Having got to grips with the 18SZ I am starting to think about the 'best' receiver for my purposes.
My planes are often on the smaller size and mostly do not have very high power servos. In the large planes I have the choice of receiver and system is easy. 2 of the cheap Sbus R6303SB 3 channel receivers can be connected to the Powerbox SRS and running the 18 SZ in FASSTtest mode I believe I will get 18 channels but can only have 12 analogue servo channels in the Powerbox SRS. (One of which is the sequencer and retracts). However if I have servos operating in pairs on surfaces then they can be matched and up to 21 servos can be connected.
Now in single receiver planes I usually use a R6014 (12 channels proportional and 2 switch) with a Powerjack amplifier if the leads are long or the servos are large ones.
I have looked at the new R7018 SB 18 channel receiver. This can be run in FASST normal mode with 18 analogue channels, FASST High speed with 12 channels analogue but the first 6 channels are reserved for Sbus. The final option is 18 channels Sbus. The receiver is telemetry enabled but only for FASST High Speed or Sbus.
The receiver has a built in switch system that must be used, and has dual power feeds but no power regulation. It can handle 2s Lipo voltages directly if the servos will cope.
The price of this receiver is £189.99 which is similar to the R6014.
In my existing planes I am used to using Powerbox switches that regulate the current and in the larger planes I use the Gemini. Most standard cheaper servos are rated at 6 V.
I have no desire to buy SBus servos and get locked into Futaba completely. I use A123 packs for all batteries so would be running the servos at slightly higher than rated current, though most seem to get away with it.
The R7018 seems like a good choice for me for the time being. There is nothing to stop me mixing systems in different planes and if I really wanted telemetry I could use it in FASSTtest mode and use 6 channels with Sbus servos.
I did wonder about using a serial to analogue converter to cover the first 6 channels but this would make the receiver very expensive.
What do others think?
John