Hello everyone! Recently I picked up the motor and ESC combo made by Atomik RC/ Venom. I wanted to give a thorough review of the combo so I decided to use the electronics during the Pro-Line Surf City Classic. I used the motor and ESC combo in my Pro-Line Pro2 SCT. 
Before I get into the review, I would like to show the electronics I was coming from. I have a Reedy Mach2 7.5 motor and an Orion R10 Pro. The Orion and Reedy electronics have worked great for me in the past, but they are very expensive. For the racer on a budget, these electronics are simply out of reach sometimes. Luckily, Atomik Rc has their combo that can help you keep up with expensive electronics without breaking the bank.
Now Back to the Atomik Motor/ESC Combo. The Part number for this is Part#13037. The Electronics come in a simple box that contains the motor, ESC, manual, sensor wire and warranty card. Be sure to register your electronics on the Atomic website in order to take advantage of their amazing customer service. 
Looking inside the box, we have a very attractive pair of electronics. Everything is neatly packed inside the box and all the wires are already soldered for you.
The wires are very thick and feel good to the touch. Atomik did not skimp on the wire for their ESC and you get plenty of length to fit any vehicle you plan to put this in. There is a fan and some huge capacitors that come pre attached to the ESC.
Here is a couple more shots of the ESC. The switch is beefy and it doubles as the programming button. The heat-sink is a cool looking red and the case is a glossy plastic.
The solder joints are very well done and are ready to take some serious abuse. Overall, the wiring on this ESC is solid and I am very impressed with the quality.
By far the best part of the combo is the motor. The bearings are butter smooth and motor feels solid in the hand. The solder tabs can be a little tricky to work with at first. You must make sure you get the solder to flow on both sides of the tabs to ensure a solid connection.
The motor is rebuildable and really looks amazing overall. There are not many vent holes which means that the motor is great at keeping dirt out and staying smooth. Although, the lack of vent holes means you must get your gearing just right in order to keep temperatures down.
Here is another shot that shows the sensor port and solder tabs. It is easy to adjust the timing on the motor using the three screws above the sensor port.The programming card for the ESC is 16 bucks and is Part#: 1359. I found that the ESC had all the same adjustments as my Orion ESC which made it really easy and familiar to set up. The programming box is a must have for easy adjustment. Although, the ESC can also be programmed with the switch and beep tones and a little patience.
Performance at the Track:
I did several club races before the Surf City Classic in order to get the feel for the electronics. Just like my Orion ESC, the fan broke on the first battery. Luckily, the ESC does not get hot with a 2 cell lipo, so I did not need it anyway.
The motor has a lot of power and is very, very smooth. The power comes on nicely and the motor confidently accelerates. At first my gearing was off and the motor ran at 160 degrees F. After adjusting, the motor temp was at 135 degrees F.
The default settings for the ESC are way too aggressive, so I found myself turning down the punch to 3. I used 2% drag brake as well and found that the ESC behaved very similarly to my Orion ESC.
Issues:
I did find some issues right off the bat. If you run a high voltage servo, this ESC will brown out and you will lose steering for a split second. At first I thought I simply had a bad ESC, but I quickly realized that a Glitch Buster would fix the issue, and it did.
Atomik sells a Glitch Buster that works great and it is Part#: 1654.
Once The Glitch Buster was hooked up, the motor and ESC performed Flawlessly. Hopefully the BEC is upgraded in the next version.
The fan breaking was another small issue but I was not really that upset. I saved a couple of grams taking the fan off any way.
The Surf City Classic:
At the Surf City Classic, the motor and ESC performed great! My lap times were on par with my other vehicles that were using the Orion/Reedy combo. I did notice that towards the end of my qualifiers I would lose punch, making it difficult to clear some of the bigger jumps. A gearing change before the last qualifier seemed to conserve battery and give me all the punch I needed for the entire race.
I am running a Venom 3800 60C battery and it usually is enough for any race I have, but it seems that with this ESC and motor, only a solid 5 min race is attainable. The ESC is power hungry, which makes sense since you can run it in an 1/8 scale with a 550 motor as well. I think that the new Venom 4500 100C shorty packs will solve the power issue and allow me to have consistent 10 minute races. Furthermore, I am sure that if you are running a normal size Lipo that you would not have any issues.
Overall, the ESC and motor were a powerhouse and helped my churn out my best laps this year. I narrowly missed the A main in the Pro 2 class that contained some of the top drivers in the world.
Rating:
For price vs performance I give this set up a 10/10.
-This ESC is amazing for the price. If you are on a budget, I would highly recommend getting this set up. I am actually going to continue to use the ESC and motor in place of my Orion/Reedy set up for the rest of the season.
For Build Quality I give this set up a 8.5/10.
-The fan breaking was a bummer but not that big of a deal. The heat-sink does move a little inside of the plastic case, but performance did not seem to be affected.
For Race Performance I give this set up a 8/10.
-The combo was a little too power hungry which requires a slightly larger battery for peak performance. If weight is an issue, then the larger battery can add extra grams very quickly. Needing a Glitch Buster to get everything to perform properly was unfortunate but is a minor set back when looking at the cost of everything. The power band was nice overall and the throttle feel was smooth and consistent.
Overall I give an 8.8/10
-The value of the Atomik Motor/ESC combo is phenomenal! If you are looking for amazing performance and reliability without breaking the bank, then this is the set up for you.
Good luck at the races! Remember, you can always ask me for help, just look for the Venom powered Pro-Line vehicles and the KLA logo at the track.
-Matthew Garcia
