Would agree with grant Ive owned flight-power, thunder-power and Hyperion from experience id say thunder power are the best, Hyperion a close second and flight power..were pretty pants.

the new thunder-power 45c range look awesome, there pretty light as well.

8s sounds like a good plan... i don't think 10s is needed, i've been ok running on 4s until now!

If you haven't already checked out ESC's take a look at castle creations new ice line. Ive just had two ICE 160HV's arrive, i know of people using the ICE100's and from what Ive seen they seem to be the dogs, the inbuilt data logging will be very helpful as well helping to maximize your machine... but they come at a cost. but the service castle offer is second to none.