So I bought a Futaba 4PLS

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As the title says. So I downloaded the manual for the 4PLS . I started reading the manual last night. After the first 40 pages I started thinking what the hell have I gotten myself into . Is it going to be easier that the manual is making it out to be? I picked up a Killer bee kill switch so I will be incorporating them at the same time.

Please tell me I didn't make a mistake. Holy crap I feel like I've gotten of my head really quick.
 
I have a DX4S.
Both are good radios. Some peeps are gonna hate on spektrum about range etc...but i have only experienced a range issue one time....and the 5ive T was way to far away from me to drive it safely....killer bee kicked in and shut the engine off because it was out of range.
The only issue that really needed to be addressed with the DX4s was the kill switch not working with the Spektrum AVC...you arent gonna want to use the AVC anyway.....and there is no fix for that...Spektrum AVC takes control/ownership of the 3rd and 4th channel of the reciever...which means your kill switch on ch3 or ch4 aint gonna work. There are 3 work arounds to address this.
1. Disable AVC when binding.
2. Use a 3 or 4 channel Spektrum reciever that does NOT have AVC.
3. Use a diffent brand of radio/reciever....like Futaba or Airtronics or even Flysky(don't hate on the GT3B or GTGC)
 
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Why do people use 4ch radios with these rigs anyways? I run the Futaba 3pl and it works flawlessly. What's the point of a fourth channel?
 
You don't NEED 4 channels...you don't really need 3. The extra is just nice to have...just in case....also.. the trend seems to be companies are releasing radios with more and more channels. This may be driven by the crawler/scale portion of this hobby....wanting to control winches, lights, different steering configurations and whatever other custom stuff that can get thrown in.
 
You don't NEED 4 channels...you don't really need 3. The extra is just nice to have...just in case....also.. the trend seems to be companies are releasing radios with more and more channels. This may be driven by the crawler/scale portion of this hobby....wanting to control winches, lights, different steering configurations and whatever other custom stuff that can get thrown in.
for me ill probably get the dx4s coz of slightly better build than the futaba 3pv and +1 on the crawler control
 
The 4PLS is a good radio. Having up to 4 channels is very useful in these larger vehicles, especially if you are running dual steering servos. The Y-harness works but will eventually lead to servo failure if you can not adjust each servo independently, servo mixing is always used in large scale planes to make sure they have the same end points and the same center every time. and if you are racing then you will likely have a transponder or your kill switch which will plug into your 4th channel. The new futaba receivers are stable up to 8.4v which allows you to use a lipo battery. The Futaba radios have less latency between radio and receiver. You just can you wrong when you have a futaba. I have owned the 4pls, 3pv, 4pv and now use the 4PX
 
I bought a Futaba 4pls as well,(it gets delivered tomorrow)but had a hard time finding one. I think because the 4pv replaced it. I looked all over for the best price on one and only found one vendor that had them in stock. It is rchobbyexperts on ebay. The hobby shop behind the ebay account is Big Sky Hobbies. They wanted $209.99 for it, but I sent them a message and offered them $200.00 for one. They took it. I was suprised because they only had 3 left on the shelf. So if you are looking to get a Futaba 4pls, so save you some headaches looking for one and some money, Check out Big Sky Hobbies online.
 
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