High kv low gearing VS Low kv high gearing

[BrianG]

This question has been talked about in depth before. It comes down to these things:

- Like JRH said, you don't want so much current that you are saturating the motor.

- You don't want to gear a low kv motor so high that the ESC has trouble getting EMF signals at low speed.

In any case, power is power. Whether you get it via a low kv higher geared motor, or get it via high rpms and gear down is roughly the same.

The extra torque you get from a low kv motor is lost when you gear higher since final output torque = motor torque * gearing. And yeah, a high kv motor can pull a lot of current, but only if heavily loaded/stalled.

Personally, I kinda like higher rpm motors geared lower - usually run them ~70-75% of their max recommended rpm. Startups are smoother and there's still a ton of power.