tadawson
Elite Veteran
Location: Lewisville, TX
| I guess I still don't see any extra support equipment for a Nitro, if anything it's less.
Lessee . . . for a reasonable day of electric flying, you need two or three batteries, at least one charger, a power source for that charger (ANOTHER battery . . . ), at some point a charger for that one, same tools as to maintain a nitro . . .
And for a nitro, it's a small pocket sized glow driver, a self contained starter, a can of fuel and a pump (same item, really, so I'll count it as one), and perhaps an extra can of fuel, but not really needed for "one typical day's worth". On, and an extra RX battery to get you to 6 or 8 flights (or a small charger, which you can run off your car without wiping out it's battery, or carry a small charger battery).
So, for electric, it's 4 to 5 items, and a lot of them are fairly large.
For the nitro, it's 4 or so . . . . and you don't need the big, heavy charger battery (read: sore back).
So who is packing more weight? Seems like a dead heat, or perhaps the nitro guy is carrying less tonnage to me. If you have 110V power a the field, then you can omit the charger battery, but I was comparing self contained.
Glow plugs and spares are *NOT* considered here, since I find that I only rarely need to change one out. Tools and other mechanical support stuff are identical . . .
And not having your speed controller go up in flames . . . . priceless! (I have seen this happen to electric guys, whether plank or heli more times than I would like to admit . . . ).
Tuning? With a decent nitro motor, like a YS, it's basically set and forget . . . I have a YS 80 in a larger ship, and have not needed to touch a needle in three years . . . . so, if you tune all the time, don't blame the technology, get a decent engine!
Starting more involved? Hardly . . . Nitro: Fill with fuel, heli turned on, throttle to idle, glow driver on, hit it with starter. Electric: Put battery in, put canopy back on, make sure throttle is at low *before* turn on, turn on, cycle stick to arm, hope you got it right and don't spin up in the pit . . .
If anything, electric is more critical, since the power system is immediately able to deliver power - the nitro is guaranteed to do nothing until you hit it with the starter . . . How often do you hear of a nitro accidentally spinning up in the pits and hurting someone while they were treaking the radio, hmmmm ? ? ? ?
Yes, you do need to break in nitro motors, which is an electric plus, but a very small one, since it's such a simple procedure. What you fail to consider is the much more complicated flight "ritual" with electric . . . on a nitro, you can just watch the fuel tank and determine when to come down, or run it dry and auto if that's your thing. On the electrics, for most packs, you have to diddle with timers and all other kinds of B/S, or risk destroying your pack . . .
and god forbid that something prevents you from landing immediately - that can get expensive!
Oh, and a gov is not needed for nitro . . . a lot of the electric guys don't fly in gov mode either . . . good curves can work fine in either case . . .
Personally, fly what you like . . . I have made my choice. It just kills me, though, how some of the electric zealots try to overcomplicate nitro flying by adding all kinds of issues and parts that those of us who actually do it have never needed . . . . and overlook the inherent fragility of their power systems with regard to timing flights or toasting packs . . .
- Tim
The more I touch electrics, the more I grow to hate them . . . . |
I do have 70 flights on a 500 using 3000 and 3300 mah packs. 8-9 minute flights. I have five packs so I can fly non stop if I throw the pack in the cooler or just fly the 450 between. By the end of the fifth flight, the first pack is ready to fly. With a 600 and five packs, I will have to order a pizza. The plug and play factor of electric is hard to beat. Within five minutes of parking the truck I can be in the air with my 500. I have learned from this thread that the 600 is just as easy plus I can take the power up to a new level when I am ready. 6 minute flights is good with me. Plus there are 6000 packs out there now for basic hover and sport flying that will get you ten minutes. Nothing wrong with Nitro though, I have a old X-Cell 60.
