Where did Blue Bird Servos suddenly come from? The specs at the Balsa Products site look almost too good to be true. Perhaps this servo manufacturer (made by someone else?, maybe not) is on to a new and better way of doing things. I wonder how they could have upstaged the leading manufacturers by a large margin, and still be cheap? Lots of questions!

Ernie

Hmmm.... I wonder too. Maybe someone will do a review and tell us what's up.

On the same note, did you read the warning? I don't recall seeing that kind of warning on the big brands. In fact, I test gear integrity that way, and I'm always pushin' and pullin' the control surfaces. Have yet to have a non-impact gear failure on airplanes or cars with the big brands.

I think some bench testing would be in order before committing to operational duty.

Lex [sm=thumbup.gif]

Guess I'm the first to try them. Ordered 5 of the 620
nylon gear, and was going to try one in a Raptor 50
Heli. Put it in, gave the stick a move and the thing
made the worst noise I ever heard come from a servo!
I had it connected to the collective pitch and I gave a
fast input from low to high to see how fast it was and
got about half way pretty fast then made some weird
noise and and took a long time, for a servo, to finish
the stroke! Talk about dissapointed. Maybe I was just
unlucky and got just a rare bad one, but I wasn't even
about to try any more. I just felt there was no way I
could trust them in anything more then a car. They are
on there way back for a refund. If anybody else has
these can you report your findings?

Larry

I had two of the smaller BB's (371's I think) "burn out" after 30 flights in a foamy. The hitec 55's I replaced them with are still working fine after 100 flights. I've tried many servos and if the specs look too good to be true they probably are.

I am in the process of running them in a modified funworld 3d with saito 180...( the 620) (about 30 flights so far) I push this plane hard so the servos are getting a real workout!!

here is what I have discovered so far

1...the warning about moving the servo arm is nonsense... I do it all the time !

2...did a torque test using a digital fishing scale and they in deed put out around 8.3 lb/inch pounds of torque consistently !!!

3...after about 10 tries on the torque tester one of the small nylon gears failed but this was with the servo going up against the scale which has no "give" what so ever. When I retested with a heavy spring to take up some of the shock, the small nylon gears held up.

4.....they are the advertised weight and seem very fast (620 were supposed to be the slowest ones)

5.....tried also the metal geared version ...same exact servo but all metal gears ! (except one)


I have found these servos to be excellent so far (not convinced they will hold up however...time will tell)

here are the bad points....

A.....very difficult to revers...(not an issue if you have an advanced computer radio)

B....the metal geared version has one (1) gear that has a tiny metal gear pressed into a large nylon gear....caught it slipping once (not good...replaced with the nylon version gear)

C...the 4 screws that hold the thing together will strip (guaranteed) you need to do some work on this to correct.

D....the gears are small when compared to other heavy duty servos with this type of torque !

attached are the elevators I am driving with them.....they are huge !! (modified, very large)

Veeeery interesting information guys. Thanks loads. Let's keep it coming!

Has anyone tried one of their mini servos? I am looking for a possible replacement for the hitec 225's.

Ernie

Been using the small 306 servos for about a year now with no problems. Was sceptical at first but no problems.

I've had about 6 of 10 perform correctly.. I don't think I'll buy anymore..

What troubles did you have with them Tram?

Thanks,

Ernie

Where are some other places to buy the BMS-306? Some local flyers are using them in foamies and they seem to be holding up OK.

I have been using them for 2 years and hundreds of flights in foamies and other small electrics and slimers without a single failure. I use the 306, 371, 381 and 381MG. I have sold ALOT of these servos and have yet to have a customer complain. While flying in the cold (-20f) I have had GWS and JR servos strip gears INFLIGHT in hard 3D, but not a 306 or 371. I have not used any of the larger servos so I cannot speak for those that are larger than the 381MG.

had one of the standard servos fail on me after about 5 mins... thing just fried and tried to go back and forth... ignored endpoints and cracked the case from torque...

