So I brought home a FX-R and Hotwire programmer tonight and put it in my new AX10 Edge install.
Here's some additional thoughts and comments from my perspective.
1.) I am not a big fan of the solder posts. I also felt soldering on the cap sucked too. It's nice that you can change your wires, etc. But for example, I own a hobbystore, the majority of our customers are newcomers to the hobby. This would be a handful for them and could go bad easily.
2.)I also thought the solder posts were almost too small for the gauge wire they provided. The wire would not fit in the slot at all (not sure if it was meant to in the first place, but that would have made the process easier.
3.)I was also disappointed in the fact that they only provided three lengths of wire. You are forced to cut the wire they do give you in half and have relatively short leads. The short leads were not a problem for this install but could be for others?
I know *why* they did this, but given this is a reverse speed control and given this is an esc in a higher price range. How hard would it have been to included a second black wire?
4.) As an additional note the RX lead is shorter than most servo leads. I measured 8 inches, compared to 12 inches on my JR and Hitec servos. No issue here for me, but again could pose a problem and require an extension for certain installs.
5.) Lastly a huge pet peeve of mine. A Futaba RX lead. Grrrr...why-o-why does anyone still do this anymore? Drives me nuts. I know you can cut the polarity tab off, but they never fit right, you can cut too far, etc. There's no reason to even have these anymore...ditch the polarity tab and then the thing is universal.
I'm not trying to nit pick just providing additional information...
So now onto the good, the ESC is incredibly small. Even Kaetwo's pics don't give it justice. Very tiny. Size wise if your using the new DX3R it's almost the same size as the SR3100 rx included.
Setup of this radio through the button programming is excellent. Great LED and chime prompts. Very Easy. Novak could learn a thing or two from these guys.
I also used the Hotwire software. Got to say, using alot of Castle Creation products over the years flying airplanes, etc. and programing mambas on a daily basis for customers. This software has alot of catching up to do. Plus the pricing on the interface is way to high for what your getting. It's double the price of the castle link.
I've really got to run this to give it more of an impression in terms of use. I am going to be using a 10T Cobalt motor and a 1320 TP 2 cell battery. So far it's super smooth, no jitters, no issues with the ESC locking out at full left or right as the other poster mentioned and I'm using a Hitec 5955TG servo.
This was a tough choice to make for personal use. The Castle Creation ESC offers great software programming and the ability to run 3s packs, and both brushed and brushless motors. It however has a big footprint and not a weaker internal BEC than what I was considering.
The Novak is smaller, no software interface, easy to wire/hook up. Interesting drag brake (not sure I like it and it's not adjustable) but has a fantastic internal BEC.
The Tekin gave me a compromise of everything. Plus we have never really been a big Tekin shop prior to this and I love having the opportunity to test and try things out so we can make great honest reccomendations to customers.
Hope this helps some others out...
-Also as an additional note. I'm using a DX3R and I could not get the ESC to calibrate without reversing the channel. Not a huge issue, but the manual really seems to be adamant about keeping it "normal" not reversed. Anyone else have this issue?
