TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tower-Pro-Profes...QQcmdZViewItem
might be crap...but I may just experiement and pick 1 up to see how it is.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

Be careful. The ad says "digi" not digital. And the description doesn't say digital anywhere. Also, the deadband is about double that of a JR servo. My bet is that it is an analog coreless servo, but at that price, it might not be bad.

Jon

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

$9 to ship them???? Wow...they must be really heavy!;)

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

i have been tempted by those servos myself, but i dunno if i can trust them in my planes!
Would love to hear what other users thought! :)

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

I asked about these servos awhile back and no one had admitted to trying them. So I ordered some for a plane, but haven't installed them yet. I've hooked them up to my 9c and "cycled" them awhile and they look ok so far. gears sound smooth and they center well. I don't think they are "digital", and the motor can looks identical to a Hitec 645 I have. I don't know how to tell a coreless motor from standard. the circuit board is different from the Hitec but the case and gears looks just like a Hitec. So my hope is they will be a good alternative to other metal gear standard servos. I guess the proof will be in the flying.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

generally you can tell a coreless motor by the almost total lack of resistance to turning the output shaft (when the servo is not energized). most digital servos have a distinctive buzz when idling at neutral.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

If you look *very* carefully you'll find that they don't actualy claim to be digital servos. The word "digi" is used, but not digital.

I suspect they're just a conventional servo but if they have the torque/speed claimed then they might still represent good value.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

Well, I bit the bullet and ordered one.
I'll use it as the rudder on a plane I have, if it fails, I can still land the plane with aleirons so it should be ok.


I'll let you guys know how it does.[8D]

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

I've been checking these servos out and can report the following:

1. they are very torquey -- I haven't measured the torque yet but it may well be the amount claimed.

2. they are quite fast, perhaps as fast as claimed -- again, I've yet to actually measure them.

3. they are all metal geared -- even the gear driven from the motor shaft appears to be metal, unlike most other MG servos which use a nylon gear at this point in the train.

4. they do appear to operate with a higher motor drive frequency than a regular non-digital servo so may well be digital.

5. the servo-amp is not well matched to the motor/geartrain/feedback pot. In essence, this mismatch manifests itself as significant overshoot when the servo is repositioning. This is to say that if you command the servo to move clockwise to a position, it will actually move past that position (by 3 degrees or so) then move back to the correct position.

Even more strangely, if the servo is at rest and you try to move the arm, it actually moves *towards* the pressure being applied.

6. resolution is "okay" but not as good as most other brands of digital servos and there are even some good non-digitals that are better.

7. without a servo-arm, the weight is 2oz exactly, not the 1.78oz advertised.

8. these servos adhere to Futaba standards (spline and direction) but come with a JR/Hitec connector.

9. physically, the assembly leaves a little to be desired. The PCB on all the units I inspected was incorrectly inserted into the case so that it was sitting on an angle rather than square to the bottom (not a biggie but perhaps indicative of a lower QC standards?). The feedback pot and motor are connected to the PCB by wires and dabs of glue support these wires only where they mount on the pot. The wires to the motor are unsupported and will almost certainly break through fatigue over time if the servo is exposed to moderate or high levels of vibration.

So is this servo a bargain or a bust?

I guess it depends on your expectations.

If you're looking at it as a sub $20 budget servo then it's not bad at all. You get what would appear to be a bullet-proof metal gearset, a supposedly coreless motor, a digital amp and plenty of torque at a faster than average speed.

However, if you're planning to compare this servo to something like the Hitec HS5945 (digital, coreless, metal-gears which sells for around $90) then you'll be disappointed. Its' when put alongside a "quality" coreless digital that the MG995 shows that it really is a low-cost servo. The quality servos have a markedly better resolution, are rock-steady when repositioning and don't even budge when subjected to load -- all areas where the MG995 suffers.

The ultimate test however, is how do they fly?

