We were able to get our hands on the Xpert RC SN-3301 Low Voltage Digital Brushless Servo recently and put it to the test. If you haven’t heard, Viper is now the exclusive distributor of Xpert servos in the US. This review follows the successful testing we had with the Xpert SI-3401 servo we installed in our 2wd Associated SC10 in February.

The Xpert SN-3301 is rated at an impressive .052 sec/60 degree @ 6v, and 14.3 kg-cm @ 6v (around 198 oz/in). That’s one of the fastest servos we’ve ever used! Needless to say, we couldn’t wait to see what it would be like on the track.

The Xpert SN-3301’s full specs are below.

We installed the servo into our Tekno SCT410 4wd Short Course truck when we were at Motorama. We swapped out the trusty Savox 1258TG that we had in there. That Savox had been in there since the electronics were installed from a Team Associated SC104x4 SC. Needless to say, this servo has been tested… as it’s been running for 2 seasons. We’re very curious to see if the Xpert servo will provide the same performance and longevity.

The in-box shot of the Xpert SN-3301

Xpert SN-3301 unboxed

The test Tekno SCT410 – Xpert SN-3301 fits great

We tested the servo at Motorama and Full Throttle RC (at the March Madness race).

Kevin first ran the servo at Motorama. He had this to say:

After installing the servo on practice day I was excited to see how it would perform on the track. I took over Jarodd’s 4×4 SC entry after he couldn’t attend the event last minute. Not my truck so it took some work swapping out receivers to bind to my radio and whatnot. I had issues with the truck losing signal (not a brown-out) in certain areas of the track. I was running an older module based Futaba/Spektrum radio. It ran fine for 90% of the track but the back corner gave me a momentary signal loss every lap.

From what use I did get out of the truck over weekend, the servo was awesome. It was super quick to respond to inputs and strong enough to keep the heavy 4wd SC in the direction I wanted it pointed. It was especially noticeable at the end of the straight into the sweeper. Most of the fast guys were blasting into that corner and pitching the truck sideways around it. The Tekno with the Xpert servo was able to do this as well and WOW was it fun!

It steered super smooth and my inputs on the radio were answered with authority from this fast and torquey servo. I was impressed.

Jarodd then ran the Tekno at Full Throttle a few weeks ago. He was on a blistering pace the first round and then had transponder issues. He was able to sort it out and had a decent run the rest of the day. His impressions are below:

I had never run a Xpert servo, so was a little weary of it’s performance considering how reliable the Savox had been in my truck. After Kevin installed the servo at Motorama and told me it’s specs I was pumped to try it out though. I was surprised how much torque it had. It was super-smooth and never had any issues throughout the qualifiers and mains.

It seems pretty durable. Being the first time at Full Throttle, believe me, I tagged many pipes and put the gears through their paces. I am happy to say it held up and is still going strong! I would definitely recommend the Xpert SN-3301 looking for a servo for 4wd SC.

Overall we were both impressed with the performance of the Xpert SN-3301 servo. It’s got cheetah-like reflexes with very adequate torque for most applications.

Pros

• RIDICULOUSLY FAST!
• Close to 200oz torque rating is plenty strong
• Brushless motor design is very efficient; no brown outs and no cap required
• Metal Gears
• Futaba/Savox 25T Spline means all our expensive horns bolt right up
• Long servo lead

Cons

• At around $100 it’s a little more expensive than other servos (though it is great considering the specs)
• Case is a little taller than the servo mentioned above, which might be an issue for certain applications?

Would we buy it again? You bet. So far it’s been a solid servo and it’s awesome not to worry about having a cap (aka glitch buster) in your truck. We’ll likely report back over the summer with a more long-term review to check in how it’s holding up to the rigors of racing.

For more information head over to the Xpert RC US site and check out their wide selection of servos available.