Can anybody tell me the basic Pros and Cons with Digital seervos for my Steering and throttle on a 1/8 buggy. Will using one for throttle give a much quicker response that is noticable?? Will using one for steering be much quicker and noticable too?? And, do they drain the battery quicker?? If getting one digital servo.....should it be for the steering or throttle?? Thanks.

Basically, digital servos are (usually but not necessarily) torquier and more accurate, the cons are that they draw more power, are often not very compatible with cheap radio gear.

I brought one only for the steering. You can see a better respond for the steering. I change it for the throttle and I cannt see big difference. In my conclution, you put the digital servo in the steering, you have more control of the car for the corner of the track.
My buggy have 1 analog for the throttle and 1 digital for the steering.

I dont want to buy another digital servor for the throttle for three reason:
1.- Two digital servor they drain the battery quicker.
2.- The price is big diference.
3.- The digital servor for throttle you cannt see a lot of performance.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_40.../tm.htm#401830

This is a very one sided view...the speed / torque rating depends on the servo you buy not whether it's digital or not.....I use the JR8611 for steering and the Futaba 9451 for throttle...you can't tell me ANY analog servo gives you .1 speed at 130"/lbs of torque...as a general rule for which ones to get, for steering get something in .15 or faster time and at least 130"/lbs of torque....for Throttle use anything faster than .12 and minimum 100"/lbs.....the T/B servo does need ot have torque if you want your buggy to stop ....Now the ones I chose I did so because I was tired of having steering servos blow up all the time...the JR series has been MORE than enough....I have yet to kill one and I've run over 12 gallons on each of the vehicles I'm using them on......yes they are more money, but aren't you worth it???

as far as whether or not to buy digital......WHat radio are you using? is it AM? if so are you planning on upgrading to FM anytime soon?.....If not then don't waste your money on Digital...just get a nice set of Analog servos....I hate the Hi-tec line except the 645MG and 625MG...those are the only Hi-tecs I haven't had any issues with......I've had 3 of their digitals be bad right out of the box so I'll be leaving them onthe shelf from now on.....

I am rocking the Blue Bird BMS660MG for my steering servo (metal gears, heatsink). [email protected], you can't beat that for the $40.00 one of these things cost. I have heard that these are unreliable, but mine is working great. Its better than the Hitec 645 that I use for my throttle servo. Its also 1/3 the cost of the JR servos I used in the past. I would recommend giving one of these a shot.

That is a good price. Have you ever tried a servo in the .10 area? I know I paid apretty penny for my S9350's but they were DEFINATELY worth it!

Although I think I'll try to airtronics .10 @200 oz one next!

would you rather have a fast or torquie servo for the throttle?

fast... get a jr8800s for throttle and a jr 8800t for steering. they both cost around 100 bucks but are well worth it. one of the few upgrades that instantly make you better. you must have good servos to be competitive.

noooooo, torque for throttle, the ideal speed for throttle is between .16 and .14, and at least 100oz-in of torque to operate the brake effectively. If you go faster than that, you can open up the throttle too quickly and bog. In the excitement of a race it's easy to do and will cost you time. That's my 2c anyway.

For the steering, fast as you dare, and anything over 100oz-in...

You can run a basic servo on the throttle if you wish, but the higher the torque the more cost for the servo. Personally I run a 50 oz servo and have brakes that will lock the wheels up on any surface with any tyres. But even a little 10 oz servo will do the job nicely.

yeh, you're right, now I think about it, I'm only running a 60-something myself...

Anyway, my point was that you don't NEED a particularly fast servo, and as you correctly pointed out, alex, you don't NEED a particularly torquey one either, but also, torque equals response...a 10oz-in servo is not really gonna cut it, but I get your point...

To be honest, I was running regular futaba s3003 servos on all my throttles for a long time, just 'cos I had a lot of them around...never had any problems, but now I've got a medium spec (0.16, sixty-something torque) Hitec on the throttle, just for a bit of extra torque, it did make a difference in brake response and brake holding...yeh, yeh, I know I said in the past, I don't use Hitec anymore, well, I had it lying around, but I certainly wouldn't use it for the steering...

A little of both. I'd say atleast .15 @100oz of tq.

Have you ever seen this happen? My S9350's are .13 @ 6v and it has never bogged the throttle!

Yeh, used to happen n my 1/10th's, guess its down to driving style...

ZR got it right....you DO want speed on the throttle....if your bogging because of fast servos then you need to retune it.....I run the futaba too and it gets .10 time....you need that especially in a buggy cause you can have a "gyro effect" from the wheels while in the air...the faster your throttle responds the better you can correct bad takeoffs and landings....at least 100oz for braking is recommended....I know "you don't NEED 100oz" but when I get pushed into a bad turn and have to stop, I definatlly want the power to do it......you won't really see the benefits of Digital servos until you have a good radio though...until then the AM freq won't respond faster than your servos will.....

speed on throttle and torque on steering, trust me, if you race do this...


matter of fact i got a kick out of this kid last week at the track argued this with me and told me that the jr8800s and 8800t specifically tell you where to put the servos. S is for steering and t is for throttle, we all had a good laugh.