SJS

My Feedback: (16)

I have a composue arf 2.6 yak and I'd like your opinions on servo selection. I am a JR man, and I like the 8711's. However, several members of my r/c club use the hitec 5955 servos on their giant scale ships. I'd like to hear your opinions.

SJS

N12932

Hi
I started off as a JR man but have resently switched over to hitech. Mainly because of price. Ive not found any problems with any of their servoes from those that I have used in old trainers to those that I have in my giant scale and warbirds... I would say go with the hitech, it will save you money and will be just as reliable.

gboulton

My Feedback: (15)

Ditto for me. Have flown or am flying Hitec servos on 3 different 50cc airframes, and am putting them into a 1/3rd scale scratch build I'm working on now. I've had 0 problems with them.

tim220225

My Feedback: (4)

I have been using 5945 and 5955 Hitecs in my Wild Hare 50cc and my new Carden 35% Edge. Buy the programmer and you are set. No match boxes etc to deal with. Never had a problem with any of them. Just my $0.02.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

Having been one of the original Hitec users from the day they started marketing in the US, changing to JR a few years ago when some servo issues were taking place with Hitec, and recently going back to Hitec, I believe the Hitecs are the way to go.

Reason? The gear trains precision and longevity differs dramatically between the two companies. The JR 8611 is a wonderful servo, a little faster and stronger than the Hitec 5955, but I and others have experienced very fast gear wear in the 8611. It would be bearable if JR would say something like , "ok, we understand and it happens, just send 'em back", but they don't. What they say is something like "None of ours do that and we get hundreds of flights with no problems so it must be you". Those same statements or ones like that are what chased me away from Hitec the first time. There have been cases where they have called the wear normal wear and tear and tried to avoid the warranty work.

The Hitec 5955 servo has a tighter gear set out of the box that the 8611. The gears are supposed to be made of titanium, and should have very long lives. I know they are slop free out of the box. All the reports from those using them for the last year have been very good. I've seen the evidence myself in quite a few planes belonging to others. The composition of the 8711 gear set is alledged to be the same as the 8611. If I wanted to use a single rudder servo in the Yak I might consider the 8711, but everything else would have 5955's if it were mine. I would make sure I had easy access to the rudder servo for possible future service if I did that. I have 8611a's all around in my 2.6 Comp Yak. Every one of them brand new, every one of them with free play in the gear sets. The plane has not been flown yet. None of the new 5955's I'm using in another plane exibit those issues.

I don't like pulling the servos every 30 to 50 flights and sending them back to have the gears replaced. You almost need to buy a second set of servos so you can keep a set flowing through the repair pipeline as long as they're under warranty. Customer service from both companies is good, but it's my free and flight time that goes out the window when I need to use that service. I love the performance of the JR products but I don't like rapid gear wear and changing servos. What can ya do? The pricing between the two companies is no longer enough of a factor to be an issue.

Your choice, so choose wisely. Some of the servos are a little hard to get out of that Yak

Hooked-On-RC

My Feedback: (16)

Well I like Silversurfer moved away from Hitec a couple of years ago for the same issue, I had troubles with the Hitecs, the company blamed everything but there own issues and later made running changes to their servos and "cured" the issues. I have been using JR 8611's for the last year but honestly I have not had enough flights on them to tell if they are wearing poorly or not. The reason for his is I build one plane at a time and the last plane I put together was a cheap overseas ARF and it suffered a catastrphic wing failure, that in itself is a huge long winded story, back to the servos. With the 8611's, there is some gear slop that Silversurfer suggests but it is very minimal, would I like a servo with ZERO slop? YES, but at this point I am not prepared to make a move until I see how the 8611's perform for me. Everyone's setups are different, everyone's flying styles are different, everyone's power usage is different so therefore the only true measure of a servo's performance is a measure made by yourself. I truly beleive as do others, that if the manufacturers truly wanted trouble free service from their products, they would also include step by step instructions of how to install the servos, the linkages and the wiring/power requirements, but they chose not to.

I have always been one that beleives in the old adage "you get what you pay for" and yes, Hitec's are less expensive, and there are thousands more sold than the competitive brands, but those two statements both coincide with one another. This hobby is expensive enough as it is, don't get me wrong, I like to save some money as much as the next guy, but the only true measure of the performance of ANY product is a measure made by yourself. Shall we throw Futaba into the mix? They have a very nice new servo that they launched for early release and have since pulled it from the market because of gear issues, and that was before general release.

Remember, judge for yourself, use what you can afford and what you feel is the best choice for YOU, if things work out for you then that is fantastic, if they don't then it is a hard lesson learned. The advice of experienced modellers goes a long way but it is also advice that may have been skewed by the biggest disputes or the tiniest of issues, the choice is yours, mkae the one you are most comfortable with based on your decision and what you are able to afford!

krayzc-RCU

My Feedback: (31)

i am running both jr and hitec mostly Jr, i have had a few lower budget hitec go out on me. Hitec replaced or fixed those. So far I have never worn out any gears in my JR servos.

RTK

My Feedback: (1)

I have been a Futaba guy for years until I went to giant scale some time ago. At that time JR had what I wanted in size and power. As mentioned by SS & HOOKED the 8611's come out of the box with a little gear slop, or at least all of mine have, and they tend to wear at an unacceptable rate. I decided to try the 5955's and have been very pleased. No slop out of the box and no slop developing after the flying I have done on them. Until JR replaces their gear train I will not go back. The 8611's and 8711's are great in all other respects, but I can't see having to change the gear trains as often as needed.