Castle Creations Mamba X Crawler Edition Combo Review
Castle Creations Mamba X Crawler Edition Combo Review
Introduction
I have a Losi Rock Rey and I love it. It's a beast of a truck and it can handle just about anything. You can see what I think about that truck in my full review here. There were only two things I wanted to change, the steering servo and to replace the stock sensorless power system. Shortly after receiving the Rock Rey I saw the press release from Castle Creations about their new Mamba X Crawler Edition combos and I thought it would be the perfect system for the Rock Rey. I quickly emailed castle to request a review unit and they kindly obliged.
Features and Specs
SMARTSENSE allows the Mamba X ESC to use the motor's sensors for smooth low speed running, but once the speed increases, the system transitions to a sensorless mode and can adapt the timing advance automatically for optimum efficiency. It's like have the best of both worlds!
QUIETSENSE technology keeps magnetic noise away from the sensors, making sure the motor and ESC stay in sync at all times.
Auxiliary Function is built right into the Mamba X ESC. If your radio has an extra channel free, you can connect the Aux wire from the ESC to it and make adjustments to settings such as torque control, max throttle and more on the fly.
Telemetry Capable. If your radio supports it, the Mamba X can be used with the Castle Telemetry Link to provide real-time data like temperature, voltage and RPM.
Mamba X 1406-2850KV SENSORED
- Input Voltage Range: 2S-3S LiPo
- Kv: 2850
- Max. RPM: 100,000
- Length: 49.5mm
- Diameter: 36mm
- Weight (w/wires): 197 g / 6.9oz
- Shaft Size: Length: 15mm, Diameter: 1/8" (3.17mm)
- Mounting Hole Specifications: M3 @ 25mm
- Connectors: 4mm male Castle Bullet Connectors attached to replaceable 13 gauge wire; includes 210mm length sensored wire.
- Max. Recommended Vehicle Weight: 9lbs when used for low speed/moderate driving style like rock crawling and trail running; 5lbs for more racing and aggressive driving styles.
Mamba X ESC
- Input Voltage Range: 2S-6S LiPo (3s max with 2850kv motor used for this review)
- BEC Specifications: Adjustable: 5.5V, 6.0V, 7.5V. or 8.0V (8A Peak), default 5.5V
- Operating Environment: Waterproof* design allows for use in nearly any environment.
- Brake: Proportional
- Reversible: Yes, but may be disabled for racing.
- On/Off Switch: Yes
- Cooling Fan: Yes, factory equipped (30mm)
- Length: 2.14" (54.4mm)
- Width: 1.39" (35.2mm)
- Height: 1.18" (30.0mm)
- Weight (with wires): 3.56 oz. (101g)
- Connectors: 4.0mm female bullets for motor connection.
- Programmability: Fully programmable Castle feature set using Castle Link USB adapter and Castle Link Windows software.
- Telemetry Link Capable: Yes
Price: MAMBA X, SENSORED, 25.2V WP ESC AND 1406-2850KV SENSORED COMBO - $209.91
Installation
The Rock Rey has a neat little motor installation system where you mount the motor to a plate, and then it drops down into slots in the frame. The mounting holes are spaced apart instead of slotted and allows the gear mesh to be set near perfectly with different pinion gear sizes. The stock motor has a 5mm motor shaft and the Castle motor has a 3.17mm shaft, but you can order an optional 5mm shaft if you need to. I was able to find a proper 12 tooth pinion gear (same as stock) to fit the 3.17mm shaft allowing me to use the exact same mounting holes as the stock motor.
The stock ESC case has mounting ears on it and it is secured to the frame with two screws. I could have just used some Velcro or foam tape to secure the Mamba X ESC, but I wanted to use the existing mounting tabs. I recently got into 3D printing and while I'm a total newbie at design, I was still able to take some measurements and design a mount in Tinkercad that fit the Mamba X using the mounting tabs on the frame. Once the ESC and motor were installed, it was a simple task to connect the motor and sensor wires and install the on/off switch. In a matter of minutes, my Rock Rey was ready to run with Castle inside.
Performance
What difference it makes! The Mamba X system completely transformed my Rock Rey. Starts and low speed crawling are like slow motion now, it's just so smooth and exactly what you want for climbing rocks and rough terrain. The jerky movements of the stock sensorless motor are all gone. It literally doesn't get any better on the low end than this, I'm super happy with that result.
On the other end of the spectrum, I figured I would lose some top end speed being that the Mamba motor is smaller than stock, but with 3S, I still had all the get up and go that I needed. The power was smooth and the top end speed was only marginally slower than stock, but it was much more manageable. All of the technology and features listed on the box now made sense to me. It was everything I wanted, super slow speed for crawling and fast controllable power for bashing. Check out the video below to see it in action.
Conclusion
While I wasn't able to test out the telemetry or auxiliary functions due to the stock Rock Rey radio system limitations, installing the Mamba X Crawler Edition power system was totally worth it and lived up to my expectations for quality and performance. The sensored power system provides ultra buttery smooth low speeds and starts which is perfect for rock crawling, but it also has plenty of power for trail bashing and jumping. It's efficient, packed with features and you just can't beat Castle quality and support. If you have the spare cash and want to give your rock racer or crawler the best power system available, then you'll want to check out the Mamba X Crawler Edition Combos.
Check out the Mamba X Crawler Edition Combos Here
Last edited by RCG_Jason; Dec 16, 2022 at 10:09 AM..| Thread Tools |
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How well does the drag brake work with the Bombers reverse rotation motor?
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with castle link it will not matter in what direction the motor needs to spin...
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summit is a 1/8 scale or 1/16 scale not a true 1/10 scale so no 1/10 scale ..
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