Ummm hate to tell you bro, but the Align ESCs are NOT junk! I've been flying them for about 3 years now without any issue and have bought one for my plank as well.

That sucks that you might have a bad one, but it's not the norm. There are many many people that fly them without issues.

And on my 450 and 500 the stock ESC never gets very hot nor the motor....the the XL motors do NOT lack torque!

What battery were you using?

Skarn