Does anyone know why these servos are not sold in mainstream locations?

Ernie

They're junk. Who would want them. The small ones
seem OK but the standard ones, beware. [:@]

Larry

Now theres an in depth review. I know I will not be buying any after seeing all the facts. Thanks for the information.
Bob

I have 4 of the nylon gear versions in a Queque Yak. They are fast, and strong... The Yak was crashed, fixed, crashed, fixed, crashed, fixed... etc... (no fault of the servos..!!!!)... I'm kind of using the airframe for a test platform for the servos, and MVVS engine... I would not hesitate using the blue bird servos in 40 or 60 size models... not sure about anything bigger.. I'll keep updating on the servos... I have to fix the Yak tonight... crashed it Wednesday, when both main wheels came off in flight.... I forgot to tighten the collars...

Ahh, an upbeat story! Which servos are those exactly?

Ernie

BMS-620's on the elevators, and BMS-621's on the ailerons

I'm running bluebird servos in a 25cc powered 1.2 lanier stinger (around 15+ pounds) and they handle it great! In total I think I have about 10 bluebird servos, no problems yet. as others have mentioned, their specs are probably accurate, they are both very quick and strong.

I thought it was just a bad one that i got but seeing all of this I know i'm not alone. I don't remember which one i had but I know it had 144oz of torque at 6v. This was so nice in my buggy for steering until after about a 3 runs the thing started smoking. I loved it while it worked for that short time. I also had a hard time putting it into the buggy (just a little longer than others). I was going to get another but now i'm glad I did come look it up hear first

I have 4 of the 621's two in my aeromaster and two in an ultra stick 120 both 6 volt systems, no problems so far and lots of flights. After reading this thread I tried to kill one of them to see how well it would hold up. maxed the EPA and put the servo in a bind and held it for over a minute no problem , no smoke , no cracked case nothing. reset the EPA and held the elevator in place and again moved the stick to max throw and held it there for over a minute, still no problem and very strong and fast. I like them, but if it makes everyone feel better I have had hitec servo's fail futaba servo quit working just before takeoff and JR servo that locked up tight in flight but it was on the throttle, so there are good and bad in all of them.
WYLDMAN

Hm, interesting reading.
I have been thinking about investing in a couple of blue birds 380 MG's for my Magic 3D but after reading this I am not sure anymore.
I have found out that these servos was before sold under the name Way Point (in northern Europe at least). Does anybody have any experience with the former brand name servos?

Can anyone give me a clue as to what is technologically different about the Blue Bird Servos that they are able to give more torque and faster speeds than other brands???

Thanks,

Ernie

I will be honest, I have been buying BB servos now for 2 years in my Parky PLanes. I own now at least 35, maybe 30 BB servos. I usually run the 371's, but I tried the 308's. I had one dead on arrival, and I got it replaced. It worked great and I sold he plane with them in it, and it still rocks on to this day. I have had 1 field failure of 30 servos. I dirtnapped my flying wing (Overlord) and it stripped it. That was Pilot Error. So, I have not had a single in flight failure and I fly 3-4 times a week with something Blue Bird. I am about to put the 621 MG's in a plane and go try them. I want to try some glow sized servos... Rock on Blue Bird... No more HS 55's for me...

My experience wth the BB 621s are not so glowing. I decided to try a couple for the elevators on my Showtime. The advertised speed and torque seemed great, but the performance sure doesn't live up to the hype. They are definitely slower than they're rated. But the worst part is that the last 10 degrees of movement takes over a second. It looks like the servo gets close to the requested position, then tries to ease up to the final position. Plus there doesn't seem to be much strength around zero. The arms are too short for decent surface travel, and the supplied servo horn screw is too short to use with Dubro arms. I have to find some longer screws somewhere.

I still may give them a shot in the air, but right now, I'm really skeptical.