New Talon Speed Controller

[Jon Stratis]

Looking through everything that's been generated about the different speed controllers, I think we have enough information to come to some general conclusions for each (please note these are my own conclusions, yours may vary):

Victor 884 - It's been the go-to speed controller for many, many years. However, it's failings in linearity and the introduction of the Victor 888 have relegated it to a back shelf. It's still great for applications where fine-tuned speed control (especially slow speed) isn't necessary, if you have some laying around collecting dust.

Victor 888 - A step up from the Victor 884 in linearity. In fact, Ether's graph's put it on par with the other speed controllers, although those from 1718 show that they "over corrected", which could cause a loss in definition at high speeds. More work may need to be done to show which graph is more accurate for FRC uses.

Jaguar - No real surprises here. The Jaguar has maintained its linear response nicely for years. The addition of CAN (and the associated limit/encoder/potentiometer feedback) may make this the ideal speed controller for many teams. The most obvious downside, however, is the larger footprint the Jaguar has, which may also make it less than ideal for many teams. Also note that the Jaguar has a slightly larger deadband than the other controllers.

Talon - The Talon seems to be a great mix of all the others. It provides the small deadband and small size we got from the Victor, and the linear response we got from the Jaguar. The fact that it can be used only with passive cooling and no fan is a great bonus (although I would still put a fan on any used for the drive train or other strenuous applications).

With this combination of speed controllers, it seems that we have one for every situation. I think the difficult part for most teams is going to be finding a noticeable difference between the Victor 888 and the Talon, aside from the passive cooling in the Talon.