Spektrum Dx4s vs Futaba?

[kacordy]

I started a post on the Dock asking why the Gas guys are all using Futaba? They are posting that they don't use spectrum because they constantly lose signal and your $1,000 boats end up in the bank? I have been using the spektrum Dx4s and the mr200 without a single incident. 3 of my FE's are Carbon Fiber. No problems. In the 3 years I have been looking at these posts I have not seen or heard of a single spektrum failure. What are these guys talking about? I just bought my first gas hydro so I'm expanding my rc addiction. I just want to be safe, not see anyone get hurt, or lose some expensive boats.

Thanks for your opinion, Allen

[Raydee]

I have used just about every higher end spektrum radio in my hulls and never had a single glitch. I used a DX-7 for my heli's and plane's for years and again never had a problem. I will say that I do have some range issues with my spektrum radio in my HPI baja and have switched to Futaba fasst because of it. No matter what radio you end up running make sure you look into a killer bee kill switch for it in a gasser.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 3 using Tapatalk

[Darin Jordan]

I started a post on the Dock asking why the Gas guys are all using Futaba? They are posting that they don't use spectrum because they constantly lose signal and your $1,000 boats end up in the bank? I have been using the spektrum Dx4s and the mr200 without a single incident. 3 of my FE's are Carbon Fiber. No problems. In the 3 years I have been looking at these posts I have not seen or heard of a single spektrum failure. What are these guys talking about? I just bought my first gas hydro so I'm expanding my rc addiction. I just want to be safe, not see anyone get hurt, or lose some expensive boats.

Thanks for your opinion, Allen

The Gas Guys are stuck WAY back in the past... perhaps too many hydrocarbons inhaled or something. The OLD Spektrum radios truly had issues. Anything newer than the DX3S, that has the "Marine" symbol on it, is amazing, and works beautifully.

The new DX4R-Pro has some fantastic features and is the latest and greatest of this lineup. The DX4S has similar capability, without some of the advanced features that you'll never likely use anyhow.

Pretty much any of the DX-series, from the 2S on up will work for you. Just need to pick your feature level.

[T.S.Davis]

Darin is right. Back when DSM meant a radio with a module the Spektrums were a disaster. The new ones are pretty good as far as I can tell. I haven't had a glitch with a Spektrum since I started running the marine stuff in 2009. That's not to say they are necessarily better than anything else. Futaba still seems to be the Cadillac of radios. No water friendly RX's though. The new Airtronic has a marine rx too. Never tried that but the latest version does look pretty sweet. They claim super fast response times. Pricey though. My only real complaint about the Spektrum is that if you stuff it takes way too long for the rx and the tx to find each other if the boat comes back to the surface upright. Super annoying. The CD's usually give you a 3 second count which less time than it takes for the sinc to get it's act together.

The thing that's truly a mystery to me is guys buying $35 radios with $10 rx's. I've seen them have range issues on the bench and still send their pride and joy out onto the pond for a heat. When it fails on them they're shocked. You know "cuz it's always just worked before now". That has GOT to be frustrating for them and for anyone on the pond with them. I don't care which brand I'm using. If that thing is acting wonky I'm not sending it out there. It's not fair to the other guys IMO.

If you have budget issues at least spring for a Tactic. No features but they're a proven commodity and a rock solid signal.

[427srule]

I started a post on the Dock asking why the Gas guys are all using Futaba? They are posting that they don't use spectrum because they constantly lose signal and your $1,000 boats end up in the bank? I have been using the spektrum Dx4s and the mr200 without a single incident. 3 of my FE's are Carbon Fiber. No problems. In the 3 years I have been looking at these posts I have not seen or heard of a single spektrum failure. What are these guys talking about? I just bought my first gas hydro so I'm expanding my rc addiction. I just want to be safe, not see anyone get hurt, or lose some expensive boats.

Thanks for your opinion, Allen

I just bought a DX4R Pro and 8 receivers for my boats after running Airtronics for the past 4 years.
I had too many signal glitches and lost many races because of this.
Darin's feedback on these radio's is one of the reasons I chose Spektrum over Futaba.
I like the duel antenna feature on the receivers and hope to put the glitches behind me.
Just have to wait for the ice to clear to test it out.

Mike

[Darin Jordan]

On the Dual Antennas... the newer Spektrum Surface RX's actually have just a single antenna. The new DSMR (as opposed to DSM2) doesn't require the backup lead.

[Rocstar]

I've been running the DX4S with MR3000s and MR200s in SAW boats without issue. No complaints, great radio with awesome customer service.

