SpinnerRow

I'm about to buy a Spektrum DX7 and was wondering what the advantages of a digital servo over a standard one are? Are the digital servos worth it at nearly double the cost?

alpinestar

depends on what you're flying...
digitals have better centering and are at full torque immediately. This also means higher current draw and makes smooth, slop-free linkages important also. A digital may be noticable in a precision pattern type plane, 3d heli, etc... in something like a 40-size cub there would be no benefit.

Silent-AV8R

It depends. What kind of plane, what kind of flying and so on.

For people such as myself who fly large aerobatic planes they are worth it, and here's why:

1) better centering
2) better holding torque (moving torque is usually higher too, but digitals "hold" their position better due to much higher holding torque)
3) generally more precise

They cost more and can use a bit more current but if you are flying a plane that can benefit from these factors then it is worth it. Pattern planes, giant scale aerobatic planes, jets, usually will tend towards digital servos.

But for general sport flying they are probably not worth the extra cost.

SpinnerRow

Say an Ultra Stick 40 or 60. Doesn't sound like it is worth the money to get the digitals. I'm not that serious of a flyer. May bet a giant scale P-51 some day but that is about the extent of it.

Campgems

The futaba S3151 is what I fly in all of my planes. 40 2stroke to 91 four strokes. Why? When I first got back into the hobby three years back, I bought a Futaba 9C Super with synthized RX and RF module. No Servos came with the set, so I went to Ebay. I found three or four sellers who were selling new S3151s at a reasonable price. I've bought over three dozen so far, and the last two batches I bought cost me around $12 each. Battery drain isn't much of an issue. When I was flying almost every day, I would put in five, 12 minute flights a day on one charge and the volt meter told me I could do more. This is with a 4.8V 1000mah nicad pack.


The cost isn't an issue, and the flytime isn't as the batteries last longer than I do. Couple that with the good atributes of the digital is why I fly them.

Don

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

There are a lot of DS821's on the market going cheap because you can't use them in helicopters or big planes and they come with most DX7 systems that will work fine in that size plane. Check the classifieds and ebay.