Hitec HS-7950TH Review
Hitec HS-7950TH Review
From: Hitec RCD
Direct Link: Hitec HS-7950TH
Review by Cubby.
So you drive an uber 8th scale or monster truck, and you are the type of person that only puts the best into your baby. There are dozens of choices in high end servos, but you don’t know which one to buy. Well, here’s Cubby’s quick and dirty review of one of Hitec’s most elite servos, the HS-7950TH.
Important Specs–
Torque- Ridicupid (ridiculously stupid)
Speed- Fast Enough
Ok, but seriously, the specs-
Torque- 403 oz/in at 6 volts of input, 486 oz/in at 7.4 volts of input
Speed- .15 at 6 volts, .13 at 7.4 volts
Dual Ball Bearings
Coreless Motor
Weight- 2.4 grams
Size- 1.57″ x .79″ x 1.50″
Street Price- around $150
Overall Thoughts-
Fit– If a servo doesn’t fit, it’s not worth a hill of beans. The Hitec 7950 is pretty much a standard size, so if a “normal” tenth scale servo came out of your car, you won’t have any problems installing the 7950.
Power– First I must say, after having tested this servo for 3 months, I never installed it into a vehicle that even came remotely close to truly testing its torque capabilities. I ran the 7950 in- HPI Blitz, Venom Creeper Crawler, HPI Vorza, Hot Bodies Ve8, and Associated RC8TE. I never used it in a situation that left me begging for more power, to the contrary in fact. The 7950 always pointed the wheels exactly where I wanted them pointed, regardless of what may have been in the way, how big the tires were, or how fast I was going.
Feel– The “reference” servo we use around the office is the Hitec 7955 (a less torque cousin to our test 7950). It’s our reference because compared to every other servo we’ve tried, it’s the overall king of the hill. Arching through the entire radius is extremely smooth on the 7950, every bit as good as our reference, and a good measure smoother and more accurate than most other “high end” servos we’ve driven with. When you pay the big bucks, you are paying for a servo that not only moves extremely smoothly through its entire arch, but is also pinpoint accurate while doing so, the 7950 does amazingly well at both.
Speed– The 7950 isn’t intended to be blazing fast, it’s a ridiculous torque servo with enough speed to get the job done. No, it’s not awe inspiring fast, nor is it even close to being the fastest thing on the market. Some of us (me included) around the BSRC office used to be big fans of uber fast servos, thinking that “faster is always better”, but to a man, we’ve all gone to using slightly slower servos as of late. We’ve done this simply because we feel like we drive smoother with servos that aren’t crazy fast (and if you’ve looked under the hood of a lot of top pro’s rides, seems we aren’t the only ones). Anyways, the .15 the 7950 swings at seemed fast enough to us to help us avoid unseen pile-ups on track (or errant curbs, cats, etc while bashing), yet it wasn’t so fast we were jagging recklessly back and forth from minor steering input.
Centering– Ever notice how on some servos you constantly have to fiddle with your trim to keep your car going straight? There aren’t many servos on the market that go exactly back to dead center the way they should. Our reference is one of the best we’ve ever used at centering, and I’d have to say the 7950 is just as good. You won’t be doing a lot of fidgeting with your steering trim while using the 7950. It’s not perfect, but about as close as we’ve ever used.
Durability– Maybe I’m just lucky, or maybe Brian only gives me the most rugged gear to test, I don’t know. But what I do know for sure is the Hitec 7950 is a beast. The 7950 is perhaps the only rc product that I’ve ever tested that might actually be called TOO tough. Just how is that even possible? Because… it’s capable of breaking steering line parts by its own pure power. The 7950 is so powerful that it becomes vitally important to correctly set your steering endpoints and servo saver to prevent from breaking steering parts. After months of testing, our 7950 is unscathed, but there is a small pile of broken tie-rods, bent servo horns, and broken front knuckles that didn’t measure up to the strength of the servo. I’m from the old school of rc, where the servo was always the “weakest link”, it’s mind blowing to me that isn’t the case anymore, the Hitec 7950 IS that burly.
In Conclusion– The Hitec 7950 isn’t cheap, but it lives up to its price point. You pay more for it, and IMO you get every pennies worth.
As with all of our stuff, if you see us at a bash, stop by and check out the vehicles we have with us. We may let you take a test drive, and at the very least get you some stickers!
SUMMARY
Time To Bash – 10.0/10 – Installs as fast as any other servo on the planet.
Workability – 10/10 – I don’t see ever having to work on this beast, but if you do, it’s as fast to change out a gear on the Hitec as pretty much any other servo on the market.
Car Show Rating – 9/10 – There are a small amount of other servos on the market that might sport more bling, but the 7950 has a pretty uber looking heatsink on it, and generally looks like it should cost 150 smackers.
Bash-A-Bility – 10+/10 – Possibly the first product I’ve ever tested that was TOO tough.
Big Squid Rating – 9.5/10 – Tentacles.. If you are looking for the best (but not looking for speed), here it is.