[mitchesx]

Clear signal is a big issue with gas boats. We HAD to use FM no matter what - even with a resistor in the plug it can mess with the signal in the radio. One of the reasons we used the Futaba Fasst system the most in gas was because of the resistance in the spark plug, and the availablility of a built in Fail Safe (the killer B is still a better deal) but the built in is better than none. Most guys liked the dual antennae for security that you would maintain control. A runaway gas boat could run for quite some time if there is no failsafe; if it doesnt run into something first. A 45" 15 lb 65 mph boat can do a LOT of damage.

[electric]

I have the newest spectrum radio DX4RPRO. I did have one hydro (Backlash) that was experiencing signal loss. It was interesting as all my other hydro's running on the same course had no problems at all. I was using the Marine dual antenna receiver and then switched to the newer receivers (sr410) to see if that made any difference. It was actually worse. The odd thing is the signal problem was happening at turn 2 which is closer to me than turns 3(I did get signal loss here too with the sr410) and 4. The antenna is inside of the boat as all my boats are. A club member told me to get an external antenna for this particular boat which I just got in and will be setting up. Logically, I have no good answer why this particular boat would have signal loss when all others are fine? Perhaps this boat is lower to water and spraying more water up? Maybe the thickness of the wood hull? No carbon fiber in this boat. Who knows. Someone told me the gas guys still use antenna's outside the boat all the time because of the signal loss issues(with all brands) if the antenna is left inside the boat. By the way when it does lose signal the boat does as it should and just stops running. No run away boats.

I do love the radio though. I moved up from the DX2s to this one and the "exactness" for lack of a better word when you turn the steering wheel was noticeable on the bench as soon as I hooked it up. Hard to describe other than you can see the servo travel is more concise than before.

[photohoward1]

I run Futaba FSST in my gassers and FE and have never had a problem. (Most guys at my club also) I did have a problem with vibration and the BEC or Voltage regulators. LIfo receiver packs solved that. It's all personal preference.

[tlandauer]

The Gas Guys are stuck WAY back in the past... perhaps too many hydrocarbons inhaled or something. The OLD Spektrum radios truly had issues. Anything newer than the DX3S, that has the "Marine" symbol on it, is amazing, and works beautifully.

The new DX4R-Pro has some fantastic features and is the latest and greatest of this lineup. The DX4S has similar capability, without some of the advanced features that you'll never likely use anyhow.
Pretty much any of the DX-series, from the 2S on up will work for you. Just need to pick your feature level.

Hi Darin, I have been eyeing these but now these two do not have the marine logo on them, and I just want to double check here that indeed they are compatible with the MR200 and MR3000 receivers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[tlandauer]

I saw the fine print! I am sorry for the question, IT IS compatible!

[Darin Jordan]

I saw the fine print! I am sorry for the question, IT IS compatible!

I'm not sure about the Marine Logo, but they are Marine RX compatible. I tested them and they seem to work great.

People trying to run the antennas inside are really working outside of the design parameters of the system. Antenna is designed to be exposed. That's not saying it won't work, just not how it was designed to work.

I'm not speaking to the quality of the Futaba systems. No doubt they are quality systems.

I'm only addressing the incorrect notion that Spektrum has issues with Gas/Nitro. The new systems are solid.

[tlandauer]

Thanks Darin!
I have always run the antennas per the instruction and not one single failure, I have been a bit cheap as mine is a DX3E---flawless but I do miss the model memory and other setting memories.
I am glad that this clears up my misconception about the DS4R-Pro and the DS4S. Thanks again!

[Fluid]

The gas guys had numerous self-induced problems. Problem one was running the antenna inside the radio box - not reliable. Two, when they ran the antenna outside the radio box it only stuck up an inch or two and was blocked by that big thing none of us have - the tuned pipe. That big fat hunk of steel or aluminum would block the radio signal pretty well when it was between the receiver antenna and the transmitter. Three, earlier Spektrum receivers were very voltage sensitive, and gas guys often used cheap, low-capacity receiver batteries to fit in the radio box - I used to see 250 mAh 4-cell packs! The two high-torque servos would cause a voltage drop on a weak pack and voila - no radio reception. For all this, the original DMS radio - Spektrum - got blamed. Now the gassers have learned from their mistakes and whatever radio they run works fine.

Well, kinda. There seems to be a growing cadre of gas boaters who have gone to the FlySky radios because "the receivers are so cheap!" Many actually sold their Futabas and Airtronics and bought the FlySkys(!). When they have control problems they blame "interference"....

I have owned two top-end radios, the Futaba 4PK and the Spectrum DX3R PRO. The Futaba worked wonderfully for me, but when it was destroyed in a car crash I purchased the Spektrum. As far as I can tell, their performance is interchangeable. I do run the antenna outside the hull on most boats, except for my smallest and slowest. Zero radio control issues.





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