it would be great if they could keep reporting on their results in this thread.

It's a fantastic value servo - but I'm just not certain of the brass gears holding up for very long in a more stressful application.

(I still think all RTR rigs should come with them as the default servo, and with the free aluminum servo horn - SO much better than any stock servo)

[svt923]

Anyone see these DS3218 Pros?





They have some more torque, are quicker, and gears that are not brass. The 3218 in my son's truck is fine but the slop in the gear train is awful, hopefully these ones are better with different gears.

Amazon seems to be the only place I found that has the Pro version.

https://www.amazon.com/ZOSKAY-Waterp...rds=ds3218+pro

[Voodoobrew]

Besides Lol if this thread has thought us anything it's that specs don't matter in cheap servos. One is rated 18kg the other 21kg both cases say 20kg seems legit.

[Browneye]

Yeah, I saw the 'pro' version show up on AliExpress - but didn't see how to order it.
And yes, the spec's are tongue-in-cheek. If they work great. I surely wouldn't pay $35-$70 for them state-side from amazon or anyone. I buy them 2 or 3 at a time and stick them in my field bag. If you buy them four at at time the cost is like $11 each. I have sold half the ones I brought in for $20 ea - better than what they can run out to the LHS for.

And yes, they're like a drop-in replacement for a stock servo on a 1.9 rig. I wouldn't call them 'comp' grade, but do pretty well. I've replace the one in my main comp rig once - it gets hammered pretty hard too. Currently I have 2 ascenders and one SCX1-ii with them installed and happy with performance. When they quit working or get loose I drop a new one in there. And FREE alloy servo horns!!!! LOL

It's this guy with the heavy axles and wheels - it's 7lbs. It's the one that broke the front axle cup in a slot-canyon recently...

[HugoBiermann]

With the warm weather in South Africa the DS3218 does the job really well in trail rigs. Its dirt cheap and I haven’t heard of guys complaining that they are loosing servos out on the trails because of them working hard and overheating. I carry a spare one out on the trail and have had to borrow it to guys loosing much more expensive servos. They have all ended up buying 3218’s. I’m loving mine and am still waiting for all of them to get sloppy. I have sold most of the units I have bought too. Thats why I end up ordering more. Its funny how quickly cash gets produced out in the bush...
I have bought from these guys numerous times:

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/517382

I haven’t considered ordering the ‘Pro’ version yet. Just because of the higher current draw that it will have because of the speed. Same with the 3225. I don’t want to have unnecessary load on my 1080’s and bec’s for slightly better performance that you’ll probably wont notice.


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[Browneye]

Originally Posted by HugoBiermann

>snip

I haven’t considered ordering the ‘Pro’ version yet. Just because of the higher current draw that it will have because of the speed. Same with the 3225. I don’t want to have unnecessary load on my 1080’s and bec’s for slightly better performance that you’ll probably wont notice.

This is exactly why I keep using this version - it's strong enough for what I do, and works with the HW built in bec. No fuss, no muss.


I set bec voltage to 6.0 when I run my led lighting. For a competition I'll leave the lights off and up the volts to 7.4. That servo sings pretty good there - I don't care if I burn it out. It will burn out my lighting controller though. LOL