Owner's Manual

5/27/2013

DarkCorner

Great controller for the money but I have burned up a few over the years.Maybe I'm hard on things but the are a little fragile I will use them on future projects

5/16/2012

Campana

An ecepcional choice

In my opinion this is one of the best speed controls to featherweight and lightweight category. My team use it in our both featherweight robots and we recommend for all robot market place comunity!

PUCPR Mobile Robotics Team.

4/11/2012

reganou812

Not happy!!

I am building a remote control lawnmower using electric wheelchair motors a spektrum dx5e transmitter and a spektrum a600 receiver. The first sabertooth 2x25 worked for about 3 minutes. Just long enough to determine I needed to reverse polarity on one motor. Then the sabertooth lost 5vdc. Called Dimension Engineering and they were very supportive. Gave me an RMA# and I sent the unit back. The tech said they had a batch of bad boards and would sent me a new one. After 3 weeks finally received new sabertooth. The second unit will not autocalibrate the center stick position on the transmitter. Only one motor will reverse and after a few minutes neither motor will reverse. Called factory again. Said they would sent me another unit and would ship it out on Monday. Called Wednesday and they said it would ship on Thursday. Today is Thursday and not happy with these people. If this third unit does not work I will get a refund and buy a roboclaw!!!. This is a very common combination of components thats why I chose them. I will give only 1 star because they are willing to try and fix this. I will revise this review next week?

9/22/2011

Mark

Sabertooth

This board is great, very small and light weight. Easy to install, no noise.
Great service too...

8/2/2011

Santiago

Works great, can push a wheelchair and person uphill without getting warm. Definitely recommend this one over the 12A version, much more capable

5/9/2011

rdesda

Sabertooth is the best solution for my featherweight, very small and supports well two Dewalt motors for driving. Easy to configure and instal. Can be used in some Lightweights.

5/2/2011

Dan

The Sabertooth 2X25 is a great product. It offers all the options with out all the complications. Easy to follow instructions made this controller a blast to get up and running.

3/4/2011

Darrel

Quick and Easy

Video of the Sabertooth 2X25 at work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UMMqPPcI4U

Wish I had this along time ago. Received it in a clear plasic box with instructions but still downloaded the manual. Seen onother comment about glue, yes it was seperated from the cooling fins, but It comes with monuting hardware and will go back together just fine. -.5 star for that defect, but still happy

3/1/2011

John

DON'T REVERSE THE BATTERY CONNECTIONS!!!!

This worked great in my bench tests but when I went to hook it up to my robot, I had reversed the polarity and fried the board.
I say again:

DON'T REVERSE THE BATTERY CONNECTIONS!!!

I intend to buy this again, and will put up a review detailing performance and usage then.

If I end up choosing a different product, it would probably be the Sabertooth 2X50, only because I am not entirely sure how much current my motors will draw.

I would also hope that Dimension Engineering (the manufacturers of the Sabertooth series) would make it harder to fry future revisions, or at least make the connection labels more visible.

Finally, a shout out to johndavid400:
My project is essentially an spin-off of your Lawnbot400 project.

Also, I looked into building my own motor controller (H-bridge) and unless you already have most of the materials, this is still much less expensive.

1/6/2011

David Jabon

Excellent high current controller; doesn't work well with all radios

This is a superb high current controller with many interfaces. Given its capability, it is a good value. I have used the RC radio interface primarily with it, and I want to report that I did have difficulty with one of my Futaba radios while my other Futaba radio worked fine with it.

11/22/2010

johndavid400

cost-effective option

I have several of these controllers and they all work very well. This controller is extremely robust for the size and the price is unbeatable unless you are building your own... in which case the Sabertooth still competes with price.

I have used this controller on my DIY R/C lawn-mower and a home-made Segway, and have another laying around for a future project.

7/5/2010

TrSrSnAk3

Excellent controller

This little device was purchased as a trial and error (to replace a vantec) and was used to power (2) 24v 250w 15a currie motors in a 215lb 1/5scale M1A2 tank. I must say, I thought she would be in constant thermal shutdown, but she has yet to give up. No problems at all after 80 hours of use. Excellent controller, easy set up, super quiet. I will buy more in the future. Perfect size package takes up minimal space. BUY THIS FOR YOUR PROJECT!!!

6/6/2010

machmanchuck

I just hooked up my sabertooth 2x25 using a hobby rc tx/rx. Probably the most simple speed control/motor driver I have ever used. Seems really robust, stupid simple to use. One warning though, be sure to turn on your tx before powering up the bot. The rx/driver will respond to stray rf.

5/10/2010

Steve

I have used sabertooth controllers in all of my lightweight robots with quite big motors and have yet to blow one up!! The only problem I had was dealt with by Dimension Engineering very quickly and sent me a replacement to the UK with no fuss

5/6/2010

Brad

I dont know how to glorify this perfect gadget but all i can say it that.You may be paying $124 but it is very much wortwhile.I mistakenly hooked this up onto a higher voltage battery but it didnt burn at all.It just had an automatic shut down which saved me.And as for the connections, its superb even a first grader can hook it up easily.Strongly recommende you to get this "little bad boy"

2/24/2010

Rocketman4God

Sabertooth 2x25

I would highly recommend a Sabertooth 2x25 for motor control within the recommended current and voltage. The screw terminals for the motors and input voltage are really nice, especially since I am a novice and don't know how to solder well. Also, Dimension Engineering seems to be a great company. I have called them up and they are very helpful and knowledgeable.

12/10/2009

mrgoogfan

Should Be moved out of the "small controllers" category.

I dont think 25A per channel qualifies as small!

This is by far THE BEST motor controller for the money. It is silent, supports alot of interfaces, and has protecion features.

It needs a heatsink but that is no problem.

11/9/2009

Sam

Sabertooth 25

This is the best controller for the money. Also the most adjustable to suit any future upgrades. No motor noise, quite operation. I plain to use more Sabertooth controllers on all future robots

10/28/2009

Champy

Great. Needs more glue.

Very versatile and effective little controller. The heat sink on mine came unglued quite quickly, but that won't be an issue when it's mounted. I ran into an issue with an Airtronics 8-channel radio. I'm using the R/C signal inputs, and it worked fine using a Futaba radio receiver powered by a separate battery pack. However, the airtronics radio would only work when I used the +5v from the Sabertooth to power the receiver. Really odd, and kind of a bummer since they don't recommend using that power source if you plan on powering servos with the remaining channels. Either way, a wonderful platform and a very helpful support line when I called them.

5/8/2009

Roboticist

Sabertooth

This item is quiet, powerful and gives more speed for the same battery voltage than the other speed controllers I have used. Installation and configuration was a snap. No annoying whine heard with this unit and a pair of 100W scooter motors.