Motor Selection is almost easy. There are so many great motors being sold today that almost anyone is a good choice. Here are some engines that I am familiar with and that I know others have had great success with, also.

O.S. Engines. O.S. is one of the most sold motors in the industry. They spend a lot of time in there R&D department making a motor that will be both reliable and friendly to use. They also have one of the best selections of R/C engines available both in 2 and 4 stroke motors. The only downfall I can even think of is the cost. There are other motors that have just as much power and reliability with less cost.

Super Tiger Engines. Here is one of my personal favorites. Super Tiger motors are powerful and easy to setup. They require a little more break-in and setup then the O.S. but cost considerably less to purchase. An O.S.  FX.46 will run you about $115 compared to a Super Tiger GS.45 which cost $70. That is a 70% cost difference and for a motor of equal or better power. Super Tiger doesn’t have the selection that O.S. does, but will cover 95% of the models sold today.

Thunder Tiger. Another popular engine that first hit the scene due to it’s inexpensive prices. Other modelers and I have had hit or miss performance with these engines. They seem to ether be great running motors right out of the box or not. They seem to work better if you don’t put a large performance demand on them. This is really only due to the front bearing that comes stock with the motor. If a Macs or tuned muffler is used with them to increase performance, then the front bearing tends to break down slightly and leak. Now that other motors are priced less then Thunder Tiger, I see no real reason to purchases them.

Satio Motors. Satio concentrates on one thing and one thing only. 4 stroke motors. They are a little more expensive then the other 4 strokes on the market, but I have had great success with these motors. As a personal opinion they have a very nice and pleasing look to them, and are more scale looking. Great motor. You can’t go wrong here !!!!!!!!!

Webra Motors. Webra make great R/C engines. They have great power and reliability. Again though they are costly for the power difference you’ll see over O.S. and Super Tiger motors. Still if you want competition type motors they are great performers.

Tower Hobbies Motors. Here is a surprise in the engine market. Tower Hobbies being a large scale on-line R/C order house, has come out with a line of motors that are inexpensive yet very powerful. In a motor to motor comparison of .60 size motors done by a top ranked magazine. They beat every motor on the market. They are less costly then the O.S. engine and cost just a little more then the Super Tiger series. Yet the power output is great. If you have been in R/C for awhile, the motor may look familiar to you. They are the old Super Tiger motors once manufactured and sold by Super Tiger reworked internally. Tower Hobbies now owns and manufactures the Super Tiger engine by the way, and is how they were able to copy the original design and even improve upon it.

Evolution Motors. Here is a great engine recently introduced in the last few years that offers some great perks. This motor is aimed at the modeler that wants a no fuss motor with power that is up there with the other engines on the market. The main feature of this motor is easy operation and use with no setup really involved. The motor is broken in at the manufactures and has pins on both the high speed and low speed needle valve that will not allow you to adjust the motor wrong if you wanted to. In using this engine, I have found that it’s limiting pins are on the conservative side and that you could get more power out of this motor if you could add a few more clicks towards the lean side. Complete maximum power output is not what the motor was intended for. It was intended for the modeler who never wants to worry about running a motor past it’s limits or fuss with constant tweaking. The new modelers especially will find this motor easy to setup on his own and as long as he never jumps the needle valve limits (over the pins), should never put his motor in harms way.

My personal recommendation would be as follows. If money is no object, and you like owning the top name in the industry. Then by all means a O.S. motor is a top pick. If you are looking for great value with performance, then Super Tiger or Tower Hobbies motors can’t be beat. If easy setup is your preference and not top power, then the Evolution motor is the pick for you!!