Hitec Optic 6 w/Spectra vs Polk's Tracker III

Apr 17, 2007 3 Replies

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Steve 19 years ago

Hobby Lobby is having a sale and you can get an Optic 6 with the Spectrra Module (no rx or servos) for about $170. Polk's has their Tracker III with a 6 ch rx for $180. I need a new Tx (I have at least 2 planes that don't fit in my current Futaba that's full....) and was leaning towards the Tracker awhile back but read a review of it that was somewhat wishy-washy.

6 channels would work for me now, not sure if I should leave room to expand to 8. One of the negatives I heard on the Tracker was that you can't set different amounts of expo between high and low rates, not sure if you can do it on the Optic.

The Optic has 8 model memories, the Tracker has 99, and both have synthesized modules and can use any channel/shift. In the Tracker it's stored in the model memory, not sure what you have to do with the Optic.

Anybody have experience with either of these that they can share with me?

Thanks, Steve

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PCPhill 19 years ago

I can't tell you about Hitec, but you either love or hate Trackers. The programming on Trackers is a little less intuitive than most other radios, but once you learn it it's not bad. There are a few features lacking, such as the dual expo rates, but for the price it's hard to beat. I've had a Tracker II for years and I've been happy with it, but I'm jumping on the DSS bandwagon. Our field has some spots where glitches are a given on 72Mhz, and are problem free at 2Ghz...

PCPhill

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Abel Pranger 19 years ago

The Hitec Optic 6 is a good Tx, the deal at HL you cited isn't so great. I got the Eclipse 7 w. Spectra module at the local HobbyPeople during a sale for about the same price.

Abel

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Ted Campanelli 19 years ago

Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

I have a Tracker II and really like it. Physically, it is a little larger than my Futaba 6XAS.

I do like the 5 year warranty on the radio also. I have had my Tracker about 3 years and the only thing I have done to it is change the battery in it this year (the original battery was down to about 85% of max capacity ). I also REALLY LIKE the fact that the transmiter scans your channel, and if it is in use, will not turn the transmitter on (you can also scan all the channels to see which ones are busy or have interference).

As another poster stated, the programming is not as intuitive as some other radios, however once you get used to it, it is OK.

If you decide to go with the Tracker, go with the 8 channel for $20 more. You get the 8 channel transmitter AND receiver.

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