Why does everybody like the HS-50 so much more so over the GWS Pico-BBs? The stats are almost exactly the same with the numbers favoring the Pico-BBs, and the Pico-BBs are cheaper, $21 vs $27! I know the 50 is transparent blue, but there's got to be more to it.

The Hitec has 4 screws holding the case together, the GWS Pico only has a piece of tape/shrink tubing.

the HS-50 is a little lighter I thinks....

For what its worth, I buy GWS almost exclusively - great price!

Originally posted by KSU Flyer
the HS-50 is a little lighter I thinks....

'Fraid not :

HS-50, $27.49:
-size: 21x13x22 mm
-weight: 0.22 oz
-torque: @4.8 - 9 oz/in @6.0 11 oz/in
-trasit time: @4.8 - 0.09 s @ 6.0 0.08 s [Slightly Faster]

Pico-BB, $22.00 [Cheaper], Ball Bearing:
-size: 22.8x9.5x15.5 mm [Smaller]
-weight: 0.19 oz [Lighter]
-torque: @4.8 - 10 oz/in @6.0 11 oz/in [Stronger]
-trasit time: @4.8 - 0.12 s @ 6.0 0.09 s

So the HS-50 has 4 screws, if you're going into the case something is screwed anyways.

The HS 50 also works to a lower voltage than the Pico, FWIW in low cell count applications.

Mostly, it's a brand and availability thing. Now the HS 55 IS cheaper (and heavier) as I recall...

all the hs50's ive seen have a snap together case, no screws, they are remarkably quieter and smoother than the pico bb, dont use rubber grommets and eyelets for mounting. ive started to buy hitec hs55 and hs50 servos instead of GWS, ive had 3 naro servos take a dump on me in the past 4 months, caused 2 crashes, one with my switchback, no more naro servos for this boy, the picos i will stick in an ips powered plane, but my switchback gets hs55's from now on

Dylan

I haven't used the Hitecs, but I have never had a problem with my Picos. I fly them in my soarstar, and litestick and 2 SlowSticks, and have never had a problem. I did accidentally strip a gear in one, but it was my fault from trying to force the horn. I've bought quite a few, and there is no comparison in my opinion. So the case has no screws> Who cares! How often do you need to open it anyway? Focus on the facts. If I got a bunch of bad servos, what are the odds on that? Why haven't more people gotten part of the bad batch? That leads me to believe there may have been another issue other than the servo. Perhaps it was binding, rx problems, whatever. I haven't tried Hitecs, I may in the future, but in the last year and a half, my Picos have been flawless, based on my experience. And I've been flying R/C for almost 27 years.

I don't own either, but being on a budget, I'd probably say that I'm going to stick with Picos for right now. The blue case is "neat," but I need to save weight and costs, personally.

Seņor_Paco, I love your avatar!

Nick R.

My 2 pico servos are still fine, the 3 Naros that went out werent binding, crashed or stripped, and this was between 2 different recievers, a gws and a full range JR r600, 2 of the naros were plain bearing and one was ball bearing, from what i could gather in post mortem of all 3 naros is that the output shafts on all 3 were too tight of a fit in the case, causing binding, even with the BB servo. that resulted in the amp board getting too hot and causing the servo to deflect one way untill it sat there buzzing, giving the motor full current untill the wiper brushes failed, amp board and motor were so hot you couldnt touch em, i think the pico servos use the same amp board as the naros, but i havent torn a pico apart yet to see how free the output shaft rotates in the case, bad batch or not, i had 3 naros go out, ive been in this hobby for 12 years, built alot of planes and set up alot of control surfaces, theres no way the ailerons on a switchback or and_now are too much for a naro servo to handle, or the elevator on a dirt cheap parkflyer, How many GWS servos do you see in use in competition? see quite a few hitecs futabas and JR's tho, ive done the comparisons, i dont fly anything that would really benefit having a hs50 in it rather than a hs55, and the hs55 is cheaper than the pico, under 20 bucks shipped from servocity.com

And i have read accounts of other e-zoners having problems with GWS servos, not one post about a hitec servo...


All in good spirit

Dylan

I have heard that the Pico's are current hogs. I don't know from experience, but I do use both the Pico's and HS55's. I like them both, but for low weight applications I prefer the Pico's. I don't own any HS50's, but I know someone who uses them exclusively on his competition DLG's.

Mike

I can't compare the HS50 to the Pico's, but I have compared the HS55's to the picos. The Pico's end-to-end travel seemed to be significantly less than the HS55. This typically wouldn't be a pain unless you're installing it as the flap servo in a Cessna 180 wing. Ask me how I know I had to get creative with the servo arm to get enough travel.

Martin

Sizam,

The thread title mentions HS-55 but your first message talks about HS-50 (the lighter/more expensive one).

I have direct experience in comparing the HS-55 and the Pico-BB and I have to say that I think the GWS servo is actually far better. I know the "selling point" of the Hitec is their low current consumption but I had real problems with an HS-55 controlling twin ailerons on a Switchback wing, there just wasn't enough torque and when in flight the aerodynamic forces prevent almost any control surface movement (so the plane was almost unturnable). I originally replaced it with a Multiplex MPX2 servo and it was then fine and later I replaced this again with a GWS Pico BB and (because I'm 99% certain that this is the SAME servo as the Multiplex) this was also fine too.

Then later I had a problem in another model. The actual problem was of my own making in that a control rod was binding but the HS-55 I had there just couldn't move the thing. I then replaced it with another Pico BB and the thing worked fine even though the binding problem had not been fixed as such.

So I know which servos I'll be buying in future (GWS Pico BB bought in 4 packs from Dave at www.aircraft-world.com are a pretty good price). However, as I say, this is comparing Pico BB and HS-55 not HS-50 and I accept that the GWS servos may be consuming more current (but I guess you don't get "owt for nowt"!!). In a 3 servo setup I don't think there's a problem but with 4 or even 5 servos one might need to worry unless the ESC has a very high spec. BEC

Cliff