Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

I have stuck with Futaba and JR servos for my whole R/C life. Until recently, I never tried stuff like Cirrus, Tower Hobbies, Hobbico, Hitec, etc.

I recently ordered two Tower servos -- the minis, with 55 oz of torque at 4.8v. They look, feel, and act like super quality servos --for $22. Now don't get me wrong, they are not digital or coreless quality, but they are great for the money.

Anyway, my question -- I noticed that this servo, the Hobbico cs35, and the Hitec225, all have exactly the same specs. I'm guessing therefore that they are the same servo under three different labels. Is that correct? Made by?

Mine (Tower) says made in Korea. Since Hitec (Korea) is one of the big four now, I'm guessing they are the perps. --Tony

NCC-1701

Tony,

I believe you are correct about Tower and Hobbico servos being made by HiTec. HiTec initially entered the US market in the late 80's making radios and servos for others. World Engines Expert radios were HiTec and Ace's "Import Special" servos also were HiTec.

HiTec makes some excellent servos and receivers. They are a real bargain.


Rob

ilikeplanes

Hitec is a brand. It's just a different brand than Futaba. I would really like to know where and with what parts Futaba products are made. I bet the electronics are off-the-shelf, and the plastic is molded in Korea. Assembly for the top shelf components is probably in Japan, but for the budget standard stuff it's probably Korea. Just my guess.

Anyway, I think it's a matter of value. Is the performance and durability of a Futaba servo twice as good as Hitec? I doubt it. Is it worth twice the price? To some. Is Hitec equipment an excellent value? It is to me.

Good luck.

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

There's no doubt the servos I'm referring to are the same. The pictures on the Tower web site include the same outputs, including the neat adjustable output that ACE came out with a couple of decades ago.

The prices are interesting. Low price is Tower, Hitec is second, and Hobbico is the highest. $23, 24, and 25 respectively. Can't figure that out. Maybe Hobbico's marketing costs are higher. Hard to believe.

The entry level and other low-end servos Futaba has their name on are Taiwan-produced I think. I even got one of their $100 hi-speed servos that was made in Taiwan. Mine glitched out of the package, but I'm sure it was a fluke. I use Futaba servos still, and have only had two fail in the air in 30 years of flying.

JR's low-end servos are made in Maylasia. I had to go to the world atlas to find that one.

Wherever -- they all seem to work just fine thank you very much. I remember paying $40 for Kraft KPS-14 and KPS-15 servos in the 1970s. They had terrible centering, they traveled 10% more in one direction than the other, and you had to have the 'standard' and the 'reverse' servos to plan your installation. But even they were good back then. And I think I was making about $500 a month at the time, and had two little kids to boot.

Thanks for the responses guys. ---Tony

Thud_Driver

My Feedback: (1)

Just peel up the Tower label and look. On my TS-53's they have "Futaba 3003" molded on them.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Tower and Hobbico are both part of The Evil Empire, Tony.

As to marketing costs, well, somebody's gotta pay for those expensive color full-page ads... and the extensive staff that creates them.

Perhaps that is why one can buy a 9252 servo from Asia for $75, while The Empire wants $140 ???????

Steve