no mods, I've had the same feelings that you have, but you also have to remember that what we are doing here is, for the most part, experimental. If brushless and its associated components had come of age, we'd be able to walk into our LHS and walk out with a brushless buggy or truck straight from the manufacturer.

I'm not surprised that you brought up the Quark. After all of the good things that people have said about that controller, I finally got one. I have to say that I was less than impressed with it. Aside from the fact that I had to send two of them back, I was also not impressed by the build quality of the esc, especially considering its price.

If you only have $1000 into a brushless truck, you are doing well. Considering the cost of my Losi 8ight T, my JR Z9000T servo, Spektrum radio, Neu motor, and Quark/Compro controllers, I have well over $1000 invested in this ONE vehicle. All in all, I'm still glad that I went the electric route.

When you want performance, you have to pay for it. When I was running nitro, it wasn't unusual to pay way over $300 for a Novarossi that you knew wasn't going to last you much more than a couple of months (the way I ran, anyway); and it wasn't unusual for the $300+ engine to self destruct because of something stupid, like a pressure line leak.

I know that it's starting to sound cliche, but it is a hobby and an expensive one at that. Besides, the technology is starting to catch up, with the coming release of the MMM, the new Compro controllers, and the Tekin stuff. It won't be long before we will be sitting here talking about the pioneering days when we were making our own motor mounts and supplementing escs with external capacitors and becs.

In the last two months, I've had major problems with Quark controllers, a Compro controller, and now being sent the wrong motor when I ordered my Neu (not from Mike). I was ready to throw in the towel. I was looking at boats and helped a friend of mine set his up with an 8XL, HV110 controller, and dual 3S lipo packs. On the first run we got it up to around 45mph, according to the radar gun. Guess what happened. The flex shaft broke, because it wasn't meant to handle that kind of torque. The rig was a nitro conversion. I told him that it was just the beginning.

Whenever you break new ground, there are going to be some things that have to be worked out. I very recently had to remind myself of this. In a stupid sort of way, I'm almost proud to be a part of it on the ground floor.

Compared to many on this forum, I am very ignorant; but I get at least 10 phone calls a week from guys, some of which I don't even know, because they want to get into brushless and don't have a clue. When I ask why they called me, they tell me that my LHS gave them my name and they got my number out of the phone book.

I'm just looking, with anticipation, to the future and what it holds for this great hobby. It's a kick in the butt and I still enjoy it when I blow the doors off of someone that just got their Revo or Jato at the LHS and thought that they had something fast.

As for the MM, I have one in my 1/8 scale buggy running on 4S and 5S lipo and making a little Feigao 8L scream in pain. It's only good for short speed runs, but it sure makes the Jato guys cry. The best part is that I don't even have to tune it.