As you may know there has been a recall of DS8411 servos in the USA. Here it the official reply from Macgregors re the JR digital servo problems. Nothing too surprising here...

UK DS8411 servos given thumbs up by JR

On 17/9/02, JR confirmed to us that there is no underlying problem with the DS8411 servos that have been supplied to MacGregor Industries for UK distribution. They acknowledge that they have been investigating a small number of failures of DS8411SA servos (Special Application, with plastic gears) used in helicopter applications within the USA.

However, we have never purchased the SA version of this servo, so at this time, and in light of the reassurances we have been given by JR, we remain confident that the DS8411 servos sold via us to the UK market will operate at JR's usual high standards. However, we would remind customers that high performance servos from all manufacturers really do need to be installed and set-up with care. Any binding or stalling of such servos may cause very high instantaneous currents to be drawn and the associated heat build up may damage the motor or amplifier quicker than the pilot/modeller willl be able to react. Alternatively the gear train may strip or slip as the servo motor tries to overcome any external resistance.In lower power servos the internal forces, when stalled, build up much more slowly and they can generally tolerate longer periods of abuse, allowing the pilot to back off the poorly adjusted control before any damage is done. To minimise any problems caused by such mis-use, we include ancillary instructions with each high performance servo to warn of the consequences of poor set-up. This has been standard practice for several years and has no doubt contributed to the extremely high level of reliability enjoyed by JR enthusists in the UK. We would also like to remind JR customers of the need to ensure that their models, especially R/C helicopters, are as vibration free as possible. The high resonant frequencies that can be found in poorly set-up and maintained models is a common cause of premature equipment failure.For helicopter use, we also strongly recommend the use of a JR 'G' series servo for any tail rotor application. These have been specifically designed by JR to maximise the performance of modern piezo gyros and to withstand the continuous adjustments that the gyro/pilot combination demand of the tail rotor control, especially around neutral. This unrelenting train of commands, often combined with high levels of vibration, makes up what is perhaps the most hostile environment for a radio control servo. JR's 'G' series servos offer a robust and tailor made solution. Regards, Ken Brewer - Customer Services Service Dept. - MacGregor Industries Canal Estate, Langley, Slough SL3 6EQ