Verdict on Holmes Hobbies HV500 Servo?

[Drm31078]

So what's the verdict on the Holmes Hobby HV500 servo? I have seen some folks rave about them and then I have seen some folks that have gone through several of them due to breakage (maybe the older version?)

I just bought this Tower Hobbies Progear Shop 425 oz. servo that Harley is using in his Bomber build, but not sure if I like it yet.

 

[ranger01]

I've had mine for about a month now, ran it about 5 times, hard. It's fast and has held up in my Bomber with a Castle BEC set at 8.4 Volts. (Maximum voltage for this servo which renders:
Torque @ 8.4v: 36.0 kg/cm (500 oz/inch
Speed @ 8.4v: 0.11 sec

 

[mikebecher]

So what's the verdict on the Holmes Hobby HV500 servo? I have seen some folks rave about them and then I have seen some folks that have gone through several of them due to breakage (maybe the older version?)

I just bought this Tower Hobbies Progear Shop 425 oz. servo that Harley is using in his Bomber build, but not sure if I like it yet.

It's likely that the vast majority of the failures you have seen were for the previous model, the HV400, and that's why Holmes doesn't sell those any more. I put a HV500 in my Wromber about 3 weeks ago and it's been great thus far. I run it every day and have never had to even think about it, or hear it for that matter! IMO, it's far superior to the Hitec 7950 and 7955 and at least equivalent to the Promodeler that has been abused in my Wraithzilla for the last 5 months. I would recommend it in a heartbeat "thumbsup"

 

[Brainanator]

Just to get a differing opinion in here, I broke the center gear shaft pin on mine in 20 minutes in an SCX10 with CMS. To HH's credit I called them up, they said that was pretty strange and had a whole new gear set to my door at the end of the week. I took a 7950 out of the SCX10 to try the HV500, and I much prefer the 7950 at the same voltage. Not quite as speedy as the HV500, but it feels like it has much more turning authority.

In the end I put the 7950 back in the SCX10 for reliability in comps. A 20 min maiden run was not confidence inspiring. I put the HV500 in my TF2 where is was a big upgrade from the 7955 I had in there.

The case is very well made, complete with o-ring relief machining even for the screws. I was very impressed with the case. Gears inside also look pretty nice.

So in my opinion, I like the 7950 more, but it also has a 30-40% premium over the HV500. I do feel like the HV500 is fairly good value at the $100 price tag from a known company that will stand behind their product.

 

[maslin]

Plenty of info in the HH servo thread.

hv 500 died on first run..... started out great but as the time went on it got weaker and acting funny till 2hours into the run it stopped working... walking of the trail never make me happy

Had my first carnage on the servo. A little over 2 hours of creek crawling and the bearing on the output self-destructed and sent little balls into the gears. Amazingly, the gears don't seem to bad but it needs a new bearing. Holmes has been contacted. Still had a blast and can't wait to get this torque monster back in the Wraith.

I don't like carrying my junk back to the truck, I don't care what the customer service is like.

That being said, out of my two HH purchases, both have gone bad or shown up damaged. My original trailmaster pro was never right, got replaced under warranty with the updated TRALILMASTER PRO, typo and all :roll:

6mm Wraith tranny stuff showed up with a knock in the end of the shaft and a slightly smushed pin hole, I was told there's no way it left the shop like that, must have been the mail man that sheared a piece of steel off the shaft.



I want to like them, I really do, I understand supporting the smaller guys who support us... But I'be been burned by a few of these guys now. I've never had a Castle or Tekin product show up with a typo on the side of it.

 

[Drm31078]

Thanks folks...got the answers I was looking for. Should have went to the HH servo thread, but didn't think about it. I will go check it out.