I'm totally retarded when it comes to electrical engineering so I really have no frame of reference when it comes to these things so, may I be forgiven for asking retarded questions. Is it really that much of a heavy lift to get from a Max4 that can do 300A continuous to something that can do 400-500A for 5-6 seconds? Drop the nonsensical 2000A peak current that no one needs and focus the "bandwidth" or "powerband" (or however you want to term it) and heat dissipation (as I'm sure this is of primary concern in this sort of use case) down to well below 750A but retain the 12S voltage spec? My totally unqualified gut instinct tells me that it isn't far away from being able to do something around those figures, if not outright. I get it, their focus has been reliability over brute force output. But here's a banal example of HW ESCs being able to do more than their spec sheet says.
The
Max6 and Max5 can both be hacked pretty easily to run on 10S & 12S right out of the box. So my speculation is that the controller in the Max4 is possibly/probably just the Max5 core in a bigger enclosure for better heat dissipation. Is the 2000A peak current of the Max4 a spec because that's just what the components happen to be able to handle at max, or is this programmed into the firmware? I presume the latter, so just drop the max ceiling to 750A and reprogram the curve along which the ESC decides to shut down regulated by current over time (I don't know if this is how HW ESCs actually work I'm, again, just speculating).
I know this is just totally non-academic, academic theorizing on something I know nothing about, all of which would hinge on Hobbywing's desire to even play in that arena (and there aren't any signs whatsoever that they do). ESCs are probably way more complicated than I think and my ideas of what to do is, more than likely, hopelessly naive and anyone who actually knows anything about how they work is probably laughing at this...which is fine. I'm just brain-storming (or brain-farting as the case may be). While I've had no reason to need more than what the
XLX2 offers, there's just part of me that really wishes there were more of a mainstream battle for the best high performance ESC. Yeah, I've heard the same about MGM and their non-intuitive interface but to me the bigger issue is their price. The ESC I'd get for speed running would be around 936€ plus, because I live in the EU, an additional 21% VAT. That's 1132,56€...
for an ESC?! I'm sure they're great and all but dude...that's mental.
I think it's well established that speed runners are but a niche of the RC surface market...but they do tend to consist largely of people willing to pay quite a lot of money for the pursuit of higher speeds and the fact that there is such a burgeoning aftermarket industry and at least one ESC manufacturer who, while not specifically catering to the speed running sector, do produce at least one product that was designed and built with speed runners in mind, speaks to the recognition many manufacturers all the way from the solo entrepreneur to mid-sized outfits, who invest quite a lot into R&D and CNC machining, that this is a profitable "niche" that's worth investing in. I think the speed running scene, more than any other sub-genre of RC cars, has really pushed the development of lipos (or at least of what can be accomplished with existing technologies) over the last 12-24 months with a few of the consumers branching off into development and distribution to better service speed runners and their needs. Don't get it twisted, I'm not saying that there's anything special about that in and of itself as there's an even larger appendage attached to the bashing scene, but the fact that so many products are available that cater to this small group of velocity enthusiasts, does say something as to its disproportionate import. I might be wrong...but that's how I read the tea leaves. YMMV