Looking at getting Brushless,however....

[Bugs Buggy]

...I'm not sure. Looking at a lot of these posts, there seems to be reliability issues with some of them. I was looking at either a GTB/6.5 combo or a Sphere/Neo combo...but I've seen posts on both of them questioning their reliability. I have a B4 and a T4, both have Novak GTXs and I've run stock, 13T and 10T brushed motors in them... have not had a single problem. Sure, you have to cut the comm a lot and change brushes with brushed motors, but I haven't had an ESC or motor break yet in nearly a year of use (I did have an IPC Super Sport ESC for a short while but it broke after only a few runs :mad: ).

I'm tempted to get a brushless setup and put it in my T4, and put the GTX in my new touring car to race Stock Touring (the track is too short to really run a mod motor..). Given my good experiences with Novak ESCs, I'm tempted to go with the GTB/6.5 setup (My Cobalt 10T double is a little scary to use in my truck, and my 13T Orion is controlable, but lacks a little on the straight..)...but I don't like all the reliability posts.... I may just get a Checkpoint 11T double brushed motor and a third GTX and be done with it....

Any comments???

:cool:

Bugs

[tcolesen]

The Novak GTB/6.5 would be an awesome setup for your T4. But, as with all newer products, there will be issues (remember the SS5800 when it first came out?). I am sure Novak is doing all that it can to sort out any issues. I really don't think you could go wrong by running the GTB/6.5.

[chilledoutuk]

as far as i know there are no reliability issues with novaks systems.
A small number have had manufacturing defects but these are dealt with promtly by novaks customer support or exchange at your modelshop.

in fact reliability wise i have never had a brushless system fail including novaks supersport, Mtroniks genesis, Hacker master car sport, hacker master car comp, C408s, feigoa 540 8s.

[scoob]

I've run the GTB 6.5 in my T4 for 2 months now without a problem. I run 8000 mah lipo packs so it sees a lot of track time. I wore the front bearing out but I am estimating that it had 10 hours of runtime on the motor. I race 20 minute mains and practice up to 30 minutes non-stop. With 16/87 gearing temperatures are fine after those long runs and this is without the fan! As you can imagine, I have to rebuild diffs, shocks, and replace bearings a lot, but I get as much track time (or more) as the nitro guys. The point? I've put this system through some pretty tough conditions and it's held up well.I race an unconventional class and there is no way I could race this class with brushed motors. For someone running standard electric races with 5min heats, mains, and practices, It should hold up for a very long time.

Of course, everyone makes a lemon once in while and I think some of the posts your reading on here are factory defects which you can simply send back.

[Rtsbasic]

The thing is, if someones brushless kit goes bad they're much more likely to make a thread/post here, than if it works fine. I have no reason to doubt the reliability of the Novak units, they're nice little things. I have had a Mtroniks brushless ESC go bad once, but it was promptly replaced with a new one so no big deal.

[Craps]

Seems the Novak GTB/5.5 the racers here are not giving any problems racing in 20 minute races we race in and even 1 LRP/Reedy neo owner has switched to it after he has went through 3 Neo motors and 1 LRP Sphere ESC.

I don't use the Novak myself (Schulze/Plett man), but I have noticed the Novak GTB is a big improvement in realiabilty over the old 5800SS system.

Good Luck!

[Nabors]

I got my SS5800 the day they came out and had it till last month I sold it to help pay for my mtroniks set up (wanted more power). I never had any problems with it and wouldn’t hesitate to buy Novak again if they made more powerful systems.