Since I had never heard of a venon 40amp esc I just let it slip by - there are a lot of little known names around. A very visible difference betwen brushed and brushless ESCs is the number of motor leads, two on a brushed one, three on a brushless. It would be interesting to know what the third lead was connected to.
The makes I referred to earlier are all good substitutes for the Robbe unit, and all are primarily directed at controlling boats using brushed motors.