Muchmore Fleta Pro Review

Fleta Pro and SHR program card

For 2014 I was keen to upgrade my speed controller.  I wanted an ESC that would allow me to run in any 1/10 onroad class that is available on the BRCA race circuit from 17.5 blinky to 13.5 Boosted and also allow me to live dangerously and run a mod motor down to 4.5 or even lower.

There are a range of pro esc's out there that are able to do this, but I had seen a lot of postive comments regarding the new Muchmore Fleta esc's so I purchased one ready to fit into the TRF418.

The esc comes with an optional program box so I also purchased that along with the Fleta ZX 17.5 motor as I was keen to refresh my excellent ORCA 17.5 motor which had been working hard for me in the previous year.

Opening the Box

As can be seen the esc is well packaged, it comes with a low profile high RPM fan, a load of Black Muchmore 12awg wire and fitting hardware (Screws for the fan, and tape for the esc)

Dimensions (L)30mm (W)36mm (H)18mm

The Fleta Pro case is made from aluminium (A Flow max design whatever that means) and its pretty light (43g) As you can see there are plug slots to power the Fan, a servo style plug to program the ESC (So you can program it without having to remove it from your reciever), A status light and the button to help calibrate the esc to your speed controller.

Note the Blue is Dark, its not Tamiya Blue but Yokomo Blue!!

The esc has dual ESC power caps and the sensor cable port is placed under the main solder board. This is to provide all of the motor based wires a fixed location, helping for a neat install, although the port is quite difficult to get the plug into once its installed in the chassis.

Next up is the program box. This is a great little unit with a scroll wheel that allows you quickly move between options and change the values. The box also contains the USB cable to connect it to the Fleta USB link software (Link here). The other nice feature is that the program card and esc have their own slot so you can connect to the ESC without having to unplug the the cable from the receiver.

Installing 

I wired up the car using the included wires and cut them short to ensure weight was kept down to a minimum. 

Neatly fitted in the car with matching black motor.

The ESC fitted easily into the car. The Fleta is small and the low profile fan is fantasic as is so low it can fit under the upper deck and it allows the esc to be mounted close to the centre of my TRF418 as I want allowing me to help balance the chassis.

The switch is separate, so I just taped that to the side of the esc, and then I had to fit the power-caps. These are always my least favourite things to mount, luckily Marc Rheinard provided me with a great way to mount the power caps. On the inside of the car, above the belts.

Keep the power caps out of the way

As you can see above, I used double sided tape to mount the caps on the ESC under the upper deck. The caps are fine there, away from the belt and importantly they are also out of the way.

I then fired it up and calibrated the Fleta Pro to my Sanwa. With a quick throw of the throttle stick I tested the car on the desk and it all ran smoothly, and I could almost instantly see that the throttle response was smooth and direct.

Setting up!

There are a range of options that you can adjust with the default firmware.

The backlit screen is clear and easy to read

I then plugged in the Program card and checked out the settings. The Display is clean and crisp and the dial allows you to quickly move between the options and to set the values.

Here is a quick summary of the options and what they do

• Operation Mode : Here you can set up the Forward / Brake and also add Reverse.
• Reverse Speed : You can select the amount of Reverse speed up to 100%
• LVC Threshold : Low voltage cut off  settings.
• Drag Brake : Standard drag brake settings from 0-50%, I like them very low on 17.5 I have 4%
• Initial Brake : The amount of initial brake, starting at 0 or the designated Drag Brake
• Full Brake : Std brake range from 75-100%
• Brake Frequency : Now this is more interesting, it allows you to change the PWM (Pulse width Modulation) of the brake. You can set a lower value to make the brakes more smooth up to a highest value to make the brakes feel very sharp.
• Power Level :   Punch, Twelve levels of throttle response, from smooth to a more immediate response at the higher values.
• Drive Frequency : Again a great feature, again it changes the PWM (Pulse width Modulation) for the Esc's forward drive. The lower frequency gives more acceleration and as you raise the value it smooths it out. 
• Neutral Dead Band : std is 6% I kinda like 3% for a more responsive feeling car.
• Temperature Set : You can set the temperature cut off here
• Boost Timing : The amount of timing you want to add to the motor via the esc
• Boost RPM : The start RPM of the motor when the boost timing is activated
• Boost ACC : This is the RPM increment of the Boost value, keep it low for Stock, and make it higher for mod 14000 is good for that.
• Turbo Timing : The additional timing that is added at 100% throttle to give you a boost on the straight.
• Turbo Slope: The rate in which the Turbo timing is added once activated.
• Turbo Delay: The time to wait until the Turbo kicks in (You dont want it kicking in at 100% throttle on a corner!
• Rotation Mode : Nice feature to be able to change the rotation of the motor for those cars (mostly old ones) That need the rotation reversed.

Jack of all trades 
The firmware included on the Fleta Pro is clever enough to go into blinky mode (A flashing green light) if you switch off the turbo and timing settings. This allows you to move between settings without having to connect your esc to a PC. Its little things like this that make the Fleta such a nice usable unit for the average club racer.

Track Test

With the Fleta Pro installed in the car I took it to Rug Racers to have its first outing. It was a bit of a busy day for me, I had not raced there before, and the chassis was also pretty new at the time, and I was pretty hungover from the night before.. (Not ideal pre race planning).

The driver view at rug racers is kind of unique, those little dots are our cars!

The Fleta Pro performed well, I soon realised that I had geared the car incorrectly and moved to a FDR of around 3.8 and placed the car out on the track for the next heat.

The car felt great and the power out of the corner was really direct. The esc and motor was coming off the track pretty cool compared to some of the other cars that I could actually feel the heat from when picking up my car.

As I was racing blinky I didn't have as many settings to play with, but I played with the brake frequency to make them feel smoother, and I also messed with the Drive frequency to make the car feel more punchy without changing the gearing.

My lap times improved, and the car felt better on the track, the main issue of the day was that my thumbs were not up to the job, and I didn't drive as well as I could normally do.

Following this I have been using the Fleta every week at a range of tracks all various shapes and sizes and the Fleta has performed fantastically. I have used the boost / turbo on occasions (When dumped in with 13.5 racers at a large track on a club night) and again the turn of speed seemed much better than with my previous esc. I really am impressed with how good the Fleta Pro feels in my car.

Overall

The Fleta Pro is a great esc, I have been using it now for over 4 months and it has never missed a beat. I have yet to use an esc that feels as smooth, but also delivers a large amount of controlled grunt. The overall result is that the responsive throttle allows me to push the car harder and faster than I would previously would have done with other speed controllers that I have raced.

I really do recommend the Fleta Pro, its excellent!

Also as an aside, there are a few others at my local club who have purchased Fleta's and they have all been reliable with no one having any issues with them.

You can buy the Fleta from many stockists including Much More UK