Review – Powerhobby 729MBL Brushless Waterproof Servo
A few weeks ago we received a new 729MBL Brushless Waterproof Servo from Powerhobby for review purposes. Most of our staff had not driven a Powerhobby servo, but one of guys, Hawaiian Chris, had actually used a couple in the past. Before we had even cracked open the box on the Powerhobby, Chris told us that the ones he had used in the past, were truly impressive. As Powerhobby is perhaps known best for their hop-up parts and upgrades now days, we were truly curious to see if one of their servos could compete with the best on the market. Was the Powerhobby servo truly high-end for performance? Did it hold up to serious backyard bashing (and crawling!)? Read on to find out…
From: Powerhobby
Direct Link: 729MBL Brushless Servo
Review By: Cubby
Pictures By: T-Money
Specs-
* Waterproof IP67 level up to 1 meter
* Full CNC machined aluminum case
* Spline – 25 tooth
* Built-in magnetic sensor
* Precision steel gear
* Efficient brushless motor
* Dual ball bearings
* Programmable – Yes
* Operating Voltage – 4.8 to 8.4 volts DC
* Operating speed – 0.085sec/60° @ 8.4V
* Stall Torque – 565 oz-in @ 8.4V
* Size – 40 x 20 x 37.2mm
* Weight – 2.75oz
* Street Price – $95
What’s In The Box- Inside the box you’ll find the servo, some plastic servo arms, one aluminum heavy duty arm, and some screws along with other mounting accessories.
Build Quality- From holding it in our hands, we could find no fault on the servo. The screws were tight, the wiring looked primo, and the motor turned as it should.
Test Drivers- Iron Mikeeee, T-Money, The RC Kid, as well as yours truly.
Test Rigs- For our Powerhobby servo review, we used an 8th scale ARRMA Kraton 6S as well as a 10th scale GMade GOM rock crawler.
Test Venues- From two of our local parks, to our local 8th scale outdoor track, we tried to test the servo in a wide variety of settings. The only real test that we did not get to do was water, as our area has been bone dry for weeks.
How It Drives- Beautifully, we are happy to report. With never ending torque, and more speed than the numbers on the box suggest, we were impressed with the 729MBL. It has the fine smoothness of an “elite servo”, with the power of a bruiser, making it a great overall servo. Furthermore, we never experienced any brown-outs from our electronics while using it, something that can’t be said for certain other servos out there. For you guys looking for quiet, the Powerhobby doesn’t make any weird noises, in fact it is nearly silent when used, a big plus in our eyes.
Misc Notes-
We loved the fact that a sturdy aluminum servo arm (with dual clamping bolts) comes stock with the servo. Yes, it also comes with a few plastic arms, but the aluminum arm is sized to work in a wide variety of different installs and comes threaded for standard sized bolts.
Downsides? It doesn’t come with stickers (we are digging deep here! LOL). We would have liked to have seen a nice little Powerhobby sticker sheet inside the box. We are sticker lunatics here at Big Squid, we just can’t get enough, and with the outstanding performance of the servo, we would have liked a few stickers to plaster all over our rig.
The 729MBL is sized to fit most 1/10th and 1/8th scaled vehicles and it was an easy fit in both of our installs.
SUMMARY
Car Show Rating: A With an all aluminum case, black anodizing, and nicely placed logos, the Powerhobby servo has some serious drip.
Bash-A-Bility: A It still lives! Even after having various noobs slam our trucks around, and going without any type of servo saver when crawling with it, our Powerhobby servo still lives!
Power: B+ While not the strongest servo available, the 729MBL is no joke for raw yank. We never had an instance where we were looking for more power while using the Powerhobby servo.
Smoothness: A Oh yes, just like warm butter, the Powerhobby servo was among the smoothest we’ve ever driven.
Value: A While $95 is no joke, it isn’t as much as a lot of other high-end servos on the market. And from our testing, it outperformed numerous servos costing much more than it did.
Big Squid Rating: A Props to Powerhobby, the 729MBL crushes it! It has high-end smoothness, tons of torque, and was even quicker than we expected, at a price that doesn’t make you wanna rob a bank. The BigSquidRC Bash Crew can give our highest recommendation for the 729MBL!
