I believe there are 3 reasons why you hear more exploding Quark stories:

1) There were (until recently) one of the few sensorless ESCs that were US-based. This made them desirable for warranty purposes.

2) They are actually a 10th scale controller. They have the same FETs and same number of FETs that the original MM used. However, since they can take up to 6s (sorta), people use them in applications where they were not designed to work in and things go poof. Heavier vehicles draw higher burst currents, not to mention higher brake loads.

3) They were one of the few ESCs that Mike carries which can run pretty much any type of motor (especially Neus where the MM was weak until recently). So, they were understandably popular and you are naturally gonna see more bad stories because there are a lot of them out there.

True, the Quarks had heat issues and other small irritations (like possible programming troubles, unclear LVC functionality, no true reverse brake, price), but they really are solid controllers. I'm still using both of mine (one in Revo on 14 cells and one in Hyper8 on 4s), and they still work just fine.

You want exploding ESC stories, just ask Serum to show you his Schulze hall of shame sometime! :wink:

Could it be that Quark overrates thier products, calling the 125b capable of 6s but really more of a 4s controller....the Maxamps of ESCs

I have heard great things about their service until they recently disappeared from the US. And yes, when they work for folks, they are great ESC's. Just considering the price, the necessity to add external heatsinking and now the lack of service in the US it all adds up to a poor choice for myself. Hopefully the new ESC will run fine without needing external heatsinking and their support will return to the US. However, even if all problems that were had with the 125B are resolved in the new ESC, their lack of service in the US makes it very undesirable to myself and likely to a lot of other consumers as well. No one wants to wait lengthy periods of time to get a product repaired, especially when the initial cost is greater than what should be a comparable product (MMM) from a US based company.


Agreed. They could be a nice option if they have US support. I still doubt I'd ever purchase it if for no other reason than cost alone. At ~$90 more than the MMM MAP pricing, it's of no benefit for me to buy an ESC with less current handling capability and the same voltage capabilities just for a handheld programmer. I don't constantly change settings on any of my Mamba, Sidewinder or MM ESC's, so I just don't see that added feature worth the additional cost.

Also, let's keep it real here. With the projected dates on the MMM and new Quark ESC, the MMM will likely be in consumer hands almost a month before the Quark shows up unless dealers start importing them to the US now.

Aside from that, when have we ever gotten forum support from an employee at Quark? We actually get information and help from both Tekin and Castle on this forum. They support us on here and so long as they have a product that meets my needs, they'll get my money versus Quark.

i like the looks of the new quark wonder how well it'd work in a 1/8th scale app?