The Henglong boards do have some issues, but truthfully, the two I fried happened after I did some tank modes, not before. Metal gearsets and tracks being the biggest culprit would be my bet. If you are adding metal gears, hook up your drill to the output shaft and run them in using that. Metal gears will require some running in, and the extra ampereage drawn by the motors will be the reason the ESC will fail. Let your trusty drill do this task. Additonal heats sinks to power transisters will aid help as well.

At $15.00 a piece from Mato I don't mind the odd board that goes up in smoke. If you go to the local hobbyshop you can spend that on an RC wiring harness switch!!!!!

That is the catch with the Henglong tank. If it was a $600 tank I would be unhappy, but at less then a $100 and a good supply of parts, they are a pile of fun for the tinkerer.