I threw one on the rudder of my Katana 3D plane (replacing an HS5925) and I did immediately notice the slower speed. The plane also felt less "solid" in rudder response during knife-edge and in a hover -- but the Hitec certainly wasn't over four times better (as the price might suggest it should be).

If you fly iMAC or turbine-powered models (where precision and reliability is of paramount importance) then I strongly suggest you stick to the more expensive options. However, if you just want a bullet-proof servo that has a snot-load of torque and costs little more than a standard servo then these are worth a look.

I would strongly recommend however, that people take a moment to drop a dab of hot-glue or acid-free silicon glue on the motor leads -- just to pre-empt the inevitable.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

So it would be a good servo for a monster truck?

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

im looking at a good strong servo for a truck too
has anyone tryed them in a truck or only in planes?

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

If it's too good to be true, it probably is :D
Looking forward to your review though.

Lars

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

I tried to call it up and it is listed as withdrawn.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

I use these as steering servo's in a couple of 1/8th nitro buggies. No problems after hours of use (abuse) but they start to get a lot of free play in the geartrain after a while. Should be OK in an aircraft as long as you check the wires as mentioned previousy.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

Yeah I've been using these in my buggy and truggy for over a year now and for roughly AUS$10 each, they are the ducks nuts! For they are have been far more reliable than the Hitec servos I used to use. They are indeed digital servos and they are actually rated at 15Kg of torque not 13Kg as advertised. Not sure of the rated speed but for high torque servos they are pretty fast. I have heard of a few people having problems with them but I bought 4 of them and they've been absolutley superb throughout the last year and have stood up to some pretty heavy bashing. My thoughts were that who cares if they didn;t last that long because at $10 they're very much a throw away item. Never tried them in a plane or heli though. I think they're definately designed for trucks and buggies IMHO.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

mine have like no talk :(:(
there crap

this is in a 1/8 truggy

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

alot of guys are using these servos in rock crawlers. They are inexpensive and offer a pretty good amount of power...
I agree with most of the above, for 20 bucks or so they are a decent servo, but when compared to a higher priced know brand they aren't that great...

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

I have some servos that cost $100 + and they don't talk !!!...I think you expect a lot ...heck, I've never even seen a mouth on a servo.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

If you're paying $20 for an MG995 then you're being roundly ripped off.

The much better (but still not exactly "high quality") MG996R (which replaces the 995) can be had for about $12 -- so why waste money on an outdated, overpriced, underperforming earlier version?

And, for the record, these are *not* coreless servos -- they have a very heavy 3-pole cored motor (which is partly why they have such awful overshoot, although the 996R is much better in this regards).

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

I went to a website that had the MG995 servos for sale. The say "For cars, trucks & boats". Nothing about airplanes. I think there's a reason they say this.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

how much for a talking servo? :P:P
lols

nahh, theses servo claim to be 10kg servos
but they can hardly move the wheels on my truggy

what servo would be good for the steering on a 1/8 truggy with a spektrum dx3.0?

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

There is a guy at our field that has a giant U-Can-Do that is outfitted with 7 of these things. He has a Fox 3.2 on it. Tons of power. This guy can do every thing you can think off with a model. I mean he puts this thing to the test every time it leaves the ground. He says these servos are yet to be found. Meaning no one has given them a chance so, no body knows of them yet. He told me he bought 15 of them for projects in the future

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

Well of the 10 I bought, 3 failed within the first hour, the rest have eventually failed in a much shorter period than I would consider reasonable for *any* servo.

The failure mode on some has been just completely dead, the others have developed so much wear in the pots or gearsets that they just shake like an old alcoholic with the DTs.

If that guy with the UCD is as good as you say, he'd probably be absolutely exceptional if he actually fitted some decent servos to that bird.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

I think you will find with those cheapo servos its hit and miss one guy has exceptional luck with them and they operate as good as a futaba hitec or JR servo but others might not and have problems varying all the gambit. i would say try them if you have the spare money lying around but dont expect much for the price.

RE: TowerPro MG995 Servo, anyone try these? Coreless digitals, for 20.00...
 

And you can afford to lose a model :-(