Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
| Guys; keep in mind that a pitch gauge is NOT the final word in pitch curve set-up. It is strictly useful for getting one "into the ball park", so to speak. Final tweaking to get the bird reacting to your satisfaction will always be done at the transmitter.
Given the above, I found the Robart to be the absolute LEAST "handy" of the numerous gauges out there. The MA gauge is what I settled on; not because of it's precision (which is no more- or less- than any of the others), but because it is the easiest to use.
Another problem with the Robart is that it will drive you mad if you don't realize what you are seeing. Slop in the collective system, different tension on blade bolts, flex in a particular blade, etc., etc., all contribute to a non-repeatability of readings. IOW, when you go to double-check your work, you see slightly different readings from what you did the first time. The Robart shows this more than the others (except for, perhaps, one of those laser incidence meters) because of that "jewelled" pointer. So, somebody who thinks this precision instrument should give the same readings will go nuts trying to tweak the set-up, when in reality nothing has changed significantly. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, sold my Robart meter at a swap shop...
Steve |
