That’s a lot of money for 12 motors…
I don’t know how I’m supposed to be able to spend that much when I also need to waterproof them for the water game… 
Edit: I thought it was mentioned earlier(not in this thread) that you would be able to trade in motors with the trade in program as well. Was this decided against or am I remembering wrong?
Definitely upset over the motor prices…
I mean since they’re priced so high it’s probably safe to assume that they’re significantly better than the 393s so hopefully we should get our money’s worth 
Yup. Or maybe get only 6 because the 393’s are compatible, and use the new ones for the drive and the (inevitable) lift, and the 393’s for stuff like intakes and claws,.
Do you have any information on how replacement components for the motors will work. Historically lots of vex motor, sensors and wires have broken or worn out over time. A lot of the components were separate though so a team would buy a new motor when they broke a motor OR buy a new sensor when they broke a sensor. With the smart motor, everything built in, will there be ways to replace individual components inside the motor or is the entire thing trash?
It might make sense if the new brain is considered a “loss leader” and the profit is made up in the gazillions of new C-channels that get sawed up into useless pieces every season.
Currently, a motor, controller, and encoder is, what $45? The new motors are more powerful, smarter, and cheaper.
Boi who buys an encoder for every motor?
System On a Chip (SOC) systems have gotten better and more customizable and the smart phone explosion has lead to better variety and depth in supply chain, manufacturing capability, and logistics. Display technology is better and cheaper than it was. Automation in manufacturing is better.
Lots of reasons that better, more complex devices can be built more cheaply than devices using older, less capable designs and technology.
One thing I forgot to mention about the Trade-In is that with each trade-in you will get a one time use (read: one order only) 30% discount on the V5 motors (unlimited amount in that one order) to help offset the costs of transition.
I also want to be clear that we are working with the RECF on rules during the next couple of years to make the playing field more level for teams that do not transition to V5 right away. The game rules are not finalized yet, but I can tell you that for the 2018-2019 VRC game V5 users will NOT get 12 motors. They will be allowed to use significantly less motors than 12. Many of us on the GDC are extremely technical and have been in competition robotics for many, many years so we are balancing the allotment of motors to reduce the advantage V5 teams will have.
Also, regarding the battery, it is different chemistry than NiMH and at a different voltage so the amp-hour rating by itself is quite meaningless. Additionally, the usable range of NiMH before you had to charge was at about 30% of its total capacity because of the voltage dropoff curve. LiFe have a much flatter curve. We are also “performance” leveling in the V5, similar to what we do in the VEX IQ brain to help give more consistent behavior at different charge levels. You will get more usable power per robot per match with one V5 battery than you do with two 3000 mAh NiMH batteries.
As far as the radio is concerned, we use narrowband 2.4 (as opposed to Wifis broadband) and the current technology chipsets at 5.8 do not support narrowband. Narrowband is how we can have multiple robots on the field without interference at an event like VEX Worlds, etc. Broadband signals should not interfere with the narrowband 2.4 we use. If you think that is really happening, then you should check a different set of radios as you MIGHT have a radio hardware issue. When we tested 100 pairs of VEXnet 2.4 in our building, it completely rendered our broadband company wireless useless, but the robots never lost connection.
Nobody, ever. But the motors are intended to cost the same as or less than a 393 motor and MC29. So the encoder is now free.
This is well received news. Thanks for the heads up and we always appreciate the depth of experience VEX and GDC members have.
Not same as or less, 393 motor is $15, MC29 is $10. New motor is suggested $35?
I’m more on the same page as @tabor473. We often go through components. Bundling them up seems to simplify wiring, but some of these components have not been that robust historically. Maybe the new ones will be better.
The trade in discounts are very attractive though. And a 30% discount for motors to start is very nice also. This actually will not be as expensive as an upgrade as what I thought. Looks very nice overall!
This is a good point. I hadn’t thought of it that way - I completely forgot about the (dreaded) motor controllers.
I’m reserving judgement until the actual release. We won’t know how durable and reliable these components are until they are pressed into use. Call me an optimist, but I think they’ll be better. Potentially significantly better.
with each new post you make things sounds better and better. Any info you can give us on how quickly the new batteries will charge? It would be nice to know how about how many we’ll need to have a fresh battery every match.
With the motors, though I understand the limit, my concern is that this year I’m finding myself limited by the number of ports on the cortex. it’s not just a matter of using Y cables I need 10 individually controlled ports for my current design, and that’s because I had to scrap something that would have brought that up to 11 ports. with V5, if we are allowed to use significantly less than 12 motors this could become worse. will there be a way to use both 393s and V5 motors for a total of at least 10 individually controlled motors?
Yeah, I was just wrong about the pricing.
That’s actually a good idea – perhaps something like 12 motor “credits” where a 393 is worth 1 and a v5 motor is worth 2.
So we’re going to all have to buy new motors to keep up. Ugh. Though I do enjoy the idea of more strength.
I like that idea, I’m not sure if I agree with the numbers, limiting it to 6 V5 motors would be bad for teams who are new for the 2018-2019 season. 1.5 motor “credits” per V5 motor I think would be more reasonable. If they do decided on using a formula like that, they’ll come up with the numbers themselves. The one drawback to doing it this way is that it adds a bit more complexity to inspection, but it would be worth it IMO.
It could also make designing systems more complex to do because before if we needed equal power on a gimbal for example, we could use a motor on each side, but with a reduced number of motors, we might not have that option.