RE: Speed controller advice
An 8 cell pack is 9.6V. Subtracting the BEC 5V ouput from the battery input is (9.6-5) is 4.6V. The 1A current maximum of the BEC means it has to be capable of eating 4.6W (4.6V*1A). This is about one third the heat of a small soldering iron. The "larger" ESC does not generally have a higher capacity BEC. The linear regulators that support more than 1 amp are singnificantly larger and heavier devices. Most of the real estate on ESCs is for the MOSFET farm not BECs. In addition MOSFET's current capacity derates by 50% at 75 degrees C. A higher current BEC means the ESC needs more MOSFETs to deal with the added heat. This is why BECs don't supply more than 1A.