Which brand of battery do I prefer?

Motors, batteries, speed-controllers. All things electric that have driven wheels.

Which brand of battery do I prefer?

Postby wendy » Wed Aug 16, 2017 2:50 am

Summary:

About 6 or 7 years ago I got my first RC vehicle...the Traxxas Rustler. When I got it, the guy at the shop recommended I get a lipo and lipo charger to really enjoy the fun. When he told me the Traxxas brand lipo was going to cost $60, I said no thank you and submitted myself to nimh for the next several months if not first full year. During that time, I also got a micro helicopter and a micro airplane which both used tiny 1s lipo. I took to flying pretty quickly so I started browsing the local shops selection of foam parkflyer airplanes. The prices on the planes weren't too bad, but the lipos the shop sold (E-flite) were about $35 or $40. I actually ended up buying a slightly smaller plane (Parkzone Wildcat) because it used 1300mah batteries that only cost $23.

So there I was driving my RC cars on NiMH and flying planes that used 1300mah batteries. Finally, I met some guys on RCGroups that lived in my area. I started flying with them and I saw that most of them had tons of batteries. Here I was with a small handful of batteries for my plane and nimhs for my car lol. Then I noticed the the heaps of batteries they had looked different than mine. As we talked about our planes, it came out that I had chosen my planes on the cost of the batteries. The guys looked at me sympathetically and told me there were tons of battery brands out there online, and specifically that I should look into Gens Ace. One of the guys even gave me one of his to keep and fly with. It was a generous gesture and one that I still appreciate these many years later. I went home that day and looked the 1300mah and 2200mah 3s batteries. My jaw hit the floor when I saw how much cheaper they were than the leading brands. And not just a few bucks, the 2200 were at least $20 cheaper and the 1300s were at least $10 cheaper. I excitedly hopped over to the hardcase lipos for cars. I flipped when I saw the car batteries for my Ruster were HALF the price of the Traxxas batteries.

I tossed a few of each size in my cart, made my most pathetic puppy-dog eyes at my financial manager (dear wife), and got the go ahead to make my purchase. I must say that was the biggest turning point in my advancement and enjoyment of this wonderful RC hobby we love so much.

Testing:

I lack the tech equipment to do a real data driven test on the lipo batteries I own, but there are folks that have done some pretty in-depth testing on Gens Ace and other leading brands. One video that still stands out in my head is one done 5 years ago by Ultimate RC's Jang. It's here if you want to see it. What it shows is how well Gens Ace holds up to the competition and how great of a value they are. Even though that is a 5 year old video, it is still as true today as it was then. I'll admit, I am not the most gentle on my batteries, and they hold on and balance better than the E-Flite and HobbyKing batteries I have owned. Gens Ace have established themselves as such a leader in the battery market, that other smaller brand battery companies like to quietly tell you that what they are selling are rebranded Gens Ace batteries lol. That's what I've heard about Glacier and also Pulse. You can call it hearsay, but if you ask around, you might get the same info. The fact is, not only are Gen Ace batteries great performing batteries, but they are still competitively priced. It really makes it difficult to want to buy anywhere else. The only times I don't buy Gens Ace are when they don't make a size that I am looking for. This is infrequent and usually only because a company like Horizon Hobby makes a proprietary size for one of their products.

Conclusion:

I know this review/article sounds a whole bunch like a commercial... and for that, I apologize. However, I am writing this because as is the mission of this site, I am trying to save you a buck and make sure your RC dollars are wisely spent. I am not sponsored by Gens Ace (although I'd love to be), nor do I get paid to endorse them. That said, consider this write-up and the video below a full endorsement of the Gens Ace and Tattu brands of batteries. At this point they are covering most aspects of RC from cars and planes to race drones and power sources. I consider Gens Ace the unofficial battery of Real RC Reviews. Check out the video below and see how the Gens Ace 2s5000mah and 3s4000 mah turn my Arrma Raider XL into a rocket.

video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFNbDq1PiY
wendy
 
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