Looking for feedback on Brushless...or is brushed the ONLY way to really go crawling?

[Desert Rc]

Okay I want a new motor. I was thinking of going brushless and someone said go with the Mongoose motor/esc but there is not much to offer in reviews as I searched. Everyone that did get one kinda tapered off in review dept which in my experience is not a good sign. I gathered the Drag Brake is insufficient for SERIOUS crawling needs. I would like to know more though.

ALso considered MAMBA mICRO and the Mamba 25 and maybe run a holmes motor till I find the right motor.

Reason I want brushless is that I am really not into rebuilding motors...not really an interest of mine. So any help in making some decisions an d starting a thread on Brushless experience would be great. I would really like to go BL in my BERG too but it seems to be in the same boat. But to be completely honest I am a bit uneducated on BL in a crawler. Help a brotha out in some decision making so I dont waste more money making wrong choices...Ive already made plenty without inquiry.lol.

[EKIM14]

I don't know if rc crawlers have the same rules as rc helis but brushless motors are not 100% maintenence free. 99% of my hobby experience is thru rc helis and a brushless motor for us will last about 50-100 packs before it needs to get torn down and have new shafts and bearings dropped in. These little brushed motors are cheap (under $30 mostly)
I don't rebuild either. At these prices I'll just toss the motor and buy a new one. I'm running the mini slider motor right now and I can't see needing anymore than that for a crawler. and I think it was about $17 ;)

[Thorne_Dog]

One of the biggest drawbacks I've personally read about (although I have no first hand experience to share so take this with a grain of salt) is that the brushless stuff may have cogging issues. I'm sure there are ways to help cure any cogging issues a brushless system has and you may not always experience it, but the simple fact is brushed motors will not give you problems like this which can be pretty important with a slow speed crawler. I think that's a pretty huge impact on the brushless crawler idea...I think the novak goat system is one of the better ones to go with based on the input I've read about brushless systems for crawlers. The people that have mentioned that also have mentioned that they still aren't as good as a brushed setup though.

[RockAddict75]

I rocked a Novak Goat in an AX-10 comp rig last season for a SHORT while. I didn't care for it at all. It had a tendency to be glitchy/twitchy. The more of a load you put it under, the worse the issue became. Start up under load flat sucked! I tried every possible setting on the esc, adjusted the throttle DB on my 3R, no sucsess! So if the Mongoose micro set-up is the Goat's little brah, THAT B'NESS!! I run a Castle Sidewinder micro & HH Torquemaster mini on 7.4 lipo, plenty of wheel speed & O SO SMOOOOOTH, and about 50 bucks cheaper

[EKIM14]

cogging is only a problem with some brushless motors. however alot of these motors pull the most amps when starting from a stop which is all a crawler does. Brushless motors were designed for high effiency once it gets going but its not needed for a crawler unless you ran it at full throttle all the time.

[jmz6]

I have had a Goat system in one AX-10 comp rig for 2 seasons and it has never cogged or glitched, so do a couple guys I comp with. I have zero cogging with the two rigs I have brushless in. With brushless you have to get the gearing & voltage right otherwise it may cog. Not to bash brushed, I also have a rig setup with a Sidewinder & a brushed motor, it also works great.

Brushless isn't PLUG-N-PLAY, you have to do a little work to set up your rig with the proper gearing and batt, but it can be done.